Chapter 11 All Assets_1

In the following two days, Wang Ye, along with everyone else, busied themselves with various procedures.

They went to the bank to pay fees, medical insurance, accommodation, and familiarized themselves with the area around the school.

Actually, he did not need to, as he was already too familiar with this place!

As soon as you leave the dormitory area, walk about five hundred meters north along the main street, there's a large supermarket where you could buy anything you need.

However, the items in this supermarket are relatively expensive. If you want something cheaper, you have to take two bus stops south along the main street to a subway station, where there's a pretty large market.

Just like the free markets in our country, all small vendors, the stuff there is relatively cheap.

Just arrived abroad, everyone was excited about everything. A few people teamed up, under the leadership of the enthusiastic class leader, Zhou Yuan, they explored around.

Wang Ye was mixing in with everyone, showing nothing strange.

However, in the afternoon of January 4th, he managed to slip away alone from the dormitory, planning to go to the supermarket to buy something.

Here is where his good Russian language skill comes in handy. If it was any other student from the same group, they wouldn't dare to go shopping alone.

Because of the language barrier, if anything happens, it would be a mess, as they can't communicate with people.

......

Walking north along Mikluha Street.

It snowed again today, or rather it's been snowing heavily for a few days!

Fluffy snowflakes slowly fluttered down from the grey sky, and the snow piled up by the roadside had reached Wang Ye's waist.

The snow on the sidewalk was packed, making it a bit slippery.

Wang Ye tightly bundled up in his long down coat, wrapped his ears and face in a woolen scarf, wore a fluffy thick cotton hat on his head, and put on a pair of leather gloves lined with fur. He was fully equipped!

This attire was the standard "equipment" for going out here...

After all, in conditions of minus twenty degrees or so, if you don't dress like this, you could freeze to death; it's not a joke.

There were not many pedestrians on the road, occasionally you would see someone, also a student-looking person, probably also a student at Friendship University.

Cars were speeding on the main street, and from time to time you could see someone standing by the road, sticking out a hand, thumb pointing up.

This is hailing a taxi.

In Moscow, licensed taxis are rare, you can only see them at the airports or luxury hotel entrances.

Usually to hail a taxi, people stand by the road, stick out a hand with their thumb up, indicating that they need a ride.

Soon, a passing car will stop, the driver rolls down the window and asks where you want to go, and if it's on his way, he will drive you there.

Of course, it's usually not free, as for the price, you negotiate directly...

.........

Arriving at the entrance of the supermarket, Wang Ye scraped off the snow from the soles of his shoes on the snow dusting mat at the door, and walked in after pulling back the cotton curtain.

This supermarket is quite large, there's a bit of everything, but the prices are slightly on the higher side.

Wang Ye came here this time, intending to buy a phone.

Arguably, he doesn't need a phone right now, and the prices of phones are not cheap, beyond his spending capacity.

But Wang Ye had to spend this money because his "big money-making plan" was about to kick off, and a phone was an essential tool for work!

Other students may buy phones to show off, or to contact their families.

But for Wang Ye, buying a phone was an investment, it was for making money!

Across the supermarket checkout counter, there is a row of shops, and one of them is a mobile phone store.

Not only do they sell various phones, but they also provide phone number registration.

Wang Ye, quite familiar, went straight into the store.

Inside, an older female clerk looked up at him but said nothing.

When it comes to doing business, the foreigners really can't measure up, at least their service attitude is completely subpar. Wang Ye, who had lived here for many years, felt this deeply.

Whether you're buying vegetables or dining in a high-end restaurant or luxury goods store, the sales staff always gives off this "take it or leave it" attitude.

They're not just this way to foreigners like Wang Ye, they're the same towards everyone...

Wang Ye didn't pay much mind and went straight to the glass display case to start picking out a phone.

He had simple requirements for a phone, as long as it was durable!

As for the price, of course, the cheaper the better. He might want a seven or eight hundred, or even thousand-dollar phone, but his wallet could not support such a purchase.

Just a few glances, and Wang Ye had chosen his phone, the Nokia 3310!

This model is very classic, cheap, and not ugly looking. It doesn't have the short antenna that other phones have, and its small rounded body is quite cute.

Nokia is at its peak right now, so there's no need to worry about the quality of the phones.

Various jokes like "cracking walnuts" and "dropping the phone from the 10th floor", they're all referring to Nokia phones!

"Could you please get me a phone, this one, and additionally I would like a phone number, a MEKAFON one would be fine." Wang Ye smilingly said to the salesperson.

The lazy saleslady got up, came over, and unlocked the display case, finding an unopened Nokia 3310 phone from underneath.

Apparently, this model should be quite popular.

She also fetched a tiny envelope-like SIM card and said: "Fill out the form. Show your passport."

Registering a phone number here requires identity validation.

Wang Ye competently filled out the registration form and then took out his passport to show to the salesperson.

.........

The Nokia 3310, is considered quite a cheap phone.

Purchasing a phone and getting a SIM card costed him just over 300 US dollars.

Wang Ye came here this time, carrying a total of seven thousand US dollars on him. Because he came late, he enrolled in an accelerated pre-college class, so he didn't plan to go back this summer.

Of course, this has to do with the high cost of round-trip flights...

He won't be going back until next year's summer vacation, which is a year and a half from now.

So, his family gave him the tuition fees for this year's pre-college class, next year's tuition, and living expenses for a year and a half all at once.

At this time, it is quite a hassle to wire transfer from China to here.

Because of China's foreign exchange control, along with the complex procedures for international wire transfers, most people prefer carrying cash.

Some of this money was converted in a bank with his visa, at the official exchange rate of about 1:8.7.

But the bank only allows an exchange of two thousand US dollars a year, which is not enough.

So, the remaining five thousand US dollars were converted "on the black market" via someone his dad knew, the exchange rate there was higher, 1:10!

The pre-college tuition is about one thousand eight hundred US dollars, the first year's college fee is about two thousand two hundred US dollars, this part comes to four thousand US dollars.

The remaining three thousand US dollars are Wang Ye's living expenses for the next year and a half, and from this, he still has to deduct the round-trip ticket money for next year...