Russian planes are in stopover cities, and all passengers on board the aircraft are disembarked, and passengers who continue to fly are re-boarded with new passengers. After arriving in Ulan-Ude, Lao Jiang and I got off the plane together.

Out of the exit of the arrivals area, I didn't see Bart, maybe he was still on his way to the airport. Seeing that there was still half an hour before boarding, Lao Jiang and I went to the café at the airport to drink coffee. While drinking coffee, Lao Jiang told me the story of a dumpster in his market who was killed not long ago. Listening to this story I understood that the most important thing in Russia is personal safety.

This inverted grandfather's surname is Gao, a friend of Lao Jiang, who met him when he was in China, and came to Russia together. The surname Gao is in his forties, and he is tall and big, so he is called Da Gao. When he was in China, Da Gao was originally a driver for a state-owned transportation company, and Da Gao's main job was to run long-distance freight transportation, which was a job with a good income, and there were often extra cash. Da Gao is a veteran driver with more than 20 years of driving experience, and his skills are absolutely first-class. But Da Gao is a little bad, he likes to be public, and he doesn't get along well with the leader, he often contradicts the leader, and he is a thorn in the eyes of the leader. Once, when Da Gao was chatting with several drivers, he said that the leaders of the transportation company had embezzled public funds, and they happened to be heard by the leaders. At that time, the leaders decided to get rid of Dagao, the black sheep, but in state-owned enterprises, it is not permissible to arbitrarily deal with and dismiss a single worker, and without grasping Dagao's handle, the leaders have no choice but to take Dagao. In the profession of long-distance freight driver, there is an open secret, that is, drivers will pull some private work to earn extra money, and Dagao is no exception. No matter how other drivers do their private work, even if they are known by the leader, as long as they give gifts to the leader in private and say good things, it will be fine. But Dagao, who has been targeted by the leadership, will be unlucky sooner or later.

Once, the leader deliberately arranged an opportunity for Da Gao to get private work, and the result can be imagined, when the leader arranged all the qiē, the triumphant Da Gao was arrested on the spot. I thought that the notice of criticism and the fine would be enough, but to Dagao's surprise, the transportation company gave Dagao two treatment plans: one is to remove the company's name, and the other is to resign on his own initiative. The stupid Da Gao went to the leader's house to give gifts, but he didn't even knock on the door of the leader's house. In desperation, Da Gao had to choose to resign voluntarily.

In the context of the tide of layoffs of state-owned enterprises in Northeast China, the city where Dagao is located is a small city with a population of only two or three hundred thousand, and the leaders of the transportation company have already spoken out. Da Gao has repeatedly hit a wall in his job search. In the end, he was reduced to a living who could only buy vegetables at a stall in the market, from a driver who everyone envied to a vegetable seller who could barely make ends meet. Da Gao, who has a huge psychological gap, often borrows alcohol to kill his sorrows, and when he drinks too much, he smashes the cup and kicks the table, beating and scolding his wife. couldn't stand Da Gao's domestic violence, and Da Gao's wife divorced Da Gao with her daughter. Da Gao, who has become a loner, is even more unscrupulous, and gets drunk all day long.

Coinciding with the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian ports were opened. The small city where Lao Jiang and Da Gao are located is not very far from the border port of Heihe, and many laid-off workers in the small town went to Heihe to run Blagoveshchensk to make money. The topic of discussion after tea and dinner in the small town is the story of these unfortunate men who made a fortune, who made a lot of money by reversing a trip, and who exchanged a bag of jeans for how many tweed army coats in Russia, and made a lot of money when they returned to China. Lao Jiang's brother is one of the first people to go out and make money.

Once Lao Jiang Dagao was eating and drinking together, Lao Jiang said that his brother had made money in Russia, and he also wanted to quit his job in a factory with poor efficiency and go to Russia. When the impoverished Da Gao heard this, he immediately said that he wanted to go with Lao Jiang. So the two hit it off, Lao Jiang quit his job to barely maintain food and clothing, and Da Gao quickly sold the house. The two of them went to the elder brother of Lao Jiang, who was selling goods in Blagoveshchensk.

Blagoveshchensk is the capital of Russia's Amur Region, located across the river from the Chinese port city of Heihe. Blagoveshchensk, whose Russian name means "city of the annunciation", was ceded to Russia by the Manchu government in 1858 by the "Treaty of Aihui". The Manchu name is Hailan Bubble. In 1900, more than 5,500 Chinese were massacred by Russian invaders in Heilongjiang, which is known as the "Hailan Bubble Massacre".

Jiang's brother sells goods in a wholesale warehouse owned by Azerbaijanis in Blagoveshchensk. The Azerbaijani came to Blagoveshchensk after the collapse of the USSR, he brought a lot of money that he did not know where to earn, prepared to start a business in Blagoveshchensk, and soon he became acquainted with an officer of the Amur Regional Police. A person of Azerbaijani origin registered a trading company, and the officer of the police station was hired by him as deputy manager. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the economy of the Amur region declined, and many Russians went west along the railway, returning to Moscow and other cities, taking with them the students of Amur University, and the student dormitories next to the main street were vacated. Azerbaijanis took a fancy to the small, unsightly four-storey building and bought it from the rector of the university. After a simple design and decoration, the dormitories of more than 10 square meters were transformed into stalls.

With the background of a police officer, Brother Jiang's bulk building is much safer than other Chinese markets, but the rent is also much higher. After Lao Jiang and Da Gao arrived in Blagoveshchensk, they bought two stalls from the Chinese master in this wholesale building to sell goods. In the beginning, business was good. Lao Jiang and Da Gao went back and forth between Heihe and Blagoveshchensk, and poured bags into Russia by guò Russians, and each time the goods were dumped, they would soon be sold in the wholesale building, and both of them made a lot of money. Later, with the continuous influx of Chinese masters, there were more and more Chinese markets in Blagoveshchensk, and the competition between Chinese became more and more fierce, and business became more and more difficult.

After spending more than two years in Blagoveshchensk, they decided to go to Khabarovsk for development. With the increase in the number of Chinese masters, the transfer fee of the stall of the batch building has also risen, and Lao Jiang has made a lot of money on the stall transfer fee. At this time, Da Gao is no longer the Da Gao who buys vegetables on the street, in two years, Da Gao can already speak fluent Russian, and he has accumulated a lot of experience in selling goods, and the most important thing is that he has a sum of money in hand. After arriving in Khabarovsk, Dagao was like a fish in water, and with more than two years of experience and abundant funds in hand, Dagao's business became bigger and bigger. Da Gao himself no longer has to sell goods himself, and has asked the Russians to help sell the goods. After having money, his flamboyant personality began to be exposed again, and he rented a house and bought a Japanese second-hand car. I often take different Russian women home, buy a lot of alcohol each time, and get drunk with these women. When he got drunk, he gave the women a lot of money.

Some time ago, there were two days when Da Gao didn't come to the market, and Lao Jiang called Da Gao's house, but no one answered. Lao Jiang and another Chinese inverted master looked for Da Gao at Da Gao's house, and found that Da Gao was hacked to death at home, blood was left on the ground, and Da Gao's family's money was looted. In the end, the police solved the case, it was Da Gao who often showed his wealth, and the woman he brought home saw that he was rich, and called two Russian hooligans to kill Da Gao and loot Da Gao's money.

After telling Da Gao's story, Lao Jiang sighed and said: "It's all money that hurts Da Gao, I knew this earlier, it's better not to bring Da Gao out, it's not necessarily a good thing to have money." ”

After drinking coffee, Bart had already arrived at the airport, and it was time to part. Lao Jiang repeatedly told me: "Brother, personal safety in Russia is the most important, remember one sentence, if you have money in Russia, you must be low-key, and don't make a statement." ”