The exchange went very smoothly with the presence of Manor Lord Valery and Manor Lord Peter. As Manor Lord Valery had said, the farm was quite prosperous. Chen Lan and her husband exchanged twenty-five thousand catties of corn and eight hundred and ninety Vika sausages at this farm. However, their stock of frozen fish was not large, and they did not manage to exchange much even after trading all they had. This was because they had not anticipated Manor Lord Valery bringing Xu Mingxuan and his wife for an exchange, and thus had not organized the villagers to go fishing in advance.
As they needed to reach the next farm for an exchange, Manor Lord Valery bid farewell to Manor Lord Peter after a few pleasantries. Manor Lord Peter also had matters to attend to and did not insist they stay longer. After seeing Chen Lan and her husband and the manor lords out of the farm, Manor Lord Peter shook hands with Manor Lord Valery and Xu Mingxuan respectively. He watched Chen Lan's car drive far into the distance before turning back to prepare for the distribution of the day's exchanged goods to the villagers.
With Manor Lord Valery leading the way, the car drove for nearly another hour before Chen Lan and her husband arrived at another farm. Manor Lord Valery, familiar with the route, directed Xu Mingxuan to the farm's grain warehouse.
The warehouse keeper obviously recognized Manor Lord Valery and, seeing him, enthusiastically stepped forward to greet him. After a brief exchange, Chen Lan saw the warehouse keeper quickly sprint towards a large house not far away.
Soon, the warehouse keeper returned with an elderly Russian man, about sixty years old.
Manor Lord Valery stepped forward, and he and the Russian elder embraced each other warmly. The Russian elder said loudly, "Valery, my dear relative, you haven't visited Alena and little Zoya for quite some time. Why do you have time to visit today?"
Manor Lord Valery replied immediately, "Dear Kamel, the farm has been busy with corn harvesting, and I haven't had time to visit. I've made time today!"
Then, Manor Lord Valery continued, "My dear relative, I've brought two friends today, Nikolai and his wife Mira. They are here to exchange goods! Kamel, has your farm submitted its grain quota for the year?"
Manor Lord Kamel nodded first, then immediately took off his gloves and shook hands with Xu Mingxuan with a smile. He also nodded kindly at Chen Lan, saying, "Mr. Nikolai, Mrs. Mira, welcome to our farm."
Chen Lan also smiled and gave a slight nod of greeting to Manor Lord Kamel.
Next, Manor Lord Valery whispered a few words to Manor Lord Kamel and then spoke to Xu Mingxuan. He then followed Xu Mingxuan to look at the truck before asking the warehouse keeper to call for people from the large house.
It truly lived up to the saying, "It's easier when you have connections." With Manor Lord Kamel's direct involvement, the exchange process went very smoothly.
The couple exchanged twenty thousand catties of corn, four thousand catties of wheat, nine hundred and thirty rubles sausages, and three thousand catties of large frozen fish at this farm.
There was so much grain exchanged that, as they organized the goods in the truck, Chen Lan discreetly put the larger items like fish and sausages into the system's warehouse when no one was paying attention.
Chen Lan also specially packed two bottles of vodka, two bottles of Russian wine, a large patterned shawl, and a plush toy doll in a backpack as gifts for visiting Manor Lord Valery's daughter.
After they had organized all the goods, filling the truck to the brim, they covered everything on the truck with canvas.
Once everything was ready, Manor Lord Valery eagerly said, "Kamel, I can't wait! I want to see my little granddaughter Zoya. Do you want to come see your little granddaughter too?"
Manor Lord Kamel immediately replied, "I still need to distribute the exchanged goods to the villagers quickly. I won't go to see little Zoya with you today. Valery, don't go back this afternoon; we'll have drinks and barbecue tonight."
Manor Lord Valery happily agreed, "Okay! I won't go back today. We'll drink to our heart's content tonight."
So, Manor Lord Valery turned and said, "Nikolai, Mira, let's go quickly! Let's go see my little Zoya."
The couple followed Manor Lord Valery to a beautiful wooden house. Before they even reached the door, he shouted, "Alena, little Zoya, open the door quickly, I'm here!"
Immediately, a clear and crisp reply came from inside the wooden house, followed by the sound of hurried footsteps. When the door opened, a very beautiful young Russian woman, who appeared to be in her early twenties, stood at the entrance.
After father and daughter hugged and greeted each other, Manor Lord Valery immediately turned and introduced, "Alena, I've brought two friends to visit, Nikolai and his wife Mira."
Alena warmly greeted the couple and shook hands with each of them, then enthusiastically invited them inside.
As the couple entered, they changed into slippers at the door, took off their coats, and removed their hats and scarves. Chen Lan then handed the gifts from the backpack to Alena. Xu Mingxuan translated beside her, "Alena, these are gifts from my wife and me. We hope you like them."
Alena happily took the backpack with her hands and repeatedly thanked them. After everyone sat down and chatted for a while, Manor Lord Valery asked Alena to bring out little Zoya.
Little Zoya was about a year old and looked like a perfect doll. She had light golden curly hair, a chubby little face, rosy little lips, long eyelashes, and big, clear blue eyes like two pools of limpid water. Her features were exquisitely beautiful.
Seeing how dotingly Manor Lord Valery held little Zoya, Chen Lan couldn't help but think of Hui and Yaoyao when they were young, and she felt a pang of homesickness.
As it neared lunchtime, Valery's son-in-law, Valeriy, returned home for lunch. Manor Lord Valery introduced everyone to each other. After shaking hands and getting acquainted, there was another round of pleasantries.
Lunch was, as expected, very rich. It included Russia's most famous caviar, pickles, cheese, Russian yogurt, dark bread, Vika sausages, fried eggs, Russian barbecue, and borscht. The men drank vodka, while Chen Lan and Alena drank wine.
After the meal, Alena invited everyone for tea, which was lemon black tea, served with homemade pastries and small cakes.
After tea, everyone sat together and chatted for a while longer. Chen Lan and her husband explained their reasons to Alena and her husband and then prepared to take their leave. Manor Lord Valery had plans with his in-laws for the evening and decided to stay for a couple of days at his daughter's home.
Thus, after bidding farewell to Manor Lord Valery and Alena's couple, the two drove away from Ussuriysk.