"Brother Dong, take a break, we'll take care of things here!"
"It's alright! Just consider it exercise."
Chen Dong shook his head, panting heavily, and refused Ah Hu's offer to help.
Today is Wednesday, April 18th, the day the K3 train departs.
The night before, the group packed 30,000 leather jackets into bags, eventually filling 300 snakeskin bags.
On average, each snakeskin bag contains one hundred leather jackets.
A leather jacket weighs approximately 0.8 kilograms.
100 pieces, that's 80 kilograms.
This weight is quite heavy, almost equivalent to the weight of a strong man.
In fact, Chen Dong didn't need to do that. He relied on his brain, not his physical strength.
However, just as he said, he did it to exercise.
The sight of Wolong carrying an 80-kilogram snakeskin bag in each hand, moving with incredible agility, filled Chen Dong with envy.
But then again, which rich person wouldn't envy such physical fitness?
The richer you are, the more afraid you are of death, and Chen Dong is no exception.
However, he is still young. Although he cannot reach the level of Zhuge Liang, he can still grit his teeth and persevere with a snakeskin bag.
But in other people's eyes, the bosses are all working hard, so how could they possibly slack off?
One by one, they put in all their effort, carrying bags of leather jackets into the wagon and placing them properly.
Two train cars carrying only 30,000 leather jackets is actually a huge waste.
However, considering this is their first time engaging in international trade, such a scale is already quite considerable.
Little did people know that many of these middlemen were still carrying large and small bags, working as the most primitive porters.
After loading the leather jacket and returning to the sleeper car, Chen Dong felt as if his legs were made of lead, and he didn't even have the strength to lift them.
"Brother Dong, have some water. When we get off the bus, let us do the heavy lifting."
"OK!"
Chen Dong nodded and did not refuse again.
It was indeed very difficult for him to carry the heavy bag weighing over 160 pounds. Even if he wanted to exercise, he should have done it gradually and didn't need to make things difficult for himself.
"Waaaaah..."
As the train whistle sounded, the train slowly started moving.
Unlike the green-skinned trains in China, this train travels across Eurasia over a very long distance, and only has two types of carriages: hard sleeper and soft sleeper. One type is a hard sleeper for four people, and the other type is a soft sleeper for two people.
After the collapse of Russia in 1991, relations between China and Russia developed rapidly and border trade boomed.
People who traveled between the two countries for business gradually became the main passengers on this train.
Especially in the early 1990s, most of the passengers were smugglers selling international goods, and the buses were thus transformed into 'freight trucks'.
Fortunately, Chen Dong found a connection with Wang Meng, so he didn't have to work like those middlemen.
Otherwise, let alone 300 bags of leather jackets, it would be good if 50 bags actually made it over there.
After resting for a while, Chen Dong felt much better, so he led the group to the dining car for a meal.
As I walked along, I saw mostly blond-haired, blue-eyed foreigners.
These people were among the earliest transnational traders, and they mainly sourced their goods through two channels: Xiushui Street and Yabao Road.
The shop owner saw that the foreigners who came to buy goods were carrying large and small bags, and they would pay whatever price they asked for without even haggling.
"Wow! How much money did they make to be so extravagant?"
Having witnessed such scenes so many times, some people have begun to consider seeking their fortune overseas.
As the first person to try something new made a fortune overseas, more and more people followed suit and went abroad to seek their fortune, gradually creating a craze for scalpers.
In truth, the shop owner really wronged these foreign middlemen.
It's not that they're unwilling to bargain; it's clearly a misunderstanding that Chinese people have about foreigners!
One reason is the language barrier, and the other is the cultural difference between the two countries.
In other countries, the price of a product is fixed and there is no concept of bargaining.
If they knew that you could bargain when buying things, they would have already said it was really good!
Actually, the earliest traders were students studying abroad.
They brought goods from foreign countries back to their home countries and then brought domestic goods back to their home countries, profiting from the price difference. This is similar to the daigou (personal shopping agent) of later generations.
Along the way, there were Russian drunkards everywhere, and the entire carriage was filled with the smell of alcohol.
Ah Hu and his men were stunned by the sight of some Russians standing in the middle of the aisle, drinking heavily from bottles of liquor.
After everyone was seated.
Ah Hu couldn't help but speak up.
"Brother Dong, these Russians act like they've never seen alcohol before; they're practically alcohol demons!"
"It's not that they haven't seen it before, it's just that they're prohibiting alcohol there!"
Chen Dong chuckled. Luckily, he had read about this history in the book, otherwise he would have made a fool of himself like Ah Hu.
This was a special period for Russia.
If it weren't for the fact that it was recorded in the book, probably no one would have imagined that it was actually because of drinking that the Russian people suffered so much and that the disintegration of the country was accelerated...
The prohibition was initially enacted because of the low birth rate in Russia, and the country implemented the prohibition in an effort to increase the birth rate.
Vodka distilleries closed, most liquor stores were shut down, and even embassies abroad were required to ban alcohol.
And on this basis, the source of winemaking, the vineyard, was demolished.
At this time, there was basically no baijiu left, and even red wine, brandy, and champagne were reduced, with imported wines being even rarer.
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