Red Moscow.

Chapter 2698

A look of astonishment appeared on Xiao Ma's face: "Will anyone buy such a shabby helmet?"

"I don't think anyone will buy it." Sokov told the other party firmly: "I saw this helmet at least five years ago. Since it is still here, it proves that no one bought it at all."

"Are you sure this helmet is the one you saw five years ago?"

"Yes, I'm very sure." Sokov nodded his head with his hand and continued: "Look at the right side of the helmet, is there a bullet hole? I don't think the stall owner can find two helmets in the same place. A helmet with bullet holes in it.”

Xiao Ma looked at the helmet carefully, nodded and said, "Yes, there is indeed a bullet hole on the right side of the helmet. It seems that it is really the one you saw five years ago."

The two left the stall selling military uniforms and continued walking forward.

It was Xiao Ma's first time to come to a place like this. Everything he saw was strange and he had to stop and look at almost every stall. And Sokov came here countless times, so naturally he was not interested in many things.

When the two stopped in front of a stall selling medals, the stall owner sitting in the stall's eyes lit up, and then he stood up and asked in blunt Chinese: "Friends, what do you need? See if there is anything here. What you want.”

Hearing that the other party actually spoke Chinese, Xiao Ma was a little surprised and asked Sokov in a low voice: "Brother, how come they can speak Chinese?"

"It's normal. Most of the people who visit the flea market are Chinese, and they are the main force of consumption." Sokov explained to Xiao Ma: "Think about it, if you are in a foreign country and hear the language you are familiar with, , will there be a sense of intimacy?”

"Yes, it is indeed so."

“As long as they make you feel friendly, you will be more likely to consume, and maybe they will be able to sell you the goods on their stall at a high price.”

"Really?" Xiao Ma said in disbelief: "Are the prices of the things they sell really expensive?"

"Let me give you an example." Sokov said lightly: "This flea market is usually open on Wednesday and Sunday. But the people who come to the market on Wednesday are all manufacturers from nearby small cities, and they come here to sell their products. Matryoshka dolls. Because it is wholesale and retail, the sales price is only one-third of what it was on Sunday.”

"What, one-third?" Xiao Ma was shocked again: "Is the price difference so far apart?"

When the two were chatting, the stall owner couldn't hear what the two were talking about, so he could only be anxious, but he didn't dare to rush, for fear that the two gods of wealth would walk away.

After finally waiting for the two of them to come to an end, he asked cautiously: "What do you want to buy?"

Xiao Ma asked Sokov with some concern: "Brother, can the stall owner understand what we just said?"

"Don't worry, they don't understand what we are saying except for a few Chinese sentences to attract customers."

Xiao Ma nodded, picked up a red flag medal on the stall, and asked carefully: "How much does this cost?"

When the stall owner saw that Xiao Ma picked up the Red Flag Medal, his face showed joy, and he gestured and said: "This, 300."

Although Xiao Ma has not been in Moscow for a long time and his Russian is not good, he can still understand the price quoted by the other party: "300 rubles?"

"No, no, no," the stall owner waved his hands and said, "It's not 300 rubles, but 300 US dollars."

Sokov stared at the medal and easily recognized that it was not the real thing, but an old imitation. According to the current exchange rate of 1:60 US dollar to ruble, this small medal will cost 18,000 rubles. Let alone imitations, even if they are genuine, they cannot be sold for so much money.

"Brother," Xiao Ma held the medal in his hand and looked at it over and over again. When he had finished reading it, he raised his head and asked Sokov: "What do you think of the price?"

Sokov did not answer his question immediately, but turned to the stall owner and asked: "Where is the certificate of award for this medal?"

As a traveler who had been to the Great Patriotic War, Sokov himself had received several Orders of the Red Banner. Naturally, he knew that in addition to having a number on the back of each medal, there was also a certificate of honor, which stated that this medal To whom is the medal awarded?

Hearing Sokov's question, the stall owner's face was full of embarrassment: "I accidentally lost the award certificate."

"I'm sorry, we can't ask for it without a certificate of honor." Sokov took the medal from Xiaoma's hand, gently put it back on the stall, and nodded to the stall owner: "Sorry to cause you any trouble. ”

"Wait a minute, friend." The stall owner saw that the business that finally came to his door was so bad, and he said quickly: "You guys wait a moment, I will look for it to see if I can find it." After that, he got out from under the table of the stall. He took out a woven bag, opened it and started rummaging through it.

Xiao Ma couldn't understand the conversation between Sokov and the stall owner. When he saw him rummaging for something, he asked curiously: "Brother, what is he looking for?"

"The Order of the Red Banner is an unprecedented military award established in 1918. It is awarded to Soviet citizens who directly participated in the battle and fought bravely and bravely." While the stall owner was looking for something, Sokov gave Xiao Ma some common sense about the Order of the Red Banner. : “The medal is composed of two layers: white enamel as the background color, and inner and outer layers. Wearing a hammer and sickle made of gold, and two golden wheat flower spikes surrounding the red star. The outer background has the pattern of 'black hammer' and 'black sickle' crossed, a torch and a red flag. On the flag is engraved: 'All over the world' 'Proletarians, United', surrounded by two larger golden wheat spikes, with the abbreviation of the Soviet Union written at the bottom: CCCP."

After listening to Sokov's popular science, Xiao Ma's face was full of admiration: "Brother, you know so much."

After a pause, he asked again: "Do you think the price of 300 US dollars is expensive?"

"A total of more than 580,000 Orders of the Red Banner have been awarded, but no matter how you look at it, it doesn't look like one of the hundreds of thousands." Sokov said bluntly: "You will spend hundreds of dollars to buy a replica. Want to go back?"

"Ah, it turns out it's a fake." Xiao Ma now understood that if Sokov hadn't reminded him, he might have spent a huge sum of money to buy this worthless imitation. He quickly held Sokov's hand: "Brother, let's go."

Sokov nodded and was about to leave, but the stall owner took out an old photo album from his woven bag, which caught his attention.

He picked up the photo album and slowly flipped through it, discovering that it was filled with yellowed black and white photos. It started with a family photo, showing a chubby-looking young woman, a second lieutenant of about the same age, and three children, two boys and one girl. Scroll further down, and there are either pictures of three children or military officers.

Young officers start out as second lieutenants, but progress through the ranks to higher ranks. When the military rank worn on the collar insignia is replaced by the military rank on the shoulder insignia, he is already a captain.

When the photo album was almost finished, Sokov actually saw a photo that shocked him: it was a group photo of five or six people. At this time, the officer's epaulettes were wearing the rank of major. The man standing in the middle of the photo The person was himself, and the person standing to his left was actually Military Commissar Lunev. Seeing this kind of photo, the muscles on Sokov's face couldn't help but twitch violently. He never dreamed that he could actually see his own photo in an old photo album.

"Boss." In order to find out what happened, Sokov felt it was necessary to take the photo back and study it carefully. He raised the photo album in his hand and asked the boss as if nothing had happened: "How do you sell this photo album of yours?"

The boss stopped rummaging, looked at Sokov and said: "Friend, the photos in the album cost 200 rubles each, there are 76 photos in total, 15,200 rubles. I think you sincerely want to buy it, so just give me 15,000 rubles."

Although Sokov wanted to buy this photo album, he felt that the boss's offer was too expensive, so he shook his head and said, "I will give you 1,500 rubles at most."

"No, no," the stall owner shook his head like a rattle after hearing the price Sokov paid back: "Although you can bargain, you can't bargain so outrageously, just cutting off nine-tenths of the price. "

"Then I'd like to hear it. What's the minimum price you can sell it for?"

The stall owner thought for a while and then said: "If you want 14,000 rubles, take it."

Sokov shook his head, "2,000 rubles, if you don't sell it, I'll leave."

"No, no, the price you gave is too low, I can't sell it."

Sokov is also a businessman, so he naturally understands that if the other party finds out that he really wants to buy this photo album, he will definitely not lower the price easily. He put the album on the table, shook his head, and said, "Since you don't want to sell it, and I won't force it, forget it."

After saying that, he called Xiao Ma and left the stall together.

When the stall owner saw that the business that had finally come to him was about to fail, he couldn't help but feel anxious. He ran out of the stall and shouted to Sokov: "How about 12,000 rubles?"

Sokov stopped, turned to the stall owner and said, "2,500 rubles, this is the highest price I can pay."

"No, you can't sell it for 2,500 rubles." The stall owner continued: "If you really want it, then give me 10,000 rubles."

Sokov shook his head, turned around and walked away again.

The stall owner's photo album was originally left at home by his neighbor after he moved. He got it without spending a single ruble. At this moment, I heard that Sokov could only offer 2,500 rubles at most. After a brief thought, he finally gritted his teeth and stamped his foot: "2,500 is 2,500, I'll sell it to you."

Sokov returned to the booth, opened the photo album again and flipped through it, confirming that it was the one he just looked at, and then took out 2,500 rubles and handed it to the other party.

"Brother, why did you buy this photo album?" As the two continued walking forward, Xiao Ma asked with some confusion: "It's almost 50 US dollars."

"I just want to understand the life of ordinary people in Russia." Naturally, Sokov would not tell Xiao Ma that he saw himself in a photo in the album, but said perfunctorily: "And the album can be seen from Understand part of the situation.”

"Oh, so it's still like this." Xiao Ma nodded in understanding and asked, "Brother, where should we go next?"

The flea market is divided into upper and lower sides. The lower part is the place with the most tourists, while the people on the **** are much less. Sokov pointed towards the stairs not far away and said, "Let's go up there and have a look to see if we can buy any strange things."

The products on the **** are mainly oil paintings, copper tableware and silver candlesticks from various households. There are not many things to buy. Sokov brought the pony up, just to let him learn more. It seems that What's in Lao Maozi's flea market?

Climbing up the slope, Xiao Ma was immediately attracted by a row of oil paintings hanging on the wooden wall in front. These oil paintings depicted either forests, grasslands or villages, which were very consistent with the style of Russian oil paintings. Xiao Ma stood in front of an oil painting of a birch forest, looking at it over and over again, as if he had discovered some new world.

He looked at it for a long time, then turned around and asked Sokov, who was standing next to him: "Brother, do you think there are any world-famous paintings among these oil paintings?"

Sokov was amused by his words: "Why are you laughing? How can there be famous paintings in a place like this? If you want to see famous paintings, you can go to the Tretyakov Gallery, which is one of the most famous galleries in Moscow. There are countless paintings there. Thousands of world-famous paintings.”

"Apart from the place you mentioned, where else can I see famous oil paintings?"

"There are also the Russian State Museum, the Moscow Museum of Modern Art and the Moscow Museum of Natural History, all of which contain thousands of world-famous paintings." Sokov said, pointing to the oil paintings hanging on the wooden wall: "These are hot chickens."

"No, I think the painting is pretty good."

"Come closer and take a closer look." Sokov asked Xiao Ma to get closer to the oil painting, and pointed at the surface of the oil painting and said: "Except for a few uneven places, is the surface of your oil painting smooth in most places?"

Xiao Ma watched it carefully for a long time, then nodded slowly and said, "Yes, the surface in most places is indeed very smooth. What's the reason?"

"The reason is very simple." Sokov said: "Because the oil paintings in front of you are basically electronically sprayed, so that a large number of oil paintings can be mass-produced in a short time. In order to confuse people who want to buy paintings, they use oil paints Just apply the pen to certain areas, and the original spray painting will become a hand painting, and the price will increase by ten or twenty times. "

"Oh my God." Xiao Ma couldn't help being surprised after hearing this: "I originally wanted to buy one and take it home, but after hearing what you said, I didn't even dare to buy it."

"Just take a look at these paintings. There is no need to buy them." Sokov said to Xiao Ma: "A spray painting that sells for forty or fifty in China, and you spend a few thousand to buy it back here, that is not a complete advantage." What?”

"Brother, you know so much." Xiao Ma said happily: "Fortunately I followed you out today, otherwise I don't know how much money I would have spent."

"But there is a place in Moscow that specializes in selling oil paintings." Sokov continued: "You can buy good oil paintings there, even old oil paintings from more than a hundred years ago, but the procedures for taking them out of the country are a bit troublesome."

"What, you have to go through the formalities when bringing an oil painting back to China?"

"Of course." Sokov once helped others handle the procedures for exporting oil paintings, so he naturally understands the relevant procedures: "You must first take a photo of the oil painting, and then take the photo to the appraisal office of the Tretyakov Gallery for appraisal to confirm that you are ready Only if the oil painting you take out of the country is not a precious oil painting that is a Russian national treasure, they will issue a certificate that allows you to leave the country. After arriving at the customs, you have to give the certificate to the customs officers and let them check it carefully. Only after they confirm that it is correct can the oil painting be allowed. Outbound.”

After hearing Sokov's story, Xiao Ma couldn't help but retreat: "I really didn't expect that buying an oil painting and bringing it back home would require such cumbersome procedures. Forget it, I won't buy this oil painting."

(End of chapter)