Rebirth: My 80s

The table was filled with dishes, the highlights being a dish of stir-fried beef with carrots and a bowl of winter melon and pork ribs soup.

This is the second of several Chinese dishes using seasonal vegetables that Li Jiankun taught the two cooks step by step.

Even though she had only stayed in the Red House for two days, Suwa couldn't help but sigh inwardly, how luxurious it was. In today's economic environment, she wondered if the Kremlin could provide such a sumptuous meal.

The girl didn't think that as a personal assistant she had to be superior to others. She helped the servant to scoop out three bowls of winter melon and pork ribs soup. Mr. Li's portion had a few pieces of winter melon and a pork rib, with more soup, while Mr. Fu's portion had more pork ribs. The portion for Mr. Popov was the same as Mr. Fu's.

I wanted to persuade Mr. Popov to drink some soup to warm his stomach first, but after he took a sip of the Chinese wine that Mr. Li brought out, he suddenly seemed to go crazy, holding the bottle of wine as if he had found his long-lost wife.

"Wow! Cool! What kind of wine is this?"

“Erguotou.”

"That's powerful! I'm not bragging, if you had a lot of this wine, you would be a god in this country!"

Popov had no intention of sharing. He held the bottle tightly, took another sip, and was overjoyed.

Wow, what kind of nectar is this?

It feels like what I drank before was industrial wastewater.

"As much as you want."

Li Jiankun turned his head to look at the butler, Old Ivan, who left quickly and soon brought a bottle of Erguotou from Niulanshan, Beijing. After Old Ivan poured the wine for Li Jiankun, the latter raised his glass across the air and asked with a smile, "So what do you think, Captain Popov?"

Popov raised the bottle slightly, took a sip, then stopped smiling and asked, "What do you want to do?"

"A lot of things."

"for example?"

"Kill a certain mafia godfather."

Popov suddenly chuckled again, pointed at the bottle in his hand and said, "Don't blame me for raising the price. If it's less than ten bottles, and someone dies from drinking one less sip, I'll feel like I've lost a lot."

"Why do you have to die? It's risky to be alone. Recalling your old subordinates is just like killing pigs and cutting vegetables." Li Jiankun smiled.

"hehe."

Popov ignored him and set his sights on a bowl of vegetable salad. Without waiting for Sova to get up to pick some for him, he took the bowl in his arms and took a sip of salad and wine, feeling as happy as a god.

Su Wa smiled apologetically at Li Jiankun and Fugui.

Li Jiankun indicated that it was okay, picked up a piece of fried beef and carrot with chopsticks, put it in his mouth, chewed slowly, and took a sip of Erguotou.

"Popov, you are disappointed with this world, right?"

Popov, who was feeling high, paused for a moment while drinking.

Li Jiankun thought about it over and over again as to why an excellent soldier would become like this. Excluding the sequelae of war trauma, he still could not come up with a reasonable answer.

It was not until the two generals Heng and Ha sent him a piece of incomplete information about Popov through District Chief Sergei that he gradually came to his senses.

If a person is extremely disappointed with the world.

Naturally, I can't get excited about doing anything.

Life or death, makes little difference.

"I can see that you are definitely not disappointed," Popov said sarcastically.

"Of course. I'm very proud of my life. If the world really disappoints me, I will change it instead of throwing in the towel like you do."

"Ah... yes, you are a big shot who can change the world, and we common people are only fit to lick your leather shoes." Popov rolled his eyes.

"Xiaomin? You? No, you are worse than a piece of dog shit now."

clang!

The bottom of the bottle hit the mahogany dining table.

Suwa was shocked, and the delicious food on the plate no longer tasted so sweet.

Fugui looked at her with a silly smile on his face and motioned for her to hand him the plate of grilled steak.

The butler, Old Ivan, who was standing nearby, lowered his head even more, neither looking nor listening.

Popov suddenly laughed again and stood up with the bottle of wine, "This pile of shit of mine won't affect your appetite. I will return the three bottles of wine, according to my rules."

After saying that, he walked out of the house while drinking his wine.

There was a smug look on his face.

"No need. If I come across a pile of mud that can't be helped, I'll feed it to the dogs."

"What the hell do you know?!" Popov turned around suddenly and shouted angrily.

Li Jiankun tasted a glass of Erguotou like Maotai. He wasn't pretending, it was just too spicy. He could only sip it carefully, as if he was tasting it. "Isn't it just that I don't know what I'm fighting for?"

Popov slowly opened his eyes. What kind of monster is this?

Even if the other party is extremely well-connected and can obtain all the information about him, his inner thoughts will not be reflected in the archival materials.

Yes, he really didn't know what to fight for.

This is no less than a believer discovering one day that the Lord he believes in does not exist at all.

The reason for this result is that the emotions caused by many things have been accumulating for a long time, and finally exploded and overwhelmed everything.

For example, his last period of military career.

He went to war for the glory of the country and world peace. On that foreign battlefield, he and his team members went through life and death. It was inevitable that some people would fall in the hail of bullets, and their souls would remain in a foreign country forever.

Once upon a time, they believed that this was the ultimate belonging and the honor of being a soldier.

It's a song and a cry.

Later, reality slapped them hard in the face.

Popov will never forget that one day they entered a small town. The locals made way for them and huddled on the side of the road watching them. Suddenly, a brave boy broke free from his mother's hand, rushed to his side and spat at him.

Popov was very angry at the time, and he called the translator very seriously and asked him to tell the boy that we are here to help you!

The boy smiled grimly and said, "We will live better without you."

Popov was so angry that he laughed.

Half a month later, he received an order to cooperate with the airdrop troops to capture this small town with a special geographical location. When they arrived in a hurry, what came into their eyes was a ruin and a sea of ​​fire. He found the boy among the pile of dead bodies.

Is he an enemy?

So what about the two-year-old girl who was held tightly in the boy's arms and had only half of her body left?

Is she an enemy?

Damn order!

This brutal war, in which more than one million people died, more than six million people were forced to flee their homes and become refugees, and more than 50,000 casualties on the Chinese side, ended in a hasty manner.

It couldn't be called a triumph, and there was no farewell.

There is no glory.

On the day his unit was evacuating, on the avenue where the convoy was passing, Popov saw through the car window only the devastation and the cold eyes and hatred from the refugees on both sides of the road.

In his pocket, he carried twenty-seven identity cards.

When I returned to my hometown, the sky seemed to have changed all of a sudden. The once bustling streets became extremely desolate, the shop windows were empty, and the modern girls who were once out of my reach now came at a wave of a few dozen rubles.

Someone told him that the economy was bad and they couldn't even arrange a decent welcoming party for them. He said, "Okay, but please make sure the families of my deceased brothers are well taken care of."

The man said yes.

What a ghost!

After several of his brothers' widows came to him and cried, one night he drove to look for the person who had promised him the job, but he was nowhere to be found at his workplace or home. Finally he learned that the person was in a restaurant.

After arriving at the restaurant, he saw the man and a group of people who had just finished their meal and walked out of the box. After they walked away in the corridor, he came to the door of the box and took a look. The table was full of plates and dishes, and a lot of food was unfinished. The waiters who were cleaning were surprised and found bags to scrape the bottom of the plates clean.

He followed the group to the karaoke area upstairs.

I saw the waiter delivering wine to the box on a four-wheeled cart, and then someone brought in twice as many young girls.

There were lively songs and dances, clinking glasses, and the house was filled with spring scenery. It was such a joyful occasion.

He rushed in and beat the man up.

So he was fired.

Most of the brothers chose to follow him.

This was only one of the reasons why Black Sails disbanded.

It seems that there is no need for it to exist.

They think so.

They think so too.

"So I have to fight for you?" Popov asked with a sneer.

Li Jiankun seemed to be answering a question that did not seem to be relevant: "Do you know why your country has become so precarious?"

"Why don't you tell me, you conceited fellow?"

Popov walked back with the bottle of wine and sat back in his original seat.

Suwa broke a still hot bread, spread ketchup on it, added a spoonful of caviar, stood up and walked to his side, presented it to him with both hands, and looked pleading.

Popov looked at him, then glanced at Li Jiankun, took it and started to take big bites.

"What I'm going to tell you is not the answer that everyone knows."

Li Jiankun signaled Su Wa to make him one too. Su Wa happily agreed and quickly copied one and handed it to Li Jiankun. Li Jiankun ate it in small bites while slowly saying, "A person's height determines his vision. I'm not bragging, but I do see more than you."

Suwa realized that this "you" also included her.

So I put down the cutlery that I was holding on purpose and listened carefully.

"Internal problems are only one of them. More importantly, some outsiders are trying to divide your country. Actually... the word 'trying' can be removed. They will definitely succeed."

Popov narrowed his eyes and asked, "Like you?"

Li Jiankun laughed and said, "If you keep being so prickly, we won't be able to talk."

"You are a foreigner who has only been in this country for a few days. What makes you dare to say that you can see things more clearly than us?"

Faced with Popov's expression of not believing the truth at all, Li Jiankun smiled, put down his half-eaten Miss Sova sandwich, wiped his hands with a napkin, reached into the lining of his coat, took out two business cards, and handed them to the butler waiting on the side.

The butler, old Ivan, stretched out his hand, never lowered his head, and without looking around, and handed the gifts to Popov and Suva respectively.

After a moment, Suwa stood up from the upholstered chair in shock.

Popov frowned.

"Mr. Li, you you you..." Su Wa's beautiful eyes widened, and she couldn't utter a complete sentence for a moment.

"Yes, my assistant lady, your boss may be a little bigger than you think." Li Jiankun said with a smile.

What a little?

Oh my god! It turns out that he is Jack Lee, the richest man in the world for two consecutive terms! !

Suwa couldn't help but pinch herself through her black stockings. It really hurt.

Li Jiankun pressed his hand, motioning her to sit down, then looked at Popov and asked, "Do you believe it now?"

Popov put the bottle on the table and said, "Go on."

"Your country is certainly powerful, and the largest number of nuclear warheads in the world is enough to protect you from any threat of force. However, to attack a country, you don't necessarily have to go through a physical war. Financial weapons are sometimes more terrifying. If you want to listen, I can give you many examples, such as... Well, actually, I created a financial bomb not long ago.

"I used all my cash flow to short the Japanese benzene stock market, and I had a famous accomplice. The world media spared no effort to publicize it. I don't know if it reached you.

“Let me tell you this, although Japan’s financial crisis will come sooner or later, if it weren’t for this bomb I created, it would have been delayed by at least a year, and it wouldn’t have exploded so badly.