Chapter 89: Konon's Despair and Hope

Krisco is the capital of the Northern Russian Republic. In general, people think that the capital of a former superpower should be very prosperous, but that is just an ideal. The reality is not like that. At this moment, there are many Northern Russians wandering aimlessly on the streets of Krisco. They have no direction or goal, their eyes are vacant, and they are like walking corpses.

Konon is also a member of this wandering army. Although his mental state is also extremely confused, compared to the others, his clothes are still very luxurious. At least they are not ragged and still maintain a certain degree of cleanliness.

Konon is like this because some of his experiences are different from those of other people. After all, in the past month of economic turmoil in Northern Russia, Konon has enriched his life experience for a lifetime.

First, he inexplicably came into possession of several hundred million rubles. Although this money did not belong to him and he did not have the authority to invest it privately, being able to control such a large sum of money was enough to make him brag for a year, not to mention that his supervisor later gave him a large sum of money in private.

It was also with this money that when the ruble plummeted again later, he would not have to live in such dire straits. It was only when President Nikolayevich announced two days ago that he was going to abolish the old ruble that he became confused again.

The reason is simple: all the money he has is in old rubles, and now that the old ruble is about to be abolished, what is he going to do with the money he has?

'Why can't we use the good old rubles? We've been using them since we were born! We use them to buy things and pay for our meals. How can they just say they're not good enough to use anymore? What are we supposed to do with all the money we have? Isn't the current government authority killing us and driving us to the brink of extinction? I think we, as the masters of this country, cannot remain so indifferent. We must do something!'

At a street intersection, someone shouted into a megaphone, and a large crowd gathered there. Everyone surrounded him in confusion, as if his words were the truth.

Konon knew that it was probably another newly formed political party recruiting supporters, or simply a means for a foreign company to deceive workers. They promised wishes and painted a rosy future for the desperate northerners, so as to trick them into working abroad.

Konon has seen it all during this time, and even his sister, yesterday, got on a boat to go abroad. According to the description of the foreign company, it was going to the United States, but in fact Konon knew the logo of the ship, which was the logo of a Dutch company. Maybe one day if he had the opportunity to go to the Netherlands, he could find his sister, who had been deceived into going abroad, in some seedy bar.

Konong understood his sister very well and also understood that his sister really had no other choice. Although he had made a large sum of money from a windfall, with the abolition of the old ruble, his money had become worthless and the family had once again become short of money.

In addition to this, the closure of the securities company was also very important. Because of his previous experience of controlling 500 million roubles, he had gained some knowledge of the capital market. So after receiving his compensation, he also started to speculate in stocks and foreign exchange, and followed the market to make a lot of money. But who knew that the securities market suddenly closed the day before yesterday, and he could not get the money he had put in the market.

Sometimes Konon really wanted to cry out loud. Why does this society eat people like this? Why are they pushing them to the brink?

A newspaper blew over and landed in Konon's face. He took it off and looked at it subconsciously before tearing it to shreds. He saw that an alleged economist was singing the praises of the abolition of the old ruble and the introduction of the new ruble, saying that it was a major decision by the President that had saved the economy of Northern Russia.

'Those bastards, they're blind as bats!' Konon shouted, 'Can't they see how many people in Krisko have had their money become worthless overnight, and how many are going bankrupt? And they say it's saved the economy of Northern Russia? They're saving it with our flesh and blood!'

'And the securities company, too. Why did Nikolayevich have to close it down? Is this President really a spy sent by the West? Is his goal to overthrow our country?'

Konon stopped after a while because he knew that it was useless to curse here. No one would hear him. No one would come to his aid except God, and there was no one to help these Northern Russians in the street who were in the same predicament as him. But would there really be such a person?

Konon asked himself this question in his heart. He knew very well that the answer would be disappointing and even desperate. At that moment, he heard someone calling his name. He turned around and saw that an ordinary Volga car was parked not far away. His supervisor was in the car window, waving at him.

This made Konon jump. He immediately ran over and said, 'Sir, I'm sorry, I came out today because of something very important...'

Before Konon could finish speaking, his supervisor said, 'We'll talk about your absence later, but right now I have an important task for you. Get in the car and follow me.'

He then opened the car door. Konon was stunned by the actions of his immediate supervisor. He didn't react at first, and it wasn't until his supervisor repeated himself with a frown that he suddenly reacted and happily got into the car.

Konon couldn't help but be happy, because he remembered that the last time his supervisor had called him, it was when he was first given 500 million rubles to handle.

Could it be that this time it was the same thing? But hadn't the securities company been shut down already?

'Leader, what is this about? Are you going to ask me to make 500 million rubles again? I heard that the exchange rate of the new rubles issued by the central government is much higher than before, so you must be giving me more money this time,'

Konon asked his leader with a grin, but his leader gave him a disgruntled glare and said, 'What's the point of asking so many questions? Just go with them, and you won't be treated badly!'

His enthusiasm was not dampened by the fact that he had received a snub from his leader. After all, they were all big shots, and they must have higher horizons and longer-term thinking than themselves, as well as more abundant channels than themselves. Why bother to worry so much? After all, they would never count on a nobody like himself.

It was with this kind of thinking that Konon sat patiently in the car all the way to the Cherv Market. The car stopped in front of the entrance to the café across from the market, and Konon followed his leader into the café to a seat by the window.

'Chairman, I've brought the person for you,'

Konon's supervisor told him, before making Konon stand up straight before reporting to the person sitting there. As the leader reported, Konon also understood the identity of the other person.

It was Mr. Irbedov, the chairman of the United Bank, and the richest man in all of Northern Russia. Then were the Chinese men next to him the ones behind the last incident?

Konon remembered that he had met the man named Zhou Ming before. If there had only been one Chinese man there, Konon was confident that he could recognise him, but now there were four Chinese men there, and Konon could not tell them apart as their faces were basically the same.

After listening to the report, Irbeldov smiled and asked Kenong to sit down. Then he turned to the youngest Chinese man next to him and said, 'Mr. Zhou Ming, this is the same Kenong from last time.'

As Irbeldov spoke, Kenong felt his heart beat rapidly. At the same time, he fixed his gaze on Zhou Ming. Kenong could feel his pupils dilate, because he was really excited.

Yes, this is Zhou Ming, the real behind-the-scenes boss who gave him 500 million rubles to operate last time! He really did meet him last time. He was so young, yet he had such great wealth. And from the tone of Irbeldov's words just now, he was also very impressive to the richest man in Northern Russia. He never expected to have the honour of meeting him again today. This is really lucky!

Konon shouted in his heart, his hands trembling uncontrollably. He could imagine that his luck was about to change again, just like last time!

Zhou Ming looked at Konon's excited expression and smiled, saying, 'Hello, Mr. Konon. My name is Zhou Ming. We may have met somewhere before, but we don't really know each other. Let's get to know each other again. And please don't be so nervous, just relax.'

Zhou Ming's words were like magic, and they quickly calmed Konon's excitement as they reached his ears.

Konon took a deep breath, nodded, and said, 'Hello, Mr. Zhou Ming, I am very honoured to meet you!'

'Mr. Konon is hoping to do something for me and receive a high reward from me, isn't he?' said Zhou Ming.

He was embarrassed to have his thoughts read so clearly. He laughed nervously, not knowing what to say, and could only sit there, rubbing his hands together.

Zhou Ming then said, 'Mr. Konon, you don't need to be embarrassed. I don't think there's anything to be ashamed of. After all, the current economic situation in Northern Russia is like this, and no one is doing well. Everyone wants to make money. And the world is about material things and interests. No one is a saint who selflessly gives of themselves forever. It is only reasonable for Mr. Konon to want to be paid.'

After being enlightened by Zhou Ming, Kernon was even more embarrassed, but Zhou Ming didn't have much time to enlighten him here. Zhou Ming then asked him, 'But before I get down to business with you, Mr. Kernon, I have something I want to ask you.'

Kernon looked up at Zhou Ming with a puzzled expression. Zhou Ming asked him, 'What is your opinion on the current replacement of the old ruble with the new ruble?'

Konon hesitated for a moment, but Zhou Ming encouraged him, saying, 'There's no one else here, and we won't pass on what you say. You can speak freely, Mr. Konon.'

'I understand, Mr. Zhou Ming,' Konon nodded, gritted his teeth and made up his mind, saying, 'I think abolishing the old ruble is a very stupid thing to do. At least for us ordinary Northern Russians, it's been nothing short of a catastrophe! He's made all of us destitute overnight!'