War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1911 Good Questions

In the camp protected by the windbreaks of dump trucks, a bonfire was lit among several yurts. The drivers who had driven there, along with their co-drivers, had also changed into traditional costumes and began to sing and dance.

Not far from the campfire, the gazelles and argali sheep that had been hunted back, as well as the rabbits that Yana had captured under the command of her golden eagle, had been sorted and placed on the grill or into the pot.

"Just smelling it makes me think it can't taste very good."

Sui Sui pinched her nose and said, "The reason is simple: those gazelles and argali sheep all have a very strong muttony smell."

"We've come too early. If we had come a few months later, after the lambs were born, we might have been able to slaughter a few lambs and they would have tasted better."

As Wei Ran responded, he also took the blanched mutton out and dumped it into a pre-dug sand pit.

"Throw it all in, pot and all?" Sui Sui asked, pointing to the mutton that had been dumped into the pit.

"I learned this folk method for removing fishy and gamey smells from Master Zhao. I don't know if it will work or not," Wei Ran said, already turning the stainless steel basin upside down on top.

"How about we eat the goats and the yak we brought?" Sui Sui asked.

"I guess it'll be just as gamey and tough."

Wei Ran said, "The cattle and sheep here are basically all grass-fed. The only difference between them and wild ones is that they have been castrated."

While hunting just now, I heard that the lambs here even eat horse manure as feed in the winter.

"Stop talking, I'm about to throw up." Sui Sui looked at the stainless steel basin over the sand pit with a pained expression and asked again, "Will this method really work?"

"Let's give it a try," Wei Ran said, glancing at the yurt not far away.

Inside the yurt, Yana was leading some of the Haila girls in making dumplings filled with goat meat.

The only difference between this bun and the common meat buns in China is that the dough is made with scalded dough instead of fermented dough. As for whether it tastes good or not, he doesn't know.

Besides the girls sitting together making buns, the people Greva brought were processing the heads of the argali sheep with the local drivers.

Compared to gazelles, these argali sheep, besides providing meat, also have their enormous horns as the best hunting spoils.

When are we going back?

Sui Sui squatted beside the stainless steel basin, rhythmically tapping it with two small wooden sticks she had picked up from who-knows-where, and asked in a low voice.

"We've made our presence felt, let's go back tomorrow."

Wei Ran thought for a moment, "Then we'll take a helicopter back to Ulanbato, and then take our own plane back."

"What are your plans for the money you make from this mine?" Sui Sui changed the subject.

"Do you have any plans?"

"Half of it will be used to raise the wages of Mr. Culp's friends, but there's no need for that money to actually be allocated from here."

Sui Sui was exceptionally clear-headed about this kind of thing. "This is practically money laundering. In other words, we can actually freely dispose of at least half of the money from this mine."

"Investing domestically?" Wei Ran immediately guessed what the other party was thinking.

"clang!"

Sui Sui tapped the stainless steel basin with the two small wooden sticks in her hands. "That's right!"

"Invest where?" Wei Ran asked with a smile.

"I haven't decided yet."

Sui Sui tossed aside the small wooden stick in her hand. "That money isn't urgent, we can save it. But half of the profits from this mine are still owed."

"What are your plans?"

"Invest locally, continue mining, and open more mines."

Sui Sui said, "The minerals here are sold either to the south or the north, so we can profit from both sides. We can leave the local troubles to Geleva, and then we can transform our business. Besides, there are far fewer regulations for mining here than in China."

"You arrange it," Wei Ran said nonchalantly. "As long as we don't lose money."

"This makes it impossible to lose money."

Sui Sui confidently replied, "I'll have to go back and study the specifics carefully."

No wonder you were in such a hurry to go back.

As Wei Ran spoke, he lifted the overturned stainless steel basin, picked up the blanched mutton pieces and carefully washed them. Then he started to heat oil in a wok and stewed the wild yellow mutton according to the method he had learned from the Zhao family father and son.

As darkness gradually fell, the group crawled into a huge yurt with a diameter of over 15 meters.

According to Yana, the yurt was specially ordered from China by Lenat's eldest daughter to entertain friends.

The yurt, covered with a thick carpet, was indeed large enough for almost everyone to sit down at the table. There was also a special stage where some girls dressed in traditional costumes, who had arrived at some unknown time, performed various songs and dances.

Below the stage, the gang members sitting around several long tables were quite satisfied with the mutton they had hunted, but the girls from Hela, and even the pink-clad delinquents from Baba Yaga, just like Sui Sui and the others, only took a few bites before shifting their attention.

The reason is simple: even when Wei Ran stewed the mutton using the old method he learned, it didn't taste much better. Especially the boiled or roasted mutton, the strong gamey smell, no matter how much you try to beautify it, can at most be described as "the smell of the wilderness".

In contrast, the juicy mutton buns and the hot pot made with offal from the yaks they brought were highly praised.

Of course, the mutton offal soup that Wei Ran cooked, piping hot and generously seasoned with white pepper, also received high praise.

While everyone inside the yurt was singing and laughing, outside the yurt, Beria, lying on a blanket, was also gnawing on a sheep's hind leg with great satisfaction. Not far from him, a golden eagle, also named Yana, was tearing off strips of fresh meat from another sheep's hind leg and swallowing them like a nodding machine.

Further away, in those dump trucks, a dozen or so gang members who had received combat engineering training were either hiding in the warm cabs operating drones to patrol the surrounding area, or hiding in the cargo beds of dump trucks with tents set up, ready to operate the machine guns, sniper rifles, or even grenade launchers mounted there at any time.

Amidst these layers of protection, the large yurt became increasingly lively.

However, by the end of dinner, out of the nearly one hundred people, only Yana and the truck drivers she brought, as well as Sui Sui and the pink-clad delinquents who belonged to Baba Yaga, were drunk.

After carrying the drunk Sui Sui back to their yurt, Wei Ran settled the girl in and filled the stove in the middle of the yurt with coal. Then he called in the dog, Beria, and had it lie on the blanket inside the door before locking the door and lying down on the not-so-spacious bed.

On their second night in Mongolia, a new group of tourists arrived in the town of Tula on an An-74 small plane that had taken off from Vladivostok, where they received an even warmer welcome than before.

On the same night, a group of Evenki people driving reindeer finally arrived at the abandoned military base that Sui Sui had bought at a low price, and used one of the cleaned workshops as a reindeer pen.

Just as the reindeer were being driven into their enclosure, their owners received a thick wad of rubles from the remaining staff—no, the remaining workers.

From this moment on, these reindeer have become Sui Sui's private property, and these nomadic tribes have completed their transformation from herders to contract workers.

Let me remind you one more time.

The staff member in charge here held up a loudspeaker and loudly reminded everyone, "Starting today, your children can choose to study in the town of Tula or in the distant city of Turuhansk, and you will also receive medical care."

In short, as long as you work hard here, everything is free, including your accommodation.

The only chargeable item is food and drinks, which are half price at the Aurora Tavern. If you leave this job, all of these benefits, including the half-price food and vodka, will be cancelled.

“We know all that, hurry up and tell us how to make money!” a young man from the tribe urged.

During this winter, before he left the town of Tula, he worked as a guide and even learned a lot of Chinese from the enthusiastic Chinese tourists.

For example, "What are you doing?", "What are you doing?", "What are you looking at?", as well as "I'm from the Shu Road" and "Hen" are all "warm greetings".

That's a good question.

The person in charge said loudly, "Although we have bought the reindeer, we still need you to herd them. The salary for this job is only 15,000 rubles."

Before the herders, no, before the employees could speak, the person in charge continued, "A group of tourists will be arriving soon."

You can earn a third of the profit by selling the reindeer to tourists at the set price.

In addition, there's extra pay for leading them to graze in the surrounding areas. Please allow me to remind you that although we've purchased the reindeer, reindeer that don't meet the minimum weight requirement are not allowed to be slaughtered and sold, so I hope you will all do your best to take good care of these moving rubles.”

"Are you joking?"

The young man pointed to the price list on the wall and asked, "The price has doubled, and why are the offal items even more expensive?"

"I've decided, from now on your nickname will be 'Good Question'!"

The person in charge, holding the megaphone, calmly cracked a joke before confidently stating, "This price was set by our boss, Miss Aurora. She assured us—and I mean everyone, including you—that this price is not expensive at all."

"What about the internal organs?" the young man, delighted with his new nickname, asked.

"That's why you got your new nickname," the person in charge said, holding a megaphone. "We've specially invited a professional chef from China. In the next few days, before the tourists drive here from Tula town, all of you will have to learn how to handle these offal."

"Hold off the internal organs for now, I have another question!"

The one who asked the "good question" said loudly, "In at most another month, the ice on the river will start to melt, and then it won't be possible to drive anymore, so..."

"Within less than a month, an airport large enough for our planes to take off and land will be built in the abandoned mine just one kilometer away."

The manager said, "Even during the hottest part of summer, we'll still have a steady stream of customers. Good question, do you have any other questions?"

"If that's the case, will we have holidays in the future?" Good question followed.

"certainly"

The person in charge gave an affirmative answer: "We have regular helicopter flights to Tula and fixed-wing flights to Turuhansk. As long as you work here, you can take two round trips per month for free, and you also get a week of vacation per month."

"I'm fine now."

"Good question," he said confidently. "I've been to Irkutsk. Aside from not knowing how much I can earn, this treatment is already better than in Irkutsk."

"An extra reminder to you"

The person in charge from Inta on stage said loudly, "Learn Chinese as soon as possible. The first person to learn it will receive a bonus of $5000. It's US dollars, not rubles or yuan."

When this incentive program, which had been proven successful in Inta, came out, everyone gasped in surprise. Surprisingly, a few young people exclaimed "Holy crap!"

"Now let's hurry up and learn how to process reindeer entrails."

The person in charge, holding a megaphone, said, "Everyone, follow our staff to the workshop next door. Good question, you can stay here for a moment. I like your thirst for knowledge, and I'm going to arrange an extra job for you."

"As long as there's extra pay, that's fine," Good Question said.

"Of course, of course," the person in charge promised, holding up a megaphone.

Under the envious gazes of the surrounding herders, the person in charge handed the loudspeaker to his staff and, with some questions in mind, climbed into a large truck parked in the workshop.

"You did a good job just now."

As he spoke, the person in charge took out a thick wad of rubles from his briefcase on the table and pushed it to the other person.

"This is all I should do."

The young man, nicknamed "Good Question," said this as he quickly reached out and took the stack of rubles, inadvertently revealing the red and black thorn tattoo on his wrist that he had gotten just half a month ago.

"Keep an eye on them. We don't keep parasites or lazybones around here."

"Don't worry, I'll keep a close eye on them," Good Question assured him as he tucked the rubles into his pocket.

Unlike the herders who are working hard to prepare for receiving tourists, the town of Tula is much more lively at this time.

Amidst the hustle and bustle, a man sat dejectedly on a tracked tractor across from the Aurora Tavern, clutching a bottle of vodka.

He has lost his job, and his wife has lost hers.

They had nothing left, not even enough to pay for a plane ticket to leave—even though the kind-hearted Snow Maiden had clearly forgiven him.

Do you need a new job?

Just when he was feeling lost about the future, Apoli walked over from not far away.

“Mr. Ivan, it’s me.”

"In a bit, take your car and set off with those tourists."

Apoli pointed to the tavern across the river, "If you'd like, bring your wife; someone will arrange a job for you at the end."

"But our children..."

“Let her stay at the pub. She can take a helicopter to your workplace on the weekend to meet you,” Apoli said. “This is your last chance.”

"thanks, thanks!"

The maintenance worker, who had made a grave mistake due to greed, thanked him profusely until Apoli jumped into a monster truck a short distance away and drove off.

“I thought you were going to kill him,” said the talkative Captain Dmitry, sitting in the driver’s seat inside the monster truck.

"If he dies, the good impression that the Snow Maiden has of everyone at Easter will be completely ruined."

Apoli said, "He has learned his lesson enough. His purpose now is to let everyone know that the Snow Maiden is kind, especially to let tourists from China know from their conversations what happened here and what the Snow Maiden went through."

“What is this?” Dmitri was speechless.

"Of course, it's to help Miss Snow build a good reputation among her fellow countrymen."

"A reputation as good as that of a historian?"

"That's right, a reputation as good as that of a historian."

"Will someone be there?"

Actually, I kind of look forward to someone doing something stupid.

Apoli looked out the window. "Too bad there aren't that many idiots here."

“The idiots here were cleared out a few days ago,” Dmitri shook his head. “They really enjoyed picking bananas.”

"They have to like it."

Apoli spoke calmly, lighting a cigarette as he looked out the window and muttered, "Those who ruin everyone's good life should be sent to pick bananas until they die from exhaustion!"

Meanwhile, on the western side of the Ural Mountains, in Inta, Dima, who was taking a sauna with Aliri, asked while holding a glass of high-end gin, "I heard that Victor and our Queen encountered some minor trouble in that godforsaken place, Tunguska?"

"It's said they were almost kidnapped."

Aliri said, "Misha told me that Greva transferred many people over overnight, including the policeman who was originally going to take over Misha's father's position."

"If someone makes a move over there, they might make a move in Inta as well."

While gently tapping his back with a branch, Jima warned, "If Aurora has any accidents here, don't expect any more Chinese tourists to come here in the future."

"Do not worry"

Ali poured himself and Tima another glass of wine. "We've already had a plane crash here. This kind of mistake won't happen again."

"Fortunately, those idiots who kidnapped Aurora didn't succeed."

Ji Ma muttered a sigh of relief, but did not mention the real reason for the plane crash that happened here last time; that was a secret that needed to be kept to himself.

It was still that evening—no, perhaps for Europe, it was just an ordinary evening.

But on that very evening, in Bucharest, the capital of Romania, a wealthy man, his wife, two sons, and even his daughter-in-law were all subjected to a premeditated kidnapping and extortion.

Just as these kidnappers, who appeared out of nowhere, had successfully obtained a large ransom but then promptly killed the hostage, Wei Ran and the girls led by Sui Sui had already boarded a helicopter bound for Ulanbato.

Before the helicopter had flown far away, Yana personally drove the LC200 SUV, leading most of the dump trucks and the Mitsubishi minivans, to the copper mine dozens of kilometers away.

While Sui Sui was looking through photos of herself riding a horse and holding a golden eagle with one hand yesterday, indulging in the excitement of "my family is rich now," Wei Ran, holding a gun case, was also stroking the dog's head resting at his feet while secretly thinking that he would start investigating the G43 semi-automatic rifle after returning to Kazan.

Once the story behind that rifle is uncovered, it's time to invite the partners who are planning to get involved in the coffee business to visit Kazan.

"I wonder what kind of story lies behind this gun."

Wei Ran pondered silently, while also trying to recall the "known parts" about the gun.

The gun was brought to them by the Spanish wrestler and his brother-in-law, Giuliano Constantine, when they went to Spain for an auction years ago.

According to the other party, the gun was left by his grandfather, Milos Constantine, an old soldier he had never met. Before he died, he simply held the gun and said he wanted to go back to Yugoslavia, back to that mill.

What Wei Ran had to do was help them find that mill. The wrestler even generously prepaid the investigation fees for this.

It's already April, and after dragging this out for so long, it's time to give the other party an answer.

Hopefully, this time it won't be a sniper.
Wei Ran couldn't help but pray silently. It was true that he had rich combat experience and good accuracy, but he still didn't want to fight a sniper battle where one shot could kill or be killed.