May 1st, International Workers' Day. In the 1990s, before there were long holiday breaks, it was a rare day off for the older generation of China's workhorses.
But Li Ye could not rest. At ten in the morning, the plane he was on had just landed at the capital's airport.
According to the original plan, he should have stayed in Soviet Russia a while longer. After all, Soviet Russia was enormous. It was not only Russia and Ukraine that had heaps of good things waiting to be sold off; several of the constituent republics in Eastern Europe also held plenty of opportunities.
But the sudden summons from home forced Li Ye to rush back at top speed. And after landing, he could not even spend May Day—Lu Zhizhang picked him up and drove straight to the Light Vehicle Company to work overtime.
After getting into the car, Li Ye asked Lu Zhizhang grimly, "Old Lu, you didn't explain things clearly enough over the phone. What exactly is going on now?
I braved the bitter cold of minus thirty degrees in Moscow and finally secured an entire heavy-truck production line. How had it only been a few months since it got home, and it was already about to be carved up clean? Who had such great ability that they dared pick my peaches?"
Seeing Li Ye's dark expression, Lu Zhizhang knew that his partner, who had always been so "lavish" in his moves, was truly angry.
"This is what happened. At the beginning of April, we finally sorted out Kamaz's production technology process. Then we reported it upward and prepared to begin the concrete pre-production work.
But last week, the higher-ups suddenly changed their minds. They believed that Southwest Heavy Truck was more suited to the Kamaz project."
"Of course,