Chapter 223 Two people living on the streets

At 7 o'clock in the morning, in the city of Moscow, downstairs of an unknown Khrushchev building.

Cedric tore the black bread in front of him into small pieces and soaked them in the borscht in front of him.

In the hope that this warm red color can soak the carbohydrates, which are as hard as bricks, into a little softer texture.

He was now in a standard Soviet-style residential area, with the square Khrushchev Building standing in front.

The exterior walls are painted with gray chalk, and look like reinforced concrete coffins.

There were not many pedestrians on the community roads in the early morning, and among the deserted shops, only this breakfast shop was open.

The owner is a retired veteran who once served in the Far East. He learned how to make borscht in the army, as well as steamed buns and fried dough sticks that are commonly eaten in the Eastern countries.

Drinking a bowl of hot and thick soup in the morning, paired with meaty and oily steamed buns and fried dough sticks, can be said to be a wonderful thing.

This was indeed the case a few months ago. The great Soviet Union collapsed, and the long-suppressed private capital forces began to flourish.

Various small private shops have sprung up, and people no longer have to queue up early in the morning to go to state-owned stores or canteens.

Enduring the waiters' sarcasm and roaring service, everyone believed that they had a better future.

Until time slowly passed, everything became bad, led by the boy gang headed by "Gaidar".

Shock therapy began to be implemented throughout Russia. Their starting point was very simple and full of the bold personality of the Slavs.

Simply put, those bigwigs believed that the Soviet economy had reached its end.

It’s all because of the planned economy. As long as the market economy is introduced, everything will be fine.

So they began to promote the privatization of state-owned enterprises on a large scale, and at the same time to compensate for the Soviet era.

For employees who own equity in state-owned enterprises, a financial certificate similar to equity bonds will be issued directly to them based on their equity.

The result was that these workers, who knew nothing about finance, were completely at a loss when looking at the financial coupons they were given.

However, due to the ulterior motives of some people, the value of these bonds depreciated rapidly, and along with it, there was a shortage of goods and soaring prices.

Everyone was anxious to cash in these bonds, and in just half a year, more than $1 trillion worth of Soviet state assets were cashed in.

In the end, it was sold for less than $80 billion, the entire working class went bankrupt, and the country's economy was paralyzed.

Even this shabby community stall was affected.

Whenever Cedric tried to sneak an extra spoonful of yogurt into his borscht, he would receive a death stare from the stall owner.

Helplessly, he could only lower his head and vigorously stir the thick soup in front of him, while enduring Carl opposite him.

His face was full of sarcasm, but he didn't seem to be resistant to today's breakfast and drank the bright red soup spoonful by spoonful.

The iron-hard rye bread seemed to suit his taste.

But the more this happened, the more guilty Cedric felt. The day before yesterday, they were still staying in the most luxurious hotel in Moscow.

I used to enjoy the service of a private restaurant, but now I can only eat at the roadside stalls in the community.

Eating the thick soup without any fillings and eating the hard rye bread.

"I'm sorry?" Cedric apologized softly in English.

"What did you say?" Carl deliberately turned his ear to the side and asked again as if he didn't hear clearly.

"What did you just say? If you are saying that someone took away the 1000 pounds of cash that he had saved with great difficulty just because I went to the front desk to pay the bill."

“Run to the state-owned bank across from the restaurant and convert it all into rubles at the current ‘official exchange rate’.”

"They didn't take into account that the official exchange rate, based on the black market price, was less than 1% of the real exchange rate."

"We now have less than 10 pounds worth of roubles and have to spend a whole day on the streets of Moscow."

"Then there's no need for me to accept your apology. After all, my time today belongs entirely to you, and I provide the most perfect company."

"But I also need to remind you, Mr. Cedric Diggory, that this service will end in 23 hours."

"What are your plans? Let us use the little money you have. The activity will end tonight. At the same time, give a little reminder."

"Today's actual exchange rate is about 20% lower than yesterday."

"what???"

Cedric lost his grip on the spoon when he heard the bad news, and it fell directly into the thick soup in front of him.

The scarlet soup splashed all over his face, making his already depressed face look even more miserable.

Until a hand used a brown scarf to carefully wipe the soup off his face.

"According to our agreement, today's schedule was to go somewhere and do something."

"It should be your decision. After all, you are the one who spends the money. But in this situation, I guess we will have to wait until after breakfast."

"The little money you have may not be enough to support the two of us until the end of the day, even if we are just buying drinking water."

"I am a very principled person. It is impossible for me to spend a penny today to improve our lives."

"So please make a decision as soon as possible and find a way to keep us alive first."

Carl said calmly as he gently wiped the soup off Cedric's face.

Cedric was quite happy with Carl's service at first, but then he heard what the other party said next.

He immediately became embarrassed again. His anxiety made him scratch his head and face, and his appearance made the stall owner next to him think he was crazy.

Can drinking borscht drive people crazy?

At the end of breakfast, Carl took out a newspaper from his pocket and handed it to Cedric.

Pointing to the recruitment advertisement in the corner.

"Under the current situation, we can only do temporary work to see if we can get three meals a day."

"As for sightseeing and the like, let's think about it after we're full."

"Of course, all this requires your decision. You are the protagonist today. Please make the decision, Mr. Diggory."

Cedric's eyes lit up instantly, and he began to nervously look for a suitable target among the pile of job advertisements.

Finally, he pointed to a job advertisement at the bottom.

"We're going here."

"The cafeteria of Moscow State University?" Karl said puzzledly, looking at the recruitment advertisement.

"Yes, that's right." Cedric immediately analyzed, "It's the university cafeteria. There will be no problem helping with three meals a day."

"And I'm sure I'll be able to eat enough. More importantly, Moscow State University is one of the famous attractions in Moscow."

"After work, we were able to look around the university, which also fulfilled our travel goals for today."

"You are really a smart kid." Carl stroked Cedric's big head and praised him enthusiastically.

But he changed the subject and spoke again with a stern face.

"But it would be better if we could regain some of our IQ before exchanging the currency."

After the verbal sarcasm, the two finished their breakfast and left the stall quickly, their speed comparable to a 100-meter race.

The reason why I ran so fast was to run before the breakfast owner could count the money he had earned.

After all, the 10 pounds exchanged for rubles yesterday seemed to be not enough for a breakfast.