Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Lu Wei wrote down the list: large quantities of clothes, food, and handicrafts. Getting all of it ready would take about a week. Then Third Brother would lead the group, splitting them into a dozen or so parties that would enter Russia separately and regroup afterward. I used to know plenty of people who traveled back and forth across the Russian border, so I knew very well how dangerous this work was. Chinese traders in particular had a worldwide reputation for dishonesty. Back in the day, people on a certain island nation had traded their plentiful local rubies for Chinese-made watches. Even in a deal that was practically trading glass marbles for gold, some people still cheated, exchanging large numbers of shoddily made watches until the natives there eventually cut off all trade with the Chinese. So when it came to their attitude toward trade, Chinese traders failed outright.

The same went for business in Russia. Later on, many Russians circulated a joke that Chinese leather shoes would fall apart like the Commonwealth of Independent States after a kilometer in the snow. The direct result of jokes like that was that countless Chinese traders suddenly disappeared in the midst of their feverish careers as middlemen. Even an idiot knew why those people had disappeared. So much so that, years later, when people talked about trade during that period, they would sigh, "The Chinese and their business practices... tsk, tsk..."

I had several reasons for asking Third Brother to take this risk.

Third Brother currently had only a limited number of decent firearms, and most of those had passed through several hands before reaching a small city like ours. Chinese people were dishonest in foreign trade, and they tended to hold something back when dealing with their own people too. Once something passed through a hand or two, its quality took a hit, however good it had originally been.

Although I had no desire to keep an arsenal on hand, I still wanted Third Brother to have better equipment and greater strength. All we currently had in stock were secondhand AK-47s and AK-74s, neither plentiful nor particularly good. We did have plenty of ammunition, but at most, it would serve as evidence of "a gang illegally stockpiling firearms." It had little practical use.

So my first consideration was for Third Brother to establish good relations with the Russians. Some of his men had already been doing business between the two countries, so the channels and contacts were all in place. Apart from being a little poor, the Russian gangs had nothing else wrong with them. Since they were poor, we would take money and valuable goods over. If they had any brains at all, they would bend over backward to curry favor with us rather than kill the goose that laid the golden eggs.

This was the immediate priority. We had to get moving before the Chinese reputation in Russia got too rotten. However capable Third Brother was, he still needed to be careful on someone else's turf.

Another reason was that I hoped Third Brother could establish a standard for contraband trading between the two countries. Through a few deals, we could give the Russians the idea that some Chinese traders were honest too. As long as the transactions succeeded, word would spread quickly through private circles. After a few rounds of that, our goal of monopolizing the channels would become easier to achieve.

The idea sounded wildly arrogant, but I was very confident. As far as I knew, most of the so-called "societies" in the Three Eastern Provinces had more or less inseparable financial ties to Third Brother's father. Of course, they were all rather poor... If Third Brother went out trading goods, probably no one would object. The Old Master might even have to send people along to protect him in secret.

I knew it was a little despicable and shameless to exploit Third Brother's special status for something like this, but time waited for no one. We had to move quickly.

Before deciding on this, I had spoken privately with Third Brother. He actually took it less seriously than I did. By comparison, I seemed to be worrying too much.

Third Brother's exact words were, "It's fine. Give him something to deal with. Like beating the kids on a rainy day-he's got nothing better to do anyway."

Guo Zhen and I were delighted to hear it. It would be wonderful if this could help Third Brother repair his relationship with the Old Master a little. We hoped it wasn't just wishful thinking on our part.

While Lu Wei was busy helping Third Brother prepare the goods, he sorted through the "high-level connections" of his men involved in smuggling and arranged gifts of varying sizes according to their positions and interests. Put bluntly, we were throwing money around before earning any. I knew this routine too. A friend of mine had once considered running a gambling business in Beijing, and in one month of cultivating connections, he had spent over five hundred thousand on meals alone. So none of us found it particularly surprising anymore.

This was no small matter, and Lu Wei finally couldn't resist asking me in private, "In terms of profit, neither border trade nor smuggling currently earns as much as our regular businesses. Why take this risk?"

What I had feared was that she wouldn't ask. Since she had, it proved that, at least for now, she considered us family and felt responsible for steering our decisions toward benefits and away from harm.

Rather than explain, I guided her with a question. "Do you find dealing with people in power exhausting these days?"

Lu Wei nodded. "A little."

I asked again, "Would you rather have them dancing attendance on us, or us dancing attendance on them?"

Lu Wei answered without thinking. "Neither."

I laughed. "Do you think that's possible?"

My beautiful older sister shook her head.

I said, "Then suppose shared interests temporarily tied everyone to the same rope. Wouldn't that mean nobody would be dancing attendance on you for the time being?"

Lu Wei said, "It would turn into us dancing attendance on them."

I said, "What if the process of us dancing attendance on them was recorded?"

"You mean..." Lu Wei blurted out.

I shrugged. "A stopgap measure. In the future, our development still needs to be directed overseas. Certain systems, certain things, aren't suited to growth. We've only risen so quickly because we took advantage of a chaotic market. Once we reach a certain size, most of the powerful alliances that already control various resources will target us. We don't count as colluding with officials yet, but to protect ourselves, we have no choice..."

For the first time since joining the company, Lu Wei gave a bitter smile. "I understand less and less how that brain of yours works... But we're already doing fairly well in this area. Why do we have to get into smuggling?"

I rolled my eyes. "How would legitimate business get those greedy people to take the bait? Besides... could you bear to give someone else a share of the businesses we've worked so hard to build, the ones that are like our own children? Would they use it to build schools or support the elderly?"

Lu Wei nodded quietly. "That's true. The same money serves different purposes in different hands."

"It's actually much the same," I said. "Don't be fooled by all my talk of morality. Deep down, I'm rotten too. Nobody's money is as good as your own, and nobody's ability is as good as having ability yourself. People are selfish. Most are only willing to consider others once their own needs are satisfied. I believe nobility and ideals definitely exist, but only under certain conditions."

Lu Wei's delicate eyebrows rose slightly. "You're right. That's why I admire you. You're practical rather than chasing grand achievements. There aren't many people like that anymore."

I laughed. "Sis, you'd better think this through. What we're doing now definitely isn't legitimate business. We're mixing the lawful and the criminal, and the future is a complete haze..."

"It is a little frightening," Lu Wei said. "But I'm even more eager to see what you can accomplish. You're more practical than anyone I've ever met. I really don't understand what you keep in that head of yours..."

I made a face. "My head is full of all the beautiful older sisters at the company, of course... tsk, tsk. Sis, that outfit looks really nice on you today."

Lu Wei blushed. "Stop flirting with me. There are plenty of beautiful older sisters in the company. Enough to fill that head of yours."

"Oh, oh... so even the formidable Miss Lu can blush..."

Meanwhile, Liu Mingyao had recently taken several enchanting female Japanese interpreters along to negotiate terms with SCE. Sun Electronics' condition for joining was that SCE provide a technical team to help with the transition. This was an extremely unreasonable demand, and I figured Sony wouldn't even consider it. Yet SCE was actually giving it serious consideration, though it kept its offer very low: it could only provide a few people to give our development team some short-term training.

This was really the opening skirmish of an intelligence war. We wanted SCE's technology, while SCE wanted to use the opportunity to size us up. Both sides had their own ulterior motives, without a shred of sincerity.

But negotiations still had to continue. Once something that didn't yet exist was written into a contract, it became a fact. One careless move from either side could land it in the other's trap. Liu Mingyao told me over the phone, "This is fucking exhilarating... like bungee jumping."

I scoffed. "You rich bastard. How many people in China have ever gone bungee jumping? Cut the crap. If you can't even handle those Japanese bastards, you might as well go bungee jumping without the cord..."

My mockery left Liu Mingyao with nothing to say, and he threw himself back into the peace talks over an unequal treaty. Only this time, the Japanese were the ones getting the unequal treatment.

Before the exams, I received the information Third Brother had collected. It was so comprehensive that I felt confident I could organize a commercial fraud foundation devoted to business intelligence work. From the factory sites of the two companies to their approximate allocation of funds, productivity analyses, personnel information, and the specific agreements they had reached with the local governments... I stared blankly at the thick stack of paper, a full kilogram in weight, for half a minute, then leaped up to call Yu Chunrong.

Yu Chunrong stayed dumbfounded longer than I had, for a full two minutes. After roughly skimming what I had sent him, he already looked overwhelmed. "Wh-where did this come from..."

With a smile as unfathomable as the Buddha's, I said mildly, "As the Buddha said, 'It cannot be spoken, it cannot be spoken...' But I suggest you put more effort into intelligence gathering. It's always good to know things ahead of time."

Yu Chunrong beamed. "This stuff is incredibly useful! Even though we've pretty much established our sales network, I still haven't felt entirely confident."

I nodded. "Know yourself and your enemy. It's only right. During the year-end commercial battle, do your best to maintain our current position in the department stores. Everything else can wait until next year."

Yu Chunrong asked, "What about that foreign-invested enterprise?"

"It doesn't matter. Try contacting a few small companies in Southeast Asia first, just to keep up appearances," I said. "Have people from outside handle the overseas channels. As long as there's enough profit in it, most people are still willing to do a good job."

That settled the tea beverage business. Our strategy of fighting while retreating was bound to attract more attention. When the time came, some domestic companies with keen noses would naturally follow. The era of an all-out melee was almost upon us.

Then it was time for exams again...