Courtyard House: Initial Donation of 50 Million

The early winter morning sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows into the second phase of the Red Star Family Dormitory building for experts.

After the hearty drinking session at the Old Moscow Restaurant last night, the thirty-eight Soviet experts gradually awoke from their sleep. Many leaned against the headboard, unconsciously smacking their lips, savoring the unlimited supply of premium vodka from the previous night—its rich and pungent taste was something that could only be enjoyed occasionally during major festivals in the Soviet Union, and such an opportunity to drink freely was almost unprecedented.

Despite the lingering memories, the professionalism of these seasoned technical experts remained ingrained in their bones. After sobering up, no one lingered in the effects of the alcohol; instead, they all tidied themselves up neatly and clearly understood the purpose of their trip. Everyone had witnessed the generous treatment and sincere intentions offered by the Hongxing Factory. These experts, genuinely wanting to help their socialist brotherhood improve its industrial level, secretly resolved to impart all their knowledge and experience accumulated over half a lifetime to the engineers and skilled workers of the Hongxing Factory during their upcoming on-site work.

Chief Engineer Petrov, the team leader, was the first to come downstairs. After counting the number of people and seeing that everyone had arrived on time, he nodded to Xiao Luo, the accompanying translator. Xiao Luo immediately turned to the minibus driver and said "Let's go." The driver started the vehicle, and the two Red Star brand minibuses slowly drove away from the community, heading towards the Red Star factory.

As soon as the car entered the main road, the Soviet experts inside were secretly taken aback.

The capital city at that time was far from the smooth and wide asphalt road network of later generations; many sections were in disrepair, riddled with potholes. Yet, sitting in this minibus, the body barely moved when it went over the potholes, with almost no harsh jolts, demonstrating the remarkably well-tuned shock absorption. The engine noise was isolated from the passenger compartment, resulting in a quiet and smooth ride, and the wind noise from outside was effectively filtered out by the thick doors and windows.

The seats are all wrapped in top-grain cowhide and filled with thick, high-elasticity foam. The backrest angle is designed to fit the lower back, so even tall and strong Soviet experts felt comfortable and relaxed in them, without any sense of crampedness.

"This car... is so much more comfortable than the official buses assigned to our department." Someone couldn't help but whisper in Russian.

"I initially thought it was just a pretty exterior, a mere showpiece, but I didn't expect the chassis and sound insulation to be so solid." Another mechanical expert touched the seat armrest, his tone full of surprise. "The ride quality is even better than the latest bus models in our country."

The group chatted quietly, exchanging their experiences on the bus, their eyes filled with surprise and admiration. They hadn't had high expectations for the buses produced in China, treating them merely as ordinary means of transportation. But after experiencing them firsthand, they realized that the manufacturing standards of the Hongxing Factory were far more sophisticated than they had anticipated.

Every word of these whispered conversations reached the ears of Xiao Luo, the translator in the front row.

Xiao Luo, a clerk in the factory affairs department, was fluent in Russian and was personally assigned by Party Secretary Yao Jianghe to be the full-time translator for the Soviet experts. He even moved into the experts' dormitory building with them, specifically responsible for daily communication and living arrangements. At this moment, listening to the Soviet experts praising the factory's minibuses, Xiao Luo stood tall with an irrepressible sense of pride and honor.

This minibus was designed under the personal leadership of Chief Engineer Wang Huanbo, specifically tailored for employee commuting and official travel. Even the senior experts from the Soviet Union praised it highly, demonstrating just how impressive Engineer Wang's design was. A strong sense of pride welled up within him, and he felt a sense of pride himself.

The minibus traveled smoothly for about twenty minutes before arriving steadily at the main gate of the Hongxing General Factory.

As soon as the car slowed down, the Soviet experts inside were once again stunned by the scene outside the window. On the road in front of the factory, many workers rode bicycles or walked into the factory, while many others drove in twos and threes into the factory gate in identical Red Star brand cars. The flow of vehicles was endless and dazzling.

"Are these... all workers from your factory?" someone couldn't help but ask Xiao Luo, their tone full of disbelief.

Xiao Luo smiled and nodded, then explained to everyone, "Dear experts, these people driving to work are all employees of our factory. These cars are Hongxing brand family sedans, produced independently by Hongxing Automobile Factory. Our factory has always advocated that our workers experience the superiority of socialism firsthand, and we have specifically introduced a car purchase policy for employees: workers with five years or more of service only need to pay 500 yuan upfront to obtain the permanent right to use the vehicle, and the factory will cover all routine maintenance and repairs."

He paused, then pointed towards the residential buildings in the distance and added, "It's not just cars; the factory also built 24-story high-rise apartment buildings with elevators for the employees, the same type of units you all live in. New houses and new cars have boosted everyone's enthusiasm for work, increased production motivation, and accelerated industrial construction. The leaders above have specifically praised this policy, saying that our Hongxing Factory is truly contributing to socialist construction."

The words were clearly conveyed to every Soviet expert through the translator, and the carriage, which had been whispering just moments before, instantly fell silent.

Everyone fell silent, their smiles fading and replaced by a complex mix of shock and envy.

They were already highly paid senior technicians in the Soviet Union, but even so, they were far from reaching this standard of living.

In the Soviet Union at that time, all daily necessities were rationed. Bread, meat, and cloth all required coupons, and the quantities were limited and the types of goods were scarce. If you wanted to buy a large item, you not only needed money but also the corresponding coupons, and it was common to wait in line for several months. Cars were even scarcer, something ordinary workers couldn't even dream of. Even for experts like them, applying for a government car required layers of approval, and buying a private car was even more difficult, with prices ridiculously high, and waiting in line for years was not guaranteed.

Housing was even worse. Khrushchev-style apartments were being built in large numbers throughout the Soviet Union. The apartments were small, with cramped ceilings, no private kitchens or bathrooms, and residents on the same floor shared a communal stove and toilet. It was common for a family of three or four to squeeze into a small room of 30 or 40 square meters. To get a larger apartment, one had to wait for several years, going through a long queue and waiting in line.

But at the Hongxing Factory, these things that they never dared to dream of were actually the treatment that ordinary workers could enjoy.

The expert housing they lived in wasn't a special accommodation built specifically for foreign guests; it was the same standard apartment type allocated to the workers at the Red Star Factory. Workers could drive their own cars for 500 yuan, and the factory even provided maintenance and repairs. Such living conditions were far superior to those of ordinary Soviet workers, and even to these respected technical experts.

The carriage was silent. Many experts looked out the window at the workers driving into the factory, their eyes filled with undisguised envy. Some even secretly calculated that if they could stay and work at the Hongxing factory, the pay would probably be several times better than in China.

Vasily leaned back in his seat in the crowd, his face expressionless, but his fingers tightened subtly.

He saw things more deeply than the average expert. The fact that the Red Star Factory could offer such treatment to its workers was due to its extremely strong industrial capacity and profitability; the fact that it could enable its workers to generally live in high-rise buildings with elevators and drive family cars showed that its social mobilization capabilities and industrial foundation had long exceeded the KGB's intelligence predictions.

He looked up into the depths of the factory area, his eyes filled with an even deeper chill.

This seemingly warm and friendly factory hides a strength far more terrifying than one might imagine.

The minibus slowly drove into the factory gate, revealing brand-new factory buildings, neat production lines, and workers hurrying about. A cross-border technical exchange had officially begun; but the undercurrents and competition hidden behind the exchange also seeped into every corner of the factory.