After putting away the carry-on luggage and fastening the seat belt, the head of the bag saw that Isminaya by the window was a little distracted, so he asked kindly:

"Mina, what's wrong, are you nervous about going abroad for the first time?"

Madrina Esminaya's name is too long, so after everyone gets acquainted with it, it is customary to call her "Mina" in the usual chat, although it is more appropriate to call "Maddie" according to the grammar.

"I didn't ...... It's fine, it's just that I haven't been on a plane, and it will be fine then. Director Bao, you are smiling. Isminaya smiled apologetically.

"It's okay. Director Bao didn't doubt him, and instead smiled and took care of Gu Biao, "This is your junior sister, be a gentleman, take care of it along the way." ”

Gu Biao smiled in return, then gently grabbed Isminaya's hand, and signaled her not to be nervous with her eyes.

The girl forcibly quieted down, and the thumping in her heart calmed down slightly, but she still couldn't help but recall the scene that happened two days ago in her mind.

……

That was the night before yesterday.

At that time, Isminaya had already made all preparations in advance before going abroad, and she was completely familiar with technical Arabic interpretation and translation in this field.

But after dinner, Senior Gu called her to a study room in the school library alone, and then showed her something similar to a thesis, and asked her to prepare it and learn how to translate it into Arabic.

If you change the Japanese-style scene, the script of this kind of lonely man and widow study room, it should be . The development of AVI was launched. However, Isminaya trusted Senior Gu enough to have no doubt about him.

But after only a few seconds of sitting down and looking at it, she noticed the problem.

What the senior gave her was not the kind of technical paper in the past.

Rather, it is a dissertation on anthropology and historical, religious, archaeological research. There are a lot of quotations, but the writing is quite messy, not like it was written by a famous author.

The only systematic citation that can be seen comes from a young associate professor at Tel Aviv University in Israel named Schromer Sander. and Professor Kelly Morris, a biochemist at UC Berkeley.

Could it be that Senior Gu put it together by himself?

Archaeologist, biochemist, historian, anthropologist...... What kind of big conspiracy can these people study together that crosses the circle?

I can't see anything to do with this mission at all, it's just confusing.

Despite some doubts in her heart, Ishminaya unconditionally carried out the translation task assigned by her senior, and carefully explained it sentence by sentence.

But Gu Biao's extra care made her nervous:

"Mina, this is my final killer plan for this trip. If it really can't open the situation, it may be necessary to rely on these articles as a stepping stone to directly win the friendship of General Hussein himself.

But the use of these articles is very risky, so once you learn how to translate, you can't say anything to anyone. As long as I use it when the time comes, you can translate it smoothly. If you don't use it, you keep it in your mind – these archaeological and anthropological terms, you should check them out. ”

Isminaya subconsciously asked, "What if Director Bao asks?"

These old-fashioned people may not be able to understand what I am doing, they do not know enough about the Middle East world. Gu Biao said categorically, and only grabbed Ishminaya's shoulders and shook it slightly, with pleading eyes.

Ishminaya is embarrassed, and this is a violation of discipline.

But after making eye contact with Gu Biao, her whole body softened, and she gritted her teeth and said, "Okay, I believe you." But I'm afraid I won't be able to explain it then......"

Gu Biao comforted: "It won't bother you - what you have to do is just wait for me to bring up this topic, and be able to translate it fluently quickly." Who would have known that you had prepared in advance? Maybe Director Bao would praise you in his heart for your high level of translation, and you can easily use the professional vocabulary of humanities and social sciences without review. ”

As soon as Ishminaya thought that this was indeed the truth, she obeyed, and faintly regarded herself as Gu Ao's accomplice in her heart, although Gu Biao did not promise her any benefits.

can only say that a 16-year-old ignorant girl, in front of the seniors she admires, is too easy to deceive.

"This is my little secret with Senior Gu...... He trusted me so much, and told me that I couldn't fail him. I don't care about violating discipline for him once. ”

……

Isminaya was in a mess in her heart, recalling the past when she violated the discipline of foreign affairs for her seniors.

So much so that I forgot to grasp the scenic opportunity of taking the plane for the first time, and I was stunned for a while facing the porthole, and I fell asleep.

Woken up by the flight attendant again, the Tu-154 passenger plane had arrived in Baghdad, 6,000 kilometers away, and was about to land.

"The environment is so beautiful, there are so many green trees, I thought there were only some desert palms. In the last few minutes before landing, Ishminaya was amazed to see the city in the main colors of emerald green, turquoise blue and lime white.

It is the pearl of the Middle East.

She has the impression that the Middle East should be the same as the oil-producing cities in her hometown, except for the oil fields and deserts.

"Did you do your homework in vain, this is Iraq, not Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates. The Tigris River is the Tigris River that crosses the valley of the two rivers that gave birth to ancient civilizations. The northwest suburb is the Euphrates River, can the environment be bad? ”

Gu Biao is so literate for the schoolgirl.

In good conscience, if it weren't for the wars of the future, Iraq's natural conditions would have been much better than Saudi Arabia's.

Other Middle Eastern countries also have oil, but they are all deserts and are very short of water. It also has to export oil for fresh water and agricultural products, and it will be slaughtered in these areas.

Iraq, however, just stepped on the birthplace of ancient civilization, with two rivers with abundant water, which can be said to be self-sufficient in all aspects of industry, mining, agriculture and animal husbandry, and will not be stuck by others.

The capital, Baghdad, is located at the nearest inflection point between the two rivers, which are only 30 kilometers apart.

So the location of Baghdad has been a hub of trade between the inhabitants of the two rivers since 5,300 years ago, and the goods of local specialties arrived here, were unloaded from ships, carried by camels over a 30-kilometer overland route, and then loaded onto cargo ships in another large river basin.

The flight landed at Baghdad airport, and then there was a foreign affairs vehicle from the Iraqi military's logistics and equipment department to pick up Gu and his party.

Director Bao was mentally prepared at the beginning, and he would not be treated well, and he was quite flattered when he saw this.

He whispered to Gu Biao: "I didn't expect the Iraqis to be so polite, even semi-official, sales-oriented visitors like us are so willing to spend money to receive them." ”

Gu Biao smiled: "Iraqis have money, don't look at it from the perspective before the normalization of Sino-US relations in 72 years." After the oil crisis of '73, the country was turned upside down in 6 years. Cars are idle, and as for gasoline - petrol here is cheaper than bottled mineral water. ”

The car drove all the way to the northern city on the banks of the Tigris River and stopped in front of a hotel. It is located next to the Medical City and a few hundred meters north of the University of Baghdad.

A kilometre down the banks of the Tigris River is Abbas Palace, the official residence of General Hussein. On the other side of the river is Iraq's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Embassy District, which is also home to the Chinese embassy.

Director Bao chatted with the reception staff of the Iraqi side for a while, confirmed the itinerary, and then returned to the room and instructed everyone:

"The Iraqis said the dinner had been scheduled, but no high-ranking officials attended. Tomorrow and Sunday are free and easy, and we will first familiarize ourselves with the environment in Baghdad. If you want to go out and play, you can do it yourself. The day after tomorrow on Monday afternoon, formal talks will be arranged, and Iraqis are not in the habit of working overtime. ”

"Understood. The other five all replied crisply.

Director Bao glanced at the crowd again, his eyes showed some embarrassment, and explained: "The Iraqi side only knows our numbers, and does not ask men and women. So three rooms were prepared. Mina, if it's inconvenient for you, you can change a small room with them, let Xiao Gu and the security guard squeeze into a big one, and the security guard will lay out the floor. ”

"I didn't ...... It doesn't matter, in a foreign country, of course, you have to adapt to the difficult environment. I'm the youngest, how can I be specialized. I believe in Senior Gu. Ishminaya blushed and declined.

……

On Sunday, Gu Biao took his younger sister to play in Baghdad for a day, drinking Middle Eastern-style coffee, soaking in a hammam, and eating Middle Eastern fruits and desserts. (Of course, the bathing place is separate for men and women, and the rest room is together)

The next day, everyone was fully engaged in intense negotiations.

In the beginning, the Iraqi side only sent grassroots administrative officials to talk to them to understand the product parameters and business conditions.

Director Bao spent a lot of energy, and inevitably secretly gave gifts or promised good words in front of the superiors, and finally with his clever words, the other party gradually rose to the level and met a major leader of the logistics equipment department, Colonel Abdullah.

"General Abdullah, China's Qiantang Oxygen Concentrator Factory is definitely at the international leading level in the field of air separation equipment - I hope you understand that we are not only cost-effective, but also do not want to sell cheap goods to you. Rather, our quality and energy competitiveness throughout the life cycle have certain advantages over French products.

Our helium machine has even received an order from the US Department of Energy, and the first two sets of equipment have been supplied and accepted by the Americans. It's all well documented, you see, this is a contract with the Americans, this is a receipt after acceptance......"

Director Bao bragged to an Iraqi colonel with a dry mouth, and it could be seen from his wording that it was already a little inappropriate - the other party was obviously a colonel, but he wanted to be called "general". Isminaya, who did a good job of translation, was also a little overwhelmed and could only deal with it vaguely.

In the pre-Hussein era, Iraq was still relatively restrained in military rank. It can even be said that most of the Middle Eastern countries where military personnel go up like to put on a modest posture in military ranks.

For example, Gaddafi next door, who was still a colonel after becoming the head of state, was a colonel for the rest of his life, in order to show "respect for the seriousness of the army's tradition of awarding titles, and never use his power to seek promotion after taking power."

This Colonel Abdullah is roughly equivalent to the executive head of the "Science and Technology Ordering Department" under the Ministry of General Armament of the country.

It can be said that if it weren't for the US Department of Energy's list pulling the tiger banner in front of it, which made the Iraqi side have a little more thoughts about looking at the diorama, Director Bao would not even be able to see this colonel.

However, the other party only praised Director Bao's introduction on the surface, but in fact, he was still indifferent: "It's pretty good, let's go to dinner first, and talk after dinner." The current application scenario of our military is not yet mature, and there is no task on it, so there is no need to rush for the time being. ”

"Colonel......" Director Bao was a little anxious.