Chapter 52: The Winter in Krisco (Part 3)

'What are you doing? You damned scoundrels, don't take my things!'

A woman's scream of alarm, like lightning flashing across the sky at night, reached Zhou Ming and Kalelina's ears through the car despite the commotion outside.

Zhou Ming and Kalelina looked in the direction of the sound and saw that not far from the car, several people were struggling together. It looked as if a few men were robbing a woman of her belongings, while the woman was desperately trying to hold on to her things. The two sides were thus pulling at each other. The woman obviously couldn't win the struggle, but she refused to let go of anything, and could only yell and curse there.

Although the people of Northern Russia are known as a fighting people, no one came forward to stop this at the moment. Everyone just went about their business numbly, as if it were just air.

In fact, it's quite normal to think about this. With the continuous deterioration of the Northern Russian economy, the ruble has depreciated wildly and prices have skyrocketed. Even people in the middle-income class have begun to sell their possessions on the street, let alone everyone else.

When people reach the end of their rope, they are capable of anything. Some people have begun to rob on this Gele Street just to be able to eat.

From the expressions of the other people nearby, it was clear that this was not the first time they had seen it, so they had already become accustomed to it and no one would bother with this nonsense.

However, Zhou Ming fixed his gaze over there, frowning, because he felt that there was a familiar figure over there, but he just couldn't think of who it was. Fortunately, at this time, Kareina's voice sounded, 'That's Rulayeva, Mr. Zhou Ming. Shall we go over and help her?'

After being reminded by Kareina, Zhou Ming finally remembered who the girl who was being robbed over there was. She was the friend that Kareina had brought them to the White House the other day.

Since they knew each other, there was no reason for Ming to just stand there and watch her get mugged. So he immediately told the driver to pull over, then opened the car door and got out, walking over to her with Karina.

'What are you doing? Hurry up and let go of my friend!'

Kareina shouted at the men, and Ruyaeva heard Kareina's voice over there and looked up again to see Zhou Ming, who had come with Kareina, crying, 'Help me, they're trying to rob me!'

Zhou Ming came over to help for sure, but before Zhou Ming could do anything, ** rushed over first. It is worth mentioning here that just now, ** did not rush to the front, and even though Zhou Ming also asked him to help, he still got off the car with Zhou Ming and went over together. It was only at this time that he took a few strides and rushed out, quickly solving the problem of the few Northern Russians who were committing robbery.

This is what a qualified bodyguard is like. Because in **, only Zhou Ming's safety is the most important thing, and as for other things, they can only be done after ensuring Zhou Ming's safety.

It is precisely following this bodyguard principle that ** will go with Zhou Ming, because at this moment the situation on Gele Street is very chaotic, and he must first ensure Zhou Ming's safety and ensure that Zhou Ming is within his line of sight before he will do anything else.

After chasing away the Northern Russians, Zhou Ming and Katerina helped Zhoraeva to tidy up the scattered things.

Looking at the jewellery and perfume that had fallen to the ground, Katerina asked her in surprise, 'My God, Zhoraeva, why are you selling things here too? Aren't these your favourite things from before? This perfume is your favourite brand, and you went to a lot of trouble to buy it back. Now why are you selling it? This is a pity.'

In the face of Kareina's doubts, Zhulayeva sighed and said, 'I have no choice. You know that I am just an ordinary civil servant. My salary is just that much. Now that prices are rising so drastically, if I don't sell all this stuff, my family won't have anything to eat tomorrow.'

Zhou Ming was surprised by Zhurayeva's answer, even though he had already expected it. The reason was simple: after fifty years of being influenced by the ideology of the previous life, if someone told Zhou Ming that the people working in Zhongnanhai had no money to eat, even if the situation was normal, it would still be surprising.

Of course, not only was Zhou Ming surprised, but Katerina was also surprised: 'But aren't you working in the White House, Zhurayeva? That is the central parliament building of the Northern Russian Republic. How can the situation in the country be like this? Isn't the central government helping its own people instead of the people? Aren't you getting any subsidies?'

'Subsidies? Those bureaucrats are already grateful that they don't try to take money from us, so how dare they ask for subsidies,' Zhurayeva said with a bitter smile.

Zhou Ming and Kareina were silent. Kareina hated those bureaucrats who were worse than scum, while Zhou Ming didn't know what to say.

However, at this moment, Zuraeva suddenly turned her gaze towards Zhou Ming and said to him like a drowning person seeing a straw: 'Mr. Zhou Ming, is that you? Great, I've finally found you. I know you are very powerful. Can you help me?'

Zhou Ming was stunned by these sudden words from Zhurayeva. He was baffled because in his own impression, the only intersection between himself and her was when he went to the White House to drink with Nikolajevich. However, that intersection was just a hurried meeting, and due to the language barrier, he had not directly spoken to her even once. Therefore, Zhou Ming did not recognise her at first.

It was precisely for this reason that Zhou Ming couldn't understand why she saw him and saw the saviour? There were no four big words written on his face, was there?

Zhou Ming looked at Kareina with confusion, because if there was a reason, it could only be her.

Kareina understood what Zhou Ming meant. She shook her head and said, 'I have been with you, Mr. Zhou Ming, for a while, and I have never met Ruyaeva since that day.'

This answer was completely within Zhou Ming's expectations, because it was indeed the case. At this time, Zhurayeva's words perfectly gave Zhou Ming an answer. She said, 'Since you were able to convince Mr. President to give such a powerful speech and single-handedly promote the great transformation of our North Russian Republic, you must also have a way to solve our current problem in North Russia, right?'

Zhou Ming was a little helpless at these words. He felt that all his thinking had been for nothing. This girl was so simple-minded that she thought if she could convince the president, she could also solve the economic crisis.

Such a way of thinking was undoubtedly wishful thinking, but for the North Russians struggling with severe inflation, any hope was a lifesaver.

Zhou Ming shook his head helplessly and said to her, 'Miss Rulayeva, I appreciate your belief in me, but I really can't do anything about your economic crisis.'

Zhou Ming's answer was not accepted by Zhurayeva at all: 'No way! Mr. Zhou Ming, you must not want to help, right? I beg you to help, if you refuse to help, all of us Northern Russians will not be able to survive! By the way, I know that when you Chinese beg, you like to kneel, so I will kneel down for you too, just beg you to help us.'

Rulayeva then really knelt down before Zhou Ming. This was on Gele Street, the most prosperous street in the entire Soviet Union, and it was still in the midst of an economic crisis. The surrounding area was packed with Northern Russians selling their belongings here, and in addition to the robbery and fight just now, no matter how numb the others were, they were also attracted by it, and now seeing Rulayeva's actions, they suddenly reacted.

'Mister, do you really have a way to help us solve our current predicament? Miss Zhurayeva, I know she works in the White House, so you must also be some kind of big official or rich person, right? Then we will also kneel down and beg you to help us, please!'

I don't know who started it, but these Northern Russians around them were begging Zhou Ming one after the other, and it even developed to the point where they all knelt down and begged Zhou Ming with Zhurayeva.

Seeing the Northern Russians around him kneeling down to him, Zhou Ming was stunned. This was a situation he never expected, but if you really think about it, these people's thoughts are the same as Rurayaeva's. It's like a drowning person seeing hope and desperately trying to grab onto it.

But the idea is the idea, and it's easy to explain when you talk about it, but when it actually happens, it's still surprising and hard to accept.

When he looked around and saw all these Northern Russians kneeling around him, if he were an ordinary person, he would probably be at a loss as to what to do. But Zhou Ming immediately calmed down. He didn't rush to make a decision, but looked very seriously at the Northern Russians kneeling around him. Zhou Ming's seriousness quickly spread to the surrounding Northern Russians, and their begging voices gradually became smaller. At this time, Zhou Ming spoke.

'Don't you feel ashamed of yourselves? Begging me for help, a complete stranger, do you really think I'm capable of saving you? Don't you have any sense of judgement? Don't you realise that what you're doing is just fooling yourselves?'

Zhou Ming's words were resounding and deafening, like the sound of a big gong, and they suddenly realised: Yes! Why are we begging a Chinese stranger we don't know? Are we crazy?

With this thought, these Northern Russians got up from the ground one after the other, and then the entire Gele Street returned to its previous state, except for Zhoraeva, who was still kneeling on the ground.

Zhou Ming and Kareina walked over and helped Zhoraeva up, saying, 'Miss Zhoraeva, we Chinese pay attention to finding the right place to talk about things, so no matter what happens, we shouldn't talk about it on the street. Let's pack up our things first and talk about it in the car, okay?'

Zhou Ming had already become Zhalyaeva's last hope, so naturally she did whatever he said at this time.