I'm Quite Gifted

Ruan Xiaozhu introduced the three girls to Wang Ye again.

But Wang Ye still did not remember who was who, because none of them was worth remembering...

"All right, you girls go bowl. I'll chat with my little brother. He only got here on the first, so he's still unfamiliar with the place." Ruan Xiaozhu waved her hand and shooed the three girls off to bowl.

Only she and Wang Ye remained in the huge booth.

"What do you want to drink? I'll order for you. Forget it, let's get beer. Guys who drink Coke and stuff like that here get laughed at." Ruan Xiaozhu decided on her own.

What else could Wang Ye say? He could only nod with a wry smile.

But Ruan Xiaozhu was right. In Moscow—or rather, in Russia—beer was a beverage!

Whether on the streets or at school, you could often see men and women, young and old, regardless of age or gender, carrying a bottle of beer and taking a swig every few steps...

Of course, quite a few people carried bottles of baijiu as well.

But decent people did not drink baijiu during working hours. Those who drank it in broad daylight were likewise looked down on by Russians and considered drunks!

The waiter soon brought over two small bottles of Corona. Their pale green bottles looked especially refreshing.

Without bothering with a glass, Wang Ye lifted the beer bottle and took a huge gulp.

Ruan Xiaozhu praised him from beside him. "Not bad. Here, a man ought to act like a man! By the way, why did you go to People's Friendship University? Why not come to Moscow University? Moscow University is so much better than People's Friendship University. It wins in every respect!"

Wang Ye smiled bitterly. "But Moscow University's tuition is much more expensive than People's Friendship University's..."

Ruan Xiaozhu seemed to understand and did not bring it up again.

She did not know much about Wang Ye's family circumstances, but they were probably not as well-off as her own.

For a family from a small county town, sending their child abroad to study was already no easy feat. How could they afford to be picky?

Dropping the subject, Ruan Xiaozhu began talking about other things.

"Over here, you can skip class, and you can work part-time, but there's one thing you absolutely have to pay attention to: learn Russian as quickly as possible! After all, everyone here speaks Russian. If your Russian is poor, you won't be able to get anywhere once you step outside. Even if you work part-time to make money, people with good Russian earn much more than those with poor Russian..."

She truly meant it from the bottom of her heart.

For university students back in China, a diploma might have been the biggest thing in the world, perhaps even the sole purpose of attending university.

But for international students, it might not have been quite so important...

Of course, honest students like Song Xiaogang and Liu Xiaojie would certainly study hard, strive to graduate smoothly, and get their diplomas.

But what use would a diploma be to a rich second-generation kid like Little Hu?

There were quite a few students here like Little Hu. They had not come to study in the first place.

Maybe they had come to lay the groundwork for their family businesses, or maybe they wanted to look for opportunities to start businesses of their own!

As for those who holed up in their dorm rooms all day playing games and never attended class, they were not worth discussing.

Ruan Xiaozhu was right. Whether you came here for a diploma or planned to start a business and open a company, Russian was a prerequisite!

Wang Ye nodded in agreement. Clearly, Ruan Xiaozhu had no idea what his Russian level was now...

He did not correct her and merely said sincerely, "You're right, Sis. But I seem to have quite a talent for Russian. Last year, the agency arranged a language class for us. I did pretty well, and I can basically communicate freely with Russians now."

Wang Ye was being very modest.

His language skills were obviously far beyond that.

Even so, Ruan Xiaozhu found it unbelievable.

Her eyes widened as she asked in surprise, "You could communicate freely after only half a year? I've been here for three years, and I'm considered pretty good at languages, but even now I wouldn't dare say I can casually chat with Russians. Are you misunderstanding what 'communicate freely' means?"

Wang Ye was helpless. Still, he felt awkward telling Ruan Xiaozhu the story about his grandfather having studied in Russia...

He could fool Russians, but Ruan Xiaozhu was a genuine fellow townsman. Their parents even knew each other, so he obviously could not spout nonsense in front of her.

He could only answer vaguely, "Maybe I'm just more gifted at Russian. I don't really know. Back then, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't learn English. But Russian just clicked as soon as I started learning it..."

As he spoke, he spread his hands in helplessness.

Ruan Xiaozhu was so irritated that she laughed instead. She pointed at Wang Ye. "You! You're getting a bargain and still acting innocent! Russian is universally recognized as difficult to learn, yet you picked it up right away. Is there any justice in the world?"

She was joking, of course.

After chatting for a while, Wang Ye casually said, "Well, Sis, after I got here, I met a friend who has connections for getting phone cards at pretty low prices. So I'm wholesaling phone cards now. I wanted to ask how students at Moscow University usually buy their phone cards."

Upon hearing that, Ruan Xiaozhu widened her eyes again and looked Wang Ye up and down several times, making his skin crawl a little.

Wang Ye waved a hand. "Hello? What is it?"

Only then did Ruan Xiaozhu click her tongue and say, "I couldn't tell! You're pretty sharp, kid. You just got to Moscow, and you're already doing business? There are a few students at our school selling phone cards, but they're all just doing it on a small scale. You jumped straight into wholesaling?"

Clearly, retail and wholesale were entirely different things.

Take phone cards, for example. As long as they wanted to, basically any Chinese international student could buy a larger batch of cards at wholesale price and then sell them slowly on their own.

It was not difficult.

But in reality, even though it was not difficult, very few people were willing to do it.

First, they might not think of it. Second, small-time dealings did not make much money and were hardly worth the effort.

As for someone like Wang Ye, who started out by investing several thousand dollars in wholesaling, that was truly not something ordinary students would think of or dare to do...

"When we buy phone cards, we usually have someone bring them back from the big market. Actually, there are students selling cards in both the main dormitory building and the district dormitories, but the cards they sell cost a little more than those from the big market..." Ruan Xiaozhu explained the situation at her school to Wang Ye.

It was more or less the same as at People's Friendship University.

Wang Ye had a clear idea now. He nodded and said, "Then could you help me find two students to be agents? Ideally, one in the main dormitory building and one in the district dormitories. It would be best if they were students from poorer families. Someone like you probably couldn't be bothered with this kind of work, haha."

But Ruan Xiaozhu shot him a dissatisfied glare and said stubbornly, "What's wrong with someone like me? Fine, leave the main dormitory building to me! I'll find someone for the district dormitories. As long as the phone cards are cheap, how hard could selling them be?"