On the way here, Joel and Sergey had already put their wands into their small pocket bags, and were not afraid of the strong men searching them.
"These are all U.S. dollars, there's no need to check, right?" Joel laid out the two bundles of U.S. dollars he had prepared.
"What's in this bag?" The strong man stared at the small black pocket bag found on Joel. They seemed to want to set a card on the small bag to deliberately embarrass Joel.
"Some scattered US dollars and pounds..." Joel glanced at the two of them and opened the bag in front of them. It was full of coins and small-denomination banknotes. The trick of the invisible stretching spell was on the inside of the bag, and only a wizard could open it.
.
Joel was very quick, taking out a few small-denomination bills from his bag, getting close to the strong men and stuffing the money into their hands.
"Buy some drinks for the brothers." Sergey lowered his voice.
The faces of the two strong men quickly changed from gloomy to clear, and they clenched the banknotes in their hands.
Now the ruble, the common currency, is plummeting. The price changes every day. Today, 10 rubles can buy a pound of beef. Five days later, 10 rubles can only buy a few meat floss bread. The ruble is obviously unable to maintain market price stability. The dollar is more valuable to many Soviet people.
Of value.
The strong man who collected the money did not stop the two of them, and Joel and Sergey successfully entered the two-story building.
As soon as he entered the house, the warm feeling dispelled all the chill from Joel's body. A strong fire was crackling in the fireplace, and his feet felt like stepping on the snow when he stepped on the embroidered carpet.
A group of people were gathering in the living room to discuss matters. As soon as outsiders entered, they immediately fell silent.
The man sitting in the middle raised his head and looked at Joel and Sergey, waved and said a lot of words that Joel couldn't understand.
"He let us pass." Sergey whispered in Joel's ear.
Joel walked smoothly and squarely to the sofa and sat down, while Sergey stood behind him and acted as an interpreter.
The leader here, Vasily Ivanovich, is a burly man with a beard, and the five people around him are his subordinates.
"Come to buy gold?" Sergey translated Ivanovich's words verbatim, "Tell me your price."
"$310/ounce." Joel's eyes passed over the crystal clear, unopened vodka on the coffee table in front of him, the clean and tidy sofa... and finally settled on Ivanovich's face.
Sergey translated these words, and the price aroused strong dissatisfaction among the bodyguards around him. Some of them had already rolled up their sleeves and were ready to step forward.
Ivanovich stopped his men with a single glance.
"310 U.S. dollars? This price is too low. The international gold price is close to 350 U.S. dollars. We have to deal with government officials in order to sell gold in the country..." The implication of Ivanovich's words is very obvious, more money must be added.
"$310 is our purchase price in the Soviet Union." Joel crossed his legs. He was not used to the long-lost adult body. "We also have to find ways to bribe the guards at the sentry. Otherwise, how would we get rid of this pile of stuff?"
Gold shipped out of the Soviet Union?”
Ivanovich thought for a while and then shook his head and rejected, "That's too low. The Ukrainians and Americans offered $330 per ounce. Your price is not competitive at all."
"Brother," he suddenly switched to half-baked English and patted Joel hard on the shoulder, "You came here to buy gold to make money, and we came here to have food and drink in the future. Now in the Soviet Union
The situation is very bad. I still have so many brothers who have to support their families. If the money is small, life will be difficult for everyone, are you right?"
Ivanovich's words seemed kind, but they were a bit threatening.
Sergey looked at Joel with a questioning look.
Joel crossed his legs and calmly said, "Let me reveal the bottom directly. The gold in your hands has not yet found an overseas buyer, right? Ukraine, the United States, and $330 are all fake."
Sergey was stunned on the spot and didn't know what to do. Joel winked at him and he just translated what he said.
The five subordinates behind Ivanovich shouted dissatisfiedly, obviously irritated by Joel's unkind words.
"What nonsense are you talking about..." Ivanovich became anxious.
"This is the village closest to Ukraine. According to common sense, it is also the place where international buyers give priority to purchasing, because there is only one exit checkpoint, which is very convenient for gold transportation." Joel looked at the several strong men in front of him with expressions unchanged.
"Judging from the size of you, you probably don't have much gold in your hands, but you still haven't sold all of it. It seems that you have encountered some difficulties."
Sergey's translation was word for word, and it fell into the ears of Ivanovich and others. Ivanovich's face turned red and white, as if he was hurt by Joel's words.
Before he could refute anything, Joel continued: "I also understand the difficulties you have in communicating back and forth to move gold. How about this, $320 per ounce?"
"...Let's discuss it." Ivanovich turned his head and whispered to his men.
Joel was leaning on the sofa in an extremely relaxed posture, seemingly not caring about their conversation, while Sergey marveled at Joel's ability to infer, and his observation of details far exceeded his imagination.
Two minutes later, Ivanovich turned around and said, "He said there was no problem." Sergey translated.
Joel's expression remained normal, and he felt relieved.
He took out two wads of U.S. dollars from his pocket and said, "We want a total of 20,800 knives here, which is exactly what we need to buy 65 ounces of gold. Where is the goods?"
With the hammer of repentance and the magic wand in hand, Joel is not afraid of Ivanovich's sudden betrayal.
Ivanovich winked at his men, and the two strong men went to the second floor.
After a while, Joel saw 65 ounces of gold placed on the coffee table, forming a pile of gold that dazzled people's eyes.
"This is a scale. If you are worried, you can measure the weight."
Sergey put the pile of gold on the scale and measured it correctly, 65 ounces, 2015 grams of gold.
Joel motioned to Sergey to put the gold into the bag, then stood up, "Then the deal is complete."
Ivanovich stretched out his hand, and they shook it and then parted.
"I'll take you out of the village." A smile appeared on Ivanovich's face, obviously very excited to complete the deal.
Joel didn't refuse, and the three of them left the house together.
It's just that the scene outside the house is a bit unexpected.
The villagers who were cleaning the ground disappeared, replaced by a group of people wearing traditional uniforms and holding firearms.
"Do you have anyone here named Vasily Ilyich Ivanovich?" One of them walked towards Joel.
Joel could feel Ivanovich's body suddenly stiffening next to him.