Reborn in 1999: Starting as a black marketeer

The next morning, Wang Feiyang was woken up by his alarm clock and quickly got out of bed.

Zhang Liang, who shared a room with Feiyang, was also woken up. Rubbing his sleepy eyes, he mumbled, "Feiyang, what time is it? Why are you up so early?"

"Go back to sleep, it's only five o'clock. I'm going to the market with Brother Zhang." With that, Wang Feiyang went to the bathroom to wash up.

After we finished tidying up and had a quick bite to eat, Zhang Zhongguo came over and knocked on the door. It was only a little before 5:20.

With his passport, student ID, phone, and wallet in hand, Wang Feiyang followed Zhang Zhongguo toward the elevator.

"There are no buses this early, so we have to walk to the subway station. It takes about 20 minutes if we walk fast, which will be just enough to catch the first subway. Although it's more than ten stops, it's okay since we don't have to go to the station. It will take about an hour. We can take a minibus after we get off the train, and we can get to the market before six o'clock," Zhang Zhongguo said as he walked.

This sounds like a lot of work. Zhang Zhongguo follows the same routine every day. The market doesn't have any holidays; it's open all year round, so it's really tough.

Stepping out of the dormitory building, it was still dark. Under the dim yellow streetlights, large snowflakes danced up and down like moths, and the snow piled up on the roadside was at least half a person high.

Today, Wang Feiyang made thorough preparations. As soon as he came out, he wrapped his face and neck with a wool scarf, then covered his head with the hood of his down jacket, and put on fur gloves. Zhang Zhongguo was dressed similarly.

The two walked along the sidewalk, their feet crunching as they went through the deep snow.

After rushing for a dozen minutes, Wang Feiyang arrived at the subway station entrance. He took out his student ID and bought a student monthly pass at the ticket window for only 120 rubles. It allowed him to ride the subway an unlimited number of times within a month, which was one of the student benefits.

Moscow's metro system is enormous and has a vast network of stations, ranking among the top metropolitan areas in the world in 2000.

Of course, at that time, subway construction in China had just begun, and only a handful of cities had subways, and most of them only had one line, which was far from comparable to Moscow.

Because it was the first train, there were hardly any people on the subway at this time. The two found a seat and leaned back to doze off, not daring to sleep too soundly, opening their eyes every now and then to see which station they were at.

About an hour later, we arrived at "Izmailov" station, which is the closest metro station to the Grand Market.

After exiting the station, Zhang Zhongguo led Wang Feiyang to an Iveco van parked by the roadside. The van was almost full, and after they found seats, Zhang Zhongguo explained, "This costs fifty rubles per person, which is quite expensive, but there are many people sitting here. Although it's only a ten-minute walk, almost the same as taking a bus, this van goes directly into the market, and you won't be checked by the police on the way."

Wang Feiyang understood what he meant. These days, people in all walks of life in Moscow are desperate for money and are trying every possible way to make money!

Russian policemen's eyes light up when they see foreigners, as if they've spotted a walking American dollar...

Even if you have a passport, even if all your paperwork is legal, he will still try every means to squeeze some money out of you, especially near the big market, where most of the business people are Chinese. They don't speak the language, they have money, and they have a bad reputation because they sell cheap and low-quality goods...

Back then, many traders came on tourist visas, which meant they couldn't actually do business. So the Russian police liked to stake out outside the market and rush up to check passports of anyone who looked Chinese. They didn't really care to look at your passport or visa; their only goal was to get money.

If your Russian is good enough to communicate with him, then 500 rubles is not too little. If your Russian is not good enough to communicate, then it will definitely be 100 US dollars.

To be honest, it's tough on these Russian police officers. In this freezing weather, they started their "voluntary overtime" at 5 a.m. to come and keep watch.

Chinese traders have gotten smarter and started taking these Iveco minibuses to the market for 50 rubles. Although it's a bit pricey, it saves them a lot of trouble.

Of course, there are reasons why these minibuses, which specialize in running routes to large markets, exist and why no police check them.

Wang Feiyang and Zhang Zhongguo each paid fifty rubles for the ride. The Iveco van quickly filled up with people, most of whom appeared to be Chinese, with a few short, dark-skinned individuals mixed in, presumably Vietnamese.

Ten minutes later, the car drove into the parking lot inside the market, and everyone filed out.

It was only around six o'clock, and while other parts of Moscow were still quiet, the market was already bustling with activity.

As agreed beforehand, Zhang Zhongguo led Wang Feiyang to the street where they wholesale jeans, then quickly left for his own stall, as he needed to open for business as soon as possible.

The market here is also called the container market because it consists of stacked metal shipping containers used as shops, with canvas awnings put up at the entrance for shelter from the wind and rain. To be honest, it looks dirty, messy, and has a terrible environment.

Goods sold in such places are naturally not going to be expensive.

The layout of shops in the market is basically the same. The shops mainly serve as warehouses, filled with goods. Samples are placed on both sides of the shop entrance, either hung on wire mesh or on simple shelves, depending on the type of goods sold. Jeans are naturally more convenient to display by hanging them on wire mesh.

Wang Feiyang squeezed through the bustling crowd, looking around. He was mainly looking at the styles and prices of the jeans being sold there, trying to figure out which styles were selling best.

As for going up to talk to the shop owners, don't even think about it. You're a Chinese person, so you're obviously not here to buy anything. What's the point of coming up and asking all sorts of questions?

Giving you a cold shoulder is considered polite; someone with a bad temper would probably start cursing!

The container street where jeans were concentrated wasn't very long, and it also had shops selling other goods mixed in. Wang Feiyang finished looking at it in half an hour.

After reading it, he was certain that he absolutely could not sell goods here!

The environment was terrible, the prices were ridiculously low, and the styles were all pretty much the same. Of course, even without touching them, Wang Feiyang knew that the quality of his own batch of goods was definitely much better than these.

However, there's no way around it; the wholesale price of jeans here is clearly marked, concentrated around 200 rubles, with a fluctuation of no more than 20 rubles.

Since everyone is paying the same price, it means that the customers who come here to buy goods are also targeting this price range.

In such an environment, try not to be different or think you're so great. Do you think those jeans sellers are all fools? Don't they know that the higher the price of a product, the higher the profit?

Why is it that no one sells expensive goods here...?