Starting a Company

If Wang Ye had really just arrived in Moscow and wasn't familiar with the place, he might have had a major headache.

A thousand dollars a month wasn't easy money. There was a lot to worry about...

But while he had ostensibly just arrived in Moscow, he had actually already lived here for seven or eight years!

He was extremely familiar with Moscow.

So, after Little Hu explained what he wanted in an office location, Wang Ye did not hesitate at all and directly recommended the Alpha Hotel!

The hotel stood right by the exit of Izmailovo Metro Station, on the only route from the station to the major market.

At the same time, it was the tallest building near the major market and the most upscale hotel in the area.

The building was around thirty stories tall. Its bottom five floors formed a podium packed with high-end restaurants, bars, and nightclubs.

Most of the second through fifth floors were office spaces for various companies.

There were currency exchange companies, logistics and customs clearance companies, as well as Moscow offices and branches of foreign companies.

The companies that could afford to operate here all had some real strength, after all. The rent was far from cheap...

Since Little Hu's family had the means and intended to make a big splash in Moscow, and didn't mind spending a little more on rent, Wang Ye did not hold back either and recommended this hotel to him.

Sure enough, after hearing Wang Ye's description, Little Hu was tempted.

It was right next to the major market, at the metro exit, high-end, and surrounded by customs clearance, logistics, and currency exchange companies...

It was simply perfect!

If they opened their company here, it would be equivalent to telling countless potential clients that their company had real strength!

Don't underestimate that. For a company building a brand, it was extremely important.

It wasn't just products that needed packaging. People needed packaging, and companies did too...

The next day, Wednesday, Wang Ye got up early.

After breakfast, he did not go to class with Song Xiaogang and the others. Instead, he waited in his room for Little Hu to arrive.

They had agreed the previous day to inspect the Alpha Hotel today. If it was suitable, they would ask about rent and related matters.

Wang Ye was actually a little puzzled. Little Hu's family was really bold. Were they truly leaving the final decision on something like this entirely to Little Hu?

Didn't they need to fly over and inspect the place themselves?

But that was someone else's family business. Maybe Little Hu's parents trusted him a great deal, or perhaps they wanted to train him.

So Wang Ye couldn't be bothered to concern himself with it. As long as he did what he was supposed to do and earned his two thousand dollars with a clear conscience, that was enough...

Before long, Little Hu arrived.

"Let's go, Brother Ye. We'll take a taxi straight to the hotel. It'll be safer that way. Oh, didn't you say there are companies over there that handle business registration too? We can register the company while we're at it."

The moment he entered, Little Hu spoke excitedly.

Little Hu was short and slightly chubby, with somewhat curly hair. He looked like a harmless little fat guy.

If you didn't know him, you would never have guessed that he was a genuine second-generation rich kid.

Wang Ye nodded, put on his coat, picked up his phone and wallet, then locked the door and headed downstairs with Little Hu.

They reached the roadside, hailed a car, and headed straight for the Alpha Hotel near the major market.

Taking a taxi there from the school wasn't cheap. The black-haired driver demanded five hundred rubles and wouldn't negotiate.

Still, the price was reasonable. The drive took a little over an hour, so it really wasn't close.

An hour's journey in Moscow was completely different from an hour's journey in a first-tier city back in China!

As everyone knew, Russia was absurdly vast, and Moscow was the same—an absolute case of too much land and too few people.

Even within Moscow proper, there were hardly any pedestrians on the streets, not many cars either, and certainly no traffic light every few steps.

The cars on the road all sped along...

Even this black-haired driver's beat-up Lada could hit a hundred kilometers per hour. Wang Ye was a little worried the car would fall apart while it was running...

"Black-haired drivers" was the collective term people here used for those with black hair who came from the various "-stan" countries.

Moscow was also the largest city in all of Eastern Europe, so there were especially many black-haired migrants who came here to make a living.

But they could generally only do dirty, exhausting work, or jobs that locals in Russia were unwilling to do.

For example, hauling goods at the major market, construction work, driving illegal taxis, and so on.

Though they were all called "Russians," ethnic Russians like Angelina looked down on black-haired migrants somewhat from the bottom of their hearts...

After all, most black-haired migrants were poorly educated, crude in both speech and conduct, and often did things like petty theft.

The police here took especially good "care" of them too. Whenever they saw one, they would usually stop him for questioning.

"By the way, Little Hu, how large are you planning to make this branch? When we discuss office space later, how much area will you need?"

With nothing else to do in the car, Wang Ye started chatting with Little Hu.

It was better to get certain things straight first, so he would know what to expect and be able to negotiate more easily later.

After thinking for a moment, Little Hu replied, "As large as possible. It won't just be office space—we'll also need a showroom. Around three hundred square meters. Oh, and we'll need to rent a warehouse too. It can't be inside the major market; it isn't safe there. Since we're setting up a legitimate company, all our goods will go through proper customs clearance. We don't want them mixed in with the goods cleared through the major market's gray channels. That could easily cause trouble."

Wang Ye glanced at Little Hu in surprise. He had not expected that after only half a year in Moscow, this guy already understood those ins and outs fairly well.

He was clearly someone who paid attention...

Besides, three hundred square meters just for offices and a showroom was no small company!

Renting that much space in the Alpha Hotel would probably cost around twenty-five thousand dollars a month, roughly eighty dollars per square meter per month!

Wang Ye knew the rental rates there. When he was a sophomore in college in his previous life, he had worked part-time for a Chinese company that rented office space in the Alpha Hotel.

The company manager had once talked to him about such things.

"For a place that large, the monthly rent might be twenty or thirty thousand dollars. You should be mentally prepared," Wang Ye reminded him.

Little Hu did not care at all. He merely smiled and nodded. "Yeah. Since we're planning to start a company, we've already factored in those expenses. It won't be a problem."

As they chatted, the black-haired driver cut in. "We're here!"

Looking up through the car window, they saw the towering Alpha Hotel standing right before them.

Little Hu paid the fare, and the two got out together.

Standing in front of the hotel, Little Hu tilted his head back to look at the magnificent, towering building and felt that Wang Ye really had a gift for picking locations!

This place was perfect for starting a company!