Arriving at this port, five or six hundred kilometers from the capital, Zhou Jiao realized that this mission was not an easy one, especially since she had a secret identity.
In addition to Zhou Jiao, there were three male colleagues and one female colleague from several departments including the Economic Commission, the Foreign Affairs Office, the Finance and Economics Committee and the Secretariat.
Before leaving, a group of five attended a joint meeting. Afterwards, she realized that there were professionals there to inspect the quality, and the five of them were there to do the final check and confirm the next batch of orders.
As for her? Haha...
When they arrived, a special staff member drove over to pick them up right after they got off the train. Besides checking in with the four of them, Zhou Jiao had another mission this time.
That is, she is proficient in several foreign languages and focuses on the other party's engineers. Once there is any unusual movement, she can take out a small certificate to become the person in charge.
The import of precision instruments and meters worth approximately 35 million US dollars had to make all departments treat it with caution, especially the more than 6,000 instruments and meters to be ordered this time.
It includes 2,100 radio measuring instruments, 250 X-ray instruments, 1,000 optical instruments, more than 300 mechanical measuring instruments, more than 450 thermal instruments, about 350 electrical instruments, more than 350 analytical instruments, 40 meteorological instruments, more than 110 timing instruments, more than 250 material testing machines, more than 1,100 laboratory equipment, and 36 electronic computers and external equipment.
In order to take the country's science and technology to the next level, these instruments and equipment used many diplomatic means to break out of the blockade, which not only cost a lot of foreign exchange, but also gathered the hard work of the staff both openly and secretly.
Therefore, once she received the mission from Shi Dashen, Zhou Jiao didn't dare to relax. Even after discovering that many plainclothes officers were secretly patrolling the area, she still insisted on checking her handgun every night before bed to ensure that any enemy spies would be killed immediately.
"Secretary Zhou, are you still working overtime here tonight?" a local staff member approached Zhou Jiao and asked softly. In her eyes, of the five people from Beijing, only this one looked friendly.
Zhou Jiao smiled faintly and nodded.
"You guys are working hard."
Zhou Jiao looked at the busy experts and smiled noncommittally. If it weren't for the special national conditions, where she couldn't find a comprehensive excuse, she really wanted to go abroad.
These piles of iron equipment are the blood and sweat of the people of this country. How much material was exported to earn such a small amount of foreign exchange, and then it was spent on this.
These past few days, she kept recalling Shi Dashen's tearful words. Who in later generations could have imagined that a prosperous country was once so poor that its people had to tighten their belts?
Five tense days passed. Watching the machines being escorted away by soldiers in trucks, Zhou Jiao returned to the guesthouse and slept from dusk to noon the next day.
When I woke up again, I found that my female colleague from the Finance Department in the bed next to me was also looking at me in a daze, and the two of them couldn't help but laugh at each other.
"Are you interested in doing some shopping before you get on the bus?"
Zhou Jiao glanced at the time on her watch. The evening train was still half a day away, and since she hadn't received a single iron peanut, she had to go out and celebrate.
"Comrade He, are you planning to have lunch and leave?"
"Just call me by my name in private." Helan said, sitting up. "It's a rare visit for you. I'll treat you to some local snacks, and then we can go for a walk around the streets."
The other person was close in age to her parents, so Zhou Jiao didn't have the nerve to name him.
She smiled and nodded. "Then I'll call you Aunt Lan, and you can just call me Xiao Zhou. As long as I can catch the bus tonight, I'll go with you in the afternoon."
"You can have three days off this time. I thought you, a little girl, would be eager to stay here and play for another day."
Zhou Jiao smiled. She hadn't mentioned having three sons waiting for her at home. Any girl with a few connections would generally know a little about her own life story.
She didn't care whether the other party was doing it intentionally or not. Who was sent out by a unit on this trip and who was a good person? Who didn't have some ability?
After washing up, the two of them said hello to the other three male colleagues and were finally invited to have a meal in the municipal cafeteria.
It was already late when they left, so Zhou Jiao followed him to a nearby department store. With a stranger around, she didn't want to buy anything.
Zhou Jiao happened to notice that the other party had dropped two local cloth coupons when paying. Seeing this, she pretended to glance at the food counter casually, waiting for the other party to quickly hide them. After she finished paying, she smiled and said, "Auntie Lan, I'll go over there and buy some cakes to bring back."
Cakes can be purchased with food stamps, so Zhou Jiao didn't need to hide it. However, she had already thought about separating from him later.
If she guessed correctly, the other party had already traded a considerable amount of local tickets with outsiders during work in the past two days.
Even though the other party would have a handle if caught doing this, Zhou Jiao had no intention of reporting it, nor did she want to take advantage of the other party's misfortune to gain credit for herself.
Strictly speaking, her mission this time is to ensure that the goods are returned to the team safely and intact. What does other things have to do with her?
After the other party bought two bags of cakes with her, Zhou Jiao found an excuse to leave. Seeing the other party pretend to stop her twice, she inexplicably wanted to laugh.
Compared to these little tricks, she, who has been in the black market, really looks down on them.
After leaving the department store, it was already past three in the afternoon. Even though Zhou Jiao was familiar with this city, she really couldn't think of where to go.
Let's talk about visiting the farmers' market. But the ones in the city usually close before noon, and the time to go to the countryside is too late to catch the bus tonight.
She said she could go to other department stores. But she really didn't need anything, and she didn't have any local coupons, so she wouldn't be happy to exchange them for national food coupons.
In the end, without much hesitation, Zhou Jiao continued her shopping trip down the street towards the pier as usual. With the lax management now in place, there were always some shrewd people who slipped through the net.
When they went to the grassland, the couple disguised themselves and slaughtered and processed the wild game in stock in two slaughterhouses. Now the space seemed much emptier.
Zhou Jiao, who likes to have a full warehouse, still feels a little uncomfortable. Before going to work, she still has plenty of time to collect seasonal fruits, vegetables and food.
But now, I have to get up early and come home late every day, and on the occasional weekend, I have to be forced by Doctor Hu to go to the hospital to study. With the addition of two sons, the food supply has been rapidly depleted.
During the three-day holiday, Zhou Jiao planned to go to the farmers' market more often and wait for Zhang Guoqing to come back to work. She estimated that the two of them would not have the chance to act together then.
"Young comrade..."
Zhou Jiao was walking carelessly on the road, not paying attention to the person calling her from behind. She was secretly planning how to quickly collect a large amount of fruits and vegetables.
An old lady on bound feet hurried to her side and said, "Little comrade, wait a moment..."
Zhou Jiao's heart suddenly began to pound. She immediately took two steps back and took a look at the other woman. Her face was wrinkled and she smelled of fish. She really didn't recognize such an elderly woman.
"You're not a local, are you, comrade?"
Zhou Jiao looked around and found that this place was still a bit remote. She secretly regretted her carelessness. This was just a frail old woman. If someone wanted to deal with her, would she still be alive?
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