But the old man took off his hat, bowed slightly to Nina, and said in fluent English: "Dear Madam, hello! I was introduced by a friend that your company provides security services, so I took the liberty to come and disturb you."
"This is a polite gentleman, perhaps well-educated, and meticulous in etiquette." Nina thought to herself.
She smiled and said: "Sir, if you need security services, you have come to the right place. Our Tiger Defense Company will definitely meet your requirements. My name is Nina, and I am the receptionist of the company. Please call me here Take a seat next to me. With all due respect, may I ask your name?"
Nina said as she led the old gentleman to sit on the sofa.
"Thank you, Miss Nina, my name is Nikolai Lermontov, you can call me Nikolai."
"Okay, Mr. Nicholas, would you like a cup of coffee or tea?"
"A cup of coffee, if that's convenient."
Half an hour later, the person sitting across from Nikolai’s sofa became a self-proclaimed scholar (i
tellectua) Zhou Wen.
Since it is the defense company's first business deal, of course it must be negotiated by Zhou Wen, who has rich mercenary experience in his previous life.
Nicholas was surprised that the Chinese young man in front of him spoke fluent English and had a very friendly and polite demeanor.
"Please forgive me, Mr. Nicholas, because of our professional relationship, you can call me scholar (i
tellectua). I listened to Ms. Nina’s introduction. Do you need 7-day security service? "
"Yes, I need you to protect me and my family from today until you send us to a cruise ship bound for the United States in a week."
"Then, please forgive me. Since it involves your family members, can I ask how many of them are there?"
"You two, just me and my 8-year-old granddaughter Natasha."
Zhou Wen noticed that when Nicholas talked about his granddaughter, a kind look flashed in his eyes. It can be seen that this old man named Nicholas must love his granddaughter very much.
But Zhou Wen didn't stop asking questions.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Nicholas, in order to provide you and your granddaughter with safer protection, I would like to know more about the situation. Are you threatened now? Are those people threatening you?"
Zhou Wen's question is of course necessary. Generally, people who ask for protection first do so because they are or feel threatened. Then, it is necessary to understand who or what force poses a threat to the parties concerned.
At least it can let Zhou Wen know what kind of opponent he is facing, and then judge the difficulty of the task based on the opponent, so as to have a preliminary price for this security commission.
You know, in Zhou Wen's previous life as a mercenary, there was no fixed price for the tasks he accepted.
For example, in Myanmar, mercenaries who join ethnic local organizations, in addition to a fixed daily salary, must negotiate different prices based on the difficulty of participating in the battle.
The most difficult thing to price is the bodyguard mission.
In most cases, because you don’t know much about the client’s background and hidden identity (mainly because others won’t tell you the truth), you naturally don’t know much about the client’s potential enemies either, and there is a high possibility of collisions. Ray's situation.
Hitting a mine is a common saying in the mercenary world. It describes that you encounter an opponent that you cannot match at all. It is like stepping on a hidden landmine while walking, and the results will inevitably be catastrophic.
Therefore, most mercenary tasks in later generations are handled by well-known contractors or agency companies, and then subcontracted to mercenary groups of different strengths based on the difficulty of the task.
Because the agencies and subcontractors in the mercenary industry have their own intelligence channels and good reputations, most mercenary groups would rather be charged high agency fees by them in the middle process than to get into trouble on their own.
For example, Blackwater International in the United States is not only a mercenary company, but also the largest mercenary agent in the world. If there is a commissioned task backed by the US government, they will do it themselves. If it is a very dangerous task that is not convenient for the government to expose, just leave it to other mercenary groups.
Because they have intelligence support from the US CIA (Central Intelligence Agency), they have a good reputation in terms of intelligence and credibility.
Now Zhou Wen met the declining Belarusian aristocrat. He didn't know much about it, nor did he know the situation of Belarusian expatriates in the public concession. Of course, he had to learn more about it in detail.
In fact, he was unwilling to accept this kind of commission because he knew nothing about the other party's situation. And this Nicholas will definitely not have the patience to wait for him to go to the Belarusian District to investigate and find out.
Therefore, now even if he offends this White Russian, he still has to take out some useful information from the other party's mouth. If the other party is not willing, then he would rather not take the order.
So when he asked this question, although he still had an friendly smile on his face, his perception had been completely released, and he carefully observed the other person's expression and felt the other person's breathing and heartbeat.
Nicholas picked up the coffee on the coffee table and took a sip, and then replied thoughtfully: "I introduced to Miss Nina before that I was once a count during the Tsarist period. More than ten years ago, due to well-known reasons, we The family moved to Shanghai."
Speaking of this, he glanced at Zhou Wen inadvertently and said: "Of course, my granddaughter was born in China. Later, her father and mother died of illness, and my wife and I took on the responsibility of raising my granddaughter."
When he said this, there was a hint of sadness in his tone, and his voice became lower.
"But just last year, my dearest wife Valeria, who has been with me for forty-three years, also passed away due to illness. In order to eliminate the grief in my heart, and to provide a better education for my granddaughter environment, I decided to take my lovely Natasha to the United States."
Having said this, Nicholas took out a white handkerchief from his coat pocket and wiped the moist corners of his eyes.
"I'm sorry, I deeply sympathize with your experience." Zhou Wen comforted politely, and then quietly waited for Nicholas' next words.
However, he already felt that although Nicholas's introduction did not seem to be lying, many details were omitted in his narrative.
For example, he said that his son and daughter-in-law died of illness. Zhou Wen didn't quite believe it. At least it was impossible for both of them to die of illness.
Moreover, he said that after the October Revolution broke out, the whole family moved to Shanghai. How did they move around? How long did it take? These are mysteries.
Of course, as a polite person, you should not ask others about the cause of death of their family members at this time.
