Chapter 136 Gunshots in Winter: It's Not That It Can't Be Sold in China

Since they had already started talking about business, they decided to discuss the subsequent investment and operations.

One is real estate.

Okay, Wang Xiao admits that she misjudged the situation. She only saw that the most basic rental needs of ordinary people had been met; she didn't realize that people had been living like this for decades and had a need to improve their housing conditions.

Moreover, because the transmigrator carries preconceived notions, she consistently viewed Russia's economic development negatively, ignoring the fundamental fact that even a weakened giant is still a giant, and that the world is watching Moscow closely.

As a result, they have not developed any projects, whether for high-end residential housing or commercial office buildings.

Only the numerous shops they purchased at the time managed to salvage their reputation.

Things have turned out very differently now, so they have to find a way to salvage the situation and quickly enter the real estate market.

If you ask Wang Xiao why he didn't use the money to buy a courtyard house in Beijing,

Honey, you can't buy a courtyard house with a ruble.

Despite the apparent relaxation of the ruble-dollar exchange rate by the Russian federal government since the summer of 1992.

However, because the official price has fallen so drastically, sometimes even price adjustments cannot keep up with the rate of decline of the ruble.

In addition, Russian banks are really quite terrible and inefficient, sometimes taking up to a week to exchange your US dollars.

Given the current exchange rate, there is no doubt that every time you exchange money, you will lose money.

In contrast, if you use rubles to buy physical goods, as long as you choose the right items, the probability of preserving or increasing your value is actually higher.

For example, real estate.

Due to the small overall transaction volume, in Moscow, a city with a population of over ten million, the number of house transactions was 75 in October 1992, 135 in November, and 136 in December; coupled with the high total price of houses, the rate of increase in house prices was far slower than the crazy rise in prices.

Investing in real estate at this time is relatively safe.

Moreover, as a native of Moscow, Ivanov has a unique advantage in entering the real estate market.

First of all, he is rich, not just ordinary rich, but rich enough to build skyscrapers.

The number of newly wealthy individuals with the ability to achieve this is not as large as people imagine.

Moreover, although the newly rich call themselves the new generation, they are just as quick, accurate, ruthless, and steady as the old aristocracy when it comes to seizing public assets.

This leads them to prefer acquiring existing high-rise buildings at lower prices rather than developing new office buildings.

Russia's efforts to promote privatization have provided them with numerous advantages.

Against this backdrop, they lack the incentive to invest in new commercial land.

Meanwhile, foreign investors who couldn't get a share of the profits naturally preferred to invest directly in building in Moscow.

The problem is that Russia's business environment is poor, not only because the growth of its mafia has shocked the world, but also because its government is notoriously inefficient.

For investors looking to enter the Russian real estate market, the first hurdle is not raising funds, but rather navigating the complex bureaucratic procedures of planning approvals, leasing and permanent property rights, and the tax system.

These procedures are so complicated that if you follow the rules and regulations, you'll wear out at least two pairs of sneakers.

Foreign businesses are often passed around like a ball between different departments.

Every government official who came to handle the matter coldly told them: This is not my responsibility.

But as for who is in charge?

A says it's under B's jurisdiction, B says it's under C's jurisdiction, and C says it's under A's jurisdiction.

To put it simply, in Moscow right now, there's no bureaucracy that they can't accomplish, only things you can't imagine.

Difficult to get in, unpleasant faces, and complicated procedures; these are the basics here.

Even the energetic young civil servants in the Moscow government last winter, who had been actively helping Ivanov and Wang Xiao with the paperwork and completing the privatization of two of the most luxurious commercial streets at lightning speed, now seem to have lost their sparkle and are starting to become like the old hands, perhaps because they've been discouraged by the country's economic reforms over the past year.

This is a tragedy for a country, because even young people seem to have lost faith.

But for Ivanov, this was definitely a good opportunity.

Foreign capital with money and investment desires is blocked by complicated bureaucratic processes, and it may take several months to get results.

But he's different; he has connections, and he can complete the whole process in just a few days.

“We have an advantage,” Wang Xiao emphasized. “I’ve visited almost all of these commercial buildings in Moscow. Strictly speaking, none of them meet the standards of modern Western office buildings.”

This is only natural.

The operating models of a market economy and a planned economy are different. The Soviet Union implemented a planned economy for decades, but they didn't need those Grade A office buildings.

“If we rebuild the building to the standards of a high-end office building, it will absolutely crush the current commercial buildings.”

One of Moscow's major advantages is its highly developed transportation system.

Whether it's subways, buses, or airports, they're being built everywhere.

This means that even if Ivanov doesn't get a prime downtown location, a slightly off-center location is fine, as it won't hinder the commuting of office tenants.

"The key is that the office building must be of a high standard and able to meet the daily needs of office work."

As early as the spring of 1991, Ivanov was optimistic about the development of real estate, although at that time he wanted to build luxury villas.

But times have changed, and the luxury villa has been replaced by a high-end office building. He is still eager to try all sorts of things and is quite excited.

He readily agreed: "OK, then let's build an office building."

With the real estate investment deal settled, the next thing to discuss is the home appliance industry.

To be more specific, we cannot neglect either household robots or everyday appliances.

The former has undoubtedly become a symbol for the nouveau riche to display their status.

Even though this social class is small in number, their strong purchasing power necessitates a sufficient supply of household robots.

Currently, they can leverage the advantages of the doll club to market the household robot as a co-branded IP product, similar to a luxury paper bag with an exorbitant price.

By the time other manufacturers realize what's happening, things might not be so optimistic.

After all, the robotics institute in Moscow can make domestic robots for them, and they can also find other partners to collaborate with.

Even if the newly rich class only accounts for one-thousandth or one-ten-thousandth of the total population of Russia, which has a population of 150 million, it is still a market with a sales scale of tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands.

Each household robot costs $5,000, which translates to sales of $50 million to $500 million.

How could they possibly give up such a huge market?

Ivanov's capitalist nature instantly overcame his patriotism, and he directly proposed: "We should also have our own production line in China. What's valuable is the brand of our Doll Club, not the robots themselves."

This is similar to designer clothing, which can have all sorts of contract manufacturers.

However, even if the contract manufacturer can produce clothes of the same quality, without that shiny gold brand name, the clothes still cannot be sold at a higher price.

Wang Xiao nodded in agreement: "We should indeed prepare for both possibilities, so that we won't be caught off guard if the demand suddenly increases."

Ivanov asked expectantly, "Wang, will household robots also find a market in China?"

“It’s uncertain,” Wang Xiao emphasized. “The housing conditions of ordinary Chinese people are far inferior to those of Russians. Ordinary families don’t have enough living space, and there’s not even room for robots to stand.”

But as soon as she finished speaking, while Ivanov was still feeling dejected, her tongue suddenly twisted again, and she said hesitantly, "Actually, it's not impossible."

Why?

Because China also has a newly wealthy class.

They also need the luxuries of this era to signify their status.

A luxury house is unrealistic right now.

Commercial real estate development in China has only just begun; it will be at least several years before the first batch of luxury homes appear. Right now, they can't buy them even if they want to.

Imported luxury cars are a good option, but the problem is that not everyone can buy a car now, as eligibility is restricted by various administrative conditions.

Therefore, the new elites in China today can only show off their luxury imported motorcycles and all sorts of imported home appliances.

Even if you have to pull strings to get Japanese color TVs and DVD players for tens of thousands of dollars to be brought back from abroad, there are still plenty of people buying them.

Air conditioners costing several thousand or even tens of thousands of yuan, even though they are only used for three or four months a year, still see their sales figures rise.

These are both basic necessities and ways for those who have become wealthy to demonstrate their status.

Similar to these are the emerging trends in the home computer market, where more and more people are buying computers for their children.

Simply put, before the real estate boom, the way people got rich first mainly showed themselves was by making the most of their limited resources, using luxurious decorations and the latest home appliances to demonstrate that they lived a better life than others.

If imported color TVs are acceptable, and computers are acceptable, why can't robots, which can showcase even higher technological content, be imported as well?

The housing conditions of the newly rich are generally better than those of ordinary people; they often live in two- or three-bedroom apartments.

Household robots are only half a meter tall and have a small, exquisite size, so they can move around freely between the kitchen and the living room.

As for the claim that they are single-function yet expensive, and therefore unworthy of their price.

Well, you have to see what the consumers think.

For example, a computer now costs over ten thousand yuan.

But if you're talking about how families who bought computers made full use of their expensive computers to achieve certain things, that's basically just bragging.

For most families who buy computers these days, it's more of a bragging right.

Computers can be used to boast, representing high technology; household robots can do even more.

Its existence can instantly elevate the buyer's quality of life to the level of a movie, making it undeniably high-end.

As for whether, in ten or twenty years, the buyer will feel like an idiot for spending so much money on something useless.

Hey, you're overthinking it.

All buyers can enjoy services that outsiders cannot, and even if it's just a little bit, the value of those services is a hundred times greater.

Wang Xiao made a decision: "Okay, we'll set up shop in the International Trade City to sell."

Why not choose a major city like Beijing or Shanghai to start with?

Because she had no connections in those two places, no suitable sales venues, and not even specific sales targets.

However, Jinning and Xiaozhou are different. Although they are second-tier cities, their consumption power is not as strong as that of big cities.

But these two places are Wang Xiao's home turf.

The International Trade City is a great place for people in these two cities and surrounding areas to shop for trendy things and see new things.

When anything new appears in the International Trade City, it is generally well received.

Many small appliance manufacturers from Guangdong have been trying to enter the mainland market, but have been unable to do so.

Later, after moving into the International Trade City, although their original intention was to do foreign trade and sell to middlemen, they unexpectedly became popular with residents from both places, and their sales gradually increased.

Now that we're enjoying this wealth, let the household robot try to catch it.

If it gains popularity in the market, it could further stimulate the development of artificial intelligence and help improve the quality of daily life for the general public.

Good heavens, who can understand how much she misses the wonderful life of scrolling through her phone all day long?

Well, of course, Wang Xiao made this decision after fully considering market demand.

Her real target customer group in China is not the ordinary people in the two cities, but the suppliers in the trade city.

Due to the rapid development of township enterprises in both regions, coupled with the fact that factory operation models are far more flexible than those of state-owned enterprises, more and more township enterprises are now gaining a foothold in the commercial city, reaching more than half.

The small business owners of these companies are incredibly hardworking, but also absolutely willing to enjoy life.

It's normal for them to spend tens of thousands of yuan in a single day at a nightclub.

Household robots priced at tens of thousands of yuan are well within their purchasing power.

Wang Xiao even had a wild idea: should robots be provided as public service robots within the commercial city, allowing them to replace guides and shoppers in completing some of the work?

It's not that she wants to save on labor costs; to put it bluntly, given the current level of robots, their cost-effectiveness is far inferior to that of ordinary human employees.

But what she wants to showcase is style, high technology, and fashion.

As foreign trade grows larger, more and more people want a piece of the pie.

She knew very little about the situation in other regions, so she couldn't say.

However, the two provincial capitals of Jinning and Xiaozhou have gradually liberalized the contracting of department store counters.

Individual business owners generally reacted faster than the government; they also targeted middlemen and tried every means to attract customers to their shops.

Although they are currently small in scale and lack transportation advantages, they are still relatively unknown.

But what happens in the long run? Everyone wants more choices.

Therefore, if the International Trade City wants to retain more customers, it must seek innovation and change, and always have something that makes people feel that it is unique.

Wang Xiao didn't know if this robot service model could increase customers' interest in the commercial city, but she wanted to give it a try.

Success!

If it doesn't work out, it'll do as a form of advertising.

Ivanov only wanted to sell robots with Russian ancestry in China, which would satisfy his subtle sense of national pride.

So he immediately and enthusiastically agreed to Wang Xiao's plan, and even painted a rosy picture for himself: "Wang, China has a billion people. Even if we only have one in a thousand or one in ten thousand customers, that's still millions of sales. That's a business worth billions."

Wang Xiao simply chuckled and said, "Okay, okay, whatever makes you happy."

She estimates that she won't be able to sell that many household robots because China's economic development is currently extremely uneven.

However, if we can earn tens of millions to cover the remaining R&D expenses, that would be quite good.

The two chatted and finished their afternoon tea before heading out the door to return to the city.

The sanatorium's business has just started, so they naturally stay here for a relatively long time, but it's impossible for them to stay here every day.

It was dusk.

In the winter outside Moscow, the snow is so white that even the cold sunset cannot bring out any warmth.

Fortunately, there was no blizzard today; it was quiet and silent, patiently waiting for the end of the workday.

As they approached the gate, they heard someone roaring in the distance, "Who's going to pay for the funeral expenses?"

The gatekeeper, expressionless, said, "Sir, have you come to the wrong place?"

Seven or eight thugs in their twenties or thirties, dressed in black, stood at the entrance of the sanatorium, waving their fists and emphasizing again: "Shovels, urns, even soil—everything costs money. Who's going to pay for it?"

This is Mafia slang for extortion.

The security guard glanced at them dismissively: "Sir, you've come to the wrong place. This isn't money you can take."

The bodyguards, surrounding the two bosses, walked past them expressionlessly, as if they hadn't seen anything.

A short, stout man with a ruddy complexion, perhaps under the influence of alcohol, suddenly lunged at Wang Xiao, shouting, "Hey! Little Oriental girl, who asked who would pay for your urn?..."

The intonation of a special interrogative sentence should be lowered, but he didn't lower it; he had already flown away.

Lyuba withdrew her leg expressionlessly; she hated this kind of differential treatment the most.

There were clearly two bosses, a man and a woman, so why did the assailant target the female boss directly? Didn't he think women were easier to bully?

Let's give it a try and see who's really easy to bully.

The remaining thugs were taken aback. Some instinctively wanted to throw a punch and rush forward, while others instinctively shrank back.

Xiao Gao and Xiao Zhao were a beat slower than Liu Ba in reacting, letting someone else seize the initiative, which already made them feel embarrassed.

Their idea was to have two bosses, one Chinese and one Russian.

Why did the thugs target Chinese people at first glance? They are clearly bullying foreigners!

Alright, then let me show you that although not every Chinese person is Bruce Lee, Chinese people are not to be bullied.

One of the thugs was thrown to the ground with an over-the-shoulder throw and couldn't get up, while the other guy was hit hard in the back of the knee and immediately knelt down.

The security guard, always quick to jump out, emphasized: "Hey, I've told you all, this isn't a place where you can take money. Don't go running around on other people's turf."

The red-haired leader was furious, waving his fist and emphasizing, "You've stolen our business, just you wait!"

The bodyguards had lost their patience, so they simply dislocated all their arms.

Amidst the wails, the security guard, dutifully performing his duties like an NPC, said, "I've already told you, this isn't money you can take."

At this time, customers have already started arriving one after another.

Guests holding membership cards will enjoy a meticulously prepared dinner at the sanatorium, and then, while receiving a massage, cuddling a doll, or soaking in a hot spring, they will discuss business with their target clients.

A banker named Sidano got out of his imported Mercedes-Benz. He had been observing the whole scene, and now he smiled and extended his hand to Wang Xiao and Ivanov: "You guys are really something. It's about time you let these scum taste what you're made of."

The mafia in Moscow, or rather throughout Russia, is becoming increasingly brazen.

Almost everyone had to pay them protection money and endure their occasional extortion.

Can you believe it? At least a third of this person's shop's profits go towards protection money.

Any store that dares not pay will be finished.

Thieves will keep coming to steal from the store because the gang has published the store's name and address on the streets.

Thieves all know that this store has no one protecting it, so they can steal from it without facing any consequences.

What? You're saying the police will arrest them?

Are you kidding me? In 1992, 240 people were arrested in Russia for joining criminal gangs.

They are just the tip of the iceberg.

Even those who didn't directly join received tributes from the Mafia.

"This damn country, the police never protect the safety of us taxpayers," Cedarnko complained.

Ivanov, unusually, spoke up for the police: "They have it tough too."

In this country, it's common for high-ranking officials to accept bribes, so what can a lowly police officer do?

Police officers who dare to fight against crime not only have to endure a life of poverty, but also have to constantly withstand attacks from criminals.

In September 1992, two police officers were killed by a car killer in a bloody incident that occurred on a main road.

To date, not only has the killer not been caught—the collapse of the Soviet Union made it easy for him to escape between the various CIS countries—but the two victimized police officers have also been stigmatized.

Rumors swirled, saying they had targeted the wrong person and that's why the Mafia retaliated.

Even their families, after losing the pillar of their households, have to endure the secondary harm caused by rumors and gossip.

Good heavens, if they really were those corrupt cops who ripped off his family, they wouldn't be unable to afford a pair of shoes.

When the temperature drops in September, the police officers' children can only wear single-layer shoes.

If this continues, even if the police are unwilling to collude with the mafia out of professional ethics, they won't dare to really confront them head-on.

The banker frowned and cursed, “Oh no, oh no. The law, the economy, politics, the government, and the country are all out of control. This country itself is the biggest mafia.”

Wang Xiao chuckled to himself.

If she didn't know that this guy made his fortune by exploiting financial loopholes, she would definitely think he was a patriot.

After expressing his feelings, Sidanako smiled broadly and started waving the depositors around: "Hey, my friend, my bank is the most trustworthy. Our interest rates are much higher than those of the national bank."

Honestly, as your most loyal friend, I can't bear to see you suffer losses at the national bank. Come on, deposit your money, and I'll definitely provide you with the best service.

Haha, who's crazy enough to deposit money in a bank?

If they really want to deposit their money, they will choose a well-funded foreign bank.

Otherwise, if you deposit money one day and then go bankrupt the next, who will we hold accountable?

As Cidaenko was still enthusiastically promoting his bank, suddenly, the sound of pigeon whistles seemed to fill the air.

Then a small, dark hole appeared between his eyebrows, as if something was about to flow down, but before it could, his body leaned back.

It wasn't until his body collapsed to the ground with a dull thud that Wang Xiao belatedly realized—

The person standing right in front of him, spouting off eloquent praise, was shot.

He was hit between the eyebrows by a bullet.

He was shot dead in full view of everyone.

The snow was frozen solid, so when he threw it down, it didn't even create a large splash.

He was shot dead in broad daylight, under the watchful eyes of everyone.

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The Moscow real estate sales data at that time was translated from the article "The Moscow Real Estate Market is Stabilizing" in the Russian magazine "Business World" from September 13-20, 1993.

Furthermore, the way the Mafia speaks, although it sounds a bit strange, is exactly how they say it according to the information Ah Jin found.

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