Chapter 1851 Depressed Xiao Peng
If Xiao Peng were asked to evaluate St. Petersburg, he would say: This is the most beautiful city he has ever seen in Europe, at least the city center is like that.
It is unimaginable that during World War II, the city was hit by 150,000 artillery shells and over 100,000 bombs. More than 10,000 buildings were completely destroyed!
Every brick and tile here faithfully recreates the opulent ambiance of Tsarist Russia over a century ago. The Winter Palace, one of the world's four largest museums, is located here. It was once the private museum of Catherine II and houses over three million items.
In addition to the Winter Palace, there's also the Summer Palace, Peter the Great's former vacation retreat. Known as the "Russian Versailles," it's even more beautiful, according to Xiao Peng. With over 150 fountains, it's even more luxurious than Versailles. Inside, there's the beautiful Catherine Palace, built by Peter the Great for his wife, Empress Catherine I. One of the palaces is the famous Amber Room, whose walls are inlaid with amber and gemstones, creating a truly luxurious design.
However, this Amber Palace is not the original one but a reconstruction.
After the Winter Palace was occupied by the Germans, the Germans dismantled the Amber Room and took it back to Germany. However, after the end of World War II, it mysteriously disappeared and its whereabouts remain a mystery.
But then again, this can be considered as 'returning the property to its original owner' - because the earliest Amber Palace was built by Germans.
Frederick, the Elector of Prussia, felt that he was rich and powerful, so he crowned himself the first King of Prussia in 1701. To celebrate his coronation, an Amber Room was built in the Berlin Palace.
Amber is used because it is expensive.
In that era, amber was called "Northern Gold". The same weight of amber was worth twelve times that of gold. Frederick I used this method to show off his wealth.
At that time, German craftsmen spent ten years transforming a room of about 50 square meters in the Berlin Royal Palace into the Amber Palace. According to records, it was composed of twelve arm panels and twelve column bases. To put it more simply, it was made into the "Amber Palace" with twelve silver-framed wall panels with diamonds, gems and amber patterns.
The total weight of gold, gemstones and amber used at the time exceeded six tons.
Later, after the death of Frederick I, his son Frederick William I inherited the throne. At that time, due to the constant war, Prussia and Russia formed an alliance. When Peter the Great arrived in Berlin, he met with William I, and the two exchanged gifts: Peter the Great gave William fifty-five guards, a ship, a woodworking lathe and a wooden wine glass he made himself; and William I directly gave his father's beloved Amber Palace to Peter I, and asked him to take it back and put it in the Catherine Palace.
Look at this wasteful thing!
After World War II, the Amber Palace disappeared, and the Soviet Union rebuilt this "Amber Palace" when rebuilding the Winter Palace. This "Amber Palace" is more luxurious than the "Amber Palace" of that year: because a large amount of gold was used in the construction of the new Amber Palace!
Although the Amber Palace was luxurious enough at that time, not a single gram of gold was used.
But what about leaving the city center? Forget it, it feels like a village within a city. Most of the buildings are shabby and rundown. Russians, after all. That's just how rough they are.
This place also has advantages over Moscow: the people here are less aloof. After all, it's a tourist city, so there are plenty of foreign tourists. Xiao Peng even saw many compatriots from China, and many international students.
But what bothered Xiao Peng was that the international students here weren't very enthusiastic towards their compatriots. It wasn't like when he was in Marseille, when he'd want to chat up anyone with yellow skin and black hair.
Later, Desaryev told him that this was because St. Petersburg was cracking down on international students working as interpreters and tour guides, making it incredibly difficult to earn money for their studies. The St. Petersburg Immigration Bureau was constantly monitoring international students, accusing them of "illegal work" and expelling them. I heard there were new policies allowing legal work, but the conditions were still quite stringent.
This situation has led to a saying among international students: If you don't want to come back and want to stay in Russia, then go to school in Moscow; if you want to come back and develop your career, then go to school in St. Petersburg.
Moscow allows students to work, and there are many domestic companies there, as well as more than 2,000 international exhibitions every year, so there are many more opportunities than in St. Petersburg.
But to be honest, St. Petersburg is indeed a place worth visiting: go to the Repin Museum to see art; go to the Mariinsky Theatre to watch a performance of the Kirov Ballet...
How consistent is this with the pretentious lifestyle of internet celebrities?
Xiao Peng and Van der Laupe took Kassin and Bruch to St. Petersburg for a few days of leisurely fun: "What work? Let's have fun first!"
He was having a lot of fun, but some people couldn't stand it anymore. Who couldn't stand it anymore?
Chen Zetao!
"Boss, phone call!" said Bruch.
Xiao Peng asked, "Whose?"
"Mr. Chen, I've called you several times, why don't you answer?" Bruch asked.
Xiao Peng thought for a moment and reached out to pick up the phone: "Hello. Brother Chen, what's going on?"
Chen Zetao's voice was quite excited. "Brother Xiao, the proven reserves of the oil field you found are out. It's almost 1.4 billion tons, and it's mostly light oil with a very low wax content! It's definitely a good oil well!"
After hearing this, Xiao Peng asked in return, "A good oil well is a good oil well. What does it have to do with me?"
"Ah?" Chen Zetao was stunned after hearing this.
Xiao Peng said, "This oil well isn't mine, and I won't get involved in future submarine salvage operations. It has nothing to do with me, right? How the oil is mined and the profits are distributed is a matter for Petronas and Russia. How is this good news for me?"
Chen Zetao was silent for a while and said, "Brother Xiao, you're not in the right mood."
Xiao Peng lazily asked back, "My mood isn't right? Then what kind of mood should I be in? Cheerful and happy? Eating hot pot and singing?"
Chen Zetao was curious: "Brother Xiao, just tell me who offended you. No wonder you didn't answer the phone. Should I contact the Russian side?"
Xiao Peng said, "Why would I contact the Russians? I find myself a joke. Brother Chen, I'll retire after this job. I'm too exhausted."
"Retire?" Chen Zetao suspected that he had heard it wrong.
Xiao Peng said: "Yes, retire!"
"What happened?" Chen Zetao was puzzled.
"The New Calypso's crew is supposed to be 45, but we got 63, 12 of whom are women, and six of whom are severely seasick. Brother Chen, can't you tell me what I did wrong and I'll fix it? Are you really trying to kill me?"
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