In a place where the strong prey on the weak, and where losers are deprived of even the most basic dignity, conscience is a stumbling block for those who succeed and a booster for those who fail. Zhao Xiaohai sensed an unprecedented sense of crisis from the old Russians. Although this sense of crisis was somewhat irrational, the xenophobia that permeated the old Russians was enough to send shudders down his spine.
Everyone has a natural instinct to protect themselves. As the saying goes: I would rather let the world down than be let down by the world. It is always better for others to die than for oneself. Zhao Xiaohai now feels threatened, so he must take the initiative to seek self-protection. The condition for his self-protection is to find a stronger backing and step onto more ships.
To achieve this goal, he needs more money, greater wealth, and more ruthless means. What is more important is that he wants everyone who works with him to understand that he, Zhao Xiaohai, is irreplaceable and unique.
So from this perspective, he must crack down on those who do the same trade as him, not only to compete for the market, but also to eliminate all potential competitors.
The "Chinese Lion" has finally woken up!
At the moment Zhao Xiaohai stepped into Kuvalkin's office, in a private room of the McDormand Café on Lenin Street, Stein Rilke looked at the young Chinese man across the long table who couldn't even speak Russian fluently, and sighed with a heavy heart.
As a Jew born and raised in the Soviet Union, Rilke had a very shrewd mind. Compared with the other dozen or so bosses of various trading companies present, he knew better the purpose of Zhao's Trading Company holding this impromptu gathering today, and he had long expected the arrival of this day.
There is no doubt that Zhao's Trading Company is the strongest not only in Khabarovsk, in Amur Oblast, but also in the entire Far East. The monthly import and export volume of this company is greater than the total trade volume of all similar trading companies in Khabarovsk in half a year.
This pair of Chinese brothers enjoyed unlimited import and export quotas from the foreign trade company; they occupied the largest military supply reserve warehouse in the Far East; their goods were personally led in and out of the customs by customs anti-smuggling and inspection officers; on the two railway transportation lines that ran through the three states of the Far East, no matter whether it was the transportation of military supplies or commercial transportation, the priority in the allocation of transport wagons had to give way to the Zhao Trading Company... Faced with such a powerful trading company, Rilke had always been afraid. He felt that he and his Bushkam Trading Company were like a civet cat licking bones under the nose of a sleeping lion.
It would be fine if the lion didn't wake up, because he could always get some oil and water to fill his easily satisfied belly. But one day, if the lion woke up, he would have only two choices. One was to be swallowed whole by the lion, leaving no trace of his body. The other was to wag his tail and beg for mercy, hoping that the lion would give him a way to live.
For a businessman like Rilke, it is not easy to survive in the cracks. Although his trading company has made huge profits in the past month and a half, even to the point where he can't believe it, he has always been doing such trade with fear.
Due to ethnic discrimination, the Jewish community within the Soviet Union was small, and precisely because of this, they were very united. Rilke was born in Smidovichi, in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in the Far East. In the 1960s and 1970s, a large number of Jews emigrated from this region, diasporas, and are now doing well abroad. Rilke's trade flourished thanks to the help of these acquaintances. His trade channels were extensive; to put it bluntly, he could find help anywhere he could find a "Jewish mutual aid society," except in Islamic territory.
It can be said that compared with all the traders in Blagoveshchensk, Rilke has more conditions for development. However, even so, his Bushkam Trading Company is still the weakest among the twelve trading companies, and compared with Zhao's Trading Company, his company is even lower-class.
Why? It wasn't that Rilke lacked the ability to expand his company, but rather that he simply didn't dare to do so. He feared that a surge in his company's trade would draw attention and bring him disaster. The Soviet Union didn't allow Jews even a small amount of room for development, even though the country was essentially founded by Jews.
Rilke knew how difficult it was for him to survive in this country. Apart from anything else, almost all of his property was under the surveillance of banks and the Security Committee. He thought about fleeing the country, but the cruel reality was there. This country gave him the freedom to escape, but did not give him the freedom to escape with even a penny of his property.
Rilke was reluctant to give up the little property he had worked so hard to build, so he stayed like those Jews who were also reluctant to give up their property. In Birobidzhan, he did not expect to become rich and powerful through trade. He only hoped to find a breathing space between the "polar bear" and the "Chinese lion".
Unfortunately, the lion awoke today. Li Qiang, the second-in-command of Zhao's Trading Company, had called the bosses of all twelve trading companies. He sat expressionlessly, laying out his terms in stilted, even incoherent Russian: From now on, all goods from Khabarovsk trading companies would be handled by Zhao's Trading Company. Zhao's Trading Company would retain 20% of the profits from each trading company's costs as dividends. Those who agreed were to sign the contract immediately, and those who disagreed wouldn't be forced to do so. Zhao's Trading Company was a business, not a robbery operation. Everyone had to decide for themselves what to do next.
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