17 August 1992

Jia Lei's supermarket is about to open after preparations, and truckloads of goods have been pulled from the railway station to the steel mill since the early hours of the morning. small says .

"Boss, I don't understand, why do you, a rich man worth hundreds of millions of dollars, go to this dirty and dilapidated city to open a supermarket?" asked Kerr puzzled as he placed the goods.

"Hehe, don't look at this supermarket as small and doesn't make much money, but it's very useful. Jia Lei said as he wrote a sign for stock exchange and hung it in front of one of the counters.

"A stock of our factory can be exchanged for four dollars here, and you can also exchange it for any item in the counter. Jia Lei looked at the sign and nodded with satisfaction.

I saw that this counter was full of best-selling products such as alcohol, cigarettes, sugar, butter, and canned food, and of course, there were all kinds of cosmetics, stockings, and other things that women dream of.

"Okay! The things are almost ready, we can open the door!" Jia Lei clapped his hands and announced, Luo Nan and Boer stood aside and pushed open the door of the warehouse.

"Squeak!" As the door opened, customers who were waiting outside immediately ran in and began to rush in.

"Towels, give me ten towels!" said the first customer who ran to the counter and immediately pointed to a stack of towels.

"A towel is 300 roubles a towel, and since you want more, I can give you a discount, and ten towels will be sold at the price of two hundred and fifty-five. Jia Lei said that Hong Chen immediately took ten towels and handed them to the customer.

"It's 250 roubles for 10 pieces! It's so cheap! It's 300 rubles for 10 roubles in other places, so get me 10 pieces too." After hearing Jia Lei's words, the others immediately squeezed over and said that Jia Lei was taken aback by the crowd.

"Towels can't be eaten, why do you buy so many towels?" Jia Lei asked in surprise.

He just wanted to give the first customer a discount, but he didn't expect this group of people to go crazy immediately!

"We don't smoke or drink, but we can't wipe our faces without towels, right? You businessmen always bring clothes that sell at a high price, and no one really wants to bring towels to sell. It is said that this is because the towels are sold so cheaply that you can't make money!", said one woman who snapped up the towels.

"Isn't it? You can earn ten times as much with clothes and gloves of the same weight, but towels don't have any technical content at all, and they can't be sold at a high price, so no one sells them. Who made your country's customs weight limit!" Jia Lei nodded and said.

Ordinary businessmen will not buy these cheap things, but the director of the Geldarsky factory wrote on the order for Jia Lei that all these daily necessities such as toothpaste and towels were written, and the director of the Geldarsky factory told Jia Lei at that time.

"The workers in our steel mills are ordinary workers, and they can't afford to buy beautiful new clothes, they can't afford to use imported cosmetics. They only need a minimum subsistence allowance, because they only have a salary of 6,000 rubles a month, which is less than 30 dollars. ”

Only then did Jia Lei admire the accurate vision of the factory director Geldarsky when he placed an order, and only a few customers occasionally took a look at the sportswear, dresses, cosmetics and other items that used to be particularly popular in Moscow.

Most of the customers are housewives, and they are all frantically rushing to buy daily necessities, because the daily necessities sold by Jia Lei are generally one percent lower than the price on the market.

"Boss, how do you change this wine?"

"Of course you can!" Jia Lei saw that a fish had been hooked, and immediately left the ordinary customer and walked over.

"You see, I have the best vodka produced locally in country E, as well as a variety of Chinese high-grade liquor, red wine, whiskey, ......" Jia Lei leaned over and began to sell.

"I've heard of all these wines, they cost six or seven dollars a bottle in other stores, but is it really just a stock here?" the man asked, staggering to his feet, pulling out his wallet, and pulling out a stock from the shriveled wallet.

"Yes, of course, yes!" Jia Lei said with his eyes lit up immediately when he saw the stock.

"Given that you're the first customer to trade stock for something since you opened, as long as you give me this stock now, I can make an exception for you to pick two things from the counter. Jia Lei said excitedly.

"Can the first guest change two things? Then you can get me a bottle of vodka and a pack of cigarettes!" the man heard this, and immediately stuffed the stock into Jia Lei's hand and said.

"Okay! Here you go!" Jia Lei immediately took out a cigarette and wine from the counter and handed it to him, and the man immediately took the wine into his arms like a baby and left.

"Oh, my little darling, I've finally met you with so much effort!" Jia Lei kissed the stock excitedly after speaking, and then he began to stand in front of the stock counter waiting for the next customer to take the bait.

Compared with the deserted stock counter in front of Jia Lei, the scene of Russians rushing to buy daily necessities next door is as intense as the rush to buy daily necessities on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday in country M.

Soon all the things in the counters and on the shelves were sold out, and Dasha kept moving goods from other warehouses to this place.

"You don't need to put the new things on the counter, just open the box and hand it to the guests!" Jia Lei stood aside and commanded.

Now only Jia Lei is idle in the house, and the people he brought with him, including a few bodyguards, are all helping to sell things.

"No, no! Today's goods are gone, please come early tomorrow!" shouted Kerr at one o'clock in the afternoon.

It was only less than half a day that the goods in the store were out of stock, and in desperation, Jia Lei could only ask Kerr to announce the closure.

****

"Huhu! Business is so good today, we can't keep ourselves busy. Dasha said profusely that he had moved a lot of goods back and forth from the warehouse today.

"Yes, it seems that we can't do this by ourselves, we need to hire a few more salesmen!" Hong Chen wiped the sweat from his face and said, this is much busier than he used to sell things in the wholesale market.

"Gevvita, I see that a few of the people who came to clean up yesterday behaved well, you can call them over tomorrow to help me sell things! I will pay them according to your domestic salary, and give them a monthly salary subsidy of 200 yuan per person, but this subsidy can only be used in our store!" Jia Lei thought for a while and said.

"Oh my God, this condition is so good, no wonder the salesmen of the joint venture store are the most popular profession now, and they have such a high subsidy in addition to their salary?" said Gevvita, the storekeeper, enviously.

"That's right! This is how the wages of ordinary joint ventures are paid, everyone works in the same room, and the wages of foreigners must be several times higher than those of your locals! This is not conducive to the unity of the company, and it is not good for the reputation of the company, and it is not bad for a few dollars to open a company abroad anyway. Jia Lei nodded and said.

"Can my wife come? My wife is the fat woman who wore blue yesterday to work. Gevvita asked suddenly embarrassed.

After all, he was the first to receive the news, and he wanted his family to follow him.

"Of course, I'm just a normal supermarket, and I'm not a cosmetics counter in a department store, so it doesn't matter what the salesperson looks like. As long as people are diligent and their watches are clean!" Jia Lei nodded and said.

"Jia Lei, our ordinary goods are selling very fast today, but there are few people who come to exchange stocks for things?"

"Don't worry, it's not time yet!" Jia Lei said with the old god Jia Lei, there are not many people who know that they are opening today, and there will be more people who will come tomorrow.

Besides, there is still big news tomorrow, Jia Lei doesn't believe that the people in the steel plant are not in a hurry!

"9,900, 10,000! That's enough, Kerr will bring me a few rubber bands, and I want to tie the money." Jia Lei counted 10,000 rubles and stretched out his hand and said.

"Here you go!" Kerr said casually handing Jia Lei a condom.

"What are you doing? I want a rubber band, why are you giving me this thing?" Jia Lei said in disgust as he threw the condom on the ground.

"How expensive is the price of imported rubber bands? Now we people in China use this thing to make money, and its elasticity is the same as the rubber bands after being cut!" said Gevvita with a smile.

Jia Lei was speechless, the condom at that time was not an ultra-thin kind but a thick rubber sleeve, which could indeed be used as a rubber band after being cut with scissors!

"I'm a dignified billionaire who can't even afford a rubber band, and now there are so many gossip reporters on the street, in case someone takes a picture of me holding a condom and tying money! This is a lifetime of black history......," Jia Lei shouted in a broken heart.

"You wait, I'll ask the domestic people to buy a box of rubber bands and ship them over!" Jia Lei shouted through gritted teeth.

"Is it a shame to use a condom to tie something? But as far as I know, the government is doing it now, and it's still coming from Moscow. Gevveta said unconcernedly.

"They don't want to be embarrassed, but I still want to be embarrassed, I'll ......call China right away," Jia Lei said helplessly.

*****

"Second cousin, has the money I asked you to send you today?" Jia Lei called Su Renfeng and asked.

"You didn't know that someone told me to pick up something at the train station, and I was scared to death when I saw the money in that carriage. Su Renfeng said with a smile.

"I've heard that your timber is very cheap, only 1,000 roubles per cubic meter is worth five dollars, so I was so excited that someone sent you some money. I was reckless this time, and next time I'll have someone bring you a check. Jia Lei said with a smile.

"You can send anything, it's all money anyway! Our timber market here is really good, I wanted to buy it before, but I don't have that much money in my hand. Su Renfeng said.

"From today onwards, you can buy whatever you want, we will have countless dollars in the future!" Jia Lei said with a smile.

"You're kidding, aren't you? You're not a banker, and you're getting a lot of money. Su Renfeng said with a smile.

I'll give you an account, and after you sell things in China, you can leave the money for the goods, and then deposit the rest of the money directly into the account. Jia Lei said.

"But if you don't get the rest of the money back, how will you pay for the timber here?" asked Su Renfeng.

"You go to Menajet Bank and open a new account, and then I'll have someone transfer money directly to you from a bank in Moscow. I put some shares in this bank, and it's convenient and safe to keep my money here. By the way, I just want you to help me organize a batch of freight forwards. Jia Lei went around in a big circle and finally got to the point.

"No problem, what do you want this time?" asked Su Renfeng.

"You can get me some canned meat with a long shelf life, sugar, and rubber bands for girls!" Mr. Jia said.

"Yo, Jia Lei, why do you suddenly want something for girls, can't it be that you met some girls over there?" asked Su Renfeng with a smile.

"No, don't guess! Remember I want that yellow rubber band, you can buy me a few more boxes and ship them. Jia Lei said.

"There are dozens of things in a bundle, why do you want so many?" asked Su Renfeng puzzled.

"Don't ask, just buy it if you want to!" Jia Lei said embarrassedly, he was embarrassed to say such a shameful thing as using a condom to tie money.

"By the way, there's one thing I have to warn you! You'd better close your doors tomorrow and don't go out for a day. Jia Lei thought about it and said.

"Why?" asked Su Renfeng puzzled.

"I heard rumors from Moscow that tomorrow there may be a change in the exchange rate, so tomorrow you better stop doing business, otherwise you will lose money. Wait until the exchange rate stabilizes before you open the door!" Jia Lei thought for a while and said,

"So the exchange rate is going to fall again, then I have to hurry up and spend the rubles you sent! Jia Lei, I don't have time to talk to you, let's talk about it later." After Su Renfeng finished speaking, he hurriedly hung up the phone.

Jia Lei not only let Su Renfeng rest for a day, but he also gave Xia Fatzi a vacation, the reason was to let him go back to the hospital tomorrow for a reexamination.

"I won't go back to the hospital for a follow-up, every time I think of the doctor in that hospital, my legs are weak! Jia Lei, you don't know how terrible it is to watch people stitch you on the head, especially if he doesn't give you anesthetic. Xia Fatzi shuddered and said.

"Don't you really want to go back for a recheck, don't you want to see that nurse sister again?" Jia Lei asked with a smile.

"Of course I want to, isn't it too busy to have time lately?" said Xia Fatzi immediately.

"I'm not giving you a holiday, don't you have time yet?" asked Jia Lei.

"Yes, of course, I'll buy her a thirty-dollar rose tomorrow and promise she'll be happy." Xia Fatzi said happily.

"Thirty dollars a rose, isn't that too expensive?" asked Jia Lei in surprise.

"You don't know, this is the latest trend in Moscow!" said Xia Fatzi.

"What is this? Zhumen's wine and meat stink, is there a frozen bone on the road!" Jia Lei said with a helpless sigh.

******

17 August 1992

Early in the morning, a bombshell exploded on the heads of the people of country E, and the official exchange rate of the ruble against the dollar plummeted from 125 rubles to one dollar before the unification of the exchange rate on July 1 to 165 rubles to one dollar.

The exchange rate of the ruble against the dollar on the black market, stimulated by this news, finally broke through the bottom line of 200 rubles to 1 dollar, which the government managed to maintain, and fell to 203 rubles to 1 dollar.

This day kicked off the collapse of the ruble!

So as soon as Jia Lei's supermarket opened that day, countless people immediately rushed in to buy it, and the group of people rushed to buy whatever they saw, and Jia Lei got his wish and ushered in a large number of workers who exchanged factory stocks for things.

"We haven't paid wages in our factory for two months, and I don't have a penny in savings for a long time! What else can I do now but sell stocks?" a worker complained to Mr. Jia.

"It's right for you to sell stocks and buy things now, I advise you to buy more things at home, I'll take care of the black market exchange rate and the ruble will fall!" Jia Lei said to him.

"There is only one person in my family who buys so many things and there is no place to put them, why don't you help me exchange them for dollars? Your sign says that stocks can be exchanged for dollars, right, can a stock be exchanged for four dollars today as it was yesterday?" asked the worker worriedly, he was afraid that the value of the stocks in his hands would also depreciate.

"Of course, if you want to change, you have to be faster! Maybe in two days the price of the stock will fall. Jia Lei reminded them with a smile.