Chapter 332 Paranoia (Bug Fix): Are We Allies?
Ivanov hurriedly changed his coat, preparing to go out.
Hearing this, he impatiently turned around and retorted, "How can the factory survive without military orders?"
Punonin blocked his way and yelled at him directly, "Don't try to downplay the issue. You know what I mean. How could you let China interfere in our military industry? I think you've completely lost your mind!"
"So our military industry doesn't have any imported products?" Ivanov retorted, not to be outdone. "What are you dreaming about? Precision capacitors, resistors, and precision machining equipment—haven't we always relied on imports?"
Punonin's anger flared even more, and he no longer cared about Slavic pride, waving his arms wildly: "That's different, that's because we can't make it. We have the technology and factories, we can make it, so why are you letting China interfere?"
“Because our supporting system has collapsed.” Ivanov pulled his cashmere coat tighter, staring at Punonin. “Don’t you know? I’ve said it so many times.”
Punoning raised his hand, staring intently at him: "But those factories are still there. As long as production resumes, they can fully meet the needs of the supply chain."
Ivanov refused without hesitation: "The cost is too high. Restoring their production would require a lot of time, effort, and money."
Seeing that Punonin still had something to say, he made a gesture of refusal, "Impossible, Vladimir. If we try to save all the factories, the only result will be that everyone will be dragged down to death."
Wang Xiao, watching him put on the coat, couldn't stand it anymore: "No, no, no, this one won't do. Bring me that camel-colored one."
While waiting for her coat, she glanced back at Punoning and said, "Be realistic, sir. The most important thing right now is to keep the production line running."
Recently, as relations have eased, Yura has forgotten her persona as a human fire extinguisher and a male fox spirit, and rolled her eyes at him: "You make it sound so easy, it's not like it's your Chinese companies that are being abandoned."
Wang Xiao didn't mince words: "Please remember one thing, sir. Every penny Ivanov earns and every penny he loses is mine. No businessman would turn down his own money!"
She took the coat from her assistant, shook it, nodded in satisfaction, and then gestured for Ivanov to put it on.
Then she turned back and continued to criticize Yura: "Besides, there are many companies that have been abandoned in China. Focusing on the big and letting go of the small is the current policy of China's state-owned enterprise reform."
"What else can we do? Grab everything and let go of nothing. The harder we try with our ten fingers, the more it feels like grasping sand. We can't hold onto anything."
Yura had to admit that the Eastern woman in front of him had good taste.
Sure enough, Ivanov looked much better in a camel coat.
But this doesn't mean he agrees with Wang Xiao's theory on state-owned enterprise reform: "You say you'll just give up, but what happens after you give up? Will the entire industrial chain completely collapse?"
"Focus on the big ones!" Wang Xiao took a step back, looked at how Ivanov's coat looked on him, and without turning his head, he directly retorted, "If the production lines of the big factories are preserved, the products can be sold, the big factories will survive, and then the supporting enterprises can be brought up."
She couldn't take it anymore. "You two don't understand business or management, so don't point fingers and give unsolicited advice. You've got the point!"
"For example, if the tire suppliers and steering wheel factories have stopped production and can't operate, then we definitely need to find other factories to get the tires and steering wheels before we can assemble cars and sell them."
"Then the car factory survived, expanded its production scale, and its car sales increased steadily. It became a stable source of orders and a very good customer that the Russian industry was willing to work for."
"As long as there is market demand, there will inevitably be market supply; this is the nature of a market economy."
"Even if the existing tire factories and steering wheel factories cannot be saved, new factories will appear in the Moscow market to take over the work."
"Don't always worry that the supply chain has been taken over and that products from new local factories can't get in."
"We are capitalists, and we strive to maximize profits. All capitalists in the world are like that. As long as the new factory's products are of guaranteed quality and the price is acceptable, then it's good value for money. Why wouldn't we switch suppliers?"
"It's not that difficult for the new factory to achieve this. First, local products don't have to pay import tariffs, and transportation costs are low. Second, the government can also provide corresponding support policies, such as tax reductions or exemptions."
Wang Xiao looked at the scarf draped over Ivanov's shoulders and called out again, "No, no, no, this one won't do. Bring me the gray one."
She looked up at Ivanov and said, "You're so beautiful, your eyes are so captivating, so you have to tone down your aura."
Upon seeing this, Yura immediately covered her eyes with one hand and spun around.
Good heavens, they're discussing such a serious topic, and she can still be distracted by wondering what scarf Ivanov is wearing!
However, he had to admit that the camel coat and gray scarf did suit Ivanov very well.
The latter's innate playboy temperament was completely suppressed by this outfit, making him look quite reliable.
Wang Xiao adjusted Ivanov's scarf and nodded in satisfaction.
Dressing up as a doll can always bring people great joy.
Punonin observed coldly before speaking again: "Madam, so you're saying you're trying to contribute to Russia's military industry?"
The implication is clear: you're kidding me!
Wang Xiao turned her head helplessly, looking at him with a complicated expression: "I've said it countless times, I have never had any ill will towards Russia, and I have supported Ivanov's dream in the past, present, and future."
She raised her hands, as if in surrender. "OK, you don't have to believe me. Capitalists always have a low moral standard. But—"
She emphasized, "You have to trust the capitalists' money. Where the capitalists' money flows, faith and love will flow."
Punonin narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze sweeping over her repeatedly like an X-ray, as if trying to discern every inch of her bones.
Suddenly, the tax police major general gave a strange smile: "Madam, do you hope the Kremlin can win the war in Chechnya?"
“Of course!” Wang Xiao said firmly. “Of course I hope Moscow can win.”
Punonin shook his head: "No, no, no, madam, please answer me honestly."
Wang Xiao sighed, a sense of powerlessness welling up inside him: "I want to emphasize again that I am telling the truth."
“If the Kremlin loses, then the Russian Federation government, which cannot control Chechnya, will also be unable to control other republics.”
"What will happen to our business in Russia if all the republics become independent and fall apart? Especially in Sakhalin Oblast. What if it becomes independent and doesn't recognize the oil and gas field contracts we signed with the Russian federal government, and tries to take the oil and gas fields away?"
"My God!"
Wang Xiao felt a sharp pain in his chest just thinking about this possibility. "We've already invested a billion US dollars, and we're heavily indebted to our shareholders. How will we pay it back then?"
The breakfast in the dining room has been cleared away, leaving only the fragrance of flowers.
The snow outside the window gradually lessened, becoming a tranquil poem.
This scene is undeniably beautiful.
However, Punonin remained unmoved. He shook his head and began to recite the poem by Tsvetaeva, one of the three great poets of the "Silver Age" in Russian literary history: "Even if I lose one hand, or even two! With my lips I can write on the guillotine: My turbulent land, my pride, my motherland!"
Then he changed the subject, staring intently at Wang Xiao, and said, word by word, "The interests of the motherland are above all else! I believe you have the courage to do so, Miss Wang."
The implication is that she is willing to sacrifice her personal interests without hesitation for the sake of the country.
Wang Xiao really wanted to curse.
Paranoia; the president in the Kremlin suffers from paranoia.
The tax police major general in front of me also suffers from severe paranoia.
She had no idea she could be so noble.
“Yes, you are right!” Wang Xiao didn’t care about his image anymore and rolled his eyes. “For the sake of my country’s interests, I don’t want a Russia that is torn apart.”
“No! What you want.” Punonin seemed to see into the depths of her soul. “Madam, the dead Soviet Union, the fragmented Russia, is the best thing for you.”
Ivanov couldn't take it anymore and stopped changing his boots: "Vlamikil!"
"Don't speak." Punonin was colder and harsher than the Moscow winter wind; his eyes were like black holes, staring straight at Wang Xiao. "Madam, is that right?"
Wang Xiao, unable to bear it any longer, retorted, "Sir, you have such an intelligent face. Why do you always say such stupid things?!"
"What good is a fragmented Russia to China? Not a single penny."
"It means chaos, it means war, it means that at any time, a large number of armed forces may break through the border and enter China."
"Please read 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms' and the history of the Three Kingdoms. Look at what the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu, and Han did when they couldn't defeat each other: they expanded outwards!"
"What kind of background do these armed forces have? The Soviet Red Army! To guard against the Soviet Red Army, China had a nationwide mobilization of soldiers for more than ten years, preparing for war and famine."
"For this, we sacrificed economic development, and it could even be said that we sacrificed the interests of an entire generation."
"Now that the situation of deploying a million troops on the border has finally come to an end, China is focusing its efforts on developing its economy."
"If we were to return to a state of universal conscription, how could China's economy develop?"
"Why did China sign a border agreement with Russia this September? It was for peace. Only in a peaceful environment can the economy develop!"
Since Punonin's gaze didn't leave Wang Xiao's face, he curled up the corner of his mouth: "So, China welcomes a powerful Russia?"
Wang Xiao rolled her eyes at him and said, "You can say that when Russia is strong enough, like the Soviet Union."
Punoning's face instantly darkened.
Yura finally remembered his duty as a human fire extinguisher, and in a panic, he forced a topic: "Hey! Don't you Chinese have a saying, 'Heroes emerge in troubled times'? A fragmented Russia should offer you more opportunities for doing business."
"What a load of crap!" Wang Xiao had no patience for him. "For someone who starts from scratch, chaos is the best opportunity. It's a gamble with your life. But we're not penniless now; we're a large and established business."
She then became critical of Ivanov's boots, saying, "Don't wear these, change to those other pairs; those are more comfortable."
Ivanov had no objections and, under the gaze of his two friends, calmly changed his shoes again.
After he finished changing, he walked up to Wang Xiao and showed her the overall effect.
Wang Xiao nodded in satisfaction: "If you get sleepy while waiting, take a nap. Remember, you've been losing sleep and appetite for days because of the huge crisis the Kremlin is about to face."
She encouraged him as if she were sending a child to school, saying, "Don't worry, the tired redness in your eyes is a medal for your hard work for the country."
Ugh! Really.
Yura felt like she couldn't hear anymore.
Wang Xiao didn't intend to keep them any longer and simply gestured for them to leave: "I suppose you two don't have anything to say to me."
Punonin put his gloves back on, gave her one last deep look, and walked away.
As the host, Wang Xiao politely saw them off and sincerely expressed his blessings: "I hope none of you will be marginalized, especially Mr. Punonin. I look forward to you taking charge of the intelligence department. The failed attack on the Kremlin has proven that the intelligence department now needs a strong leader."
Punoning turned around, his gaze pointed: "Are you so eager for me to find out as soon as possible how the titanium alloy was shipped out?"
Ivanov expressed his dissatisfaction once again: "Vlamikil, I don't know what you're talking about."
Wang Xiao's reaction was a sigh: "Sir, can't you walk normally?"
Yura was baffled: "Miss King, what strange things are you saying?"
"I mean, like three people walking on two legs, you can't have all your feet stretching forward at once."
Her left and right index fingers were joined together with the middle fingers of both hands, forming a three-person, two-legged posture.
She moved each of her raised fingers in turn, saying, "Russia is facing three tasks: one is the institutional structure, the transition from a planned economy to a market economy; one is the industrial structure, the transition from a military-industrial-led economy to a consumer-led economy; and one is the political structure, well, what you call the transition from authoritarian governance to democratic governance."
Yura, being a government official, immediately became alert: "Is there a problem?"
“No problem.” Wang Xiao shook his head. “Russia’s current tasks are indeed these three. But—”
Her single word made Yura's heart leap into her throat again.
She sighed, "The problem is that all three are happening at the same time, like a two-legged race where all the feet are running forward. The only result is that you can't take a single step and will just fall down on the spot."
Yura opened her mouth, as if to emphasize that the three should have moved forward side by side.
Wang Xiao immediately made a negative gesture: "No, no, no. These three tasks each have their own main contradictions that urgently need to be resolved, as well as the policies to be adopted in response to these contradictions. So here's the problem: the policies they address are contradictory, and they're bound to clash."
She pointed to the three Slavic men in front of her, "It's like you all grew up together and all hope for a bright future for Russia, but you still have conflicts. So when you work together on a task, you need to prioritize and follow a plan, otherwise if everyone does it their own way, you'll only mess things up."
She re-enacted the three-legged race gesture, saying, "So, we must figure out who takes the first step and who takes the second. The economy, developing the economy is the most important thing; everything else can be put on hold."
Punonin refused outright: "No, madam, please don't try to muddy the waters and make us turn back the clock and go back to the Soviet Union."
His face grew increasingly hard, and his voice was stern: "Politics, changes to the political structure, absolutely must come first."
Wang Xiao poured cold water on his enthusiasm: "It's impossible for it to proceed in sync with economic reform. Let me put it this way: throughout China's economic reform process, there has always been a debate about whether it's capitalist or socialist. You could say that the reforms of the 1980s were so tortuous, and why did China need a Southern Tour speech in 1992 for the reforms to proceed in depth?"
"Its core purpose is to prioritize economic development, while putting other things, such as political controversies, on the back burner."
"China, a socialist country, allows capitalists like me to exist. Why are you so afraid of socialist communism?"
"There's no need for that. All theories are tools; as long as they're useful, they can be used. Japan dared to use Marxist economics to develop its economy after the war, so why are you so sensitive about it, afraid to even touch it?"
Wang Xiao looked puzzled. "Your fears are so intense that even I'm afraid. Don't you find that absurd?"
"Hey!" Yura jumped up first. His pride as a Slavic man wouldn't allow him to admit that he was afraid of a woman, a petite Eastern woman.
"Don't misunderstand, we have never been afraid of you. We are just being gentlemanly and respectful to ladies."
"Really?" Wang Xiao tilted his head and touched his ear. "If that's the case, then I suppose you won't avoid me like the plague, thinking every day that I'm trying to frame you."
Yura stammered, "Of course, we never had that idea."
Unfortunately, Wang Xiao didn't know when to stop. Instead, he pressed his advantage, saying, "So we're allies, right?"
Yura was no longer able to answer that question.
At the crucial moment, it was Punonin who saved him.
The tax police major general glanced at his watch, then looked expressionlessly at Ivanov: "Aren't you in a hurry to leave?"
The latter curled his lip, thinking to himself, "He's a major general, yet he runs away when he can't win."
Wang Xiao chuckled twice and then reminded Ivanov, "Be careful on the road."
Then she waved to the two guests, forcing a smile, and said, "Have a nice day."
Punonin and Yura arrived in the same car, but when they left the villa, he got into Ivanov's car instead.
After the car door closed, his first words were: "What do you really want? What do you want to do?"
"I want a strong Russia, at least a Russia that can sit on equal footing with others when we sit at the table."
Ivanov gazed ahead, where snow lotuses were blooming amidst the icy snow.
Punonin followed his gaze and saw the flowers in the snow. Seemingly comforted, he unconsciously softened his voice: "So?"
"Therefore, our military industry needs to be upgraded."
Ivanov kept looking ahead, even though the car had already left the snow lotus field and all that lay ahead was a vast expanse of white.
"Only in this way can Russia have more say, no matter who it allies with in the future."
Punoning scoffed, "Regardless of who you ally with, haven't you already unilaterally allied with China?"
Ivanov shook his head: "No country has only one ally. We have no better choice now. The Kremlin has been taken over by warmongers, and a Chechen war is inevitable. They are so arrogant that the outcome of the war is not optimistic."
He sighed, "But this may not be bad news for Russia's military industry. A brutal and protracted war will continuously provide feedback on weapons usage data, giving technology the opportunity to be updated."
His gaze finally turned to Punoning, and his voice became more resolute, "So we must ensure that the production line does not stop."
The car finally stopped just before entering the city.
Punonin got out of the car and got back into Yura's car.
The two cars parted at the intersection, and Ivanov drove to Red Square and into the Kremlin.
A familiar staff member greeted him with a smile: "Mr. Ivanov, is there anything I can help you with on such a snowy day?"
“Of course.” Ivanov smiled and nodded at him. “I wonder when the President will have time to meet me. I have a very good idea that I would like to share with the President.”
By saying this, he means he is prepared to wait for several hours.
As is widely known, the Kremlin president rarely works in the morning, and during that time, he is too drunk to wake up.
To everyone's surprise, the staff member nodded immediately: "Then let me ask for you. Perhaps the president would like to see you right now."
After a slight pause, Ivanov smiled again: "Thank you for your help."
The staff member smiled and said, "You're welcome."
Who doesn't like someone who's generous and often brings gifts and treats everyone to coffee or milk tea?
This time, Ivanov received the good news in less than three minutes.
The president is willing to spare ten minutes to meet with him.
Ivanov had not seen the president for almost half a month.
Since the relationship between the president and the mayor became increasingly delicate, he has avoided any appearance of impropriety and has refrained from seeking attention in either direction.
Upon seeing the president in person, Ivanov couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
See? Alcoholism is such a terrible habit. The current president doesn't look to be in very good shape at all.
But he had to admit that the president was mostly a rather amiable person, and upon seeing him, even joked, "Is our Moscow senator finally going to put forward his bill?"
“No.” Ivanov shook his head. “Sir, I came for you, for the Russian Federation.”
The president, sitting behind his desk, showed neither surprise nor anger, still wearing a smile: "Tell me, what do you want to do?"
“A television station.” Ivanov went straight to the point. “Sir, I need a new television station because you need one, and Russia needs one too.”
The president looked puzzled: "Why do you all think I need a TV station? Boris says so, and you say so too. How many TV stations do you need?"
Ivanov immediately became alert.
Boris Berezovsky was a favorite of the president, and the publisher of the president's memoir, "The President's Notebooks," was highly trusted.
His interest in Russian television is not good news for Ivanov.
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Goodnight [Let me see]
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