Reborn in 1999: Starting as a black marketeer

Wang Feiyang and Zhang Liang live in room 706, while Hu Xiaoyun and Guo Juan live in room 707. The university dormitories here are all mixed-gender.

If you "need," you can apply to share a room with your girlfriend; no one will mind. As long as you maintain a good relationship with the dormitory manager, you can also have a room to yourself if there are enough available rooms.

In short, the management of student life at this school is very relaxed, which is completely different from the strict style in China.

After a long day, everyone was exhausted. Zhou Yu distributed the keys to the four people and gave them a few more instructions, telling them that there was a 24-hour convenience store in the corner of the lobby on the first floor, and they could buy food and drinks there if they wanted.

As he spoke, he took out his wallet and said with a smile, "You'll still need rubles to buy things, and you probably don't have any since you just arrived. So, I'll lend you each five hundred rubles first. Remember to pay me back tomorrow after you exchange the money."

As he spoke, he took out four 500-ruble notes and gave one to each of the four men. Wang Feiyang and the others quickly thanked him.

After saying goodbye, Zhou Yu left, promising to come back the next morning to help Wang Feiyang and the others complete their enrollment procedures.

Watching Zhou Yu enter the elevator and leave, the two girls held up the 500 ruble banknote under the corridor lights and examined it with great interest.

This is a brownish-red banknote with a statue of Peter the Great and a sailing ship on the front, and a famous monastery on the back.

"Brother Feiyang, there are 500 rubles! How much is that worth in RMB?" Guo Juan asked casually.

Wang Feiyang replied with a smile, "At the current exchange rate, 1 US dollar is roughly equivalent to 25 rubles, so that's 20 US dollars, which is about 170 RMB."

"Oh? That's quite valuable! This must be the largest denomination of ruble, right?" Hu Xiaoyun said in surprise.

Nodding, Wang Feiyang explained to them, "Ruble banknotes start from 5 rubles and come in denominations of 5, 10, 50, 100, and 500. The largest denomination is indeed 500, but I heard that 1000 ruble notes will be available soon, and there might even be 5000 ruble notes."

At this moment, Zhang Liang, Hu Xiaoyun, and Guo Juan all exclaimed in surprise.

There are banknotes with a face value of 5000...

The largest denomination of RMB in China is 100, so they find it hard to imagine.

…………

Open the door, press the switch, and the room immediately brightens up.

Wang Feiyang and Zhang Liang each dragged their large suitcases inside, looked around, and nodded in satisfaction.

The room wasn't big, about 20 square meters. To the right of the entrance was a small bathroom, which even had a bathtub, though I doubt anyone would use it for a bath.

Further inside, there's a row of wardrobes on the bathroom side, and further inside, against each of the two walls, there's a bed and a desk.

It was a standard two-person dormitory room. Although it was bitterly cold outside, the heating in the room was on full blast, making it warm and cozy. After only a short while in the room, both of them were sweating.

Wang Feiyang quickly took off his long down jacket, tossed it onto a bed, and said to Zhang Liang with a smile, "Let's just make do with this for tonight. We'll tidy up properly after we finish our business tomorrow."

The two of them opened their large suitcases and took out the clothes they would wear the next day, as well as toiletries and other items.

The room was too hot; Wang Feiyang felt it was definitely 27 or 28 degrees Celsius. After washing up, he simply changed into a short-sleeved shirt and sweatpants, and only then did he feel much more comfortable.

Perhaps because he had just arrived in a new place, Zhang Liang seemed a little excited. After washing up, he paced around the room. "Feiyang, I don't feel sleepy at all, but I'm a little hungry. Let's go to the supermarket on the first floor and buy something to eat. We can also buy breakfast for tomorrow morning."

Wang Feiyang nodded, "Okay, go ask Hu Xiaoyun and the others if they want to go shopping together."

Given the two girls' limited Russian proficiency, they probably wouldn't dare to go shopping alone, so Wang Feiyang asked Zhang Liang to invite them along. After all, they were classmates, and it was only right for them to look after each other.

Zhang Liang got excited as soon as he heard that and went to knock on the door next door.

Before long, Wang Feiyang led the three of them to the first-floor store by elevator.

The shop was small, about the same size as Wang Feiyang's dormitory. There were two rows of shelves inside, filled with snacks, drinks, and daily necessities.

Behind the cashier's counter on one side of the entrance sat a typical Russian middle-aged woman with a barrel waist, engrossed in watching a small television set next to her. She didn't even look up when Wang Feiyang and his group entered.

Wang Feiyang, familiar with the process, first grabbed a large box of J7 orange juice. This is the most famous juice brand in Russia. Apart from being a bit pricey, it's perfect. Aeroflot flights serve this brand of juice.

Turning around, I picked up a rectangular block of black bread wrapped in transparent plastic wrap. This wasn't the ordinary black bread that was sour and hard. This bread had a thin layer of white icing on the outside and contained raisins and nuts inside. It should be considered a pastry, and it was quite delicious.

After thinking for a moment, he took a large can of Heineken beer from the beverage cabinet next to him, and a can of pickles from the shelf. These things cost him a total of more than 130 rubles.

Zhang Liang's was even simpler: a large two-liter bottle of Coca-Cola, a large piece of black bread, and that was it...

The two girls picked and chose, each buying a large pile of snacks, and every now and then they would pull Wang Feiyang aside to ask him to help them see what flavors the snacks were.

With Wang Feiyang's help, everyone paid their own bills. When the old lady saw that the four of them had taken out 500 ruble bills, she complained impatiently. Wang Feiyang pretended not to understand.

After they came out, Zhang Liang asked Wang Feiyang what the old lady had said. Wang Feiyang teased him, saying that the old lady said he was too handsome and that her daughter had just gotten divorced and wanted him to be her son-in-law…

The thought of the old woman's barrel-shaped waist sent a chill down Zhang Liang's spine, and he waved his hands repeatedly in terror.

Back at the hotel, no one was sleepy. The two girls grabbed some snacks and ran to Wang Feiyang's room. The four of them ate and drank, chatting about their future studies and life...

…………

At 9:00 a.m. the next day, Zhou Yu arrived at the dormitory. Wang Feiyang and the other three had already washed up, prepared their documents and money, and were waiting for him.

Today we need to pay $1500 for six months of preparatory course fees and $420 for six months of accommodation (70 x 6). Zhou Yu told everyone to prepare $2,200. The extra $200 or so should be exchanged for rubles at the exchange point. Wang Feiyang and the others just arrived, and they may need to spend money in the coming period, so they should exchange more rubles this time.

Because the ruble exchange rate fluctuates so much, you can't exchange too much at once. Anyway, there are many exchange points on the street, so you can exchange whenever you want.

Take the tram in front of the dormitory building. After three stops, you will arrive at the International Education Centre, which is the preparatory school of MUSU. It is a red building, not tall, only four stories, but it occupies a considerable area.

Under Zhou Yu's guidance, the enrollment procedures were completed smoothly, all fees were paid, and we were notified that classes would officially begin the day after tomorrow!