Chapter 107: Urine Characteristics

Li Xian's mention of the 20 and 40 lathes referred to electric lathes with spindle centers measuring 200 millimeters and 400 millimeters from the bed.

As the Soviet Union's "firstborn," Russia inherited a vast amount of industrial products from the former Soviet Union. Given the current stock, it would be enough for China to splurge for five or six years. However, the Russian market has been paralyzed due to economic shock therapy, leading most factories to shut down.

Over the past few days, Li Xian, accompanied by Wang Tiecheng and Katya, had been covertly visiting various factories in Chita. It wasn't even exactly covert—often, a few cigarettes or sometimes a few kind words from Katya were enough to let them stroll around the factories, freely observing.

Their efforts were not in vain; Li Xian got a thorough understanding of Chita's situation. As an important production base in the Soviet Far East, Chita had numerous mechanical processing factories. Lathes from Leningrad and Tomsk, models 20 and 40, were abundant.

Li Xian was well-acquainted with these two series of lathes. During his university years, he had seen a lot of Tomsk 20 lathes when his school organized a visit to a factory in Ice City.

At that time, the factory he visited had both domestic products from China's Shenyi Machine Tool Factory and RB Mori lathes for high-precision processing. The Tomsk lathes were used only for rough machining.

What Li Xian remembered most vividly was an operational mishap; a Tomsk 20 lathe, operated by an apprentice, was processing a threaded joint. In industrial humor, a screw consists of a male thread (screw) and a female thread (nut). The joint's female thread needed the lathe's drill rod to penetrate it. Due to an excessive feed setting, the drill rod's cutter broke.

In factories with Shenyi or RB Mori lathes, such situations usually meant stopping the machine immediately. However, the Tomsk, which had been in service for over twenty years, did not stop!

Li Xian would never forget that scene: the aging Tomsk lathe, with its long drill rod embedded deep into the female thread, with thick, white cutting fluid gushing out. The lathe shook and emitted loud, clanking noises due to the obstruction caused by the metal piece. The entire machine seemed on the verge of collapsing, but the Tomsk lathe continued running for five to six minutes until the factory workers cut the power. They were astonished to find that the drill rod had drilled through the entire joint with a partially damaged cutter! Many female classmates in his department were so frightened they cried.

Now, seeing those rugged-looking Leningrad and Tomsk lathes, Li Xian was determined. These two types of lathes were the most common in China's northern state-owned or private workshops. They were used for machining key components such as spindles, bearings, connecting rods, joints, and pistons. The 20 lathe was suitable for various small parts' rough and precision machining, while the 40 lathe was used for most tubular and load-bearing components.

As basic equipment in modern industrial machinery processing, lathes were essential.

When Li Xian mentioned wanting the lathes, Alyosha and his companions exchanged glances. These people were members of the Chita Economic Reform Committee. During the government's previous "thorough privatization" policy, they had acquired ownership of a significant portion of Chita's factories through vouchers bought from citizens.

These people had profited immensely from the economic reform. Although they had been staunch supporters of the reform, the repeated obstacles and increasing political uncertainty had led them to harbor different thoughts.

After a brief whispered discussion among Alyosha and his companions, they relayed a message to Li Xian.

"What did they say?" Li Xian asked Katya.

"They want to know... what price your company is willing to pay," Katya translated.

Li Xian extended a finger and said, "One thousand dollars per machine."

Upon hearing this, the others were stunned and then burst into laughter, seemingly mocking Li Xian.

"They say your company must be crazy. This price is only for grinding wheels," Katya translated, feeling embarrassed.

"Tell them our company's finances have brought dollars to Russia. If any lathes are available, we'll pay in cash."

After Katya translated, Li Xian noticed Alyosha's smile fading.

Half an hour later, Li Xian, citing other commitments the next day, said his goodbyes and left.

Standing on the quiet street in front of the club, Katya shivered.

Seeing no taxis around, she looked at Li Xian and muttered, "Li, you're really crazy. A machinist I knew who used to live at our place mentioned that a lathe costs over two hundred thousand rubles! That was when the ruble was still valuable; converted to dollars, it would be about five or six thousand."

Facing Katya's remark, Li Xian smiled slightly. "Katya, your father is Chinese, so you should understand, what was true then is not true now."

As Katya tried to express her familiarity with Chinese using the saying "a snake swallowing an elephant" to mock, the club's door creaked open behind them.

"Li!"

Hearing the familiar voice, Li Xian smiled without turning around.

Katya looked back to see Alyosha, dressed in a coat, running after them. Reaching Li Xian, the blond man quickly bundled up his scarf and gloves and chattered in rapid succession.

As Alyosha spoke with a helpless expression, Katya's eyes widened.

"What did he say?" Katya was pulled back to reality by Li Xian's question.

"He... he says a thousand dollars per lathe is unacceptable. But if you can convince your company to raise the price to two thousand dollars for the 20 lathe and two thousand five hundred dollars for the 40 lathe, he has many!" 

As Katya translated, Alyosha raised his wrist, pulled something off, and quickly handed it to Li Xian.

"Drucker! Help!" Alyosha said earnestly in Chinese.

Seeing Katya about to translate, Li Xian waved her off, indicating he understood the two sentences. Examining the watch for a moment and seeing the A.Lange & Söhne mark under the dim streetlight, he smiled secretly and nonchalantly put it in his pocket.

"Drucker!" He gave Alyosha a thumbs-up and patted his shoulder. "You, Drucker! No problem!"

"Drucker, Drucker!"

Seeing Li Xian's confident attitude, Alyosha was delighted and gave him a big hug.

After leaving his contact information with Katya, Alyosha bade farewell to Li Xian and departed.

That evening, at Huang and Xu's place.

Xu Maohe, who had returned with the goods, noticed the watch Li Xian was fiddling with and was amazed. He hurried over and said, "Wow, a Lange! Not cheap! This must be either taken from a German officer during the war or acquired through some means from East Germany 90 years ago. But it's a rare item. Where did you get it?"

Li Xian laughed heartily and raised an eyebrow. "A Russian friend gave it to me."

Xu Maohe was stunned.

He knew exactly the kind of people Li Xian had been interacting with in recent days. Russian officials were notorious for extorting Chinese merchants, even more brazenly than domestically. In Chita, it had always been the Chinese giving gifts to Russians; the reverse had never happened!

"Urine characteristics!"

After a moment of silence, Xu Maohe gave Li Xian a thumbs-up.

"Sun rising from the west..."

He put down his thumb and added.