828 US-Russia

After the meal, Zhu Wencong took Alexander II and Gorchakov to the nearby Chinese Tea House, which had become a high-end symbol of Saint Petersburg.

Zhu Wencong never intended to cater to the poor and couldn't penetrate that market if he tried, so he simply added several zeros to the prices.

For the aristocratic class, their food, drinks, and attire weren't about the price, but symbols of their status and identity.

A simple example, how could Russians prove they were part of the aristocratic class? Fluent French!

If one spoke only familiar Russian, they were certainly from the lower class; those with a bit of family status had long abandoned everything Russian.

In fact, the prices had to be exorbitant, given the transport costs involved, making Eastern goods sell at a very high price in the West.

This also made French middlemen very wealthy, and France not only embraced Eastern culture but also spread it to the Western Countries.