That year the flowers bloomed 1981

Chapter 1319 Do you want it?

Li Ye and the others stayed at Seryozha's house for more than two hours and drank seven or eight bottles of wine. When they left, Seryozha was so unsteady that he could barely stand.

He grabbed Li Ye's arm and asked, slurring his words, "Li, do you... know Eastern magic?"

Li Ye asked in surprise, "No, I'm not a magician. Why do you ask that?"

Seryozha hiccuped and said defiantly, "Then why can't you get drunk?"

"Ha~"

Li Ye was both angry and amused.

Are you doubting my drinking habits, you little brat?

Li Ye has seen people with bad drinking manners who would only drink half a cup of wine after spitting it out. But we are here to visit you in a very formal way today, so how could we use such low-class, underhanded methods?

"Alright, Seryozha, you're always like this. Is it so hard to admit you can't hold your liquor?"

Sofia walked over and gave Seryozha a nudge, signaling him not to embarrass himself.

Seryozha and Li Ye were having a drinking contest earlier, and if Sofia hadn't helped them out halfway through, he would have crawled under the table by now. Yet he's still not convinced.

"Oh, I can hold my liquor well, but Li can't. I want to give you a gift. A gift between good friends."

Seryozha, perhaps feeling ashamed by Sophia's words, immediately ordered his servant to fetch the gift.

Li Ye hesitated, wondering whether he should accept the golden AK47 if the guy offered him one.

After receiving it, should it be handed over to the government?

A few minutes later, Li Ye smiled with relief.

Seryozha actually gave Li Ye a book on economics, written by Russian-American economist Leonid Hurwitz.

As the saying goes, a small gift carries great meaning, especially since the knowledge in the book is priceless. Therefore, Li Ye solemnly accepted the gift, politely hugged the other party, and expressed his gratitude.

"Thank you, my friend."

"Hahaha, yes, my friend, let's drink again tomorrow. Also, show me your flower-growing skills!"

Seryozha was quite happy and muttered to Li Ye for a long time before letting him leave.

Sophia suddenly called out to Li Ye, "Mr. Li, what position did you say you held in China?"

Li Ye said frankly, "I am the deputy factory director of an automobile company."

"Oh~"

Sofia nodded, then asked, "Did you consider visiting the car factory in Sugo during your trip here?"

Li Ye was somewhat surprised. He looked at Sophia before nodding affirmatively and saying, "Of course, Su'e's cars are all very distinctive."

Sofia then asked, "Which car manufacturer are you most interested in?"

Li Ye narrowed his eyes and said, "I think Kamas is more representative."

"Kamas?"

Sophia glanced at Li Ye, a slight smile curving her lips.

. . . . . . . . .

When Li Ye and the others returned to the hotel, Deputy Commander Liang was still awake, obviously waiting for news from Sun Xianjin. So the group went over and gave him a factual report.

After Sun Xianjin and the others finished speaking, Deputy Commander Liang suddenly asked, "Why did Ms. Sophia ask Li Ye about the car factory when you were leaving?"

Sun Xianjin shook his head and said, "I don't know yet, because before I came here I only arranged to visit Seryozha. I only found out after I arrived in Moscow that Sofia would also be there today."

Sofia and I weren't very familiar with each other before, and her background was rather mysterious, but according to several other classmates, her family's power was far greater than Seryozha's.

"."

Deputy Commander Liang frowned and looked at Li Ye with a puzzled expression: "Xiao Li, don't you feel that she treats you a little differently?"

"I didn't think so." Li Ye immediately dismissed Deputy Commander Liang's doubts.

My little wife will be here in a few days, are you trying to add fuel to the fire?
But just then, the translator, Xiao Chen, suddenly said, "When Sofia asked Li Ye which car manufacturer he was interested in, Li Ye said Kamaz, and then Sofia laughed, a very strange laugh, I don't know why."

Sun Xianjin instinctively said, "Really? I didn't notice."

Xiao Chen replied confidently, "Definitely. I was keeping an eye on Sofia at the time."

"."

Deputy Commander Liang looked at Li Ye and asked, "What do you think?"

Li Ye calmly said, "I can't judge Sophia's reaction. The reason I said I was interested in Kamaz is because the car factory is located on the outskirts of Moscow."

Furthermore, I believe this car manufacturer's product style is well-suited to the market prospects in mainland China, making it easier to proceed with the next steps if the opportunity arises.

"."

Deputy Commander Liang nodded and said, "Alright, we'll list Kamaz Motors as our next target for investigation. You and Sun Xianjin should follow up and try to find out what Ms. Sophia really means."

"Yes, Director Liang."

Sun Xianjin and Li Ye both agreed.

Then Li Ye took out the book that Seryozha had given him.

Since translator Xiao Chen has a habit of being talkative, Li Ye can't keep anything to himself.

"Mr. Liang, before we left, Mr. Seryozha gave me this book."

Deputy Director Liang picked up the book, flipped through it, and asked, "Is this a book on economics?"

Li Ye replied, "Yes, this author won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 70. Today we discussed some academic issues together, so Mr. Seryozha probably thinks I am more interested in studying economics!"

Did he win the Nobel Prize?

Deputy Director Liang had already put the book down, but then picked it up again.

However, the book was entirely in a foreign language, and he couldn't understand it at first.

So he said, "Go back and study this, analyze whether Seryozha has other intentions."

"."

Li Ye almost grinned.

He handed over the book with the intention of silencing Xiao Chen, since he had discussed some sensitive issues with Seryozha and Sofia at the dinner table that day, and he could use the book to categorize it all as "academic exchange."

Unexpectedly, Deputy Director Liang took it so seriously that Li Ye analyzed the entire book.

Seryozha clearly felt proud, just like many Chinese people, when he saw a Chinese person win the Nobel Prize, which is why he sent this book.

Asking Li Ye to analyze the book's intentions now is simply taking a shot in the dark.

However, once everyone came out, Sun Xianjin took the initiative and said, "Brother, why don't you let me take a look at that book first? I'm quite interested in Leonid Hurwitz."

"Okay, you read it through first, then list the key points, and then we'll analyze it together."

Li Ye shoved the book into Sun Xianjin's hand and even assigned him tasks.

Li Ye has great respect for other Nobel laureates, but he is not particularly fond of the Nobel Prize in Economics.

Because these people are all criticizing the planned economy, saying that China will follow in the footsteps of the Soviet Union and will soon collapse.

However, China not only did not collapse, but also increased its GDP more than two hundred times in just over twenty years.

Think back to 1949, when China's GDP ranked far below the top few dozen globally, but after the turn of the century, it became the undisputed world's second-largest economy.

With this rate of economic development, it's not unreasonable to expect a few brilliant economists to emerge, right? Giving us a Nobel Prize in Economics wouldn't be too much to ask, would it?
Hey, but there isn't one.

So, would you still care about this kind of award?

(End of this chapter)