Chapter 415 Want to be the Vice Premier? Expecting me to clean up your mess?

When the car reached the edge of the farm, Wang Xiao saw Punoning's family.

Judging from this, the tax police major general is quite capable of coaxing people if he wants to.

Lydia is all smiles now, isn't she? The couple walks hand in hand under the sun, truly a picture of perfect harmony.

Wang Xiao almost wanted to whistle and sing "Holding Hands." It's the song sung by Su Rui: "Because I love your love, because I dream your dreams, I grieve your sorrows."

Wishing you happiness...

The couple's two children, who followed behind them, were also well-behaved, beautiful, and adorable.

This family of four, photographed together, could serve as a model of a happy family.

Lena continued walking, weaving a wreath from willow twigs and unidentified wildflowers by the roadside. Once finished, her lively and adorable little daughter immediately took it to her mother, instantly earning bright, sparkling eyes and a radiant smile in return.

Here, willow branches serve the same function as bamboo, and almost all the baskets and small hampers are woven from willow branches.

It's a pity that red pandas, like giant pandas, only eat bamboo and not willow branches; otherwise, raising them would definitely save a lot of trouble.

Wang Xiao nudged Ivanov's arm and instructed him, "Go tell Vladimir to find a way to get Lydia to sympathize with me."

As she spoke, the car stopped, she rolled down the window, and waved to Lydia: "Hey, honey, we have to go now, we won't be able to have dinner with you tonight."

Lydia's social circle is still too narrow. Even at forty, she hasn't learned to wear a mask in her daily life. Her face looks a little stiff, and she can only force a smile: "Why are you leaving so early? There's a bonfire festival tonight."

Wang Xiao sighed, looking utterly helpless: "There's nothing I can do. Something came up at work, so I have to leave now."

Ivanov had already gotten out of the car and was showing the newspaper to Punonin.

The tax police major frowned slightly, clearly dissatisfied: "These leftists only know how to pull this kind of stunt."

He actually disliked oligarchs, but he didn't like people using ethnicity as a pretext. It was a very sensitive topic.

Ivanov didn't have time to discuss this with him right now. His voice cut straight to the point: "Listen, Vladimir, for the sake of stability in your backyard, and for the sake of making us all feel more at ease, find a way to get Lydia to sympathize with the King."

"What?" Punonin wondered if he had misheard. What kind of strange request was this?

Why does Lydia sympathize with the king?

Sympathy is an act of the strong towards the weak.

Although the king was half a head shorter than Lydia and at least two sizes smaller.

But people don't box every day, and a person's strength can't be judged by their appearance.

Moreover, even if a real fight breaks out, given the king's cunning, it's really hard to say who will win or lose.

He clearly remembered that the hostage situation at the container market last year was entirely thanks to Wang Bai.

How could Lydia have such a powerful and unfathomable woman have such a confused logic to think that she is stronger than her?

Ivanov was also stumped. But this was a task assigned to him by the king, and he had to complete it.

So he changed his approach: "Then you should make Lydia think that the king envies her."

Punonin is an upright man. Even today, with one foot already in politics, he still believes in seeking truth from facts.

He racked his brains but still couldn't understand: "Why would the king envy Lydia?"

As a business enthusiast, even if Punonin secretly resented Wang's cunning and treachery, he had to acknowledge her success. As an East Asian woman, her ability to carve out a niche for herself in both Moscow's political and business circles—didn't that prove her remarkable abilities?

What could she possibly envy about Lydia?

Ivanov, enraged, retorted, "Do I have to spell it out? I envy Lydia for having such a reliable and dependable partner like you!"

He pointed to his chest. "And me, how unreliable I am. Whenever something happens, she has to figure out how to solve the problem. Unlike Lydia, even if the sky falls, you're still there to hold it up."

Punoning immediately seized the opportunity to lecture him, her face full of disappointment: "How dare you say that! If you were even a little bit more reliable, the king would have married you long ago. You're such a headache every day."

Ivanov, however, didn't take it to heart: "We have our own way of getting along, don't apply your and Lydia's experiences to us."

He doesn't want to be more capable or competent than Wang.

If that were the case, the queen's first reaction would definitely be to find a way to defeat and suppress him. Because that's the queen's mindset; she must control everything around her, just as the tiger king's territory does not allow any other creature to intrude.

The reason he and Wang Hexie have been able to get along for so long is because they have both adapted to this way of getting along.

He never believed in the idea of ​​an evenly matched contest; that was simply unrealistic.

There was a very famous premier in China named Zhou Enlai. His wife, Deng Yingchao, was also an outstanding revolutionary with strong personal abilities. Everyone said that with her abilities, she should at least be a minister.

But because her husband was the prime minister, if she were to become a minister, her ideas would easily be mistaken for those of her husband, so for a long time she could only hold a sinecure.

She only began to take on important roles after her husband passed away.

The idea of ​​keeping pace with each other simply doesn't exist.

Punonin couldn't understand how the two of them managed to get by, but upon reflection, he realized that not everyone is suited to striving. If you don't strive properly, you might end up with nothing.

So he slapped Ivanov hard on the back one last time: "Behave yourself."

Ivanov felt wronged. If he wasn't honest, who was? Nobody was more honest than him!

Over there, Wang Xiao was still sighing to Lydia: "What should we do? Send Ivan? With his temper, he'd get bullied to death. How could I possibly let him go?"

Lydia didn't know how to comfort Wang Xiao, and could only smile weakly: "He's always been easy to talk to since he was little, he's kind."

Wang Xiao spat and said resentfully, "You act like a good person in public, but all you do is annoy me."

She looked at the blue sky and white clouds with envy. "Alright, darling, I have to go. I can only tell you what's on my mind now; I can't tell anyone else. If I bring it up, people will definitely think I'm insatiable. Ivan has such a good temper, what more do you want? Who sees how hard I work to shoulder all this burden?"

Like Punonin, Lydia is the kind of person who easily takes responsibility upon herself. Upon hearing this, she wished she could dig a hole and disappear, lamenting that her own family members were not presentable enough.

Wang Xiao sighed heavily, trying to console herself: "Never mind, I chose him myself. I can't just start something and then abandon him, can I?"

Lydia stammered and weakly said something on Ivanov's behalf: "Ivanov is still very good."

Good heavens, weren't they supposed to be going to the city? Why aren't they driving yet? She didn't know how to proceed.

Thank goodness, Wang Xiao glanced at the sun in the sky again, sighed once more, and finally waved to Lydia: "Alright, we're leaving now. I'll talk to you again next time."

Lydia quickly forced a smile again: "Let's talk next time, next time."

As soon as the car drove away, she immediately clutched her chest, panting, and exclaimed, "Ivan, really!"

Punonin comforted his wife, saying, "You know his temper; he's always been like this since he was a child. It's alright; Ivan will be able to appease the king later."

Lydia was thinking about choosing a son-in-law in the future. She absolutely couldn't choose someone like Ivan, otherwise, wouldn't her Lena be worked to death?

Punonin carefully observed his wife's expression and finally breathed a sigh of relief. He was already so busy with work that he really didn't have any extra energy. He was just glad that Ivan and Wang were willing to help him appease his wife.

As the car drove away from the farm, Wang Xiao immediately comforted Ivanov, holding his hand and saying sincerely, "I'm sorry you had to go through all this."

Ivanov raised his chin arrogantly: "And then?"

He originally had a very good public image. Apart from Vladimir, who was always finding fault with everyone, everyone else liked him.

Wang Xiao held his hand and made a promise with great certainty: "I'll give you a big surprise today, just wait and see."

Ivanov instantly became excited and repeatedly assured her, "This time you can't make excuses or stand me up."

Wang Xiao nodded vigorously, confidently stating, "Don't worry, I mean what I say. Everyone on the bus can vouch for you."

Ivanov felt like he was going to fly. His world wasn't just fireworks; it was a Katyusha barrage, one after another, exploding endlessly.

For the rest of the journey to Sparrow Mountain, his head was spinning, and he almost tripped and fell when he got out of the car.

Wang Xiao held his arm, smiled, and kissed him on the cheek: "You're so cute."

Ivanov's face flushed red instantly, and his ears almost burned to ashes.

Berezovsky had already run out to greet them, and upon seeing this, he immediately shouted, "God, my dear Ivan and Miss Wang, stop for a moment, you've finally arrived, we've been waiting for you so long."

Wang Xiao turned her head, her smile immediately fading, replaced by a half-smile: "Are you really in such a hurry?"

Berezovsky stepped forward, gesturing for them to enter the villa, and nodded with a warm smile: "Of course, we all wish we could fold time into a new dimension."

"Then why didn't I feel it?" She walked into the villa's hall, looking at the groups of people gathered together, completely ignoring the anxiety and resentment on their faces, and slightly curled the corners of her mouth. "If you were really in such a hurry, why didn't you go to the farm to find me? Why did you make me travel all the way from the farm?"

Her gaze, like the Moscow River in early spring, though thawed, still chilled to the bone. "Is it that you esteemed gentlemen cannot set foot on this humble land? Are you afraid that such a filthy place as the farm will disgrace you?"

Berezovsky, as the founder of the Sparrow Hills Club, quickly explained: "Of course not, quite the opposite, we all love farms."

He was about to express his envy of owning a farm when Wang Xiao burst out laughing: "That proves you guys aren't in a hurry."

Hearing this, even Yura, who had just looked up from the pile of documents, could tell that she had come over to interrogate them rather than to save the oligarchs' future.

Given that the oligarchs had already argued with her countless times, Chubais, acting as the campaign's representative, had to step in to smooth things over: "Miss Wang, they didn't mean it that way. They were just too anxious to think straight..."

However, Wang Xiao did not give him face and instead interrupted him directly: "Sir, please do not take sides and always side with them."

Khodorkovsky was quite anxious. As the youngest of the seven oligarchs, he already had a grudge against Wang Xiao and Ivanov, and now he was even more impatient: "Madam, we hope that everyone can sit down and get through this difficult time together. Why do you look like you're here to cause trouble?"

Wang Xiao's gaze swept over his large, brown-tinted glasses, and she asked doubtfully, "Overcoming difficulties together? Is the word 'together' appropriate to describe our relationship? What does this have to do with me?"

Everyone's expression changed drastically, and Chubais had to remind her, "Your Majesty, we are a whole. If something happens, no one can remain uninvolved."

If she remains indifferent to their commotion now, then when the house collapses, no one will be able to escape unscathed.

Wang Xiao, as if he had seized upon something, pulled a newspaper from his briefcase, slammed it heavily on the table, and gave a mocking smile: "A whole? Good heavens, gentlemen, are you kidding me? You're actually saying we're a whole now? Then tell me, if we are family, why are we being excluded at this time?"

She pointed her finger hard at the news article, which was a public appeal statement published by oligarchs half a month ago, calling on the Russian people to vote for the president on the grounds that the Communist Party of the Russian Federation had no future and would only turn back the clock of history.

There was nothing wrong with the statement itself; in fact, it achieved a positive social impact.

Despite the general public's dislike of the wealthy and their hostile attitude towards them, the law of the jungle in society has instilled in everyone a firm belief in one principle: you may doubt the character and moral bottom line of the wealthy, but you must trust their intellect and judgment. Their choices must be the most correct, otherwise how could they be so rich?

This viewpoint is quite popular among the social elite, as evidenced by opinion polls conducted after the statement was released. Many elites believe they should align themselves with the oligarchs' choices; some agree with their views, while others believe that doing so can avoid unnecessary division and chaos.

Russia no longer needs to descend into chaos.

Unfortunately, Wang Xiao had no interest in maintaining peace. She directly exposed the truth: "You guys really know how to show off. You've joined forces to issue a statement and act as social opinion leaders. What about us? Where have you put us?"

She counted the signatures on the statement one by one: Berezovsky, Gusinsky, Khodorkovsky, Friedman, Malkin, Smolensksky, Vinogradov, and sneered, "How strange, our names aren't on the list. Is there a shortage of ink for printing the newspapers?"

The oligarchs who were named all looked embarrassed, as if they had been caught red-handed cheating.

They were indeed deliberately ignoring Wang Xiao and Ivanov's actions. Good heavens, the entire presidential campaign, from the moment she took over the team's media relations in March, everything unfolded according to her plan.

They, on the contrary, became her subordinates, her tools, and had to follow her orders at all times.

In an election in which they poured money and resources, they found themselves virtually silent. How could the oligarchs, who originally sought to gain more influence by supporting the presidential election, tolerate this?

So without saying a word, they quietly produced this public statement so that the public would know that they are the business leaders and social opinion leaders of Russia.

As a result, Wang Xiao caught this little thought red-handed and used it to make a big deal out of it.

Chubais was certainly aware of the statement, but that was a minor matter, especially in such an urgent situation. It was best not to dredge up old grievances and to address the critical issue first.

“Miss Wang,” he made an excuse, “you are Chinese and do not have the right to vote, it would be strange for your name to appear in this statement.”

Berezovsky quickly chimed in, "Yes, Your Majesty, we are also afraid of attracting criticism and causing trouble."

Wang Xiao grabbed Ivanov's arm, looking at the crowd with a mocking gaze: "Yes, I'm a foreigner, I'm not joining in this. But what about Ivanov? Isn't Ivanov Russian? Wow, gentlemen, you've just so brazenly stripped him of his citizenship?"

She clapped her hands and sneered, "I thought you all treated me like I was dead, bullying my people so openly right in front of me! And now? You're counting on me?"

Her gaze swept around the room, her face full of mockery. "Gentlemen, I am truly grateful to you all. You are so magnanimous as to allow me to be resurrected!"

If it weren't for the inappropriate occasion and timing, Yura would almost have burst out laughing.

The king's mouth is truly formidable.

Look at these oligarchs, they're all blushing, even the most shrewd Berezovsky seems to want to dig a hole and crawl into it.

At the same time, he couldn't help but feel envious. The king was so protective of Ivan, always rushing to the front to fight for his interests, and never letting him miss out on any good thing.

How lucky and happy Ivan is.

Berezovsky cleared his throat and said, forcing a smile, "Actually, it's all a misunderstanding, Your Majesty. Please believe us, we never intended to abandon Ivan. Ivan, my friend, you know me. The main problem is that you happened to be signing a contract on Sakhalin Island when we were signing this statement. We couldn't very well call you back from Sakhalin Island for such a trivial matter. We're all businessmen; how can a meaningless statement compare to a contract worth real money?"

What he said seemed to make sense, but Wang Xiao had no intention of letting him off the hook.

She looked surprised and doubtful: "My God, so all the fax machines here are just models. There isn't a single working fax machine in all of Moscow. Otherwise, why can't you fax to Sakhalin? It's just black and white paper. Are you using multicolored white paper and multicolored black ink? The fax machine can't fax?"

Berezovsky was speechless and filled with regret. Why had she messed up on such a trivial matter? She knew perfectly well that women were petty and vindictive.

He was racking his brains, trying to figure out how to appease Wang Xiao.

Khodorkovsky suddenly launched an attack: "Miss Wang, there's no need for you to be so sarcastic. You just think the current crisis is all about the Jews and has nothing to do with you and Ivanov, and you're just looking forward to watching the show, aren't you? But don't forget, His Excellency the President just signed an executive order allowing you to bypass all restrictions and issue new shares in the oil company. If this gets out of hand, what will the public's reaction be?"

Speaking of this, he really felt like vomiting blood.

The plan to issue new shares was actually his design; he hoped to use this tactic to repay the debts of Yukos Oil Company's subsidiary.

To this end, he started his public relations efforts well in advance, having already smoothed things over with all the necessary connections, and was just waiting for the president to finally sign the executive order.

The proposal ended up on the president's desk, but the president used it as a prize, awarding it directly to Wang Xiao and Ivanov.

Moreover, given the president's personality, since he has already given it to Wang Xiao and Ivanov, he will absolutely not give it to Khordokovsky as well.

He now truly understands the anger Berezovsky felt when he lost the Siberian Oil Company.

It's always the same. Every time, they're the ones who work so hard, but in the end, it's Wang Xiao and Ivanov who benefit.

These two still want to watch the drama unfold? Dream on! Either we all make it to shore together, or we all perish together.

Wang Xiao's eyebrows shot up instantly: "Oh, is this a threat? I'm so scared."

She raised her hands. "Gentlemen, please do as you please. I'm not one to be coerced. Trying to threaten me? I won't fall for that!"

With that, she turned around, said no, and walked away.

The oligarchs were stunned, completely unprepared for her intense reaction.

Khodorkovsky was so angry his face turned pale: "Does she really think we wouldn't dare? Do we have to live at her beck and call?"

Yura glanced at him and said expressionlessly, "Sir, you should think about what to do next."

They rushed to call Wang over precisely because they didn't know how to deal with the overwhelming public opinion and were hoping Wang would clean up their mess.

Now you're so tough, daring to make such harsh statements? Don't you realize how ridiculous you are?

Wang Xiao stormed out of the villa, but as soon as he got into the car, his expression changed completely. He looked at Ivanov with a smile and said, "Alright, darling, now tell me, do you want to be the Deputy Prime Minister? The Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation?"

The people on the bus were instantly stunned. Wait, did everyone's ears malfunction?

Was Wang referring to the Vice Premier? Why did she sound like she was asking if we wanted dumplings for dinner?

Wang Xiao explained, “The oligarchs definitely want compensation for investing in the president, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, they will choose one of them to act as their spokesperson. The government position that Chubais can secure for them will most likely be a vice prime minister position. Now that the Jewish issue has blown up, the public reaction is very sensitive, and of the seven oligarchs, only Vinogradov is Slavic. The other six have already been eliminated. So you have a strong competitive advantage for this vice prime minister position.”

She looked into Ivanov's eyes. "Tell me, do you want to be one? If you do, I'll get it for you!"

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My phone's keyboard is so laggy, and typing on the computer feels awful. This phone is terrible; I only got it less than two months ago! [Chin resting on hand]