Material Empire

The experts in the delegation were divided into several groups to contact the Soviet engineers on the list. Each group included at least one old expert who knew Russian, and one or two young researchers of a specific specialty. Xie Qijin transferred several employees from his own company and asked them to serve as guides for each group. With the company of these "Soviet Hands", each group could avoid being harassed by the Soviet police and other personnel.

Xie Qijin himself was naturally following Qin Hai's group. The other two people in this group were Lu Jingrong and Heizi. The person they were going to visit was an old engineer from the Chita Petroleum Machinery Joint Factory named Laji. muff. Rajmov went to China as a Soviet aid expert in the 1950s, and Lu Jingrong was a young technician apprenticed by Rajmov at that time.

"Unexpectedly, Comrade Rajimov can still be found. Back then, he said that he was working in Chita. After so many years, I was really worried that he had changed jobs and could not be contacted anymore." Lu Jingrong learned from his own When I was going to visit Rajmov, I was so excited that I couldn't control it. No wonder, after more than 30 years, it is really surprising that the original teacher can still be found.

Hearing this, Xie Qijin said with a smile: "Mr. Lu, you don't know that we have worked so hard to find this Rajimov. There is no way, President Qin's telegram clearly stated that we must find him, so No matter how difficult it is, we have to find him."

In fact, what Xie Qijin said was taking credit for himself. The Soviet system was the same as China's. A person who works in a certain unit often stays there for the rest of his life. Lu Jingrong remembered that Rajimov was an engineer at the Chita Petroleum Machinery Joint Factory. Xie Qijin asked someone to come to the factory to ask, and he found out where the old man lived.

"By the way, Teacher Lu, I forgot to ask you, how old is Comrade Rajimov this year?" Qin Hai asked Lu Jingrong.

"He..." Lu Jingrong patted his head and recalled: "I was 25 years old back then, and he was... 18 years older than me. Calculated in this way, he should be 75 this year, right?"

"75?" Xie Qijin stuck out his tongue, "It's impossible for such an old person to go to China with us?"

Qin Hai nodded and explained: "Yes, he will definitely not be able to go to China with us. We plan to contact other engineers through him to see if there are any younger people who can go with us."

"So it's like this..." Xie Qijin understood.

The family courtyard of the Chita Petroleum Machinery Joint Factory is integrated with the factory, which is quite similar to those old state-owned factories in China. Qin Hai and his party came to the gate of the factory in a taxi. After getting off the car, they went straight to the factory. Passing by the guard's room, Qin Hai could see a guard watching them through the window, but he didn't come out to stop them in the end, presumably because it was too cold outside and the guard was too lazy to leave the warm room.

"This factory is really big." Heizi said with emotion as he looked at the office buildings and factories on both sides. The architectural style of the Soviets has always been extremely bold and unrestrained. Even the roads in the factory are four-lane. The scale of the entire factory area can be imagined.

But such a large-scale factory is dead silent, the roar of the machines can't be heard, and the workers coming and going can't be seen. Qin Hai and others walked in the factory area, the creaking sound of stepping on the snow was very clear, and it also gave people a strange feeling.

"The whole factory is shut down." Xie Qijin understood all kinds of situations, he explained to Qin Hai.

"That's how it is." Qin Hai's heart has been tempered enough to be strong enough. Considering that many state-owned enterprises in China have also suffered shutdowns, the situation in the Soviet Union is worse than that in China, and it is not surprising that enterprises have stopped production. No wonder even the guard didn't bother to care about them when they came in just now. What is there to defend in a company that has ceased production?

"Really?" Lu Jingrong was taken aback, then remembered what Qin Hai told them about the situation in the Soviet Union before, and couldn't help sighing: "Oh, what a pity, this factory is very powerful in petrochemical equipment. "

Qin Hai smiled coldly and said, "That's fine, the factory is closed, so it's more reasonable for us to pry the corners."

Hearing what Qin Hai said, Heizi, who was walking at the back, curled his lips slightly. He knew Qin Hai very well, and he knew that no matter whether it was reasonable or not, Qin Hai had already made up his mind to pry into the corner of this factory. , or to be more precise, Qin Hai wanted to pry the corner of the entire Soviet Union.

Walking into the family area, everyone began to feel some popularity, but perhaps because the weather was too cold, there were not many people walking outside. Seeing the four people with oriental faces appear in the family area, some passers-by felt surprised, but no one came forward to question them.

"It should be this place."

Walking to the gate of a small courtyard, Xie Qijin looked at the house number and said with certainty.

"You actually live in a small villa?" Qin Hai muttered. Through the courtyard wall, he could see that there was only one independent two-story building in the small courtyard, which was actually equivalent to a villa. The Soviet Union was sparsely populated, so building villas was nothing at all. It seems that Rajimov should have a certain status in the factory, maybe a retired chief engineer, so he can enjoy different treatment from other employees.

"Duk tuk." Xie Qijin stepped forward and knocked on the door.

There was some movement inside, and after a while, the door opened, and an old Soviet man with all white hair appeared in front of everyone.

"Are you...Comrade Rajimov?" Lu Jingrong leaned forward, carefully identified the other party, and asked incredulously.

The old man was also full of suspicion. He looked at the crowd and asked, "Are you Chinese?"

"Yes, I am from the China Chemical Engineering Design Institute. Comrade Rajimov, you must still remember this unit?" Lu Jingrong finally found the impression of the year from the other party's expression, and confirmed that this person was in China. The Rajimov who had been an aid expert.

"Chemical Design Institute of China? Excuse me, who are you?" Rajimov's eyes lit up, staring at Lu Jingrong, trying to recall his last name.

"If you don't mind, can we talk in the house?" Qin Hai said with a smile. It was freezing cold, and the gate was really not a place to catch up.

Xie Qijin translated Qin Hai's words to Rajimov, and Rajimov nodded with a smile, beckoning everyone to enter his yard. This old man is a good-tempered person, he didn't care about the abruptness of Qin Hai and his party.

Everyone entered the living room and sat down separately. Rajimov was busy making tea for everyone. Heizi wanted to help, but he had no choice but to give up. After this tossing, the movement was not small, but no one came out to greet him. It is estimated that the old man lived alone in this villa.

"My Chinese friends, you probably can't stand the cold in Chita, right? Please wait for a while, I've turned on the stove, but it will take a while for the room to warm up." Rajimov said apologetically to everyone Said.

"Comrade Rajimov, won't you light the stove if we don't come?" Lu Jingrong asked in surprise. Similar to the situation in the hotel, the heating in this house also looked weak. The temperature in the room was only seven or eight degrees, and everyone dared not take off their thick clothes when they entered the room. Such an old man in his 70s really suffered enough to stay in such a house.

Rajimov smiled self-deprecatingly, and said: "Usually I am alone here, so there is no need to waste too much wood...Now wood is very expensive. By the way, comrade, you just said that you are from China From the Chemical Design Institute, I seem to have a little impression of you, but I can't remember your name."

"My name is Lu Jingrong. Everyone called me Xiao Lu back then. Comrade Rajimov, can you remember?" Lu Jingrong said.

"Xiao Lu? I remember." Rajimov nodded, "You are a student of mechanics, and I did some work on low-temperature material mechanics with me."

Lu Jingrong said happily: "Yes, yes, I was the only one in the entire design institute working in this direction. Comrade Rajimov, your memory is really good."

Rajimov also showed a kind smile on his face, he said: "I will never forget the experience in China. Over the years, I often take out the photos of the past, by the way , Xiao Lu, we still have a group photo in the workshop, you must have kept that photo, right?"

"This... has been accidentally lost." Lu Jingrong said awkwardly. The so-called loss is just a euphemism. In a special era, taking a photo with a Soviet expert would bring disaster to people, so he reluctantly burned that precious photo at that time, otherwise today It can also be used as a testimony.

As soon as the identities were revealed, the relationship between the two parties was immediately drawn closer. Although Rajimov was a foreign expert and Lu Jingrong was just a small technician, the two sides still have many things in common that can be recalled. When people get old, they tend to like nostalgia more. Rajimov dragged Lu Jingrong to talk about the people and things in the past for a long time, and the wrinkles on his face relaxed a lot for a while.

"Are these all your colleagues?" After talking for a long time, Rajimov remembered Qin Hai and others, and asked Lu Jingrong.

"Yes, they are all my colleagues." Lu Jingrong nodded.

"You...how did you come to Chita?" Rajimov asked strangely. When Chinese visit the Soviet Union, they should generally go to big cities such as Moscow. Chita is indeed not the kind of place that can attract people's attention.

Lu Jingrong looked at Qin Hai, and then said to Rajimov: "Comrade Rajimov, we came to Chita this time to find you."

"Looking for me?" Rajimov's eyes widened. "Why are you looking for me?"