When I went home for Chinese New Year, I spent a million times more money on my foreign wife.

Kaoshantun in August.

Inside the Snow Palace territory, the constant-temperature dome kept the temperature at 22 degrees Celsius. Chen Yang stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window on the top floor of the Snow Palace, looking down.

The main structure of the ski resort has been completed, and three S-class tracks meander down the mountain ridge with smooth curves.

The exterior facade of the commercial complex at the foot of the mountain is half-finished, while the dome steel structure of the seven-star hotel complex is being completed.

The construction site covers six square kilometers, with thousands of workers working in three shifts, 24 hours a day.

Chen Yue pushed open the door and came in, carrying a stack of documents.

"Brother, the infrastructure construction is twelve days ahead of schedule and will be fully completed by mid-October. However, there is still a significant shortage of operations staff."

How many people are needed?

"Seventy core management positions, three hundred technical positions, and one thousand two hundred service positions."

Chen Yang turned around. "Then recruit talent, both domestically and internationally."

"What about the budget?"

"No upper limit. Triple the headhunting fees and quintuple the signing bonus. I want all the people in place by the end of September."

Chen Yue placed the document on the table. "This morning I contacted six headhunting firms, both domestic and international. After sending them the quotes, the managers personally called back three times to confirm, asking if I had added an extra zero."

"Money is not the issue; the people must meet our standards."

"Okay, I'll contact them right away."

Chen Yue received feedback from the headhunter that afternoon: "The headhunter had only released the information for less than four hours, and they had already received 16,000 resumes."

"Sixteen thousand?"

"Yes. Three of them are quite special—one is the general manager of the Swiss Federal Lausanne Palace Hotel, who had worked there for eleven years and voluntarily resigned to apply. Another is the operations director of the private ski resort of the Omani royal family in the Middle East. And the third is the founder of the largest geothermal resort in Iceland, who said he was willing to bring his entire team."

Chen Yang sat down and flipped through two pages of his resume.

"How many people are on the team for the Iceland team?"

"Twenty-seven people, all of whom are top talents in operating in extremely cold environments."

"We negotiated long-term contracts with them, and signed a five-year contract for the entire team."

"it is good."

Chen Yue made a note on her phone, then looked up and said, "Brother, there's something else I'm not sure about."

"explain."

"The headhunter has leaked the news that our Snow Palace will have a privately invited opening ceremony this winter, and many forces have already contacted us."

What are they?

Chen Yue showed Chen Yang her phone screen; the call log stretched seven or eight screens before reaching the bottom.

"Currently, 46 families have explicitly expressed their desire to receive an invitation to open their businesses. Among them, nine are ranked in the top 50 globally."

Chen Yang didn't say anything.

"There are three that are particularly outrageous." Chen Yue held up one finger. "The first is the Khalid family in the Middle East, who made their fortune in oil and have a net worth of about 60 billion US dollars. People in their family office directly asked me if they could exchange one of their private islands in the Mediterranean for an invitation."

How big is the island?

"Twelve square kilometers, including a deep-water port and an airport runway."

Chen Yang leaned back in his chair. "Continue."

"The second is the B.L.B. family in Europe. Old money, they started out in banking, with a history of over 300 years. Their bargaining chip is their family bank's exclusive clearing channel in the Asia-Pacific region, which is equivalent to directly opening up their financial network interface in the Asia-Pacific region to us."

"The third one?"

Chen Yue's expression changed slightly. "The third is the Greenwood family of the US. They're involved in the military and aerospace industries, and their net worth is hard to estimate, but their family foundation manages over two hundred billion US dollars."

"What are they going to do?"

"A technology licensing agreement. It's for a commercial satellite communication network patent developed by their aerospace company, which is exclusive worldwide. They're willing to offer a perpetual license for the Asia-Pacific region in exchange for an invitation letter, plus a ten-year usage right to a private villa in the Snow Palace resort area."

Chen Yang tapped his fingers twice on the armrest.

"Do these people really want to come skiing?"

Chen Yue shook her head. "What they want is the right to sit at the same table with you. Your current status and influence can no longer be measured by money. The Snow Palace's invitation is an admission ticket; getting it means being recognized by you, not getting it means being excluded from the circle."

"Let's put the invitations aside for now and let them wait."

"How long will it take?"

"Wait until they raise the stakes to my satisfaction."

Chen Yue chuckled. "Brother, you're turning these invitations into auction items."

"It's not an auction." Chen Yang stood up and walked to the window. "It's a selection process. Those who can enter the Snow Palace must either be useful to me or useful to the country. As for the others, no amount of money will suffice."

"Understood. What's your opinion on the Greenwood family's satellite communication patent?"

"Let the technical team evaluate it first. If it's genuine, we can issue this invitation."

"What about the liquidation process for the Brennan family?"

"Have the people in the Kunlun system connect with us to see if it can be integrated with our existing settlement network. If it can be integrated, then give it to us."

"What about Khalid's island?"

Chen Yang thought for two seconds. "Forget about the island for now. Let them find another bargaining chip. I want a long-term liquefied natural gas supply contract in the Persian Gulf, fifteen years, with a locked-in price."

Chen Yue typed rapidly on her phone. "I'll reply now."

She finished typing and looked up again. "Brother, there's one more thing. When I was looking through resumes just now, I found one that was quite interesting."

"Who?"

"A man named Su Ran, 31 years old this year, has a clean resume. He has worked in management positions at top resort hotels in three countries, and his most recent job was as an operating partner at a private club in Northern Europe."

"What's so special about it?"

"Her letter of recommendation was written by the general manager in Lausanne who resigned voluntarily. The letter contained only one sentence: 'If you can only hire one person, choose her.'"

Chen Yang took the resume and scanned it.

"Schedule an interview with her next week."

"Online or offline?"

"Offline. Have her fly to Ice City, stay at the Snow Palace, and see her first reaction to this place."

"receive."

Chen Yue put away the documents and walked out, but stopped at the door.

"Brother, judging by the current situation, the opening ceremony this winter might become a gathering of top billionaires from half the globe. Should we have Lei upgrade the security plan ahead of schedule?"

"Have him prepare. The security level for the opening day should be at the level of a state guest."

Chen Yue nodded and left.

The office fell silent.

Chen Yang's phone vibrated; it was a message from Kachusa.

"I picked a basket of blueberries at the greenhouse. I'm making blueberry jam tonight. What time will you be home for dinner?"

Chen Yang replied with a single word: "Six o'clock."

He put down his phone and looked out the window again.

At the end of the three ski runs, workers are installing the last batch of light poles. The tops of the light poles are custom-made crystal lampshades, which will turn the entire runway into a ribbon of light when it is lit up in winter, stretching from the mountaintop to the valley floor.

In the folder on the table, the names of forty-six families were lined up, each followed by an astronomical number.

He picked up his pen and circled the name of the Greenwood family.