Chapter 68 Sister, you're amazing! (Bug fix): Target: Budapest

Wang Xiao really didn't think she was any better; if she were, she wouldn't have suffered such a loss in silence.

In just one day, seven middlemen came to the door, returning a total of $30,000 worth of goods, mostly clothes, shoes, socks, and gloves.

Wang Xiao was truly impressed by them. "Gentlemen, don't you look at things carefully when you buy them? You just carry them away like that?"

These resellers are quite aggrieved; the things they bought before were all fine, and nothing like this has ever happened before.

It's likely that the small vendors discovered their naivety and carelessness, which is why they later dared to pass off inferior goods as superior ones.

Wang Xiao showed the bill to Xiang Dong: "Thirty thousand US dollars! And that's after many people have already rushed to catch their flights to Moscow."

This is all the revenue stolen from the International Trade City!

Xiang Dong felt he didn't even need to dig a hole anymore; he could just find a tree and hang himself.

He truly underestimated the capabilities of small vendors.

Over the past month, the commercial city has lost at least a million US dollars in sales.

Hurried footsteps sounded at the door, and Xiang Dong's assistant ran over excitedly: "We caught him, boss! The police really caught him!"

Who did we catch? Of course, it was the guy who tried to take advantage of the situation.

Every era and every country needs a clever and resourceful person.

When Wang Xiao announced that he would refund the money to those who bought substandard goods and resold them, some shrewd people immediately saw a business opportunity in it.

Whether or not someone bought substandard goods, apart from the buyer, probably even the seller can't remember.

He could buy inferior goods from vendors at a low price, and then ask the International Trade City for a refund at a slightly lower price for similar goods (the original price is not convincing).

With this inflow and outflow, isn't that another large sum of money?

Use that money to buy high-quality freight from China Express and ship it to Moscow for resale; the price will immediately double.

Then this clever and quick-witted fellow, who was smugly boasting that he had made a little money, experienced firsthand the swift and decisive action of the Chinese public security organs in this ancient Eastern country and was caught red-handed.

What do you call his behavior? Fraud.

Upon seeing the situation, the vendor who was selling the item to him immediately changed his mind: "I originally refused to sell it. The government educated us yesterday, saying that we can't sell things like this. I was planning to take it back and dispose of it. But the Russian insisted on buying it from me. I repeatedly emphasized that it had been flooded, and he said it was okay, I could just wash and dry it and wear it. How was I supposed to know he was trying to scam me?"

The other vendors caught by the police immediately chimed in, "We didn't lie. We told the Russians the clothes were soaked. They didn't care; they just wanted a cheaper price."

This is really hard to explain. Everyone has their own version of events, and each of them is the most innocent person in the world.

The policeman slammed his hand on the table, his eyes wide with shock: "Come on, all of you line up and speak some Russian. Wow, I never would have guessed! You're all college graduates, and you speak Russian so fluently. You even know they don't care about the price, they just want a cheap deal. With all this ability, why don't you become translators?"

The small vendors have all gone into hiding again.

But that Russian was clearly trying to scam people. Even though it was unsuccessful, he still had to be detained for a week and fined 10,000 RMB, which is roughly equivalent to 2,000 USD.

The fine wasn't a huge sum for him. But the detention was the death knell for him.

According to the original plan, he should have returned to Moscow today.

Even a day's delay will result in a loss of money, let alone being locked up for a week.

Unfortunately, no matter how much he howled or how much he squatted on the ground and cried, he was determined to eat the Chinese state meal for seven days.

Because the amount he defrauded had already reached the standard for sentencing, he would have gone to jail if the public security authorities hadn't acted leniently, adhering to the principle of minor punishment as a warning.

Even the international traders operating in the Zhimen area didn't stand up for him.

His behavior was already despicable and vile; honest business people would look down on him.

Although resellers and speculators may be in a legal gray area in various countries, there are still rules in the underworld, and you can't break the rules of how society operates.

The arrested small vendors and the factories behind them were trying to cause trouble, each attempting to deny their involvement.

But the police officers weren't pushovers; they pointed out the key issues directly, saying their behavior was extremely egregious.

The first point is that the amount of money involved in the case is high.

Taking 500 winter coats as an example, at 100 yuan each, that's 50,000 yuan, which already meets the standard for a "relatively large amount" in fraud cases. Not to mention tens of thousands of yuan, which would be an "enormous amount."

Secondly, the targets of these scams are individuals with special identities. According to relevant regulations, defrauding foreign guests, diplomats, foreign students, returning overseas Chinese, and compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan of large sums of money, thereby damaging the prestige and reputation of the country and causing extremely negative political consequences, constitutes a crime with "particularly serious circumstances."

What does this mean?

According to Article 152 of the Criminal Law, "Whoever habitually steals, habitually cheats, or steals, defrauds, or robs public or private property in a huge amount shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than ten years. If the circumstances are particularly serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than ten years or life imprisonment, and may also be sentenced to confiscation of property."

This is important: fraud. Fraud is included here. The minimum sentence is five years, and the maximum is that the state will cover your food and clothing for the rest of your life.

Once the police read out the legal provisions, the arrested people immediately became obedient and would rather pay the fines honestly.

Who can endure spending five years in prison?

Even if they are fined 100,000 or 200,000 yuan, they will have to accept it.

As for where the fine goes, well, it's split equally between the police and the local industry and commerce bureau.

This is also a characteristic of the times. Due to insufficient allocation of administrative office funds, a portion of the fines collected was turned over to the national treasury, while the other portion was used to cover administrative expenses.

Otherwise, to put it bluntly, the police station wouldn't even have the money to buy handcuffs.

People in the commercial city were whispering among themselves: "Goodness, it's a good thing that Boss Wang decided to rent out the space outside the commercial city to military families to sell snacks, otherwise the police station and the industrial and commercial bureau would probably be coming over every now and then."

The other factories that weren't caught, having heard the news, quickly approached Xiang Dong to seek reconciliation, returning their money and only asking that the International Trade City stop sending police to arrest them.

Their connections are only useful in their county; if the provincial police were to come, they really wouldn't be able to handle it.

They have it tough too.

The floodwaters destroyed the factory, causing heavy losses, and no one offered them a single penny in compensation.

The factory workers are all local farmers, and every household has suffered considerable losses. If the factory doesn't pay their wages soon, they might really revolt.

Wang Xiao was just listening from the sidelines.

This wasn't caused by their international trade city, so why should they pay for it?

The payment for goods was over five million yuan, and what has been returned is probably not the full amount.

She's not going to be taken advantage of.

However, the unwritten rule of the underworld is that honesty is the best policy, so no one persisted in pursuing the matter, and the whole affair came to an abrupt end.

At this moment, Xiang Dong finally understood that Wang Xiao's focus was on the Russian who had been arrested.

After this incident, I doubt anyone will dare to come and try to take advantage of the situation again.

Moreover, his existence means that international smugglers and resellers are no longer entirely innocent victims.

Whether the explanations given by small vendors are true or not is not important; what is important is that these words remind onlookers of another possibility.

Everyone knows that you get what you pay for.

There's a large, reputable international trade center right next door, but instead of buying there, they go outside to buy cheap goods. Did they already know the quality was poor and just wanted to get them cheaply so they could make more money off their fellow countrymen?

This is a blatant and overt conspiracy.

Was she wrong to ask for a refund? No, she wasn't.

If you weren't greedy, you wouldn't have fallen into this trap.

If you fall into the trap, don't blame others for making a fuss about it later.

The phone rang in Xiang Dong's office. His third brother was very impatient: "Hey, why didn't you come over? We agreed to have dinner together."

“I didn’t tell you properly.” Xiang Dong gritted his teeth and finally made up his mind. “Third Brother, I’m already doing you a favor by not handing you over to the police.”

Enraged, Third Brother retorted, "What do you mean by that? You're doing well now, so you look down on people, aren't you? Who was it that brought you out into business in the first place?"

Xiang Dong only asked him one question: "Didn't you know that the goods they were selling were soaked in water?"

If it weren't for Third Brother's introduction, Xiang Dong might have considered that the goods were from a local factory in Jiangdong, and then connected it to the flood.

He knew that Wang Xiao had considered this when he refused to source goods only from Jiangdong.

But it is precisely because he is the third brother.

These self-employed clothing vendors who run businesses in the provincial capital mostly source their goods from Guangzhou.

So he subconsciously assumed that what they were selling was also from Guangzhou.

And what was the result?

"Third Brother, I won't say anything else. I've worked for nothing this year, and now I haven't received a single penny in dividends."

Xiang Sange said gruffly, "How much is it? I'll make it up to you!"

"I was originally supposed to receive at least two million in bonuses this year."

Xiang Sange fell silent, no longer daring to boast.

Xiang Dong sighed, "Third Brother, you'd better watch yourself. You'd be better off sticking to selling clothes and not always trying to make quick money."

Isn't that obvious?

Another day has passed for self-employed individuals; who knows if there will be a tomorrow?

Who doesn't want to make quick money?

Oh, he's a general manager in a joint venture now. He's cleaned up his act and is finally free to make sarcastic remarks.

Xiang Dong hung up the phone and looked through the correspondence course materials in his hand.

He doesn't know how to be a general manager, so he has to learn.

Since he has the opportunity, he must learn it.

Since your subordinates are already pushing themselves to the limit, the boss naturally has nothing to say. Keep it up, you're a mature employee now, you should have learned to push yourself to the limit by now.

As for her boss, she had to go pick them up.

Who should we pick up? Ruan Xiaomei.

Hey! I haven't heard that name in ages.

It has been a full six months since we parted ways at the Moscow train station in May.

Wang Xiao was quite surprised when she received her call: "Why didn't you call ahead so I could pick you up at the airport?"

"It's nothing, it's nothing," Ruan Xiaomei said with a smile. "You're busy, aren't you? I heard you just came back from Xiaozhou, so I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Alright, come over here, I'll treat you to some authentic farm-style food."

So-called farmhouse cuisine just means eating in the village.

If this isn't authentic, then there's no more authentic farmhouse cuisine.

Wang Xiao beckoned to the child: "Hey, go back and tell your grandma that you want some radish and fish soup today, and also to cook a couple of other dishes."

The child nodded and ran off lively.

Wang Xiao estimated that it was about time, so he went to the entrance of the commercial city to pick up the person.

She searched for Ruan Xiaomei in the crowd, but was turned away by a burst of shouts and curses.

Next to a noodle stall, a gray-haired woman was grabbing a fashionable young woman: "What are you pretending to be dead for? You heartless bastard, I should have strangled you when I gave birth to you."

Many people were watching the spectacle, and upon hearing this, quite a few pointed and whispered at the fashionable woman.

The gray-haired woman, now emboldened, became even more agitated, spitting as she shouted, "Where have you been selling your cunt? Where's the money? Give it all to me, you heartless little bitch! Your parents are suffering at home, and you dare to go out and eat and drink the good life!"

People around started clicking their tongues in disapproval.

So it turns out this is forcing women into prostitution.

Oh wait, what is this girl mumbling?

It seems like she doesn't know this old woman at all.

Wang Xiao also listened for a while, and sadly realized that learning is indeed endless, and she had not developed this language skill.

Watching a spectacle is a universal human interest. A Hungarian trader nearby craned his neck to see what was going on. Seeing her puzzled look, he offered to explain: "She's speaking German. She said she doesn't know you. What do you want? If you keep this up, I'll call the police. Haha, Germany is an important business partner of ours. We border the German-speaking parts of Austria and Switzerland, and many of us speak German."

Wang Xiao instantly realized what was happening. She stared at the fashionable woman more closely and, sure enough, it was Ruan Xiaomei.

Compared to before, her current appearance is a typical example of a celebrity before and after their debut. Even true fans would find it hard to recognize her face as an ordinary person.

With her dyed brown hair and makeup, she looked sophisticated and stylish, like she could be shooting a poster anytime.

The other woman, still cursing and swearing, oh, needless to say, isn't that Ruan Rui's mother?

I don't know or care what his name is.

Anyway, she hasn't had her own name for a long time.

Tsk, it's true what they say, different strokes for different folks. There are some truly horrible mothers in the world who make it their mission to never let their daughters off the hook.

Even now, Aunt Ruan is still insisting: "You have no conscience! Your brother is suffering and you don't care at all."

When she got to the point of being emotional, this great mother almost cried.

How did she spend the past six months?

The two elderly people are taking care of a young child, and the old man is the only one with a pension.

She even wanted to get rid of that little brat; after all, he wasn't a grandson, just a money-losing burden.

Unfortunately, their son insisted that they must support their granddaughter.

Oh dear, her son is suffering so much; her son, the "God of Literature," has become so thin he's practically unrecognizable.

Even if you want to live a good life in prison, you have to pay money.

She had no choice but to become a nanny.

Ever since that little bitch Ruan Xiaomei grew up and could work, she's basically done all the housework. Even after she got married, she still had to come home at least twice a week to clean.

She's so old and hasn't done any real work in years, yet she still has to endure this hardship.

Even so, she worked there for a week and was still criticized by her employer for being sloppy.

Bah! A country bumpkin who hasn't even washed his muddy legs properly, he made a few stinking bucks through speculation and now he's putting on airs in front of her.

When I was eating government food, your family was still toiling in the fields for a living.

I'm done!

As a result, she got scolded by her husband again when she got home.

It's all because of that heartless Ruan Xiaomei; she actually abandoned her whole family and ran away.

Yes, it was Wang Xiao. It must have been that jinx Wang Xiao who seduced her.

Her perfectly good daughter has been ruined and is no longer behaving like a daughter.

"Where is Wang Xiao?" Aunt Ruan shouted, extremely agitated. "You're trafficking people! I'm going to report you to the police station!"

Those around were completely confused, wondering what was wrong with this person.

Didn't you see that this woman couldn't understand Chinese at all? She was struggling desperately.

Wang Xiao turned to the Hungarian middleman and asked, "Excuse me, could you please go over and tell him that this is your colleague, and help me take her to my office?"

"OK, OK!" The Hungarian trader was happy to play the hero and save the day.

He ran over and first spoke to Ruan Xiaomei in German, then emphasized to the translator in English: "My friend is here in China for the first time at my invitation. I don't understand why there would be such a madman. It's really terrible."

The translator quickly said to Aunt Ruan, "Hey, you've got it wrong. She's Hungarian, a foreigner, you know? She's your mother."

Grandma Ruan was about to roar again when the police were called by concerned citizens.

"What are you doing? What are you doing? Why are you making such a racket?"

The translator explained the events again.

The Hungarian trader readily produced his passport to prove that he and his friend were Hungarian citizens.

He also expressed his distress, saying, "I know our appearance is similar to that of Asians, but we can't just let any random person come here and force them to be a mother."

After the translator finished speaking, everyone around burst into laughter.

Aunt Ruan slapped her thigh and exclaimed, "This is outrageous! You shameless whore, you don't even recognize your own mother anymore! Is this any good?"

Ruan Xiaomei asked the translator in English, "What is she saying?"

The translator hesitated for a moment, but still gritted his teeth and helped convey the linguistic information.

As a result, Ruan Xiaomei immediately became emotional and stated that she would sue this inexplicable person, who had subjected her to personal and verbal attacks. She felt that she had been greatly insulted and demanded a public apology and compensation.

The police are really overwhelmed.

These Russians are all incredibly difficult to deal with. They happen to be foreign guests, and they understand the workings of the socialist system, making it hard to bluff their way through.

"Alright! Stop arguing." The police officer said to Aunt Ruan impatiently, "Didn't you hear me? She doesn't even know you."

But Aunt Ruan was adamant: "Don't I know my daughter?"

Ruan Xiaomei was even more agitated than her; her wrists were red from being scratched, and there were nail marks on them.

She repeatedly emphasized in English, "I'm going to sue her. She has physically assaulted and insulted me."

The police didn't want to escalate the situation, so they quickly pulled Aunt Ruan along: "Come on, come on, let's go to the police station. You just think she's your daughter? How could you be so naive? I'd like to have Xiao Wanjun call me 'Dad,' but she has to agree to that."

The surrounding laughter grew even louder.

Aunt Ruan wanted to emphasize, "She is my daughter, the flesh of my own flesh and blood, how could I not recognize her?"

Ruan Xiaomei was not polite at all, and asked the translator to convey her meaning: "If this person dares to harass me again, I will definitely send her to jail. I refuse to let her near me, and I will apply to the court for an injunction."

Now everyone around believed that the girl was indeed not the old woman's daughter.

Oh dear, the old woman is so fierce.

Does this look like they're planning to traffic people?

I've heard that some human traffickers do this: they drive around the street, grab a girl, and get her into their car.

When others ask, just say that your daughter/wife is being unreasonable, has a fight with the family, and wants to run away from home.

Wow, I'd only ever heard about it before, I never thought it was actually true!

Amidst the murmurs of the crowd, Aunt Ruan was finally taken away by the police.

Ruan Xiaomei was also very unhappy and followed the Hungarian trader to Wang Xiao.

The latter was busy taking credit: "How was it? I did a great job, didn't I?"

Wang Xiao quickly expressed her praise and invited him to have dinner together.

The farmers here are incredibly creative. Although they didn't create sour cream, they managed to replicate the famous Hungarian stew quite well, and it seems that Poles, Romanians, and Soviets all love it.

When they went to eat, the Hungarian middleman ran into his friend again, so Wang Xiao generously ordered another table for them and took Ruan Xiaomei to eat in the next room.

What's your name now?

“A Hungarian name? Aubrie.” Ruan Xiaomei laughed. “You can just call me Xiaomei, it’s still my name on my passport, and I don’t plan to change it.”

Wang Xiao thought for a moment, then called out to her, "Aubrie, where are you back this time? Where's Dachun?"

“Mr. Fang’s business is doing very well now, and he goes out with bodyguards every day.” Ruan Xiaomei shook her head. “The security situation in Budapest is not good these days.”

"so?"

“It’s nothing.” Ruan Xiaomei washed the chopsticks with tea. “His business is doing very well now, he specializes in selling computers. In addition, he also acts as a trade agent for some mainland companies. I learned German because I didn’t want to be a nanny forever. Now I’m also learning to help with the business. By the way—the photo was taken in October.”

Wang Xiao took the bag from her purse and carefully examined the photos inside.

Wow, these models are really good, the photos turn out great.

I estimate that the printing factory will be producing wall calendars and desk calendars by the end of the year, and we can pick out several from them.

I must say, Budapest has a kind of old-money vibe, making it a perfect backdrop for promotional photos. I can take more promotional photos here in the future.

Just then, the restaurant owner came over to serve the food, and the two of them ate and chatted.

The two of them were very tacit, and neither of them mentioned Ruan Rui's mother or Ruan Rui himself.

Is it necessary to waste time on trivial matters?

"Hey, Wang Xiao, I'm not beating around the bush. I came here to ask you for a favor."

"What kind of help?"

“Open a route directly from Jiangdong to Budapest.”

Wang Xiao's eyes widened in surprise: "Why? Aren't there two buses a day from Moscow?"

Currently, Hungarian traders who want to return to their base of operations typically fly to Moscow first and then transfer to a train.

There are actually flights from Moscow to Budapest, but secondary distributors prefer to ship goods from Moscow by train, which is cheaper and there are plenty of train services, so there's no need to take a plane.

"Shipping is inconvenient; air freight is more convenient than train freight."

Wang Xiaozhen asked curiously, "Mr. Wang, aren't you engaged in legitimate trade? Why are you still reselling goods?"

"It's legitimate trade, but it's no use; the containers have been broken into too many times."

Ms. Ruan said helplessly, "In June, we negotiated a leather deal, 80 containers, and they were all pried open. In the end, less than a third of them were left. We had no choice but to ship more by air, otherwise we wouldn't be able to afford the compensation for the overdue shipments."

Last month, a friend of Mr. Fang's, who runs a trading company in Hungary, shipped a batch of toys there. The container rolled around countless times along the way, resulting in severe damage, and he had to sell it at a low price. Not only did he not make any money, he also lost money.

Mr. Fang and his friends got together and said that it would be better to just ship by air.

The Soviet mafia was incredibly powerful and ruthless. Unless someone was manually carrying goods little by little and watching over them, it was somewhat manageable. Who would dare to expect a train car to be destroyed?

Alas, judging from the current state of the Soviet Union, things are unlikely to improve.

Mr. Fang heard you're in the freight forwarding business and wanted to ask if you could arrange a direct flight to Budapest, specifically for transporting goods from China. This would avoid the hassle of transfers, as they're worried about the cargo being stolen while transiting through Moscow airport. It's very chaotic right now.”

The owner brought out another plate of stir-fried eggs with chili peppers, and Ruan Xiaomei immediately picked up a piece with her chopsticks.

Having lived in Hungary for a long time, she's gotten used to having chili peppers in her food, regardless of whether they're spicy or not.

She explained to Wang Xiao, "It's true, Budapest wants a lot of goods. Western Europe imposes high tariffs on our country, but offers many trade preferences to Hungary. Austria is now a close trading partner of Hungary, and the border between Austria and Hungary has very lax inspections; container trucks are constantly coming and going. So, if Western European countries want to buy goods from China, they can pick them up in Hungary, which is very convenient."

Wang Xiao understood: "So Budapest is just a transit point?"

“Yes, yes, that’s exactly what I mean.” Ruan Xiaomei emphasized, “Their order volume is huge. Just this month, Mr. Fang’s friend ordered a hundred containers of Christmas decorations alone.”

Wang Xiao reached out and gently tapped the table, considering the feasibility of this route.

Hungary is indeed a good choice for opening up the European market.

Regardless of whether the business with Western Europe is as large as Ruan Xiaomei said, Budapest can at least make contact with a few countries in Eastern Europe.

It's true, train travel between these countries is so cheap that even the top-level middlemen can quickly distribute and ship goods.

She thought for a moment, then asked Ruan Xiaomei, "What is Hungary's attitude?"

“Of course they welcome it,” Ruan Xiaomei laughed. “Goods entering Budapest are subject to normal taxes, so it doesn’t cause them any loss.”

The issue of tax evasion that's suitable for entering Western Europe... well, that has nothing to do with Hungary.

The goods were ordered to be picked up from Hungary by merchants from your own country.

"The Chinese Chamber of Commerce has spoken with them, and both sides are interested. As for things back home, we'll have to rely on you."

Wang Xiao did not agree immediately, but instead stated, "I need to ask my partner."

Ivanov was even more enthusiastic than her. He was particularly bothered by one thing: the combined business of the three later routes was still less than that of the Moscow route alone.

Since we can't win by focusing on quality, let's compete by focusing on quantity.

Budapest is not bad. Western Europe is rich, and the richer people are, the more they want to take advantage of others.

Therefore, there are quite a few smugglers going to Budapest.

Alright, since the two of them have reached an agreement, let's go to Hungary and see what's to come.

Despite their impressive status as owners of a large international freight company with fifty cargo planes and fifteen passenger planes, and who had dealt with countless middlemen and traders from Hungary, neither of them had ever actually been to Hungary.

It just so happens that we can travel together.

So, no sooner had Ms. Chen Yanqiu become the vice-chairwoman of the trade union (the chairwoman will not step down until February of next year) than she hastily organized more than 100 administrative staff from the steel plant's trade union, office, and publicity department to board a plane to Moscow.

Thank goodness, this was a chartered plane they had booked, so although there was a lot of luggage on board, at least there was a passageway to the toilet. Otherwise, Wang Xiao didn't know how he would have endured the seven or eight-hour journey.

Every passenger on the plane was wearing two down jackets and three wool sweaters underneath, because Wang Xiao had warned them that it was very cold, and that Moscow in November could freeze a cow to death.

But winter is when Moscow is most charming, possessing a unique, austere atmosphere.

During this season, taking a vacation at a sanatorium and relaxing would feel especially comfortable.

Actually, Wang Xiao didn't need to say so much, because no one really cares what season it is to travel abroad.

This event alone is enough to excite everyone.

Someone even chased after Wang Xiao, asking, "Are you really going to give each of us two fur coats?"

This is a fur coat.

No idea what a fur coat is?

Don't be so uncultured.

Have you read "Dream of the Red Chamber"? You must know about Qingwen mending the fur coat, right? That refers to a Russian fur coat.

Wang Xiao found it very strange.

She admitted that she was not very cultured, having not read any of the Four Great Classical Novels in their entirety, and had not even watched the TV series about them properly.

Oh, the only one I watched was "Journey to the West," but that was an animated series I watched when I was a kid.

She still remembers the song that played on TV to this day: "Monkey King, Monkey King, you are truly amazing..."

Wait a minute, the one Qingwen patched was made of peacock feathers. In Russia's climate, peacocks? You're kidding me. Yunnan is the real home of peacocks.

However, Wang Xiao was very rational; she would never argue with her mother's generation over trivial matters.

Just kidding, is she complaining that the trip was too peaceful?

Dr. Chen—or rather, Chairman Chen now—was incredibly proud, yet he still forced himself to remain composed: “Of course. We put in a lot of effort into this, but we still managed to reach an agreement. When you get to Moscow, everyone must be mindful of discipline and always remember that you represent the country and the image of our steel plant. You absolutely must not do anything shameful.”

Wang Xiao touched his nose, then simply pulled on the hood of his down jacket and leaned back in his chair to sleep.

Tang Yicheng glanced at her and also began to conserve his energy.

He went to Budapest specifically for this trip. It wasn't that they didn't trust Ivanov, but when traveling, having more people around always provides more security.

Why him? Because among these veterans, he had the best Russian language skills.

He started learning early and had excellent learning conditions, which is why he progressed quickly.

Honestly, he never expected it. In his parents' words, if he had learned English this quickly in middle school, he would definitely have gotten into university.

After all, cough cough, his English score back then was so low that even his English teacher didn't want to acknowledge him as a student.

When Ruan Xiaomei saw that the two of them were asleep, she didn't feel sleepy at all. Instead, she sat in her seat and listened quietly to what others were saying.

She went all out with her act, never admitting her true identity even in front of Tang Yicheng, let alone being a steel factory worker.

Fortunately, everyone was excited about traveling abroad, and no one cared who she was.

Maybe someone recognized them, but who would be foolish enough to cause trouble for no reason?

A person's status is indeed determined by their abilities.

As Ruan Xiaomei listened, she drifted off to sleep.

When she opened her eyes again, the plane was already preparing to land.

Wang Xiao was looking at the documents in his hand, while Tang Yicheng was silently memorizing the Russian booklet.

The steelworkers on the plane were so excited that they had only just fallen asleep and were sleeping soundly.

When the plane announced its landing, everyone hurriedly opened their eyes and checked their seatbelts as instructed.

Ivanov was already waiting at the airport. After picking up the person, he didn't even have time to take the guest to the sanatorium. He immediately arranged for Ivan to be the guide.

Fortunately, the two colleagues from the publicity department who came this time can speak Russian, so at least we won't become mute and deaf.

Chen Yanqiu was actually quite flustered, but she couldn't hold her daughter back, so she gritted her teeth and forced herself to stay calm: "Let's go, let's go to the sanatorium, they can do what they're doing."

A colleague who was close to her asked curiously, "Hey, your Xiaoxiao doesn't play at all when she's out?"

"Oh, you know perfectly well that this girl doesn't have a brain for playing games."

"That's true. Of all the kids in school, apart from your Xiaoxiao, we're all driven to the brink of madness by them. They don't listen in class and don't do their homework after school. Only your Xiaoxiao is so well-behaved and never gives us any trouble."

Before Dr. Chen even entered the sanatorium, he felt as if he had already eaten ginseng fruit, and every pore on his body felt comfortable.

But he pretended to be modest, saying, "Oh my, this girl can be really tough when she's being stubborn."

Tsk, if it weren't for the fact that her lips were practically drooling, her words would be slightly more believable.

Tang Yicheng was almost bursting with suppressed laughter. Even though they couldn't hear what he was about to say, he could guess that it was going to be a huge bragging session.

That's just how parents are, right? They work in the same factory, and their salaries and benefits are pretty much the same. There's nothing to brag about except their kids.

Ruan Xiaomei glanced back at the beaming Dr. Chen, suppressing the envy in her heart.

She had never experienced such a moment before; she had never received praise or affirmation from her parents since she was a child.

It's clear that kinship can also depend on luck.

There are direct flights from Moscow Airport to Budapest, but Wang Xiao and Ivanov believed that the reseller economy was the key to the operation of the air route, so they decided to go to the train station as planned.

After all, the main force of traders traveling from Moscow to Eastern Europe still travels by train.

As they were about to take a car to the train station, a middle-aged man wearing glasses rushed over and shouted to Wang Xiao, "Wang Xiao, do you remember me?"

Wang Xiao looked closely at the man's face and was quite surprised: "Oh my, when did you arrive, Director Zhang? What a coincidence!"

Moscow started its central heating in late September, so you can imagine how cold it was in November. But Director Zhang of the TV Department of Jiangdong Provincial TV Station was covered in sweat and his face was flushed.

He said urgently, "Oh, Wang Xiao, you know-it-all, you have to help us."

He is now a member of the Chinese Television Arts Delegation, which is on a study tour abroad at the invitation of the Slovak Television Creators Association.

As a result, the person arrived in Moscow on an Air China flight and needed to complete the necessary procedures to transfer to Prague. Unfortunately, no one was on duty at the Czech Airlines, and both Air China and Air Sussex said it wasn't their responsibility. Now they were completely clueless and didn't know what to do.

Without hesitation, Wang Xiao said, "Go to the embassy. The people there can definitely help you."

Ivanov asked curiously, and after hearing what had happened, he took a look at their plane tickets and laughed, "It's nothing, but we should bring a small gift. Did you bring any?"

Director Zhang and his colleagues in the delegation were bewildered. They were legitimate artists and had no intention of taking advantage of the situation to engage in speculation. Their luggage had already been sent directly to Prague, and they hadn't brought much with them.

Wang Xiao sighed, half-jokingly and half-seriously saying, "Hey, Director Zhang, you have to treat me to dinner when you get back. I really like the hot pot chicken in your TV station's cafeteria."

As she spoke, she took out a silk scarf and a box of cosmetics from her bag.

Yes, it's not a cosmetics box, but the cosmetics themselves.

Currently in Moscow, Chinese-made cosmetics are not popular; the best-selling items on the market are mostly from Europe. Among Chinese products, cosmetic boxes are selling better here.

However, Wang Xiao, Feng Zhonglin, and Xiang Dong analyzed that this situation was actually caused by multiple factors, and it was not necessarily because the Soviets were completely unable to accept Chinese cosmetics.

The reason why domestic cosmetics brands have not been able to go global is largely because their production capacity is not excessive, there is still a large untapped domestic market, and many Chinese people have never even worn makeup to this day.

In this situation, it's naturally difficult for middlemen (or scalpers) to consider cosmetics when sourcing goods in China.

As it turned out, their guesses were at least somewhat accurate. When Zhimen was surrounded by floodwaters, they even dug out perfume bottles to replenish their supplies.

As a result, due to its low price and large quantity, and the fact that people in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe generally have the habit of using perfume, Huaxia Perfume is now selling quite well in Moscow.

Wang Xiao is currently using popular silk scarves as gifts alongside cosmetics, which is also a form of advertising. If they can open up this channel, they will have another selling point.

Ivanov glanced at his watch and led his men back into the airport.

The airport was in chaos. A large group of dark-skinned Asians had gathered, blocking almost all the boarding gates and exits. Soviet police officers nearby, holding stun batons, were loudly reprimanding and disciplining them.

Ivanov strode past them, tossing them a remark: "Never mind them, they're Vietnamese laborers, they're going home."

Was it a normal return to China or was it due to some other factor? He didn't say, and Wang Xiao didn't ask.

Only Ruan Xiaomei frowned and said, "Look at the mess here."

Fortunately, Ivanov knew the airport like the back of his hand, and he led everyone through a maze of winding paths to the entrance. The Soviet staff probably intended to stop them, but upon seeing him, they stepped aside.

When he arrived at the ticket gate for Prague, he winked at the young lady checking tickets and greeted her.

The latter smiled and nodded at him, and Wang Xiao immediately stepped forward and placed the gift next to the young lady's computer.

Ivanov gestured to the members of the Chinese television art delegation: "Come on, let's check the tickets."

Director Zhang breathed a sigh of relief after watching his two companions pass through the ticket check smoothly. He excitedly shook Wang Xiao's hand and said, "Oh, Wang Xiao, I knew you were a know-it-all. Thank you so much."

"You're too kind," Wang Xiao said with a smile. "Since you're in a hurry, I won't keep you any longer. Let's have dinner together when we get back."

"Definitely, definitely, hot pot chicken!"

When Ivanov turned around and walked out of the airport after successfully completing his mission, he had a long face.

Tang Yicheng was puzzled: "What's wrong with you? You're perfectly fine."

His Russian pronunciation was terrible, but Ivanov still understood him, and the latter said with a mournful tone: "This is the tragedy of the Soviet Union, such blatant abuse of power. It's doomed."

Wang Xiao and Tang Yicheng both remained expressionless.

Here we go again, this guy's intermittent patriotism has flared up again.

But when he was undermining socialism, he swung his shovel faster than anyone else.

How should I put this behavior? It's like a scumbag who's heartbroken that his marriage with his goddess is about to end, while constantly looking for mistresses.

What's amazing is that his sadness was genuine.

All I can say is that the limits of human schizophrenia are limitless.

Ignore him and let him rant.

However, Ruan Xiaomei, who had never dealt with him before, was a little worried and whispered to Wang Xiao, "What's wrong with him?"

"It's alright, it'll be fine in a bit."

Ivanov's self-healing ability was indeed powerful; by the time the car arrived at the Kyiv train station, he had returned to normal.

Yes, that's right, the train didn't go to the wrong place, it's at Kyiv Station.

Moscow has a well-developed railway system with nine stations of varying sizes. The train to Budapest departs from Kiev Station, which is named as such because the train does indeed pass through Kiev.

Undoubtedly, there are also many Chinese ticket scalpers here who approach people with black eyes and black hair to sell tickets.

Train tickets to Budapest, like tickets back to Beijing, are basically monopolized by them, with some priced at thirty dollars and others at sixty dollars.

What was its original price? Three dollars.

Tang Yicheng asked rather strangely, "Hey, why don't you Soviets scalp your own tickets?"

Don't say that Russians don't like doing business; there are middlemen and speculators everywhere.

Ivanov, now completely at ease, chuckled, "Because we can't sell them; you guys are basically the ones buying them. Many of you don't understand Russian or our train tickets, and you're afraid of being ripped off, so you'd rather pay a higher price to buy tickets from yourselves."

Tang Yicheng suddenly realized: "If we can't find work in Moscow, then their idea of ​​partnering with ticket scalpers to sell train tickets seems like a viable solution."

Everyone else laughed.

This is truly a highly profitable business.

However, some passengers were quite shrewd. No matter how much the scalpers pestered them, they insisted that they had no money and wouldn't buy tickets unless the price was lowered. They would simply not take the train.

They forced the ticket scalpers to wait until everyone had entered the station and the train was really about to depart, at which point they had no choice but to lower the price: "Five dollars."

Those in the carriage who witnessed this scene were furious. It was infuriating; several of them had paid $60 for their tickets.

As expected, in these kinds of situations, it all comes down to who can hold out the longest.

Some people lamented, "I should have bought his instead."

He bought a ticket to Kyiv, yes, Kyiv in Ukraine, because tickets to Budapest were sold out long ago. He planned to slip the train conductor $10 on the train so he could safely reach his destination.

He originally thought he was very smart, but it turned out there was always someone even more skilled, and he was instantly crushed.

The person who was previously indignant about spending a huge sum of $60 was amused by his expression.

The atmosphere immediately became cheerful.

The journey to Budapest could indeed be called a sightseeing train, with its captivating scenery, but more specifically, it should be defined as a mobile trading hub.

It's true, people got on the train to buy things at every station along the way. Almost every kind of product could find customers.

Can you believe it? There are people selling condoms on trains, and their business is quite good.

Wang Xiao was dumbfounded, never expecting that even condoms were a scarce resource here.

There are already places in China that are distributing free condoms to couples.

She and Tang Yicheng exchanged a glance, neither of them showing any embarrassment. In an instant, they reached a consensus: the trade city also needs to purchase goods.

Capturing the condom market in Eastern Europe sounds pretty cool, huh?

Theoretically speaking, on this train, the later the goods are sold, the higher the price.

However, there are exceptions for some products.

For example, one uncle was carrying a thermos, the kind of thermos that's rumored to be able to be traded for an airplane along with canned food.

As a result, after the uncle had been at the first few stops and put out his thermos, he failed to attract any customers' interest at all.

Wang Xiao and Tang Yi were puzzled. Didn't they have a shortage of thermos bottles here?

Wasn't it said that Eastern Europe's light industry was just as tragic as that of the Soviet Union?

It was Ruan Xiaomei who answered their questions: "I don't know about other places, but I've never seen Hungarians use thermos flasks. They don't have the habit of drinking hot water at all, except for tea and coffee."

Well, that's terrible. This uncle is probably going to smash his thermos in his own hands.

It seems that the idea that you can make a lot of money selling anything is just survivor bias.

Seeing their interest, Ruan Xiaomei immediately shared her experience: "And there are also quilt covers. I originally thought they would sell very well in Budapest, just like clothes. But it turns out that Hungarian quilts are different from ours. They are short and small, and there is no distinction between the lining and the outer cover; both sides are exactly the same."

A factory distributor in Hangzhou bought a bunch of high-end silk quilt covers—the patterns were really beautiful! But they wouldn't sell; they weren't even suitable as curtains, so they ended up being given away as practice cloths.

This is truly a sad story.

Tang Yicheng couldn't understand: "Change it! This kind of silk quilt cover would be great as clothing."

“Do you think everyone here is your mother?” Ruan Xiaomei said, both amused and exasperated. “They’ve even turned it into clothes. There are hardly any people here who can make their own clothes. If you hire someone to do it, the labor costs are exorbitant. Besides, this is a factory’s agent.”

Wang Xiao wrote it down in a small notebook.

She wasn't actually that optimistic about Budapest's status as a consignor.

In her view, it would be better to rely on domestic agents in Budapest to sustain the route than to rely on middlemen to fill the cargo hold.

Therefore, providing effective market data is also necessary.

People come here excitedly, only to find they've made a mistake, unable to sell anything, and can't even recoup their travel expenses.

This rumor spreads like wildfire, easily impacting airline business.

Moreover, their ability to provide customers with the products they truly need leaves a general impression – that Chinese goods are all-encompassing, and you can consider Chinese products for whatever you want to buy.

This is very important; being the first choice means a large market share and the ability to gain a decisive advantage.

Seeing them busy, Ruan Xiaomei felt at ease.

She had previously noticed that Wang Xiao wasn't actually trying to sell anything to the scalpers on the train, and she was worried that the scalpers weren't really interested in Budapest.

Judging from Wang Xiao's serious attitude in investigating, it's clear she's determined to secure the Budapest connection.

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^O^, Moscow has many airports and even more train stations. Back then, we were all unfamiliar with the area, and without someone to guide us, we would almost always get lost.

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