Chapter 79 Picking someone up at the airport (complete)...
Moscow Airport.
Yan Zhengchuan led the two experts out of the waiting hall. There were taxis waiting for passengers on the roadside, but he did not get in. Instead, he looked around as if he was looking for someone.
Upon seeing this, the middle-aged expert surnamed Liu asked, "Comrade Yan, is someone here to pick us up from the airport?"
Another expert, surnamed Huang, asked much more detailed questions: "Are they one of our own? Do they know about the tanks?"
Their trip to Moscow was kept secret, and they entered the country under a private guise to avoid leaks. If the people picking them up were unaware of this, they needed to be careful with their words and avoid disclosing any information related to the T-80.
Yan Zhengchuan, with his sharp eyes, quickly located the person. He waved in that direction, then turned and smiled at the experts, saying:
"Don't worry, it's the tank she bought."
The two experts exchanged a glance, both showing surprise. The reason was simple: the woman walking towards them was simply too fashionable and beautiful, possessing a carefree and unrestrained air.
Trench coat, wide-leg pants, black boots, sunglasses, and short hair with red lips.
Like Moses parting the sea, she strode through the crowd with great strides, displaying remarkable efficiency and agility.
In an instant, the two sides met, and the woman gracefully raised her hand to take off her sunglasses, giving them a generous and radiant smile.
"Yan Zhengchuan, you're really slow. If you were two days later, the tanks would be on the boat."
After warmly greeting Yan Zhengchuan, the lady, without waiting for his retort, turned to the two experts and politely shook hands with them.
"You two must be Professor Liu and Professor Huang from China, right? I am He Changyi, whose name means 'to have a broad vision and a long perspective'."
The two experts were quite flattered and hurriedly shook hands with her. They found that this beautiful young woman had a surprisingly strong hand. It didn't feel like shaking hands with a lady, but rather like shaking hands with a successful man. Her handshake was firm and decisive, conveying a strong sense of confidence and authority.
Yan Zhengchuan didn't go up to shake hands. He stood aside with his arms crossed and complained, "Still so slow? I should just grow two wings and fly over the same day you call."
Unlike later times, in the 1990s there were only three direct flights from Beijing to Moscow, with fixed departure times. Therefore, even if Yan Zhengchuan was in a hurry, he could only wait for the next flight a few days later.
He Changyi chuckled at him, "Alright, while peacocks fly southeast, you fly northwest. Remember to bring a world map and don't fly into the Arctic Circle, or I'll have to hire an icebreaker to rescue you."
Yan Zhengchuan laughed and scolded, "What nonsense are you talking about? The professors are still here."
Professor Huang finally found an opportunity to speak and asked, "Comrade Yan, is this your friend?"
He Changyi and Yan Zhengchuan exchanged a knowing glance. They had already agreed beforehand not to address each other as brother and sister, nor to call her Yan Zhengyue, in order to avoid revealing their true identities.
After all, as the daughter of the military region commander, He Changyi's identity was too sensitive and would inevitably attract the attention of those with ulterior motives. It would be terrible if she attracted foreign agents who wanted to recruit or coerce her.
He Changyi still wanted to make a fortune in Oros; she didn't want to turn her later career into a spy thriller.
Therefore, He Changyi did not change her name to Yan Zhengyue on her passport, and she continued to act as He Changyi in public.
Yan Zhengchuan explained to the two experts that He Changyi was a patriotic overseas Chinese businesswoman he met when he last came to Emei to handle a case. She was in the scrap steel business and happened to have the opportunity to buy scrapped tanks, so she paid out of her own pocket to buy the T-80.
Professor Liu remarked with emotion, "If all our compatriots overseas were like Ms. He, why would we worry about our country not catching up with developed countries sooner?"
He Changyi said with a smile, "You flatter me. I am just a small businessman, doing my part for the development of the country."
The Zhongguo people chatted for a while, attracting curious glances from the Eguo people passing by. Yan Zhengchuan picked up his suitcase and said to everyone, "This isn't the place to talk, let's go. Zheng—"
He hesitated for a moment before saying, "Miss He, how do I get there? Should I take a taxi directly to Vladimir?"
He Changyi said, "No need to take a taxi, I brought my own car."
Yan Zhengchuan raised an eyebrow, thinking that He Changyi's business was really growing bigger and bigger, she even had a car and a driver, but then he saw her wink at him mischievously.
"My friend's car."
Yan Zhengchuan was taken aback. Friend? Which friend?
The image of the blond, blue-eyed manager quickly flashed through his mind; young and powerful, it wasn't surprising that he had a car provided with him.
However, Yan Zhengchuan guessed wrong this time.
The driver of the brand-new, square sedan impatiently tapped the steering wheel. He didn't react much when he saw He Changyi arrive with his entourage; he simply turned the key to start the engine and casually honked the horn.
"You're walking too slowly."
The black-haired mixed-race man glanced indifferently at Yan Zhengchuan, who was walking at the front, and asked He Changyi, "Is it him?"
He Changyi nodded, then looked at Yan Zhengchuan more carefully and scoffed.
"It doesn't look like it."
"So what if it doesn't look like you?" he added. "Ugly, unlike you."
Yan Zhengchuan: ? No, that's a bit of a personal attack. No one has ever called him ugly!
Although Yan Zhengchuan's Emei language skills were low, the other party used very simple words, so even if there were ambiguities in the foreign language, they would not affect the basic vocabulary.
He thought to himself, no wonder he disliked this kid the first time he met him; it turns out the two of them had never gotten along from the very beginning.
“I understand.”
Yan Zhengchuan strode over and knocked on the driver's side window, giving him a warning look before saying in Emei, "Everyone can understand."
If this kid spoke in English, the two experts might not be able to understand him; but if he spoke in Emei, the experts might understand him better than He Changyi, after all, they learned Emei when they were young, and their university professors were also alliance aid experts, so they were no less fluent in Emei than professionals.
The mixed-race boy glanced at Yan Zhengchuan again, then looked away expressionlessly.
However, he stopped speaking and did not try to communicate with He Changyi in Emei language, becoming a silent driver.
He Changyi watched the brief exchange between the two with a smile, arranged for the experts and Yan Zhengchuan to sit in the back, and as the only lady present, she enjoyed the passenger seat. The car started and drove towards Vladimir, two hundred kilometers away.
On the way, He Changyi gave the experts a brief introduction to the current status of the T-80 tank she had bought.
This is a tank that once served on the border. Due to long-term improper maintenance, its internal components were severely damaged, and the excessively high repair costs led the army to abandon it directly. After all, it would be easier to submit a report to the higher authorities to replace it with a new tank.
To prevent the T-80 tank from being lost abroad and causing the leakage of classified technology, the military specially transported this tank, along with other tanks from the same batch that were scrapped, to a tank graveyard located in the heart of the country. The local military factory was responsible for dismantling the tank to find out the cause of the malfunction in order to complete subsequent maintenance and improvement work.
However, due to the chaos in the military after the alliance disintegrated, the military was plagued by internal management disorder, moral decay, and chaotic weapons inventory registration. As a result, a large number of intact active-duty equipment were sold off, let alone a scrapped tank.
If He Changyi hadn't discovered it while purchasing scrap steel, this T-80 would probably have silently rusted and grown overgrown with weeds for a long time, completely forgotten in a corner of the tank graveyard, until the next century, and the century after that.
But in the eyes of experts in China, this is not garbage, but a unique treasure!
Although it was just a damaged and scrapped tank, the experts were extremely excited. After all, apart from international arms exhibitions, this was the first time they had seen a third-generation tank in real life. And they could not only stand outside the fence and stand on tiptoe to look at it longingly. They could touch it, crawl inside the tank, and even disassemble it themselves to uncover all the technical secrets of the T-80!
The T-80 tank is the pinnacle of Soviet land warfare and its final masterpiece, a collection of Soviet tank designs and its last glorious achievement.
After the alliance disintegrated and shock therapy was implemented, Ego's economy collapsed, its industrial supply chain broke down, a large number of engineers and scientists left, research was interrupted, and it no longer had the top-notch weapons research capabilities that it had when it was in the alliance, which could rival the United States. Ego's equipment became synonymous with relying on past achievements and being outdated.
However, in the 1990s, Ego still possessed formidable military strength inherited from the alliance.
Although inferior to American equipment, Emei's current equipment is still among the most advanced in the world.
At this point, Zhong Guo still has a long way to go to catch up.
Even a damaged and scrapped third-generation tank can save domestic weapons development from many detours.
Perhaps it was just a small design change on the tank that solved a problem that had been troubling engineers for a long time, bringing them a sudden enlightenment.
Since learning of the existence of this T-80 tank, experts Liu and Huang were so excited that they couldn't sleep at night. They wished they could grow wings and fly to Russia overnight.
Two hundred kilometers isn't a long distance, but they couldn't wait any longer.
When the car stopped at the scrap metal yard, the two usually composed experts couldn't wait to open the car door and jump out, not even waiting for the car to come to a complete stop. If their students had seen this, they would probably have been astonished.
"T-80! It really is a T-80! I have no regrets in this life!"
"Unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable!"
Before He Changyi could introduce them, the two experts took out their notebooks and cameras, and circled the damaged old tank as if it were a rare treasure. They even climbed up and down the tank themselves, not minding the dirt, and their originally neat suits were covered with rust and engine oil.
Even if a dozen Playboy Bunnies appeared on the cover, they wouldn't be able to divert their attention from the tanks in the slightest.
When Yan Zhengchuan got out of the car and went over to inspect the tank, the two experts complained that he was blocking their way and told him to move aside.
Yan Zhengchuan wasn't annoyed. He obediently stood to the side, looking at the rusty steel behemoth. After a long while, he let out a breath.
He Changyi walked to his side, but Yan Zhengchuan didn't look at her and suddenly spoke:
"You know what? I really want to thank those robbers right now."
He Changyi turned to look at him, and Yan Zhengchuan was still gazing at the tank with affection, as if he were looking at his dream lover.
"If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have come to Moscow on business, I wouldn't have met you, and there wouldn't be the T-80 today."
He Changyi said, "So, according to that logic, you should thank the Yang family?"
Yan Zhengchuan's expression changed instantly, his mood shifting faster than turning the pages of a book.
"Then let's forget about it."
He Changyi raised an eyebrow at him, and Yan Zhengchuan said with a hint of sarcasm, "If they were all dead like the robbers, I could also shed crocodile tears and feign compassion for a while."
He Changyi couldn't help but laugh, and Yan Zhengchuan smiled at her, his tone very gentle.
"I'm so happy. I never thought our family reunion could contribute to the country."
He then changed the subject: "Those robbers weren't executed for nothing. I'll pay for their bullets later; that's my way of giving back."
He Changyi was overjoyed and said while laughing, "Yan Zhengchuan, you're really too mean! Haven't you ever been beaten up with a sack over your head?"
Yan Zhengchuan refused to say whether he had ever been beaten for his mouth. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Alexei leaning against the car door not far away. He nudged He Changyi with his elbow, changed the subject, and asked in a low voice:
Where did that car come from?
He Changyi said, "Didn't I say it was a friend's car?"
Yan Zhengchuan said dismissively, "That mixed-race kid? He owns a car? Was it stolen or robbed?"
He Changyi followed his gaze to Alexei, who keenly caught her gaze and silently looked over.
She smiled and waved to him, while whispering to Yan Zhengchuan:
"First of all, he has a name. What mixed-race kid? His name is Alexei. Considering he drove us here, you should at least have been more polite."
Yan Zhengchuan scoffed, not refuting the question about the form of address, and pressed on, "So, where did that new car come from?"
With a tone that suggested "I've seen it all," He Changyi said nonchalantly, "It came from a car factory."
Yan Zhengchuan looked at her, and she looked at Yan Zhengchuan.
"Are you kidding me? Even if he's a mob boss, like the Godfather in the movies, he can't just steal cars from a government factory. Don't the factory's security guards have guns? He can't be leading troops to bombard the factory, can he? Or did he bribe the factory's warehouse manager or truck driver to steal the finished cars?"
Using his criminal investigation experience, Yan Zhengchuan quickly devised a plan to steal an expensive new car from the factory intact.
He Changyi patted Yan Zhengchuan's arm, interrupting his train of thought.
"Second brother, you are a police officer, your analysis may make sense, but—this is Eros."
Under Yan Zhengchuan's suspicious gaze, He Changyi said in a warm tone:
"Have you ever seen a gang take over a car factory production line? Now you have."
Yan Zhengchuan remained silent for a long time.
"...So, socialism is better, right?"
He Changyi thought about it and decided to be honest.
"At least not necessarily within the league."
After all, local gangs had already taken over the state-owned auto factory before the alliance disintegrated, achieving Detroit's success ten years ahead of the rest of the United States.
Whether it's the Alliance or the Malice, they all end up in the same place, even the plot of Motor City becoming a gang stronghold is exactly the same. Isn't this a case of loving someone so much that you become like them?
He Changyi sincerely said, "Our home is still the best."
Only true inheritors of Marxism-Leninism can wield the iron fist of socialism to smash all reactionaries, such as gangs.
Yan Zhengchuan's lips twitched. Every trip to Eros was an eye-opener for him, and the travel expenses were definitely worth it.
He glanced coldly at Alexei. "So he got the car. I was right. This guy is no good."
He Changyi pondered for a moment, "If I said that gangsters also give out performance bonuses, would you believe me?"
Yan Zhengchuan: ...
Yan Zhengchuan roared, "Believe my ass! Break up with this scoundrel right now!"
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