Chapter 582: Three Cobblers

The drilling team had already departed from the base seven days ago; the first four days were spent by car, followed by three days by boat, and now they had set off from Tanggu Wharf again, traveling by car toward Xindian Commune at the Yellow River Estuary.

After all these days of tossing and turning, Man Yatou had lost several pounds.

Once upon a time, she had particularly enjoyed riding in cars, especially liking the smell of gasoline.

But this time, because the road was difficult to travel and the car was driving fast, she felt as if her bones were about to fall apart. Yet, looking at Expert Li, he remained full of vigor.

Man Yatou's eyelids had long been fighting each other, but she felt embarrassed to sleep because Expert Li kept teaching her geographical knowledge she didn't understand while in the car.

If someone of his advanced age wasn't tired, what would it look like for a junior like her to complain of fatigue? She widened her eyes and, taking advantage of a break, took out the bitter coffee that Brother Zhuzi had brought for her, brewing a large thermos of coffee with hot water boiled by the team.

She drank a large cup with a wrinkled face, and soon after finishing, she immediately felt energized.

Expert Li looked at her in surprise: "Girl, youth is a good thing; you get energized after just a short rest."

Man Yatou poured a cup of coffee for Expert Li.

Expert Li took a sniff and smiled, "I was just saying you were nodding off like a chick pecking at rice, and now you're full of energy; so it was because you drank this."

Man Yatou smiled shyly: "I don't like drinking this stuff, but it makes me energetic, so I just treat it like taking medicine."

Expert Li looked at her cute appearance and said: "Girl, you don't need to be so polite with me in the future. If you're sleepy, just take a nap; children naturally need more sleep."

Man Yatou nodded vigorously.

Six days later, they finally arrived at Xindian Commune.

The Commune Secretary was surnamed Sun, a dark-skinned, thin man in his forties.

Knowing that Expert Li was a fairly high-ranking Cadre, he insisted on setting a table of food at the commune to treat everyone.

However, the items that could be brought out from the commune canteen were truly limited.

On a large table, a white flour steamed bun was placed in front of each person, while a winnowing basket of corn cakes was placed in the middle of the table.

The main dishes were a large plate of scrambled eggs with chives, a large basin of pork stewed with radishes—though there were hardly any pieces of pork inside—and a large basin of salted shrimp paste along with a bundle of green onions.

Although the meal was very simple, everyone ate very happily.

Man Yatou liked to spread shrimp paste on her corn cakes the most, adding some chili sauce she had brought herself to eat with it.

Seeing that Man Yatou was eating happily, Expert Li said apologetically: "Girl, is it much worse following me than eating at He Yuzhu's place?"

"My family was very poor when I was little, I'm not a picky eater!" Man Yatou did not compare the two situations.

Expert Li nodded continuously, feeling that although this child was not old, her understanding of human affairs was very thorough.

After the meal, Expert Li immediately convened a meeting.

Secretary Sun also hung the local map on the wall of the meeting room and said: "The Dongying Village you are looking for is a very desolate place, surrounded by barren beaches. Are you sure you want to go to that place to drill a well?"

Man Yatou stood behind him, staring carefully at the topographic map.

The words He Yuzhu had said suddenly popped into her mind—"1.5 kilometers southeast of Dongying Village."

The pencil turned in her hand, and she walked to the map and lightly drew a small circle.

"Teacher," she said softly, "shall we go to Dongying Village to take a look tomorrow?"

Expert Li turned his head, looked at the circle she had drawn, and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly: "Fine, I'll listen to you."

The next day, before the sky was fully bright, they rushed toward Dongying Village.

In the October weather, it was still quite warm once the sun came out. Because Man Yatou had slept well the night before, she started running around as soon as she got out of the car, looking for the high ground here.

She ran up a small dirt mound and looked out; everywhere was white, saline-alkali land. Not far away, there was a small puddle, and white foam floated on the water surface—that was brine.

Reeds grew sparsely, their stalks already withered and yellow; when the wind blew, they rustled.

One could hardly see a decent tree, only a few clusters of red willow shrubs in the distance, lying low on the ground.

Expert Li also climbed up this dirt mound and raised his Telescope to look around. After a while, he muttered a sentence: "Change of location, it should be the right place!"

He happily handed the Telescope to Man Yatou.

Man Yatou took it, imitated Expert Li's manner, scanned a circle, and then aimed the lens toward the southeast.

That patch of land was slightly higher than the rest, the soil color was a bit darker, and the reeds grew denser than elsewhere.

She stared at it for a long while and said: "Teacher, let's drill our first well at that place three or four li away. The terrain is high there, the soil layer is thick, and I think... I think that is the place where oil and gas are most likely to gather nearby."

Expert Li looked at her, his eyes full of appreciation.

"Let's go," he waved his hand and shouted to the main group, "Three li in the southeast direction, set up camp!"

Man Yatou followed behind and suddenly saw that Expert Li's lips were so dry they were peeling.

She hurriedly took out the thermos He Yuzhu had given her from her backpack, unscrewed the lid, poured half a cup of water, and handed it over.

"Teacher, please drink some water."

Expert Li took the cup, took a sip, closed the lid, and handed it back to her.

He looked at Man Yatou, his eyes full of gratification—because this girl had called him teacher.

The group soon set up camp on that small high ground.

Tents were pitched, drilling equipment was unloaded from the cars, and shovels, steel rods, and ropes were piled all over the ground.

After Section Chief Liu left, Deputy Director Zhang, Deputy Director Ma, and Xiao gathered together to discuss their subsequent countermeasures.

Xiao asked: "Old Zhang, you made a trip to Beijing; how come you still didn't manage to get that man surnamed He removed?"

Deputy Director Zhang did not tell the truth, sighed, and said: "I went too late; the higher-ups had already held a meeting and selected the candidate. If I hadn't gone, they wouldn't have sent an Investigation Team at all; the appointment letter would have come down directly. My going there at least let the higher-ups know that He Yuzhu is not without problems."

Deputy Director Ma lit a cigarette and said sarcastically: "Now, the three of us have all been marginalized. We have to think of a strategy, otherwise, we will sooner or later become cannon fodder!"

Deputy Director Zhang sighed and said: "Don't look at the fact that the one surnamed He is young; his ability to build connections is not simple, and many people above appreciate him. Also, this kid clearly detected a set of oil extraction methods but stubbornly refused to say anything, only revealing it after the Investigation Team finished their review. The meaning is that if he couldn't get this official position, he wouldn't contribute this method. This kid's scheming is too deep; we cannot fight him alone... My old leader investigated him; when he was at the Lingnan Tractor Factory, he was particularly ruthless. As a Deputy Factory Director, he actually toppled the Factory Director and eventually ended up covering the sky with one hand..."

Xiao, who was in charge of political work, said: "Deputy Director Zhang, you don't need to make him sound so godlike. After all, he is young, and many times he still acts on impulse. When Team Leader Ma of the Investigation Team left, he told me that he didn't like He Yuzhu, which means we still have a chance to take him down. At the next meeting, I will propose the Hundred-Day Safety Inspection Campaign to seriously inspect the mechanical equipment and personnel..."

Deputy Director Ma clapped his hands and said: "This is a good idea. In that case, we can be considered to have a legitimate reason... If we transfer those responsible for equipment maintenance to the front line to inspect equipment, there will be fewer people specifically responsible for maintenance, and He Yuzhu's Three Million Ton Oil Extraction Plan will have to fall through."

Deputy Director Zhang was also inspired: "I can join forces with Accountant Lao Qian. We currently owe brother units quite a bit of money. I'll find those Cadres responsible for procurement and spread the word that the money owed cannot be repaid for the time being..."

Lao Ma gave a sinister smile, "Three cobblers are better than one Zhuge Liang. Let's see what Executive He does now."