Chapter 1740 - 950: Chen Er’s Envy

Time flowed like water; in the blink of an eye, four days had passed.

Today was the day of the second trade between Oil City and Southern Paradise.

Xiao Jun had already loaded all the oil to be taken back to Big Camphor Tree Base onto the trucks, just waiting to take away the sugar and salt from this trade with Southern Paradise.

Ju Tianrui and Xiao Jun were standing on top of the wall at the same time, and not far from them, He Bing and the others were still installing the Mobile Switch Blades.

These Mobile Switch Blades weren’t that easy to install; these days there were dozens of people busy with this every day.

"Should we have them stop installing the Mobile Switch Blades for now and talk about it after the trade with Southern Paradise is done?" Xiao Jun hesitated for a moment and finally decided to say it out loud.

Ju Tianrui shook his head and said:

"Director Li takes this very seriously. He’s demanding that the Mobile Switch Blades be installed as soon as possible. This trade will take at least two to three hours altogether, and they can see what’s going on anyway. There’s no need to stop."

"Mm, okay." Xiao Jun nodded and glanced down at his watch.

The time they’d agreed on with Southern Paradise was twelve noon; there was still half an hour left. Based on what he knew about Chen Er, they should arrive early.

After another look at his watch, he raised his head, picked up the telescope hanging on his chest, and looked in the direction of Southern Paradise.

Sure enough.

A long, mighty convoy was driving toward them, most of the vehicles being tankers, with a few large trucks mixed in.

"They’re here." Xiao Jun put down the telescope and said to Ju Tianrui.

"So, was it you guys who went out to talk last time?" Ju Tianrui asked.

"No, their captain, Chen Er, came in personally to talk."

"Came into Oil City itself?"

"Yeah, we had him stay by the gate, put up a simple shed, and talked inside the shed. Director Li was there at the time, but he barely spoke—mainly I did the talking with him."

Ju Tianrui nodded and said to Xiao Jun, "I went over Director Li’s bottom line for the sugar and salt trade with you yesterday. You’ve dealt with him before and have experience, so why don’t you handle the negotiation again later? If he wants to go past our bottom line, then we just won’t trade that category of supplies.

Also, Director Li said the quota for this trade is eighty tons; we can’t exceed that."

Back then, Ju Tianrui had been Xiao Jun’s direct superior, but Xiao Jun arrived at Big Camphor Tree Base earlier than Ju Tianrui. After personnel reshuffles and assignments, there was basically no longer any hierarchy between them.

Even so, when Xiao Jun was with Ju Tianrui, he still tended to respect Ju Tianrui’s opinions.

Hearing what Ju Tianrui said, Xiao Jun nodded and replied, "Alright, I’ll talk to him later. And I can take the opportunity to introduce you to him."

"Thanks for the trouble."

Soon.

The convoy from Southern Paradise led by Chen Er reached that same spot one kilometer out again, and then Chen Er drove over alone.

But this time, he brought another person with him—Ma Dong’s daughter.

Ma Dong had been one of the founders of Southern Paradise. Though he later died in battle, his daughter was still alive.

Like father, like daughter. In Southern Paradise, Ma Yingxue was the only female squad captain.

She inherited the squad under her father’s command. After her father died, Mr. Hu and Madman took special care of her.

Ma Dong had always had the best relationship with Mr. Hu. Mr. Hu even recognized Ma Yingxue as his goddaughter.

So, all along, Ma Yingxue had been deeply loyal to Mr. Hu.

Her coming along this time was actually Mr. Hu’s suggestion. Although Mr. Hu trusted Chen Er quite a bit, when it came to cooperation with Oil City, he still felt it was better to send one more person along to balance things out and prevent accidents.

Chen Er had no problem with that. He’d always gone alone before; bringing a woman this time might even slightly lower Oil City’s level of vigilance toward them.

More importantly, Ma Yingxue carried the identity of being Mr. Hu, the leader of Southern Paradise, his goddaughter. Having her come along also showed how much Southern Paradise valued its dealings with Oil City.

On the way to Oil City’s gate, Chen Er kept explaining things to Ma Yingxue and filled her in on everything he’d learned about Oil City.

Squeak—

The gate of Oil City opened, and Chen Er and Ma Yingxue got out of the vehicle.

Inside the gate, Xiao Jun saw that it wasn’t just Chen Er coming alone and wasn’t all that surprised, just a bit taken aback by the woman’s height.

That Ma Yingxue had a tall, slender figure; walking side by side with Chen Er, she could match him in height.

Chen Er was already quite tall, nearly 1.8 meters, yet Ma Yingxue could stand even with him.

Seeing them come in, Dong Tai and Zuo Ruxue stepped forward and gave the two of them a full pat-down search.

During the search, seeing another woman, Zuo Ruxue, Ma Yingxue watched her with curiosity; at the same time, Zuo Ruxue was quietly observing Ma Yingxue.

Once the search was done, Xiao Jun said with a smile, "Chen Er, who’s this beside you?"

Chen Er also smiled and introduced, "This is the goddaughter of Mr. Hu, our leader in Southern Paradise. She came along with me for this trade."

Mr. Hu’s goddaughter?

Xiao Jun and Ju Tianrui exchanged a glance. Did this represent Mr. Hu’s stance as the leader of Southern Paradise?

Either way, having the leader’s goddaughter come over made them feel how seriously Southern Paradise took dealing with Oil City.