Chapter 53: Population Market

'Mr. Zhou Ming, I'm very sorry about what just happened. I know it caused you a lot of trouble.'

After returning to the car, Rulayeva first apologized to Zhou Ming. In the face of Rulayeva's apology, Zhou Ming shook his head and said, 'With the current economic situation in Northern Russia, I can understand how you feel. There is nothing to be troubled about. Just forget about what just happened.'

Zhou Ming shook his head and said, 'I can understand your feelings, but there is nothing to be troubled about. Just forget about what happened just now.' Zhurayeva gave a faint nod, then lowered her head. She was silent for a while, and finally asked Zhou Ming, 'But Mr. Zhou Ming, I believe you have the ability to solve our economic problems in Northern Russia, right?'

This time, Katerina did not help her translate, but helped Zhou Ming reprimand her, saying, 'Zhurayeva, what are you doing? We are proud Northern Russians. You cannot force Mr. Zhou Ming to help us.'

'Katerina, I know what I'm asking is very unreasonable, but I really have no other way! Katerina, you are happy to be with Mr. Zhou Ming, and you don't understand the lives that the average North Russian is living right now, so you don't understand the suffering of the North Russians.' Zhoraeva said, pointing her finger out the car window, 'You have seen the situation on Gele Street and in the department store over there, but this is only part of our North Russian tragedy, and there are more miserable situations that you don't know about.'

This remark left Katerina stunned. After a while, she first translated Zhurayeva's words to Zhou Ming, and then asked her, 'If this is not considered a tragedy on Gele Street, what else is there?'

'Let's go to Alba Street first,' Zhurayeva said. 'Some things I say don't mean much, and they are too vague and powerless. You will understand only after you have seen it for yourself.'

Kareina relayed Zhurayeva's words to Zhou Ming, who nodded after only a little consideration and then told ** to drive the car to Alba Street.

Alba Street is another famous street in Krisco, except that its fame is not because of its long history, but because it is a very famous labor market in Krisco. Everyone in Krisco and the surrounding area knows that if you want to find someone to do a job or if you want to find a job, this is the biggest choice.

It was precisely because of the characteristics of Alba Street that Zhou Ming was slightly taken aback when he heard about it, but soon, as soon as his car pulled up here, he immediately understood.

Although Alba Street is famous, it is actually just a short street with many different labour agencies on either side. Now that the economy of Northern Russia has entered a harsh winter, and all of Northern Russia's middle class have had to take their possessions to the market and sell them on the street, the labour agencies here are instead booming, with long queues forming outside many of them.

'My God, I can't believe it, things are actually so good here. It seems that our economy hasn't yet reached a complete collapse! As long as we North Russians can work together, I believe we will soon overcome the difficulties, whether it's the war fifty years ago or the current economic problems,' said Kalelina happily.

However, Zhurayeva's words were completely different from Kalelina's: 'I hope so too, but I think you might not feel the same way once you find out what these people are doing here.'

This remark aroused the curiosity of Zhou Ming and Katerina, and with this remark from Zhurayeva, they looked up the street again and indeed discovered a problem, because most of the people on this street were women.

It is not strange to say that there are women here, because in the past totalitarian system, men and women in Northern Russia worked equally, which was glorious. On the other hand, this is not simply a market for exporting migrant workers, but a comprehensive human resources market. It is normal for women to find work here, but the problem is that so many women are concentrated here, which is very puzzling.

Zhou Ming and Katerina got out of the car with Zhurayeva and walked into Alba Street. However, before they had taken a few steps, a few Northern Russians wandering the street immediately came up to them and said, 'Hey, friend woman, are you also here looking for work abroad? I can tell you responsibly that I can definitely provide the best place here, and with the qualifications of these two ladies, I can definitely offer the best salary.'

'Looking for work and going abroad?' Katerina asked doubtfully.

'Of course. If you are interested, we can go to my company over there and talk about it,' the North Russian said to Katerina, while his eyes kept scanning Katerina's tempting body up and down.

Katerina felt disgusted by his lewd behaviour and said coldly with a frown, 'Thank you, no.'

However, the man was clearly persistent. Despite being rejected by Karelina, he still said to her, 'I know that you, madam, must be worried that I will not pay and that I am just a liar wandering the streets. I can tell you that this is completely unnecessary, because I can take you to our company. We are the biggest and best company on this Alba Street, and you will believe it.'

The man then pointed behind him and said to Katerina, 'Look at those people queuing over there. They also want to go abroad to find work, but they don't have an introducer, so they just have to queue there. Not only is it a waste of time, they can't sell for a good price, at most a few hundred dollars, but you, madam, are different.'

'First of all, you have me as your introducer, so you don't have to queue. Besides, with your looks, you can at least sell for at least 10,000 US dollars!' the man said.

After hearing this, Zhou Ming and Katerina suddenly realised what he meant. This was not about finding a job at all, but about human trafficking. These women were all going to be sold to other countries.

This idea shocked Katerina, and the Russian man opposite, seeing Katerina's surprised expression, thought that Katerina was tempted by the two thousand dollars and gave a lewd smile.

This made Karolina unable to hold back any longer, and she slapped him hard in the face. Then she pointed at his nose and yelled at him, 'Our country is already in this state, so how can you still make such a dirty deal? You are nothing but a villain who blasphemed against God. A hundred years ago, you would have been tied to the stake and suffered the most painful torture!'

The man did not expect Katerina to suddenly slap him, and he was stunned for a moment. Then he reacted and was also very angry: 'You bitch, how dare you hit me?'

He also reached out to slap Katerina, but Katerina stood there without flinching. However, in the end, the man could not slap her, because as soon as he raised his hand, he was grabbed by **.

'Who the hell is this son of a...'

He cursed subconsciously, but he was only halfway through his curse when he couldn't say the rest because he saw **'s gaze.

** just looked at him indifferently, his eyes not showing much emotion, but it was this cold gaze that made him feel a shudder from the bottom of his heart, because he could sense a real threat to his life.

But what scared him even more was the man standing behind this indifferent man next to such a beautiful woman as Kalelina. Perhaps he hadn't said anything so far, but from the fact that he had such a charming lady and such a cold bodyguard, it was obvious that this man was even more unruly, otherwise how could he be in control?

'Fine, you win. Let's go.'

The man finally left after saying this to Zhou Ming and Katerina, obviously ashamed to just walk away, but he valued his life more. After he left, Zhurayeva said to Zhou Ming, 'You see, this is the situation here.'

'These damned scumbags have really gone too far, taking advantage of people's misfortunes at this time, coercing and luring them into human trafficking!' Katerina said angrily.

Zhu La Yue Hua, however, shook her head and said, 'No, Kareina, technically speaking, these traffickers are not coercing or enticing anyone. As far as I know, at least 70% of them want to go abroad voluntarily.'

'What? They want to go abroad voluntarily? Why?'

Kareina was even more surprised, because if these people had been deceived or in some other situation, that would be understandable, but now they were all going out on their own, which she found unacceptable.

'It's simple. Everyone here can't stand it anymore,' said Zhurayeva.

A simple sentence, but it made Katerina choke there for a moment, unable to speak for a long time. It was only after a while that she translated their conversation to Zhou Ming.

Zhou Ming also didn't say anything after hearing it. On the one hand, he didn't know what to say; on the other hand, Zhou Ming also remembered a strange story he had heard in his previous life. It was also here in Krisco. It was said that during the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the peak of the devaluation of the ruble, women in the Soviet Union were frantically fleeing abroad. At that time, the most outrageous thing was that a North Russian woman could be bought for one dollar.

A woman for one dollar, this sounds like a tall tale no matter how you hear it, but it is something that really happened. Now that the devaluation of the ruble has not yet reached its peak, and prices in northern Russia have not yet reached such an outrageous level, these women still cost a few hundred dollars.

So it is obvious what these women will do after being bought and sent abroad. It is precisely for this reason that the Northern Russian just now, when he saw Katerina, let out such a lewd expression, because these snakeheads, when buying these women and sending them abroad, are not likely to give themselves a good time.

And Katerina, both in appearance and figure, is goddess-level, so how could she not make people fantasise?

In fact, this kind of thing didn't just happen here. Back in the day, when so many people fled to Hong Kong, didn't they all have the same mentality?

'This is why I begged Mr. Zhou Ming like this,' Rulayeva said.