Chapter 193 Summer on Sakhalin Island: Men Unless They Climb Over the Wall
Douglas had no objection.
He also saw the news about the Hokkaido earthquake.
It's perfectly normal for the boss to be nervous. Sakhalin Island is located in the Pacific Ring of Fire, a region prone to earthquakes.
But he still wanted to say that if an earthquake were to occur, it would be easier to handle now because the project has just started and the losses are limited.
If we wait until a large sum of money is poured in and oil and natural gas are gushing out of the pipelines, and then an earthquake comes and destroys everything, that would be truly disastrous.
But there's nothing we can do about it.
Oil and gas field development is inherently high-risk; who knows what decision God might make?
Perhaps God has long been disgusted by human greed.
In his eyes, it was wrong to try to extract oil, natural gas, and coal that didn't appear on their own.
Wu Haoyu got into the car with them.
This was his first time visiting Sakhalin Island.
This place is a place of sorrow in Chinese history, a battlefield for the rivalry between Japanese and Russian imperialism, and a front line of the Cold War confrontation between East and West. It bears countless labels.
But at this very moment, this place of exile described by Chekhov is welcoming the most beautiful summer of the year.
Azure sea and blue sky, white clouds and bright sunshine.
I don't know if it was because it had just rained or for some other reason, but a rainbow appeared in the sky.
His eyes couldn't help but show admiration.
Ivanov saw his gaze in the rearview mirror and laughed smugly: "It's nothing, all Slavic men are this resilient."
Wu Haoyu was puzzled. Following the smug look in his direction, he realized that the man was a truck driver who had probably forgotten to engage the handbrake after parking, causing the truck to roll downhill.
As a result, the driver, seeing that things were not going well, immediately opened the car door and stepped one foot onto the rough cement ground—well, we have to thank Ivanov for this part of the ground.
Previously, the airport runway was not paved with asphalt, and it became muddy and impassable whenever it rained; not to mention the roads outside the airport.
He couldn't stand it any longer, so taking advantage of the opportunity to build a community for oil workers, he had someone pave this area with cement.
That's why truck drivers can now use the friction between their shoes and the concrete to keep up with their vehicles for several meters before finally stopping.
Ivanov let out a cheerful "Hurrah!", then clapped, whistled, and gave the driver a thumbs-up.
The others in the group also cheered and applauded.
The truck driver, who had been expressionless, seemed a little bewildered. He paused for a moment before waving to everyone from the truck window.
Ivanov was proud: "Look, that's how simple and powerful we Russian men are."
The next second, the truck driver took out a bottle of liquor and gulped it down.
Wang Xiao couldn't hold back and burst into laughter.
This really fits the stereotype of Russian men; almost none of them are not alcoholics.
Ivanov awkwardly touched his nose and muttered, "It's too cold, it's really too cold here."
Even in summer, in the hottest month of July, when the sun is directly overhead, the temperature is still below 25°C. The long winter makes drinking alcohol perfectly normal.
As the car entered the city, there were noticeably more pedestrians on the road.
Wu Haoyu saw blond-haired, blue-eyed Caucasians, and he also saw yellow-skinned, black-haired Asians.
But what struck him most were the murals along the roadside, all in a socialist realistic style.
On the left, a male intellectual holds up the earth, while on the right, a female intellectual holds a sickle and hammer, her feet resting on ears of wheat in a field.
As the car passed by, the main characters in the murals changed to hunters, oil workers, soldiers, sailors, nurses, miners, and engineers. These grassroots workers seemed to be making a silent but proud declaration: Who created the human world? It was us, the working people!
Wang Xiao followed his gaze and couldn't help but sigh, "I guess no one will sing praises to laborers anymore in the future."
Before she traveled back in time, no matter how much the official media emphasized it, in reality, workers were ridiculed as screw-tightening girls and factory girls, and farmers were an openly insulting term, a synonym for the lower class.
Labor has become a shameful thing.
Interestingly, aside from the Celestial Dragons' contempt and ridicule of laborers, there are countless oppressed people who also fawn over the Celestial Dragons, each one more devoted to them than the last.
Nobody wants to be a farmer, and nobody really wants to work in a factory, including Wang Xiao himself.
Wu Haoyu couldn't understand her inner feelings, but he didn't think there was anything wrong with her sighs.
Because the newsstand next to the mural was filled with tabloids and magazines that were so explicit and provocative that it was impossible to look at them.
However, the area in front of the newsstand was crowded with customers making their selections.
They are now the more popular ones.
Wu Haoyu couldn't help but glance at it a few more times, a sense of unease creeping into his heart. The country couldn't afford to come to this.
However, his pause in gaze led Douglas to misunderstand.
The latter whistled and winked at him suggestively: "Hey, my friend, welcome to Sakhalin Island. I'm sure you'll have a wonderful romantic encounter here. Aha! The girls here are hot and lovely."
Wu Haoyu instinctively refused: "No, no need."
Wang Xiao gave Douglas a warning look: "Don't get any ideas, this is my boy."
Douglas's eyes widened, then he instinctively turned to Ivanov, before quickly extending his hand to Wu Haoyu: "Welcome, I hope you have a good time on Sakhalin Island."
Okay, he understands, he understands very well.
Open relationships are perfectly normal; this is the way modern society should interact.
Ivanov snorted irritably but said nothing.
As the car passed a red and white Japanese-style building, Wang Xiao introduced it to Wu Haoyu: "This is the city government building left over from the Japanese rule of Sakhalin Island, and it's now a museum."
Ivanov suddenly became enthusiastic and offered his help: "See that cannon over there? How majestic!"
Wu Haoyu was utterly speechless, finding the Russians truly baffling. What was the point of placing several cannons here, their muzzles pointed at the Japanese-style building?
Ivanov, on the other hand, laughed heartily with satisfaction.
The bodyguards and assistants all wore serious expressions, none daring to reveal their inner complaints.
Their male boss is just like a disgraced first wife, constantly trying to assert his status in front of the vixen.
Their female boss, however, seemed completely oblivious to the men's jealousy and pointed out the car window, exclaiming in surprise, "My God! They've planted vegetables!"
Most of the buildings in Sakhalin are old-style tenement buildings left over from the Soviet era, but there are also single-family houses with brick-paved open spaces in front of them.
Now, colorful vegetables are growing in the gaps between these bricks.
There are Chinese cabbages, radishes, onions, lettuce, and some people have even built trellises to grow cucumbers and tomatoes, which are now in bloom.
Ivanov was proud: "The old ladies who went to the village to buy vegetables saw it and started planting it themselves when they came back."
To be honest, he really likes Chinese people.
Because these vegetable seedlings and seeds come from Chinese farmers in vegetable bases.
Not only did they not charge money, but they also came over with great kindness to guide the elderly women on how to grow vegetables using the bricks.
Yes, this is the love of the socialist family. Every worker will help other workers without reservation.
Wang Xiao nodded happily: "That's great, we can have more varieties. If we can't finish them in the summer, we can save them for the winter."
She has enjoyed the convenience of the "vegetable basket project" for so long that no matter where she goes, she thinks that not being able to eat vegetables is a terrible thing.
Douglas seized the opportunity to flatter them: "The people of Sakhalin will be grateful to you; their lives have become better because of you."
“No,” Wang Xiao emphasized, “They should thank themselves because they want to live better lives and are willing to work hard for it.”
Those who drink, fight, and cause trouble all day long remain unchanged, still living their lives in a daze.
As the car drove towards the sea, the old tenement buildings along the roadside gradually disappeared, replaced by vast stretches of weeds and sparse trees.
Sakhalin Island has a sparse population, and the further you go into the outer reaches of the cities, the more it is dominated by wild animals.
Along the way, Wang Xiao saw foxes, rabbits, and bison. They lived in remote, untouched places and were completely unafraid of humans.
Even more amazingly, when she arrived at the beach, she saw seals fishing.
Wow! This chubby kid is really agile.
My God! How can there be so many fish on the beach? They're so densely packed, it's hard to believe my eyes.
“Salmon, it’s spawning season now,” Ivanov explained enthusiastically. “This is the salmon served in Japanese restaurants, and of course, we Russians eat it too.”
He seemed to have forgotten about the oil and gas field and started rambling on and on, boasting to Wang Xiao, "I've built another processing plant, powered by diesel generators. I'm going to process fish and sell it to every corner of the world."
Sakhalin Island has numerous fishing grounds of all sizes, and almost every household produces salmon caviar.
However, due to a lack of refrigeration and processing equipment, salmon with their roe removed can only be discarded, just like brown bears eating fish roe.
Ivanov couldn't stand it; he was a farmer whose goal was to feed every Russian.
However, if you want to be full, potatoes, wheat, and vegetables grown in the fields are not enough, far from enough. With a severe shortage of poultry and livestock meat, fish is the best supplement.
This is a gift from God to the Russians.
Wang Xiao expressed her support for her friend's career, but she was curious: "Who did you hire to do this work?"
Ivanov replied with great interest, "Mikhelson."
Wang Xiao remembered that it was the former wealthy businessman from Sakhalin Island who had also engaged in barter trade with Chinese merchants, but due to the ruble's sharp decline, he couldn't provide the goods and ended up losing his villa and processing plant as well.
She became interested: "Hey, didn't he want to be a real estate agent before?"
One of the business lines of Huaxia Commercial Street is to act as a trading platform for merchants and companies from Russia and China, facilitating business exchanges. This business alone earns them tens of millions of US dollars annually in brokerage fees. However, due to a severe shortage of manpower in the Far East, the project there hasn't taken off.
When she and Ivanov came to Sakhalin last time, she had the desperate Mikhelson take on this job to help them expand their market.
Ivanov shook his head and sighed heavily: "No, the factory can hardly guarantee the supply. Fortunately, he used to work in seafood processing, so let him go back to his old trade for now."
Wang Xiao nodded and offered suggestions: "Fish heads can be made into fishmeal, fish innards can be used to feed ducks, and we can also process them further to make more seafood products, including snacks and pet cat food."
Ivanov was taken aback for a moment, then burst into laughter: "Yes, yes, cat food. My God, these little guys have comforted so many lonely souls. Nobody wants to raise children anymore, they'd rather raise cats."
Actually, the cost of raising children in Russia isn't too high so far, because government subsidies are still in place. However, Russia has long been a country where 80% of the population is industrialized, and the traditional agrarian society's desire for many children and good fortune has long disappeared. Therefore, with the current unfavorable economic situation, people's willingness to have children has declined again and again, the birth rate has plummeted, and pets have become more popular.
Douglas laughed along, “My God, who can resist these little guys? I see those old ladies who wouldn’t spend a penny more than their own money, but they’re willing to open their wallets for these little things.”
He felt that pet food was a good business in Russia right now.
Everyone then enthusiastically discussed what other processing methods could be applied to seafood, until the car stopped at the airport.
That's right, the oil and gas field project is located in the northeastern part of Sakhalin Island.
Normally, to get there, you have to take a 10-hour train ride from Sakhalin and then drive for 4 hours.
Fortunately, they could borrow military aircraft to fly there directly, which would only take a little over two hours.
Ivanov glanced briefly at Wu Haoyu, a small show of force on his part. His network of connections within the military was extensive and readily available.
However, he miscalculated; he forgot that Wu Haoyu was also a second-generation rich kid, just like him.
In China, due to a severe shortage of civil aviation capacity, it is not uncommon for military aircraft to transport leaders. They also relied on the Air Force to withstand the pressure from the Civil Aviation Administration and maintain control of flight routes.
So when Wu Haoyu boarded the plane, his only thought was that Russian military aircraft flew even more aggressively than Aeroflot aircraft.
He suspected that the flight, which should normally take four or five hours, would have been a two-hour journey.
Fortunately, although the Russian military aircraft were quite powerful and the passengers endured some hardship, their safety was still guaranteed.
At least they managed to disembark from the plane with their hands and feet intact.
Wang Xiao only threw up again when she got off the plane.
Oh well, they're in a hurry anyway, and besides, the trains on Sakhalin Island aren't comfortable.
She took the mineral water bottle from Lyuba, rinsed her mouth, put a piece of candied orange peel in her mouth, and said, "Let's go."
Douglas asked solicitously, "Miss Wang, would you like to rest for a bit?"
He swore that he had absolutely no ulterior motives or need to buy time; it was purely out of concern for a woman.
Especially considering that this woman is so young, beautiful, and petite.
Wang Xiao had already lifted her foot: "It's okay."
This area is more desolate than the coastal area on the outskirts of Sakhalin, as the nearest settlement to the oil field is 200 kilometers away.
At present, the oil field is still a huge construction site on land.
The living quarters that Douglas requested had just started construction. The various construction tools and busy workers gave Wang Xiao the same feeling as when he was stuck at home after the Spring Festival in 2020, watching live videos of the construction sites of Huoshenshan and Leishenshan Hospitals on his phone every day.
Their workload is no less than that of the other two.
The boss's requirement was that they build comfortable dormitories, complete water supply, drainage, and heating facilities, including an independent power generation and transmission system, before the island's harsh winter arrived. Next, they were to construct advanced production workshops.
It must be done.
Because they now live in houses converted from shipping containers.
These houses have very poor insulation and cannot withstand the severe cold of Sakhalin Island.
To achieve this goal, there are now tens of thousands of workers busy at the construction site, a dense crowd of people.
Wu Haoyu finally uttered his first exclamation since arriving on the island: "Are you guys trying to build a Shenzhen?"
When the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone was established in 1979, 20,000 engineering soldiers were transported to this small fishing village in the South China Sea by more than 100 military trains, which led to the city's rapid development.
Ivanov instantly became delighted, even forgetting his previous disdain for the man, and said smugly, "Hey! You have a good eye. Why can't it be Russia's Shenzhen?"
Look, it has abundant oil and gas resources.
Its biggest weakness was originally the lack of manpower.
Now, the number of workers alone is enough to build a town here.
Look next to the construction site, the new vegetable base has been built, and the lush green bok choy is swaying in the wind.
Ah! This is the spirit of life!
Ivanov had never been a farmer, but his love for the land was genuine. He truly adored the lush crops and vegetables growing on the black soil, and just looking at them made him happy.
As a member of the Chinese nation, Wu Haoyu was used to seeing people growing vegetables, so he naturally wouldn't find it so strange.
He focused more of his attention on the steel giant on the sea as seen through the telescope.
Like the Kunpeng described by Zhuangzi, it proudly looks down at the ocean below.
“This is an offshore drilling platform.” Douglas was explaining it to Wang Xiao behind him rather than to him. “Without it, we can’t do anything.”
Ivanov snorted and finally couldn't help complaining, "Look how spoiled you are! You have such an expensive behemoth, with everything you need inside. Laundry room, changing room, bathroom, dining room, all the amenities you could want, and you still want villas on land. Look, our workers can live just as well in their log cabins."
Douglas wouldn't accept that.
He solemnly emphasized, "Sir, it was only with great difficulty that I convinced my company to send people over ahead of schedule. Otherwise, our oil workers would not have been able to enter the site without the living quarters being completed."
The current cooperation was achieved not only because Douglas himself genuinely needed the Sakhalin Island oil and gas field project to solidify his position in the company, but more importantly, because the American company itself wanted to take the opportunity to test the waters.
It has been widely believed that the situation in Russia is unlikely to be stable in the coming years, and that its economy will struggle to improve.
Russia, which relies on energy exports for its livelihood, has no choice but to adopt a humble approach when seeking external cooperation amidst internal and external troubles.
Just like the No. 1 project they reluctantly abandoned, according to the negotiation agreement, the Moscow government could only get 6% of the profits.
If it weren't for the continuous decline in international oil prices in recent years, coupled with the inability of the Moscow government, who could have signed such a contract?
In any case, American oil companies, as well as the Japanese conglomerates that withdrew earlier, are all eager to get involved. As long as Project One doesn't encounter any major problems, they will invest in Project Two.
Their cunning was so obvious that Ivanov couldn't possibly miss their ulterior motives.
He scoffed and sighed, "May God bless us with good luck."
The only means of transportation from land to offshore drilling platforms is the helicopter.
Taking a boat is absolutely out of the question; this drilling platform is a full 80 meters tall, which would be a skyscraper on land.
Even though Wang Xiao and Ivanov are the bosses, they still have to undergo specialized safety training before joining the platform.
After they got onto the platform, they ran into an observation team sent by China Petroleum.
Uh, not the oil company, but the technical team of the offshore oil company.
Wang Xiao had to admit that she was not very knowledgeable; it was the first time she had ever known that it wasn't two barrels of oil but three.
The domestic offshore oil company was established in 1983. It specializes in offshore oil development and is currently the only authorized entity in China to exploit offshore oil.
So after Minister Cao helped make the connection, China Petroleum Corporation wanted to come.
However, CNOOC directly presented the "Regulations on China's Cooperation in the Exploitation of Offshore Oil Resources" issued by the State Council in 1982, which caused the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) to back down; it could only reluctantly hand over the golden opportunity to CNOOC.
CNOOC takes this matter very seriously.
In the 1980s, they discovered the Jinzhou 20-2 condensate gas field, the Suizhong 36-1 billion-ton oil field, and the Jinzhou 9-3 Weizhou 10-3 oil field.
The discovery and development of these oil and gas fields gave CNOOC confidence and strengthened its belief in independent development and enhanced international cooperation.
Therefore, this time, they sent a team of twenty people directly.
The reason for such a large-scale event is twofold: firstly, the opportunity to visit top international oil companies' offshore oil and gas fields is rare, and everyone is eager to learn; secondly, it is because on Sakhalin Island, they basically do not need to spend foreign exchange.
Now, whether it's the US dollar, Japanese yen, Korean won, or Chinese yuan, they are all common currencies here, and they are more popular than the ruble.
CNOOC simply lacked the funds to purchase large-scale equipment; it wasn't truly destitute. Furthermore, when the main force set off, under the guidance of experienced individuals, each person wore seven or eight layers of clothing, which, once sold on the island, would cover roughly six months' worth of living expenses.
These 20 people are just the vanguard; as the oil and gas field project progresses, the China National Petroleum Corporation plans to send even more teams.
Wang Xiao and Ivanov didn't care, and neither did the Moscow government.
The current international situation is delicate, and the Moscow government is eager for more countries to participate in the Sakhalin oil and gas field project, so that it can have more initiative and greater say in the future.
The engineer leading the team asked Douglas, "How much would it cost per day to rent out this drilling platform?"
Offshore drilling is costly and technically demanding, resulting in exorbitantly high equipment costs. Renting offshore oil extraction equipment is as common in the industry as airlines leasing aircraft.
Douglas gave a subtle look: "That's really not cheap. The daily rental fee is $250,000, and that's a discounted price."
A few gasps of surprise rippled through the crowd. A super brain had already quickly calculated that, putting everything else aside, the annual rent alone would amount to $91.25 million.
Goodness, what a money-devouring beast!
If drilling deep wells doesn't yield any oil, then all that money has been wasted.
Douglas made an exaggerated expression and opened his arms to his colleagues: "So everyone says that oil companies are rolling in money, but they don't see it when they go bankrupt."
The CNOOC engineer laughed along, saying, "We have a Chinese proverb that says, 'You only see the thief eating meat, but you don't see the thief getting beaten.' That's exactly the point."
This allowed the visitors from the other oil companies to burst into laughter together.
Both bosses were laymen, and as the ones paying the money, they didn't find the remark funny at all.
Douglas quickly added, "Of course, may God bless us all so that we can all return home with a full load and that our trip was worthwhile."
Ivanov then managed a forced smile: "May God bless us."
As a layman, he couldn't see anything wrong with it.
As the boss, he expressed his concern for the workers.
Wang Xiao announced that, to thank everyone for their hard work, he would treat everyone to a big meal and a movie today.
Don't think that giving money is the most practical approach.
Workers on offshore drilling platforms earn quite a lot, but money doesn't really excite them.
Like sailors, everyone hates being alone and hopes to enter normal human society and feel the warmth of human beings.
However, due to limited resources, the boss can't possibly take them all to big cities to have some fun right now.
When rushing to meet deadlines, what flows through each 24 hours is not just time, but also a torrent of money.
One worker on the platform complained, "No seafood, I refuse to eat any seafood, I just want fresh spinach salad and kale."
"Of course, of course," Wang Xiao assured with a smile. "Absolutely. We specially transported a boatload of fresh vegetables over today."
The temperature here in the oil and gas field is lower than in South Sakhalin, so even in summer, as long as they are stored properly, vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants and winter melons can be kept for a week, and cabbages and other similar vegetables can be kept for even longer. This ensures the workers' basic vegetable needs.
However, leafy green vegetables like spinach still need to be grown here. Otherwise, if we can pick out even one pound of edible vegetables out of three pounds when the ship arrives, we'll be lucky.
The cost of transporting materials to the drilling platform was too high, so the bosses didn't stay for dinner. Instead, they went ashore to give the construction workers a pep talk.
They had just landed and hadn't taken more than a few steps when a middle-aged woman dressed in North Korean attire suddenly appeared in front of them, anxiously shouting something at Wang Xiao and the others.
Unfortunately, none of the people present understood Korean and couldn't comprehend what she meant.
Wang Xiao asked the young North Korean girl following behind the middle-aged woman, "Is there anything you need?"
The young girl lowered her head and whispered in Russian, "I'm pregnant."
For a moment, Wang Xiao wondered if she had misheard, and instinctively blurted out, "Whose?"
"he."
Upon seeing Douglas being pointed at, Mr. Wang felt as if his head was about to explode.
Damn it! She knew that unless a man was hung on the wall, he would never behave himself.
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