The next day Arjun dialed back once he was sure it was past nine in the morning in Moscow and thankfully Vladimir had already woken up by then.
Hello, Arjun?
Yes Vladimir Anna, how are you doing?
I am doing good Arjun, what about yourself?
It's going well so far Anna, i was informed that you tried contacting me? I am sorry, none of the people in my household know Russian which caused some issues as i imagine.
It's nothing kiddo, so the shipment is going to arrive on the upcoming Monday. The ship captain Sergei is one of our companies close associates so there shouldn't be much issues, just be there on time.
Yes Anna, when will you be coming though?
Well that's the issue kid, i've got some sudden issues to deal with and will only arrive on Thursday at the earliest.
Okay, this Thursday right?
Yes Arjun.
Alright, i was initially worried things might get tight with your scheduling but now i will make sure everything in the factory is set up correctly by the time you arrive, what about the workers though?
Oh... you don't need to worry about them as they too will be arriving on the same ship.
It's good then.
What about the items for export?
I have already ordered them and paid the initial deposits too, we can collect them once you arrive, by the way how long are you going to stay this time?
I am afraid i can't waste too much time kiddo, i will be going back on Sunday once everything is on track.
Alright Anna, take care of your health. Don't go drinking too much.
What are you going to become my girlfriend now?
Hahaha no Anna since we are now partners i need my partner to stay alive long enough don't i?
What do you mean Arjun? you're not planting black flags are you?
Well who knows Arjun replied with a cheeky voice and spoke for a bit longer before cutting the call.
As usual his family had already gathered around him and Arjun took his time to explain his conversation with Vladimir and joined Sari for the lunch once he was done with it.
Since they had to go to school by one thirty in the afternoon they were having their lunch much earlier than usual but since Kavitha did not have much else to do, it did not impact her life much.
Arjun meanwhile was relieved that Vladimir was going to arrive late as this would mean he could handle the negotiations with the personnel without any extra baggage.
He was sure they would try to exploit him more if he had a foreigner alongside him as it was a common occurance during these times. Now Arjun could go alongside Bhargav and Balram to handle the matters himself without any intereference.
Filled with these thoughts Arjun had already sat down to give his exam in the school. Since he had to give his exams in the staff room it was quite uncomfortable since the benches were made for adults which Arjun could barely reach so he had to sit on floor with a writing pad to give the exams.
Today was Arjun's favorite subject from previous life, Maths. Frankly he did not get the hate for it but he too felt it quite difficult to handle this time around though if some other kid could hear his issue they would spit on his smug face for trying to be too smug.
Arjun had to tackle kid's problems which was not an issue but he had to solve them in such a way that he does not use any advanced concepts for his age, he figured it would be the same for science but since science was mostly writing he could cover it up. In math on the other hand he had to solve them carefully cause if he used some seventh or eighth class concepts to solve the problems it would be tough to reason if someone does question him.
Arjun even made sure to leave a couple questions empty since most of his life till now he was a ninety percent student and suddenly jumping to perfect scores would be too suspicious especially when his parents knew he tried to skip the studies whenever he could.
The next day he gave his science exam which too went on pretty boringly as Arjun finished his exam within an hour but the teacher was adamant on making him sit there for the entire duration of two and half hours. Once he was done with the exam he rushed to the factory location as Bhargav had already informed him that the water connection was going to be installed today.
Arjun actually wanted to get these done once the engineers from Russia arrived as they would be more knowledgeable about these placements because of their familiarity with the machines but since the water board people from the town had already come to install the lines he did not want to send them back as it was already a miracle for them to respond so quickly to their request but since there was money involved it was only reasonable that they would do it so quickly.
Once the installation was done Bhargav handed the three workers who had come from the city a note of thousand rupees and thanked them for their work. Meanwhile Arjun felt he had way over paid the telephone worker for the connection a couple months ago but since it was already done there was nothing much he could do about it.
Bhargav informed Arjun that their new factory employees would arrive by the Sunday but since they were not going to be around Lalitha had to take care of them and same with the local machinery which was going to come on the same day.
Frankly Arjun wanted to stay here to oversee the proceedings but since getting the machinery out from the port was a much more important issue he had to let it go.
Arjun then informed Bhargav about the issue of hiring local factory workers which was going to be another issue he had to deal with once they come back from Vizag but since he was going to have the help of others from the management it was perhaps still manageable.
The next day was Arjun's last exam Social studies which was mostly about history stories and Indian maps both of which he was very familiar with so his exam once again was done within an hour and luckily this teacher was much more easy going allowing Arjun to return back home once he was done instead of forcing him to stay like the other teachers had done.
Since the results were going to be given out after the summer holidays which Arjun preferred way more than how it was done in the future where the kids were given results before the holidays ruining their entire holiday experience if they got bad results, it was much better to receive their results after the holidays as it would at least let them enjoy their holidays to the fullest without being scolded at home about their results. Arjun was finally done with his fifth class after rebirth.
He was still unsure about taking the next class in the village as he was already feeling restricted for business opportunities but also wanted to stay near his family, he was quite undecisive about his choice but since he still had some time he put it to the back of his head and went to Lalitha's home to inform Balram about their upcoming trip on the upcoming day. Meanwhile Lalitha had to deal with the new employees and the local machinery arriving while Arjun was away which he had already informed her about.
Lalitha too wanted to come with them but since she had to do her job she had no other choice but to comply. She had always heard stories about the famous Vizag beach road and was quite envious of Arjun who would be visiting the place so early in his life and that too without his parents. If there was some part of his life she was envious about, this was it.
Since Arjun's family already knew about the trip from long ago none of them raised any issues, all of them except Sari whose exams were just a week away, making Pratap and Kavitha glare at her in anger and force her back to her room and make her pick up a book.
Sari was quite envious of her brother too, after all she was the one who always scored more out of the two but still he gets way more freedom than she ever does. Arjun could only pity her but was helpless as well since this was how parents of the time treated the girls massively different from boys. At least his family was much more considerate as all of them doted on her very much but other families were not the same at all, most of them treating girls as burden instead of a blessing.