Free Web NovelChapter 204: Chapter 204: Old Russian Police
Gu’er and Dingzi followed Li Zhi inside.
The building they entered was also quite tall, with many floors. They found someone on the first floor.
Dingzi spoke with the person and took out some money. It turned out they didn’t accept Renminbi here, either. He had Gu’er give the person ten Rubles and arranged to pay the remaining balance all at once later.
The people there understood what traders like Gu’er’s group were. They knew they had goods to sell and weren’t worried about them defaulting on the payment.
Once the paperwork was done, Gu’er and the others went up to the fifth floor.
Their room wasn’t very big. Gu’er figured it out—it was a bit like a dormitory in China, probably meant to be rented out specifically to Chinese people.
"There are a lot of people here, and it’s a mixed crowd. I’m not comfortable with Gu’er staying in a room by herself."
Li Zhi frowned as he looked at Gu’er’s room. This wasn’t like being back home in China.
Dingzi also glanced around Gu’er’s room, then looked at the lock on the door.
"It’s fine," Gu’er said. "I’ll barricade the door with something at night. Besides, everyone saw us arrive together. There probably won’t be any trouble."
Gu’er knew it was inconvenient being on the road, but there was no helping it.
"Alright then. We’ll all be extra vigilant tonight. If anything happens, just shout."
Li Zhi didn’t have a better solution. He couldn’t exactly stay in the same room with Gu’er. She was a woman, and even if nothing happened, it would still be inappropriate.
Dingzi nodded.
The three of them put their things away and prepared to go downstairs to find something to eat.
"Wait," Gu’er called out, stopping the two men who were about to leave. "Let’s take some things to sell. What if the diner or restaurant doesn’t take Renminbi? We won’t have any money to eat."
"Gu’er’s right. Women really are more detail-oriented. I completely forgot about that."
Li Zhi slapped his forehead.
So, the three of them picked out some items that were easy to carry and left their lodging.
Outside their lodging, they looked both ways. There were people on both sides of the road—Old Russians, black people, and others who looked like they were from different countries.
"Which way should we go?"
Gu’er asked Li Zhi.
Li Zhi didn’t know either.
"Let’s just go this way," Li Zhi said, pointing in a direction. "There’s bound to be a place that sells food somewhere."
And sure enough, they hadn’t walked far before they saw a street with a decent amount of foot traffic.
"How about we find a spot and set up a stall?" Gu’er suggested.
Gu’er didn’t know where to set up. It was, after all, their first time here. With no acquaintance to guide them, they had to figure it out on their own.
"Okay."
Li Zhi nodded.
Dingzi had no objections.
Gu’er and the others laid out their goods.
The Old Russians had seen other people set up street stalls before, so they knew what was going on the moment they saw them. A good number of people gathered around to take a look.
Plenty of them asked for prices after seeing the items.
Gu’er and Li Zhi gestured to communicate with people, while Dingzi stood there motionlessly. He wouldn’t speak unless it was absolutely necessary.
Gu’er was chewing on a piece of TaTa Bubble Gum.
And wouldn’t you know it, they sold quite a few things in a short amount of time.
The bubble gum sold especially well. With Gu’er as a living advertisement, they actually sold out an entire box.
With Rubles filling her pocket, Gu’er was in a fantastic mood. ’This is all money! Money!’ fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
"Run! The Old Russian cops are here!"
Gu’er was in the middle of showing a pair of pants to someone when she suddenly heard a sentence in Chinese. She then saw a Chinese man in his forties, clutching a large bundle, running over quickly.
"Hurry up and run!"
The man shouted at them again as he ran past.
’Run from what? We haven’t broken any laws.’
Gu’er was confused. Li Zhi glanced at her, hesitating on whether to run.
In the moment of their hesitation, Gu’er saw an Old Russian police officer approaching.
It was only then that Gu’er truly understood why the middle-aged man had told them to run. It turned out that things here were the same as in China. Their street vending made them mobile vendors, and the police could arrest them, confiscate their goods, and even throw them in jail.
Gu’er watched Li Zhi gesture at the police officer, even taking out his work ID.
Meanwhile, Dingzi stood like a shadow. Gu’er could sense his explosive power. If the officer dared to make a move on them, she was afraid Dingzi would pounce like a leopard and tackle him to the ground.
’Our goods can’t be confiscated, and we can’t go to jail. We should have just run with him earlier, but there’s no medicine for regret now.’
Gu’er thought for a moment, then took ten Rubles from her pocket and secretly slipped them to the officer.
The Old Russian police officer looked at the money Gu’er had given him and shook his head at her.
’Is he refusing it, or does he think it’s too little?’
Gu’er slipped him another five Rubles. The Old Russian officer still shook his head.
Gu’er slipped him another five Rubles. She was on the verge of tears. Twenty Rubles! That was over a hundred Renminbi.
The officer looked at the Rubles in his hand, then back at Gu’er and her group. He said a couple of words, nodded at them, and left.
Only then did Gu’er let out a long sigh of relief. On their very first day here, they had almost been arrested. If their goods had been confiscated, or if they had ended up in a local jail, it would have been a truly harrowing experience.
"What do we do now?"
Li Zhi hadn’t expected to run into this kind of trouble either.
"The police are gone. Let’s hurry up and sell! We need to sell everything and earn back the money we just paid."
Gu’er gritted her teeth. Since the money was spent, it had to be earned back.
While they were selling their things, the middle-aged man who had previously shouted at them to run came back. He actually set up right next to them and started selling his own goods.
"You three, is this your first time here in the Soviet Union?"
The middle-aged man struck up a conversation with them.
At first, Gu’er didn’t want to talk to him. The police officer had clearly been chasing him, but he had gotten away, costing them twenty Rubles in the process. Gu’er’s heart ached at the loss.
’But then again, he hadn’t intentionally harmed us. He had even warned us to run. It was only because we didn’t understand and hadn’t run that this happened. So I can’t really blame him. Besides, it’s actually nice to run into a fellow countryman out here.’
Also, when he said "Soviet Union," something clicked for Gu’er. ’That’s right, Russia isn’t called Russia yet. It’s still the Soviet Union; it hasn’t collapsed.’ A flood of thoughts suddenly rushed into Gu’er’s mind.
Having thought this through, Gu’er nodded at the man. Seeing that Gu’er wasn’t holding a grudge, Li Zhi started talking to him.
The middle-aged man’s name was Qu Shui. He was also from the Northeast, but from a different city than Gu’er’s group.
"I could tell you were first-timers, but you picked some good stuff to sell—even better than my selection. We’re from the same region, so we should look out for each other. This is my third time here. The first time, I didn’t know anything and got scammed. I made a little profit last time, so I decided to come back again."
Qu Shui seemed quite enthusiastic and spoke bluntly.
"They don’t let us set up stalls like this," Qu Shui explained. "If you get caught, you have to give them money. And they won’t accept it if it’s too little—otherwise, they’ll arrest you. There’s a place over here where we can trade, sell our stuff to the locals, but they pay less than what we can make selling it ourselves. So, it’s still better to sell on your own. You just have to be sharp and run when you see the cops."
Qu Shui was imparting his experience to the three of them. Maybe it was because he was a nice person, or maybe it was because he felt guilty that they had been fined because of him. But whatever the reason, he was telling them things they didn’t know, and they all listened attentively.
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Thank you to Xiaomi020903, Dian Dian Nü Nü, and Book Friend 140525141926461 for the monthly tickets. Thank you to dingdingdangdang3 for the ’like,’ and thank you all for your support. I’m just 2 monthly tickets away from an extra Chapter. But regardless of whether I get the tickets today, since it’s the last day of the month, Xue will release an extra Chapter anyway.
