Celia Miller's efficiency was swift.
The day after Simon gave his orders, the Rwandan government, far away in Africa, suddenly held a press conference directly targeting France. They claimed to have crucial evidence showing that the French government was involved in the Rwandan genocide that occurred in April this year.
The final casualty count from the Rwandan genocide, which broke out on April 7 and lasted about ten days, reached 270,000.
Although this number is significantly lower than the 800,000 to 1,000,000 victims recorded in the original timeline, it is still a rare, horrific, and inhumane act of racist massacre since World War II. Coupled with the extensive media coverage coordinated by the Westeros system at the time, the numerous heart-wrenching images and videos from the genocide's frontlines exposed to the public caused the social impact of this massacre to far exceed what had happened before.
No one would dare to bear the accusation of being involved in promoting such a massacre.
This is especially true for France, one of the five permanent members of the United Nations, a traditional power with deep influence in Africa.
While the majority of the blame for the genocide had already been placed on the previous Hutu government in Rwanda, if concrete evidence emerged proving the French government's involvement, it would not only ruin France's international image by making it a target of global public outrage but would also likely lead to many officials, including the current French President Mitterrand, being forced to step down and carry the burden of long-term infamy.
Thus, less than an hour after Rwanda's accusation against the French government appeared as a headline on the Igrette portal, the French government swiftly responded.
In addition to firmly denying the Rwandan government's accusations, the French government spokesperson warned that if Rwanda continued with these baseless accusations against France, the French government would cease all humanitarian aid to Rwanda.
While refuting the accusation was understandable, the French spokesperson's threat to halt aid clearly had not been well thought out.
The Igrette portal quickly published a second article criticizing the French government's attempt to use veiled threats to cover up the truth.
Moreover, since the disaster began, the humanitarian aid directly provided by the French government amounted to only 15 million francs, which is less than 3 million USD—an insignificant amount compared to the over 800 million USD in aid that the Rwandan government has received globally since the disaster. Even so, the French government has only fulfilled less than half of this promise to date.
There were also additional humanitarian aid funds and supplies independently raised by the French public, over which the French government had no control. Furthermore, the public has the right to know the truth, rather than being used as pawns in the French government's threats against other nations.
In the face of France's threat to cut aid, the Rwandan government responded firmly, stating that to ensure the investigation into the incident would not be compromised, Rwanda would return the 6.5 million francs it had already received from the French government. Additionally, the Rwandan government published part of the testimony from high-ranking officials of the former Hutu government on their official website, directly implicating France.
This sudden news event left many people bewildered, but it didn't stop the media from rapidly following up.
In just one day, Rwanda's accusations against France for involvement in the genocide earlier this year began to spread rapidly worldwide.
In the modern world, there are few instances of purely isolated news events between two nations; there are often deeper power struggles behind them.
Those with sharp instincts quickly detected something fishy.
For Rwanda, suddenly bringing up this issue offered no benefit to itself. If it were eventually proven that France was involved in the Rwandan genocide, making this old imperialist power with deep roots in Africa lose face would also spell trouble for the Rwandan government in the future.
So why did Rwanda suddenly decide to act?
Given that the news first appeared on the Igrette portal and was subsequently fueled by the Westeros system, it seemed not so difficult to understand.
While Rwanda and France were bickering through the media, Simon, who was in Japan, received a direct call from the White House.
The White House had clearly misunderstood Simon's intentions.
According to the original agreement, the Westeros mercenaries were to withdraw from Rwanda by the end of October, and as the deadline approached, Clinton assumed that Simon had stirred up this issue to extend the stay of the Westeros mercenaries in Rwanda.
The U.S. military had long been familiar with such tactics around the world.
Faced with Clinton's well-intentioned advice, Simon assured the President that the Westeros system had no intention of doing so and that the mercenaries would leave Rwanda on time. To alleviate the White House's concerns, Simon even hinted that there was another reason for this incident.
At the end of the call, the President did not forget to tease Simon about causing another "Westeros Effect" in Japan.
Simon departed New York at 2 p.m. on October 18th and arrived in Japan at around 4 p.m. on October 19th, local time.
The Tokyo stock market had already closed that day, so Wednesday was relatively uneventful.
To promote the upcoming opening of Universal Studios Osaka, Simon did not keep a low profile during this trip. A large group of well-informed Japanese media flocked to Kansai International Airport in Osaka to cover his arrival.
The Osaka city government was also very enthusiastic about Simon's visit, hosting a welcoming banquet that evening.
The hosts and guests enjoyed themselves.
However, the situation took a sharp turn the following day.
Simon had not anticipated that the Mexican government would, on the same day he arrived in Japan, announce its abandonment of the peso's exchange rate defense, leading to a collapse of the Mexican currency and the ripple effects spreading globally.
On the morning of the next day, many Japanese media outlets reported on Simon's arrival in Osaka.
Subsequently, when the market opened, the Tokyo stock market began to fall.
After the crash five years ago, the Nikkei Index had bottomed out at 16,000 points last year and only rebounded to around 20,000 points in the first half of this year. Even so, it was already cut in half compared to the previous peak of around 40,000 points.
On October 20th, the Tokyo stock market opened with the Nikkei Index at 21,079 points. However, as the impact of the Mexican economic crisis spread, the Nikkei plunged by 712 points in a single day, closing at 20,367 points, with a daily drop of 3.4%.
Although professionals understood that this crash was caused by the collapse of the Mexican currency, the general media did not see it that way.
Everyone looked around and suddenly realized that Simon Westeros had arrived, and the Japanese stock market plummeted.
Alright, this really doesn't seem like a joke.
And it's not funny at all.
Comparing the major global stock markets on October 20th, the U.S. Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 1.3%, the London stock market dropped by 0.8%, the French Frankfurt stock market by 1.8%, and the German stock market by 0.3%. But the unfortunate Japanese stock market saw a drop as high as 3.4%. If this isn't the "Westeros Effect," then what is?
A jinx!
And it didn't stop there.
The next day, October 21st, Friday.
On the last trading day of the week, the Japanese stock market once again plummeted, falling 591 points throughout the day. The Nikkei Index dropped back below 20,000 points, closing at 19,776 points. Although the day's decline was narrower than the previous day, it still reached 2.9%.
The scheduled itinerary included, besides inspecting the construction of Universal Studios, attending a gathering of Japanese business leaders in Tokyo on Friday evening, and a non-official meeting with Japan's new Prime Minister, Tomiichi Murayama, at noon on Saturday.
But now...
Please, leave as soon as possible!
In just two days, Simon had caused the Japanese stock market to drop by 6.2%. Such a shock was too much for anyone to bear.
Even though the stock market would be closed for the weekend, who knew if this jinx staying in Japan would cause the stock market to continue its downward spiral next week?
Everyone had suffered heavy losses in the stock market crash over the past two days, so the gathering could be postponed. The new Prime Minister, who had planned to gain some prestige from a meeting with Simon, also canceled the meeting, citing health reasons.
Thus, Simon, who had planned to spend the weekend in Japan, was sent off with great enthusiasm by his Japanese friends on Friday afternoon.
His itinerary was already set for another destination.
Destination: China.
He had long wanted to visit but had been unable to do so due to various reasons.
This trip to Asia provided a convenient opportunity.
He had already communicated with China in advance, and Simon wanted a completely private and unpublicized visit. He had no intention of making a brief appearance at the Great Hall of the People like that fellow Gates did during his visit earlier this year. In a Western country with relatively free press, it would have been impossible for Simon to achieve this level of privacy, but in China, it was no problem.
In recent years, under Simon's intentional or unintentional guidance, Westeros Company, managed by James Rebold, had quietly invested more than 700 million USD in China, covering various sectors of the Chinese economy.
For China at this stage, 700 million USD was undoubtedly a significant amount of capital.
Leveraging Simon's foresight, in addition to Westeros system companies establishing factories and R&D centers in China, other investments were also carefully selected. Perhaps some investment targets might face setbacks due to the
"butterfly effect" caused by Simon, and some funds might even be directly lost, but as long as a portion of these companies could grow as they did in the original timeline, the current investments could yield tenfold or hundredfold returns in the future.
Moreover, the major companies within the Westeros system—such as Daenerys, Igrette, Melisandre, Cersei Capital, Nokia, Cisco, AOL, Tinkovier, and others—had already quietly established branches in China and engaged in extensive collaborations with local companies.
Although Simon had never visited China before or publicly commented on the country, the continuous flow of substantial capital into China through the Westeros system clearly signaled Simon's attitude towards the country.
Thus, upon learning of Simon's desire for a private visit, the Chinese government quickly gave a positive response.
Although they would have liked Simon's visit to be public, which would have significantly boosted overseas investors' confidence in the Chinese economy, it was fine if this young billionaire wished to keep it private.
As long as he was satisfied with this trip, there would always be opportunities in the future.
Simon had initially planned to travel from Japan to China on October 24th, but since he was forced out of Japan early, his trip to China was also moved up.
Since it was a private visit, the exact date didn't matter.
Departing from Osaka, Simon arrived in Shanghai on the evening of October 21st.
Due to Simon's personal preferences, Westeros Company had already purchased a private residence for him in China.
The Chinese side also specially assigned a team to assist him with any destinations he might be interested in.
As previously agreed, there would be no official interactions. That evening, Simon only received a polite phone call from a high-ranking official in SH City, during which they exchanged pleasantries. After that, a woman named Lin Su, about 30 years old, led a ten-person team to attend to Simon. Judging by the arrangements made by a woman with a gentle and elegant demeanor, it was clear that the Chinese side had done some research on Simon's preferences.
On Simon's side, besides the crew of his private plane and two groups of bodyguards, only Lady A accompanied him.
There were no work-related activities planned for this trip.
After spending just one night in Shanghai, Simon quietly headed to Suzhou the next day.
The purpose was simple.
Early autumn is the perfect season for crab.
Suzhou is most famous for its gardens.
Since Simon planned to enjoy crabs in Suzhou while taking in the scenery, Lin Su immediately presented him with the four most famous gardens in Suzhou to choose from. Having visited the most renowned Humble Administrator's Garden before, Simon casually picked the most ordinary-sounding garden: Lingering Garden.
The rest of the entourage was free to engage in their own activities, while Simon took Lady A and a group of bodyguards to the destination.
Lingering Garden had been cleared in advance.
Wandering through the garden, listening to the soft-voiced young female guide expertly introduce the details of each scenic spot, they finally arrived at a lakeside pavilion half an hour later.
Inside the pavilion was a set of chairs, with two tall women in cheongsams already waiting.
Only Simon, Lin Su, Lady A, and a young woman named Chen Qing, who was responsible for translating for Allison, sat down at the table.
Lin Su confirmed with Simon and then gave instructions to the two women nearby.
One of them left, while the other came over to pour tea for the group.
After the maid poured Simon a cup of tea and saw him take a sip, looking satisfied, Lin Su asked in Mandarin, "Mr. Westeros, we have also arranged some performances here. Would you like to listen?"
Simon put down the teacup, glanced at the woman beside him, who had the unique charm and grace of a Jiangnan woman, and without hiding his fluent Mandarin, smiled and said, "Do you think I can understand it?"
Lin Su also smiled beautifully, saying, "Mr. Westeros is an artist, and art is universal."
"You're very good with words."
"Thank you."
"In Suzhou," Simon thought for a moment and asked, "Kunqu Opera?"
Lin Su had been surprised by the man's almost flawless Mandarin since yesterday, and now hearing Simon mention "Kunqu Opera," she still couldn't hide her astonishment. However, she quickly nodded and said, "Yes, Kunqu Opera. I didn't expect Mr. Westeros to know about Kunqu Opera."
"If I remember correctly, the most famous piece in Kunqu Opera should be 'The Peony Pavilion'?"
Lin Su's lips parted slightly, "Mr. Westeros, I must admit, you have surprised me even more."
Simon smiled and said, "Then 'The Peony Pavilion' it is. However, I certainly won't understand it. If possible, could you find a libretto for me? I remember the lyrics of 'The Peony Pavilion' are quite beautiful. Although I won't understand it, I should be able to read it."
Lin Su agreed and personally got up to make the arrangements.
_________________________
[Check out my Patreon for +200 additional chapters in all my fanfics! $5 for all!!]
[w w w . p a t r e o n .com / INNIT]
[+50 PowerStones = +1 Chapter] [+5 Reviews = +1 Chapter]