Chapter 43: You're thinking too much.

Gele Street, the central street of the capital of a superpower, is still bustling with traffic, but since this morning on the first day, people have noticed some changes on this street that they usually walk past every day. Some people have set up stalls on the street and started buying up privatised securities.

Passers-by saw the banners put up by these stallholders and couldn't help but go up and ask curiously, 'What are these privatisation securities?'

'These privatisation securities are the vouchers issued to you by your company in accordance with the assets of the company after the privatisation reform of your company,' the stallholder replied.

'But isn't this voucher proof that we work in the company? And our leader said that this thing cannot be circulated or used to buy things, so what's the point of you collecting it?' the person asked again.

The stall owner replied, 'I'm sorry, I'm just doing the work, and I don't know what the boss wants to do with this security. But I can tell you that as long as you sell me the security you have, I will pay you according to the value on the security ticket, and I will pay you whatever the amount is.

He continued, 'I know that the economic situation in Northern Russia is currently very bad, and everyone is living a very difficult life. This money is not much, but it can enable you to buy some essential household items for your family, so that you no longer have to shake your head at the black bread. It can also enable you to buy your wife and children the things they want, and even more so, it can enable you to smell the aroma of vodka that you haven't smelled in a long time, and add a delicious serving of caviar to your table!'

His words were plain but to the point. The situation in Northern Russia was indeed as dire as he said, otherwise when Irbeldov at the Union Bank simply announced the discounted purchase of securities, the bank employees below would not have been so excited.

It was also for this reason that when the man at the stall said he could buy the securities at full price, the people nearby immediately brightened up: 'Okay, we'll bring the securities right over, so you must wait here!'

But then the stall owner said something that made them even more excited: 'If you bring your relatives and friends along to sell their securities, I can give you an extra 300 roubles.'

As soon as these words were uttered, someone nearby exclaimed in surprise, '300 roubles? Are you serious? You can really give us that much extra money? All we have to do is bring our relatives and friends along to sell privatisation securities to you?'

In fact, it is not surprising that the people around him were so shocked. You have to understand that at this time, the ruble was not the same as the one that was devalued due to the bankruptcy of the economy in northern Russia in later generations. The current ruble was almost equivalent to the US dollar. Three hundred rubles was equivalent to a little over 30 US dollars. Even an ordinary person would be happy to jump for joy when given so much extra rubles all at once, not to mention these very poor people in northern Russia.

So when they got a positive reply, they immediately gave the warmest cheers: 'You are really very kind people! I will go back right away and tell them all to come to you to sell privatised securities!'

This scene happened to be seen by Zhou Ming and Kalelina. Zhou Ming and Kalelina came down not long after attending Davier's meeting at the hotel, because that meeting was mainly about Davier trying to convince them to continue with the Dota Project. Then Davier left, and none of the bank presidents and trade officials wanted to continue to be there. After all, selling out one's country is not a glorious thing to do, no matter how impressive the cause is.

And after those bank presidents and trade officials had all left, of course neither Zhou Ming nor Kalelina had any reason to continue to stay there.

Of course Kalelina didn't want to stay there either, because she also wanted to find out what Zhou Ming meant by Davier's backhand and why it was on the street. So they came down and saw this scene.

In response, Karolina muttered angrily, 'These people are shameless! They talk to those bank presidents and trade officials while buying privatisation securities from these poor workers! And they are obviously thieves stealing our national wealth, but now they look so righteous, even using benefits to entice them to betray their country's wealth!'

'There's nothing shameful about it. They're just each taking what they need. You Northern Russians are so poor and need money, and the Dota Project is taking your national wealth...'

Zhou Ming stopped here, because at this time a man got out of the car by the roadside and came to Zhou Ming while applauding, 'What a good way to each take what they need. It seems that Mr. Zhou Ming is not a Northern Russian, and he is still acting very sensibly!'

Zhou Ming turned to him and said, 'So it turns out to be Mr. Davier. It seems that this matter is also Mr. Davier's masterpiece, right? I just didn't expect Davier to check the scene now.'

Davier ignored Zhou Ming's words and just introduced to Zhou Ming on his own: 'Mr. Zhou Ming, you can see that although these governors and officials in Northern Russia are very eager to ensure their country's wealth, or they all want to control this country's wealth in their hands, this is ultimately very difficult to achieve. As I said, due to the high degree of totalitarianism in this country, everyone is poor. Without our help, it is simply impossible to acquire these privatised securities. You see all those people over there trying to sell, isn't it because they have no way to take them away?'

Zhou Ming shook his head, and Davier let out a cry of surprise: 'Why does Mr. Zhou Ming have any different opinions?'

'I feel that Mr. Davier is perhaps being a little too self-righteous,' Zhou Ming said. 'Mr. Davier, you may have forgotten what I said at the meeting earlier. I said that there is never any problem that cannot be solved in this world, and there is always just a lack of initiative.

Zhou Ming continued, 'You also said that this is a place with a high degree of totalitarianism. Then, with the combination of government and business, whether it is like Irbeldov who buys his own company with his own loan, or writes IOUs to employees, or hires someone to liquidate the assets of the company and maliciously compress the total assets of the company, the goal of appropriating state assets can be achieved.'

'But you are committing a crime by doing this!' said Davier.

'Criminal? You're really something, Mr. Davier,' Zhou Ming said with a smile, 'This is the primitive accumulation of capital, and whose primitive accumulation doesn't have a little grey area? As far as I know, what you Americans did to the blacks was definitely much more excessive than what I just said. I believe that if you lined you up and shot you, you would not be wronged.'

Zhou Ming laughed, as did Davier. He glanced at Katerina and said, 'Miss Katerina, you heard it. The Mr Zhou Ming you chose is just the kind of person who would incite those bureaucrats to blatantly embezzle state property. And yet he speaks with such righteousness, it's truly disgusting.'

'Mr Davier, don't bother. I don't doubt Mr Zhou Ming. In fact, he's never done anything like that,' said Katerina.

Davier immediately raised his hands and said, 'Oh dear Miss Karelina, I have no intention of sowing discord between you. I'm just talking about this matter in this context. And as you can see, even if he has successfully convinced the bureaucrats, he still has no control over the ordinary people...'

Davier's words came to an end because he saw the smile on Zhou Ming's face. Zhou Ming asked him in return, 'Do you really think so, Mr. Davier?'

For some reason, when he heard Zhou Ming's question, David's heart started pounding, and an ominous feeling came over him.

'If you really think that, Mr. David, then I can only say that you are overthinking it,' Zhou Ming said. 'I admit that you, Mr. David, know a lot about the economic situation in Northern Russia, but you still know very little about people. Otherwise, you would understand that what you are doing will not change anything.'

'Mr. Zhou Ming means to go over there and persuade the ordinary people, just like in the conference room? It seems that Mr. Zhou Ming wants to continue to challenge the difficulty,' said Davier.

Zhou Ming, however, shook his head and said, 'No, Mr. Davier, I don't intend to do that, because there is no need for me to do anything at all. An approach like yours, Mr. Davier, is completely cutting off other people's financial resources. As the saying goes, where there is oppression, there will be resistance, and naturally someone will come to stop you.'

As if to prove Zhou Ming's words, as soon as Zhou Ming's words fell on this side, on Gele Street, a propaganda car drove over.

'Hello, fellow Northern Russians, it has recently been discovered that a group of foreigners have been selling fake currency in the name of buying privatised securities in the country. This fake currency is highly realistic. Please be aware that this is all done by Western countries to disrupt our economic order. For the unity and stability of our country, if you find this kind of situation, please call the police immediately!'

The radio in the propaganda car kept playing this recording, while someone standing on the car kept throwing leaflets at people.

This sudden situation made everyone freeze, and the people on the street were stunned by the result of the leaflets. After reading the content on it, they suddenly understood.

'No wonder I said that no one would want such useless privatized securities. Why would buying this privatized security be so generous as to give away 300 roubles more? It turns out that this is all a conspiracy, it's a lie! We almost fell for it!'

'It turns out that these people are all foreign spies, assigned by Western countries to come here and destroy our economy. We haven't been able to eat or drink vodka for years, and it turns out that they are the ones responsible for this. We cannot let these devils go, they must be severely punished!'

People on Gele Street shouted at each other, and as a fighting nation, there were even more people with explosive tempers. They had already charged towards the people who were setting up stalls to collect privatized securities, while the North Russians in front of the stalls had conveniently overturned the stalls. In the stunned silence of Davie, the whole scene became chaotic.