After three rounds of drinks, it's time to start talking.

"Xiao Wan! Just now you said that there were many interferences in the deal with Maozi? Could it be from Maozi? Are they plotting something?"

"Haha, Uncle Zheng! What kind of conspiracy and tricks would the Russians play? The Russians are all straightforward. If they were capable of conspiracy and tricks, they wouldn't have gotten to this point where they were barely making ends meet."

Zheng Chaoyang was puzzled: "Is Maozi so miserable now? Can he barely make ends meet?"

"Uncle Zheng, you haven't been over there to take a look. If you had gone over there, you would have known that the rats in the shops in Bu City have all starved to death."

It can be said that mice have the best appetite in the world. Probably, except for iron and stone, there is nothing they dare not take a bite of. They can even dig a hole in the concrete floor.

"You mean they don't have anything in their store?"

"It's not like they don't have everything. They have everything related to steel, and apart from that, everything related to food and clothing... apart from these woolen coats, hats, and riding boots, there's almost nothing else. Not even a pair of trousers. I now suspect the Soviets are wearing trousers on top of their naked buttocks."

"Hahaha!" Wan Feng's words caused a burst of laughter at the table, even Zheng Chaoyang and Qu Yang laughed.

"What are you laughing at? This is true. If we hadn't bartered some goods with them, they might have been naked underneath their pants."

"Xiao Wan, we talked for a while last time, and I realized that although you're young, you're very knowledgeable. Tell me, the Soviet Union has always given us a sense of superiority, so how did it end up like this?"

"Uncle Zheng, this is going to be a long story, so let's not go into detail. The Soviet Union has always prioritized heavy industry over light industry, and in recent years, it's been expanding everywhere. They're already financially strapped, yet they're supporting this and that. Do you think this will end? It would be unjust if it didn't. With the Soviet Union in its current state, it might be finished one day."

This was a bit shocking to Zheng Chaoyang. He would never believe that the Soviet Union was doomed.

"You said the Soviet Union was going to be destroyed? That's impossible."

"Destroying the country is impossible, but the Soviet Union was made up of many republics. If all of these republics became independent, wouldn't the Soviet Union be doomed?"

This question seems a bit too profound for the police chief of a small border town.

"Whether the Soviet Union is finished or not is far from our reach, and it's not something we should discuss. That's something the country's top leaders should deal with. I'm also confused by what I'm hearing. Let's not discuss that anymore. Let's talk about the problem with your deal."

"It's nothing serious. It's just that the public security problem in Heihe is a bit serious. We... Pah! What am I talking about? Uncle Zheng, don't take it to heart. I'm not trying to ruin your reputation in front of you. Let's not talk about this today, let's just talk about entertainment. Come on! Drink!"

"Don't see you, kid, you stopped talking halfway about the security problem, aren't you trying to fool me?"

"Hey, Uncle Zheng, I really didn't mean it just now. I only just remembered that you're in charge of this when I was halfway through. I said the wrong thing, so I'll drink a glass of wine as punishment."

As he spoke, Wan Feng picked up the wine glass and prepared to drink a glass as a punishment.

"No, you can't drink until you finish what you want to say. Speak."

"Uncle Zheng, do you really have to tell me?"

"explain!"

"Uncle Zheng, I didn't mean to bring this up in front of you. I just happened to be talking. If you really want to hear it, I'll tell you. Just treat it as some drunken nonsense."

"Speak quickly."

Wan Feng put down his wine glass, picked up a cigarette and offered one to Zheng Chaoyang and Qu Yang, and lit one for himself for the first time.

"We came here to do business with the Russians. On a larger scale, it's to boost the economy and help the country solve some of its problems. On a smaller scale, it's to get a few bucks from them to improve our lives. I rented a dilapidated factory by the river that had been abandoned for two years and invested in converting it into a warehouse. I bought some needles and thread from China and traded with the Russians. In the two months since the port opened, I haven't made any big money, but I did make a few small bucks. But some people are jealous."

"Who is jealous?" Zheng Chaoyang asked.

"About a month before the New Year, someone in Heihe wanted to buy my warehouse, the small street in front of it that I renovated, and the goods in my warehouse. Uncle Zheng, guess how much they'd pay me?"

"How am I supposed to guess that?"

"Give me thirty thousand yuan, doesn't it sound like a lot?"

Thirty thousand yuan for eighty-seven years is indeed an astonishing amount of money.

"But do you know that the rent for that site, the renovations, and the goods cost me over 150,000 yuan, and someone offered me 30,000 yuan? That's blatant robbery!"

"Investing 150,000? Where did you get so much money?"

"At the end of 1984, I made a little money trading Clivia in Changchun. When I came here, I borrowed some more money from my hometown. All my belongings were invested in this shabby factory."

This way Zheng Chaoyang could understand.

"So how did you deal with it?"

"Of course I refused. If I had agreed, I might as well have just gone to Longjiang and dug a hole in the ice and jumped in."

"Then what?"

"The first year was quite peaceful, with no one causing trouble. To be honest with you, Uncle Zheng, we each made a good profit of 18,000 yuan that year. When the border was closed for the Lunar New Year, everyone happily went home to celebrate. I entrusted the warehouse here to Wang Zhonghai and Yang Pao, who work with me there."

"Wang Zhonghai and Yang Pao?" Zheng Chaoyang frowned.

"Aren't these two guys scoundrels?"

"Uncle Zheng, you can't judge people by their old ways. Before they started doing business with me, they did get into fights, but now they've turned over a new leaf. You work in the public security system. Have you heard of any messy things happening between these two gangs in the past six months?"

Zheng Chaoyang thought about it for a long time and said, "Indeed, not really. People from our criminal police team also said that Heihe seems to be much more peaceful recently."

"In fact, no one is born a bad person. If someone has a satisfactory income, who would have the leisure to go out and play with weapons? After Wang Zhonghai and Yang Pao followed me in business and were able to make money, they left the underworld and focused on making money."

Zheng Chaoyang nodded: "That's a good thing. Hey, how does this relate to what you just said?"

"Yang Pao is still in the hospital. Wang Zhonghai is here. Brother Hai! Come here and tell my uncle Zheng what happened during the New Year."

Although Wang Zhonghai was not very familiar with Zheng Chaoyang, he was still very nervous when he heard that he was from the public security system.

From the dance hall being smashed to the warehouse being occupied, he stammered as he recounted how he and Yang Pao got injured and ran away.