Reborn in 1999: Starting as a black marketeer

Wang Feiyang took it and put it directly into his wallet, stuffing it so full that it couldn't fit in his pocket. Luckily, he was carrying a bag, so he put the wallet inside.

After going downstairs, I hailed another unlicensed taxi on the roadside and headed straight for the Alpha Hotel near the Izmailov metro station.

Liu Yingying naturally followed Wang Feiyang. When they arrived at the Alpha Hotel, its magnificent interior made her feel a little reserved.

Instead of going directly to the fifth floor, Wang Feiyang wandered around from the third floor all the way to the fifth floor, carefully looking at the company nameplates hanging at the entrances. He found several agencies that could handle company registration procedures and finally chose the one with the largest scale and the most employees.

Upon entering and inquiring, an agent immediately came out and welcomed the two into the meeting room. After some discussion, they agreed that the agent would help Wang Feiyang with the company registration procedures, and the fee was not too expensive, at $1000.

Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russia has been quite thorough in opening its market to attract foreign investment. Foreigners can easily open companies here, and the tax benefits are also very favorable.

Of course, companies like Wang Feiyang's target small businesses, all transactions are cash-based, and they don't have to pay taxes at all. They don't even need to register a company.

However, considering his future development and the need to deal with media outlets and magazines, Wang Feiyang needed a formal company, so he spent money to register one.

After submitting the relevant documents and paying the fees, Wang Feiyang took Liu Yingying back to his company on the fifth floor, opened the door, and went inside.

"Here it is. It's not big, but it'll be enough for now," Wang Feiyang said with a smile.

Liu Yingying was quite excited. She wandered around the empty room a couple of times, then drew back the curtains to look at the scenery outside before turning her head and asking, "Now that you've started a company, do you need to hire employees? Are you hiring Russian employees?"

"Yes, we'll be dealing with Russian clients, so naturally we'll need Russian staff. Besides, my Russian is fluent, so we don't need any translators," Wang Feiyang said with a smile.

My Russian is good enough that I don't have to pay for a translator, and it's much easier to communicate with Russian employees and clients, which is a significant advantage.

These days, not many people learn Russian, so it's not easy to find a good translator, and the salary isn't low either.

Many international students work as translators after their first or second year of university. Even the most basic sales translator in a large market, who can only communicate with customers about prices and quantities, can earn five or six hundred US dollars a month.

Those with a slightly higher skill level, who can give customers a simple introduction to the quality and style of the products, will charge at least a thousand US dollars!

And don't complain about the price. Not only is the salary paid in cash, not even a day late, but you also get an extra 150 rubles for lunch every day...

Liu Yingying's eyes darted around, and after hesitating for a moment, she said, "How about I join in the fun and come to the company to help you with some things?"

Before Wang Feiyang could say anything, she quickly added, "Just consider it part-time help, I don't need a salary."

"Hehe, the company has just been established and we do need manpower. You can come over whenever you're free. As for salary... I'll give you a bonus depending on the situation. If the company makes money, I'll give you a big bonus; if it doesn't, I'll give you a small bonus," Wang Feiyang said with a smile, readily agreeing.

Although Liu Yingying's Russian is not good, she doesn't need to do sales or similar work. She can handle some simple financial and administrative tasks.

Seeing that Wang Feiyang had agreed, Liu Yingying immediately became excited and paid more and more attention to company affairs. She started to find paper and pen to plan what things the company needed to purchase.

"I think we should buy a few of those plastic mannequins from clothing stores and set up a small product display area in the company, so that customers can see the products more clearly when they come in..."

"Also, the office space is too empty. We could set up a reception area and a small conference room..."

"Also, as the boss, you need an office, right? Should we have a private room partitioned off? It doesn't need to be too complicated, just some frosted glass will do..."

You know what, many of Liu Yingying's ideas were quite practical. Wang Feiyang simply let her think about them slowly while he went to the side to make a call to the freight forwarding company.

The goods have been in Moscow for a while now, but he hasn't picked them up yet. Now that the company is being registered and has office space, the freight forwarding company should deliver the goods.

When the call connected, the person who answered was Chinese. After briefly explaining the situation and giving his tracking number, the other party readily agreed to deliver the goods to the designated location and even calculated the cost.

Wang Feiyang had only paid half of the shipping fee initially, leaving 20,000 RMB unpaid. In addition, there were storage fees and transportation costs from the warehouse to the location, so he still needed to pay approximately 3,000 USD.

This money was obviously necessary. After hanging up the phone, Wang Feiyang sighed. Once the company started, money was flowing out like water.

"Oh, right, we also need to partition off a small warehouse in the corner. We can have someone make some wooden shelves there. This batch of goods isn't much, so we don't need to rent a warehouse specifically for now. We can make do for now. We can rent a dedicated warehouse later when the company is really up and running and the business is expanding," Wang Feiyang said to Liu Yingying, who was planning the office.

The entire office area is about 100 square meters, which is far from being fully utilized. Initially, he only planned to hire two sales staff, making a total of three people including himself, the boss!

Even with Liu Yingying added as an unofficial staff member, there are only four people, which is more than enough space to partition off a warehouse.

There's no need for any other financial matters; it's all cash transactions anyway. It's like moving a market stall into an office building, making it look more formal and impressive.

These things are easy to handle as long as you're willing to spend the money. The building's property management office can do it. Wang Feiyang went to the property management office and consulted with the staff, telling them his ideas.

As a result, the property staff told Wang Feiyang some good news: there was a 20-square-meter storage room next to the elevator shaft directly opposite his company that was currently vacant. If he wanted to rent it, he only needed to pay a token amount of two hundred US dollars per month.

This price was only given because he rented an office space of over 100 square meters. If an outsider wanted to rent it, it would cost at least five hundred US dollars!

Wang Feiyang thought it was a good idea. Firstly, it wouldn't look good to have a warehouse isolated inside the company, and secondly, it would cost a lot of money to install partitions.

So they readily signed a lease agreement and took over that storage room to use as a dedicated warehouse.

After a simple calculation by the property management, including partitioning off a small office and a small meeting room, adding a few simple office furniture pieces, some green plants and potted plants, and even plastic mannequins, the total cost was five thousand US dollars.

To be honest, the price was a bit expensive, but it would save Wang Feiyang a lot of time and energy, so he agreed.

Today alone, I've already spent nine thousand US dollars—it's like money is flowing away like water!