Chapter Seventeen: Entrusting the Manager

  Around 2007 and 2008, the Gaza Strip was not a place of constant war or absolute safety. Before Hamas seized power and took control of all of Palestine, the Gaza Strip was its stronghold. Although Hamas had slightly lower support rates than its political opponent Fatah in the entire Palestinian territories, as Fatah's claim to peaceful resolution failed to achieve results, more and more people gradually tended to support Hamas.

  Hamas has extremely high support in the Gaza Strip, and Hamas is indeed very careful about this only piece of land. Just from the irregular air raid drills every day and the underground tunnels that almost run through the entire Gaza Strip, you can see how careful they are. The crowded underground tunnels are densely populated with people, but they don't seem to be in a panic, everything seems to be in order, which is quite surprising for me and Jiao Ge's three of us who have just arrived here.

  That tall, fat man named Mahmoud came to us under Hassan's lead through the crowds of people and greeted us very enthusiastically. Unfortunately, we couldn't understand a word he said, luckily Hassan was there to translate for us.

  Mahmoud spoke in a flurry, his expression extremely rich, both hands clasped together with fingers intertwined, palms facing upwards slightly tilted, shaking and swaying back and forth as he spoke.

  This directly reminds me of the 12-year Olympic Games, a team from a Middle Eastern country thought the referee was unfair in the women's balance beam project. Two coaches stood with their front legs bent and back legs straight, shaking their hands back and forth to the rhythm, I thought they were scolding at that time, but now it seems not necessarily true.

  "He says he is very pleased to see everyone and thanks the chairman for leading your company to come from afar to support Hamas' sacred Palestinian Islamic resistance movement, and to develop oil, uranium and natural gas under our difficult circumstances in order to support our holy war."

  After hearing this, I was sure that the serious-looking speech with gestures was probably scolding, while the smiling one was probably good words. Jiao Ge is our leader, so he naturally had to come forward and, suppressing his doubts and questions, simply asked politely how things were going.

  "Hassan, you and your friend Mahmoud said I'm also very happy to see him, greet him for me."

  Hassan said a few more words to him, and this time Mahmoud was even happier. He spoke to Jiao Ge again in a stream of words, but this time Hassan didn't translate for half the day, looking like he was having trouble with it, as if he didn't know what to say.

  "Hassan, have you been foolish in China? Can't speak Arabic anymore? Or can't understand it? What is your brother saying?" Everyone was already worried about the whereabouts of more than 400 compatriots. This morning's exercise had lost another Xu Gong. They were anxious and hoped that Hassan's friend Mahmoud could help out a bit. Unexpectedly, this busy person hadn't even helped yet, and on this side, there was clearly an interpreter who didn't understand the language.

  Usually taciturn Ping Shu suddenly spoke up, and I understood at once that he was saying what Jiao Ge found inconvenient to say. No wonder this guy is trusted by both masters. Putting aside these wild thoughts for now, let's first take a look at what this Ha San is all about.

  Mahmoud's face, which had been relaxed and cheerful, suddenly became tense again. He stretched out his hand to nudge Hassan, indicating that he should quickly translate what had just been said. Under pressure from both sides, Hassan could only reveal the truth with a bitter expression.

  "This Mahmoud actually didn't run into me, he somehow found out that I work for our company and has some connections in the city. He came on purpose, what he just said means that someone from Kassan Travel brought a message, they want either 400 people or equipment, but after both parties agree on the division of the uranium mine, we still have to do business with him."

  Hassan's words were way beyond my expectation, but Ping Shu and Jiao Ge looked calm and collected, as if they had expected this outcome, either pretending to be calm or having anticipated the possibility.

  It seems that the purpose of those soldiers going there was to help dismantle the equipment, and now they have been detained along with the equipment. The words are quite clear, but it feels a bit shorter than what Mahmoud said. As expected, Hassan changed his tone and continued speaking.

  "What these people mean is that although the port has been blocked by Israel, there are still ways to transport crude oil and partially refined uranium out of the Gaza Strip. As long as it's outside of Gaza, it's still our company's business, but we have to provide them with the daily necessities they need, here is the list."

  Hassan said, taking a scroll from Mahmoud's hand and handing it to Jiao Ge. I and Ping Shu followed him to take a look. On it was written a bunch of Arabic characters that looked really good, but we couldn't understand them. I roughly guessed that these daily necessities were probably food and clothing, but before I could think further, Jiao Ge had already put the scroll away.

  He nodded at Mahmoud as a sign of agreement, this meaning doesn't even need to be translated. Mahmoud was so happy that he stretched out his hand for a handshake with Jiao Ge. After all, Jiao Ge is a businessman, why not do it if he can guarantee his own interests and make money?

  The two men shook hands, and Mahmoud also shook hands with me and Uncle Ping. Finally, he patted Hassan's shoulder, put his arm around his shoulder and said something to him, while Hassan, who had agreed to see Jiao Ge, looked somewhat uncomfortable, and after hearing Mahmoud's words, he looked even more distressed.

  I thought I had to meet some big shot and sign a contract or something, but it turned out there was none of that. After talking to Hassan, this Mahamud just said goodbye to us and left. At this time, the residents in the tunnel began to emerge one by one from the openings in the tunnel to the ground buildings.

  The four of us returned to the hotel by the original route, and it wasn't until then that I realized this hotel didn't have any electrical appliances. How come the tunnel was so brightly lit? Before I could figure out these things, we passed through the small blue door and returned to the first floor of the hotel. We saw Xu Gong in the lobby asking about us. Seeing this thin old man, the few of us couldn't help but feel very happy, and hurried over to chat with him about what had just happened.

  But just as he mentioned the transaction, Ping Shu interrupted him, and Hassan was no longer as spirited as before. He didn't know what he was thinking in his heart, but at this time, he heard Jiao Ge and Ping Shu call me to say that they would go upstairs for a while and then come back to eat. I still didn't think much about it, but I had already felt something was wrong.

  Hassan remained silent, and Xu Gong was also confused. I, who had nothing to do, ordered a few local specialties and started eating with the two of them. After half an hour, just as we finished dinner, Ping Shu came down to call us three upstairs. Without thinking much, I went up to the third floor to Jiao Ge's room.

  As soon as we entered, Jiao Ge was still the same, reading that thread-bound book. Seeing us come in, he hurriedly stood up to greet us and had us sit down at a low table opposite him before speaking: "Things have reached this point today, there's no other way out, we can only wait until both sides negotiate clearly and then resume work, letting the workers continue mining. As for me and Ping Zong, we can't stay here any longer, so we plan to take the afternoon charter flight back."

  It wasn't until then that I started to understand a little, this series of events was probably not so simple. Sure enough, after Jiao Ge finished speaking to the two of us, he began to speak to me: "Mr. Nai Wen's family has a profound academic background, and his ancestors were all famous geologists in Myanmar, with extraordinary intuition and abilities in mineral deposits and underlying patterns. Now I appoint Mr. Guo Nai Wen as the project manager of the Sha Ga region, responsible for coordinating the entire project."

  After hearing this sentence, everything in my mind became clear and all the questions had answers. I really want to say a sentence, I bought a watch last year!