Stepping out of the aircraft, Feng Yu saw Kirilenko waving to him on the tarmac. As usual, Feng Yu received the warm welcome “bear hug” from Kirilenko.

  Damn. Can’t this idiot control his strength?

  “Feng, you are finally here. Come, we shall follow your Chinese traditions of welcoming guests. We must have a welcome meal and drinks together the moment you arrive.”


  Feng Yu’s face changed: “Brother Ki, we can have the meal and drinks later. Let’s have a chat first.”


  Damn, what welcome meal? You are just trying to get me drunk. If he were to drink with Kirilenko, he would blackout before the appetizers were served!

  Kirilenko had a disappointed look: “Fine. You take a rest first. I will tell you about our Mining company.”


  ……


  “We had acquired of 5 types of natural resources, a total of 12 mines. At the time of purchase, the prices of the mines were low. Now, the value had increased a lot. I had followed your instructions to lower the mining of minerals. We had just mine enough minerals to cover our cost. But when can we start mining at full operations? We should not leave our mines idling and not making profits.”


  Kirilenko was slightly frustrated. He had invested all his wealth into this mining company. However, Feng Yu told him that this was not the right time to sell those minerals. The prices were too low. Feng Yu only asked him to mine enough to cover his cost.

  Now, Kirilenko’s primary source of revenue was from importing daily necessities from China. There were not many profits. With the Soviet Union disintegration, Kirilenko could only sell his goods in Russia.

  For someone with over 1 billion USD worth of assets, his liquid asset was only 1 to 2 million USD.

  “The oil prices will not rise now. It will only increase in 1994. Before that, we should just extract enough minerals to cover our cost. We can use some of our funds to improve our equipment. This is the same for iron and other metals. There will be not many changes with their prices. However, the prices will increase as the demand increases. That will be the time when we start to get more profits. This should happen in the late 90s.”


  Kirilenko looked at Feng Yu: “We can only see the profits at the turn of the century? You had asked me to invest everything I got into this company now!”


  Feng Yu opened his hands with his palms facing up: “I did not expect you to buy so many mines. Furthermore, I had invested more money than you. Don’t be anxious. I guaranteed that at the turn of the century, your assets will be increased by folds!”


  At the end of this century, energy and minerals prices will increase rapidly. This mining company’s value will increase by several times.

  Feng Yu also had other uses for these minerals in the future.

  These mines and oil fields would be bought by the Americans if Kirilenko did not buy them. It would be Russia’s loss if that happened. Didn’t you use the money from those loans to invest in this company? When it was time for you to repay your loans, Rubles will be depreciated by several thousand times. It was as if you had picked up these mines and oil fields from the streets!

  When they spoke about their investments, Kirilenko had nothing to say. Feng Yu had invested more than him but owns lesser shares than him.

  “Brother Ki, did your father got his promotion after the dissolution of the Soviet Union?” Feng Yu wants to change the topic to something that would cheer Kirilenko up.

  Last year, the Soviet Union was finally dissolved. The United Nations had also recognized this. This was not the post-Soviet era.

  “Hahaha, my father is now an army’s Lieutenant General!” Kirilenko said excitedly. With his father’s age, there should be no problems for him to be promoted to Colonel General in the future. He would have a lot of authority in the future.

  His father was only a Major General in charge of logistics. He thought that it was the highest rank he could be promoted.

  Kirilenko’s elder brother, who was in the Navy, was also promoted to lieutenant-colonel. He should be getting another promotion two years later. All these were because Kirilenko had supported Yeltsin from the start.

  Kirilenko had gained Yeltsin trust after reminding him about those oppositions that had started the coup. Those people had placed Mikhail Gorbachev under house arrest and even tried to assassinate Yeltsin. Because of Kirilenko’s father warnings, Yeltsin had taken precautions and got the opportunity to rise to power.

  Most all of the Soviet Union’s overseas assets were taken over by Russia. Belarus and Ukraine could only get some assets within the mainland. Russia alone had acquired the more assets than the rest of the allied countries combined. It was just a matter of time for Russia to reach its peak.

  Those equipment and machinery sold by Kirilenko to Feng Yu were mainly from the other allied countries. He had not touched Russian factories even when those factories directors were selling their machinery. This had also let Russia recover quickly.

  Yeltsin and his team knew what Kirilenko was doing. But when they realized that Kirilenko did not sell Russia’s factories’ facilities to Feng Yu, they did not pursue this matter. It was also good for Yeltsin as what Kirilenko will weaken the other allied countries. This would allow Russia to remain as the leader of Eastern Europe. Kirilenko had sold a lot of machinery and equipment from Belarus and Ukraine.

  Kirilenko had also quit from the army. He was now a real businessman. His elder brother would inherit their father’s position in the military. Kirilenko can be a happy millionaire.

  After his father’s promotion, Kirilenko had become the leader in Russia’s 2nd generation circles!

  “Congrats. I still need your help on the matter I mentioned to you previously. Although I am not in a rush, this should be settled as soon as possible.”


  “I have been asking around. Getting it in my country would be impossible. But it should be possible to purchase it from one of those former allied countries.”


  Kirilenko does not understand why Feng Yu wanted that thing. Can he even use it? Could it be that Feng Yu was purchasing it for China? But China was also producing this thing. There was no reason to buy the Soviet Union products. It will also be obsolete in a few more years.

  “Never mind. I can still wait.” Feng Yu was relieved when Kirilenko agreed. He trusted Kirilenko. He had never broken his promises.

  “Feng, can you increase the supplies for next month’s trade?” After the Soviet Union was dissolved, Russia’s commodities prices were still recovering. Russia had opened up the commodities industry, and Kirilenko wanted to make use of this opportunity to make more profits.

  “No problem. As long as your military train carriage can fit, I can fill it up. I can even send you the goods first, and you pay me later.” The both of them had joint partnerships worth more than 1 billion USD. They were not worried about the other party not being able to pay a few million USD.

  “Feng, you are really my brother. That's settled then. Help me fill up the whole carriage. I will pay you when I receive the goods. It is getting late now. Let’s go for a drink!” Kirilenko looked at his watch and said.

  Damn. Shouldn’t it be “It’s getting late now, let’s go for dinner.”?

  Feng Yu was dragged out of his room by Kirilenko. In Feng Yu’s mind, he was thinking of excuses to not drink.