Flip the table and divide the family property! Take his wife and daughter into the mountains and eat

The room was completely warm.

The heat from the alcohol on the scalding kang (heated brick bed) completely dissipated the fierceness Natasha had put on in the courtyard.

She only took off half of her coat, then threw herself onto the kang (a heated brick bed), grabbed the large floral quilt that Lin Xiu had brought and wrapped it haphazardly around herself, before falling into a deep sleep.

The heavy snoring came in waves, as deep as a bellows, making the large enamel mug on the kang cabinet tremble slightly.

Lin Xiu was initially worried that the foreign girl might have drunk too much and stood by the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) for a long time. Seeing that although her face was flushed, her breathing was steady and heavy, she felt relieved and tucked the blanket in, then turned around and went to the kitchen to chop sauerkraut and cook.

The room fell completely silent.

The two rough canvas bags filled with rubles had already been dragged into the inner room by Zhao Shanhe, one in each hand. The zippers had been roughly tied with hemp rope, and the bags were now leaning heavily and stiffly against the thick wooden cabinet, with the edges of the green banknotes peeking out from the gaps.

Zhao Shanhe sat on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), his elbows propped on his knees. He took out a crumpled cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and rubbed his throbbing temples.

A bluish-white mist escaped from between his fingers.

When he made the phone call at the brigade headquarters yesterday, all he wanted to do was use the old Russian guy in border trade to get that silly boy Dazhuang a nice outfit to make him look presentable in the city.

Who could have imagined that when they woke up after one night, not only was there a conspicuous Volga parked in front of their door, but there was also a drunken foreign woman and two bags of rubles that could crush a person's bones.

This business has gone so awry that you can't even find the right path.

Ivanov took off his fox fur hat and sat on the small stool opposite him, his boisterous manner from the yard earlier completely gone.

Zhao Shanhe looked up at him.

"Alright."

Zhao Shanhe exhaled smoke, reached into his pocket, pulled out a cigarette pack, knocked out a filter cigarette, and casually tossed it to Ivanov across from him.

"Since you're already here, why are you pretending to be so profound? Light up a cigarette."

Ivanov paused, taken aback.

Zhao Shanhe gestured towards Natasha, who was fast asleep on the kang (heated brick bed):

"Stay here first."

"Let Xiuer take a look later and prepare a place for you two to sleep. If you need more bedding, we'll add some. Just tell us what you need."

"As for the rest—"

He raised his hand and flicked off the cigarette ash.

"Let's talk about it slowly after everyone has woken up and eaten."

Ivanov sat on a small stool, remaining silent for a long time.

After a long while, he finally raised his head, his expression somewhat complicated:

"Zhao".

Aren't you going to ask?"

"What do you want to ask?"

Why did we suddenly come here?

Zhao Shanhe glanced at him.

"What's there to ask?"

Ivanov was clearly stunned.

Zhao Shanhe took a drag of his cigarette, his voice flat:

"If you had really done something that would get you killed or something you couldn't handle over there, you wouldn't have driven your Volga here so casually and remembered to bring Dazhuang clothes for his blind date."

"The fact that you can still do this means that no matter how big the problem is, it's not so big that the sky is about to fall."

"It's nothing more than running into trouble."

You will speak when you want to.

Ivanov stared at Zhao Shanhe for a long while, his tense face slowly relaxing.

In the end, he didn't explain anything, he just nodded emphatically.

"it is good."

Ivanov put the lit cigarette in his mouth, his Adam's apple bobbing violently. The heavy weight that had been pressing on his chest felt like a stone weighing hundreds of pounds had been lifted off his chest by Zhao Shanhe's few casual words.

On the frozen land across the river, everyone was watching his warehouse and scheming to seize his railcars; even his close friends were secretly preparing letters of denunciation. Who would have thought that, after crossing this frozen border river, in this small earthen house filled with the aroma of pickled cabbage and meat, without even asking a single question, a warm kang (heated brick bed) and quilts would be prepared for the couple?

"Go smoke your cigarette, stop crying like a woman."

Zhao Shanhe stubbed out his half-smoked cigarette in a tin box by the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), stood up, and patted the dust off his trousers.

He glanced down at the two rough canvas travel bags leaning against the kang cabinet. A corner of the bright green rubles peeked out from the gap tied with hemp rope, standing out conspicuously in this earthen house full of the smell of cooking fires.

"Put these two bags under my kang cabinet first."

Zhao Shanhe bent down, picked up one in each hand, and strode to the large red pine wood cabinet. He pulled open the bottom hidden wooden door and steadily pushed the two heavy bags of rubles inside. "There are too many people outside. Although the farmers in the village don't know what kind of foreign currency this is, if they see green banknotes piled up in the middle of the house, they might start spreading some crazy rumors."

Ivanov quickly got up to help close the wooden door tightly, a wry smile appearing on his honest, long face:

"Zhao, the price of this stuff is dropping every day at the port. I don't know how much longer it'll be worth. Natasha traded it all up like a treasure... Do you have any connections that could help you exchange it for US dollars? Or even gold would be fine!"

"US dollars? Gold?"

Zhao Shanhe dusted off his hands, turned around, glanced at him sideways, and a cold, unkind smirk curled at the corner of his mouth:

"Do I look like a US dollar or a big yellow croaker? Why don't you take a piss and look at yourself in the mirror? This is Kaoshantun! It's separated from the commune by two huge, barren mountains. The whole village can't even scrape together two thousand yuan in cash. Where am I supposed to turn it into US dollars and gold for you?"

Ivanov's facial muscles twitched, and he reluctantly took a half-step closer, leaning forward slightly, and lowered his voice:

"Zhao, I remember you have an underground black market here too, right? Those middlemen in the county town, or behind the train station in the provincial capital... Don't they also have US dollars and gold? As long as we can exchange them, even if they take a 20% or 30% cut in the exchange rate, Natasha and I will accept it!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Shanhe not only didn't respond, but instead seemed to have heard a huge joke, letting out a heavy snort from his nose:

"The black market? You really dare to dream of that!"

He pointed to the hidden door of the cabinet that had just been closed, his fingertip almost poking Ivanov's large nose, and spat out in annoyance:

"Judging from the weight I just lifted, those two tattered canvas bags of yours must have contained at least tens of thousands of rubles! Tens of thousands! Do you know what tens of thousands means? In our black market, it's like throwing a bundle of dynamite with a lit fuse!"

Zhao Shanhe took a big drag on his cigarette, and the bluish-white smoke billowed between the two of them.

"Those black market dealers, even when they're dealing in radios or a few feet of polyester fabric, have to be wary of the corrupt officials in red armbands! If you suddenly dump hundreds of thousands of foreign dollars into the black market, not only will those dealers not have the appetite to swallow it all, but they can also summon the police stations and border defense companies from the surrounding three counties! At that point, the police officers in green jeeps will drive into the village at night, guns in hand, and ransack the place. You and I, every single one of us, will be tied up in a prison van and taken to be shot!"

Ivanov was speechless for a long time after being bombarded with these words. He shrank his thick neck, glanced back at the two bags of money under the cabinet, and his face was contorted with rage.

"That……"

"Just leave it like this?"

"Or what?"

Zhao Shanhe glanced at him sideways:

"You want to take them out into the street, bang on a gong, and ask everyone who has US dollars?"

Ivanov fell silent.

Zhao Shanhe sat back down on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), took out another cigarette from the pack, lit it, took a deep drag, and his brows slowly furrowed.

Hundreds of thousands of rubles.

This stuff would be a staggering sum of money in the Soviet Union, but in China, it would be a huge problem to quietly convert it into dollars or gold.

The small-scale black market simply can't keep up with demand.

Someone who truly has the ability to swallow such a large number whole is definitely not a simple character.

If word of this kind of business gets out even slightly, it's not just middlemen who will flock to it.

Scammers, double-crossers, people who specialize in monitoring foreign exchange, even the police and border guards—any one of them could give them a run for their money.

But to say there's absolutely no way...

Zhao Shanhe squinted, slowly going through the people he knew in his mind.

There's no need to think about it with those people in the county.

Not to mention the communes.

Further out...

A figure who always smiled and spoke with perfect tact flashed through my mind.

Jin Wanfu.

If we're talking about people he knows who's most likely to be able to handle something like this, it's probably only this old fox.

Jin Wanfu was originally a businessman from Hong Kong. Over the years, he had traveled back and forth between the north and south, and he had never been doing small-scale business.

Hong Kong is different from the mainland; it has all sorts of dealings, from trading companies and foreign trade to US dollars, Hong Kong dollars, and gold.

The hundreds of thousands of rubles left in Kaoshantun are like a bombshell that sends shivers down anyone's spine.

But if you put it in a place like Hong Kong, it might not even be considered a huge sum.

Thinking of this, Zhao Shanhe's brows slowly relaxed a little.

There is a way.

But it's just a door.

Whether Jin Wanfu can handle it or is willing to get involved, we need to ask him first.

Zhao Shanhe didn't rush to finish his sentence; he simply flicked his cigarette ash and looked at Ivanov:

"Don't rush."

"I do have someone in mind, but it's too early to say anything now."

"You and Natasha can settle in here for now. Keep the money with me and don't let it show up."

"I'll ask about it after I finish dealing with Dazhuang's matter tomorrow."

Upon hearing this, Ivanov visibly relaxed and nodded emphatically.

"it is good."

"I'll listen to you."

Zhao Shanhe grunted in agreement, then stood up and called out to the outer room:

"Xiuer!"

"Take a look in a bit, tidy up that empty room on the west side, and add a blanket."

"This couple will probably be staying here for a while."