Chapter Twenty: The First Transaction

  In the fall of 2007, Israel declared the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip a hostile entity and began to treat it as such with a series of economic sanctions (including cutting off electricity, severely restricting imports, and closing border crossings). Rocket attacks continued on Israeli southern towns, and in January 2008, Israel decided to tighten the sanctions by completely sealing its border with Gaza and suspending fuel supplies to the territory. By the end of January, just over a week after Israel had sealed the border crossing, Hamas militants destroyed parts of the barrier wall separating Gaza from Egypt, allowing tens of thousands of Gazans to pour into Egypt to buy food, fuel, and other supplies that were in short supply due to the Israeli blockade. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak temporarily agreed to open the border to allow relief to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza before beginning repairs on the barrier.

  At this time of strong winds and dark moon, Hassan and I were standing in a leeward location near the exit of a tunnel in an area close to Gaza Strip within Egypt, smoking. It has been exactly one week since I first took over the trade. Although the local people had a brief respite from the shortage of supplies at the end of January due to the panic buying by Hamas government officials, it was still not enough to meet the demand of the local people. The first batch of supplies led by Foc哥, mainly food, medicine and fuel oil, arrived ahead of schedule before the metal uranium arrived.

  "It's really ridiculous to say that the tunnels dug are so narrow, some of them can even drive underneath, but this place that has crossed Egypt's blockade is actually made so small, it seems like they still have to rely on donkeys to transport those supplies, how come you're still afraid of being beaten by your brother country Egypt?"

  I was so bored, I just used the local dialect to tease Hassan, but he didn't take the bait. He just gave me a look and nodded towards the group of Kashan travelers hiding in the tunnel, who were spitting out smoke rings and saying: "It's still these lunatics causing trouble, now this bunch is almost universally despised everywhere except Gaza Strip, they're a bunch of hated guys."

  "You said it's not far from here to Khan Younis, how come the weather is so different? And this place is right next to Farah, yet there's a temperature difference?" I made small talk, adjusting my collar and casually asking Hassan. Hassan was clearly used to my slightly chatty personality, didn't mind, and gazed into the distance to see if the convoy carrying supplies had arrived, responding casually.

  "The climate is different, brother. Yunis has a Mediterranean climate and it's dry enough, Egypt is even drier. Don't look at how good it is here, the temperature gets higher further ahead, and in the southeast direction, it's a tropical desert climate. It seems like someone is coming! Brother, someone is arriving!"

  I followed the sound and indeed saw a convoy of vehicles without headlights approaching, with over a hundred large trucks in sight. I quickly walked out from behind the giant boulder, using a flashlight to draw clockwise circles towards the convoy while guiding them and looking at the isolation wall, where the soldiers had patrolled elsewhere.

  "My god, brother, this is not the Egyptian army's fault for being bombarded, it's useless if they don't turn on the lights! The convoy is too big!" Hassan was also stunned by this huge convoy, you can see how exaggerated this job is.

  I'm speechless, this local exit is located in a remote area west of Fatah, avoiding residential areas within Egypt, it's just a vast desert. Continuing northwest through a forest and you'll reach the beach. Directly crossing under the protective fence, there are exits on both sides, using donkey carts to cross the border and continue southeast for a few kilometers, it's a long highway that passes directly through Tal Sudan and then Rafah.

  A convoy of cars is waiting by the roadside, leaving some supplies behind. The convoy will load up the remaining supplies and head to Khan Yunis, then split off half of the supplies again, before continuing on to Gaza City. Finally, they will transport the remaining supplies to Beit Lahia, which marks the final destination of their journey.

  As I recalled the whole journey in my mind, I suddenly shuddered. The April and May weather was not as warm as I had imagined. Hurry up to clear the goods, and then let those Kassan travelers load them onto the car. Seeing that the convoy stopped in front of me, I couldn't help but look towards the lead vehicle, hoping to see Ping Shu or anyone else familiar.

  The person who got off the train was a slender, refined-looking man in his 20s with a Southern appearance, likely from Anhui or Zhejiang Province. He wore glasses and looked quite spirited as he approached me to shake hands, muttering in unclear Mandarin: "Guolan is Gua's pot, personally brought by Lui, oh so excited, Huang is dead tired, shouting happily until exhausted, Guagua!"

  I shook hands with him and understood that he was a Cantonese, even if he was a second-generation immigrant, he was still a Cantonese immigrant. I quickly greeted him to show my enthusiasm for meeting him. He saw me calling him by an unclear surname, so he hastily pulled out a business card from his pocket and handed it to me with both hands.

  It wasn't until I saw the name printed in both Chinese and English on his business card that I realized this kid was also a distant relative of mine - Strut Wang, Chairman of Tian Du Huan Services Ltd.

  Looking at the business card of the company that provides escort services, I couldn't help but feel a little confused. Is this guy just doing this kind of thing? This matter wasn't very important, and I didn't take it seriously at the time. But when Stuart Wang saw me shining my flashlight on the name card with the chairman's name printed on it, he quickly asked for the name card back and took out a large box of name cards, handing me another one.

  Only this card on the surface has not changed, still Strut Wang, but his identity has changed from chairman to CEO. The box handed over to me was clearly a business card holder, and through the transparent cover, I saw a business card with English and Arabic text, belonging to someone unknown.

  "Wu Naiwen, Chairman of Tian Du You Hui Service Company? What does this mean?" Hassan on the side directly translated the content written above for me to hear, and asked Nasrett what it means that I was written as the chairman.

  "Oh, what a Greek tragedy! The gift you gave me is so exquisite, Guagua!" Listening to this guy's Chinese really makes me want to hit him, but he has a natural smile that makes him seem so interesting, cute and likable, so my anger can only turn into frustration.

  I patted Hassan's shoulder and said to him in a light tone, "Brother has translation, if not you can speak English or Arabic! Ah, it's late at night, hurry up and load the goods onto the truck. Come on, Hassan called Mahmoud over to check the goods. That Street Wang, just call him Sui Cui, hurry up and take the cargo list with Hassan."