Becoming a Russian Oligarch After Rebirth
Chapter 104 Buying Expensive Things is Always Right_1

Chapter 104: Chapter 104 Buying Expensive Things is Always Right_1

In the supermarket, Angelina was about to push the shopping cart towards the food and beverage area when Wang Ye stopped her.

He nodded his chin towards a direction, hinting, "Let’s go that way first. You mentioned that your father likes to drink, didn’t you?"

Indeed, in Russia, it’s rare to find a man who doesn’t like to drink...

Angelina nodded, "Yes, he has a bit of it every night."

"Then let’s buy him some alcohol," Wang Ye suggested.

Angelina was somewhat surprised. Before she could ask why Wang Ye wanted to buy alcohol for her father, he pre-emptively explained, "In our country, it’s customary for a guy to bring gifts to the girl’s family when he visits her home for the first time. It’s a matter of etiquette."

He wasn’t bluffing. In China, if you dare to visit your girlfriend’s home without bringing a gift, you’d be in for a rough time...

Let’s not even start with being branded as "this clueless child".

The value of the gift depends on your financial situation. The girl’s parents might not demand much, but whether you brought a gift or not, that’s all about your attitude!

Angelina heard this and nodded understandingly, without adding any comments.

They headed towards the specialty wine area.

The supermarket’s wine area was quite large, you could find here almost all good brands available on the market.

When vodka is brought up, the first reaction of many Chinese people is "Absolute Vodka", assuming it’s a Russian brand.

But in fact, it’s not. Absolute Vodka is a Swedish brand that was later acquired by a French company.

However, Absolute Vodka is very common in Russia and its popularity is also high.

In addition, other popular vodka brands here include "Crown", "Morosha", "Red Label", "Standard" and so on.

Honestly, vodka is not expensive and its alcohol percentage is not high, only about 40%.

That is quite some difference when compared to domestic white wine in China, which can easily exceed fifty percent.

Looking at the dazzling array of vodkas on the shelf, Wang Ye was a bit overwhelmed. He didn’t like white wine, nor vodka, neither in this life nor his previous one.

So he didn’t know much about vodka.

He asked Angelina, "Which brand does your dad prefer?"

Angelina joked with a shrug, "He likes the cheap ones, the kind he can’t find in Moscow."

She was clearly joking. It was probably due to financial circumstances; he was reluctant to buy the expensive ones, so he ended up drinking the cheap vodkas from lesser-known brands.

However, the taste of these vodkas doesn’t vary too much. They’re all distilled alcohol with about forty degrees.

With that in mind, Wang Ye knew what to choose.

Pick the expensive ones, you can’t go wrong!

......

The arrangement of liquors on the shelves follows a pattern; from bottom to top, the price goes from low to high.

Wang Ye looked right at the topmost shelves. Here, all of the bottles were priced at four to five hundred Rubles or more, signifying that they are high-end vodkas.

He promptly took down a box of Crown Vodka and placed it in the shopping cart.

There were eight bottles in a case, each bottle having a full liter capacity!

In Russia, a lot of drinks are sold in one-liter or one-and-a-half-liter bottles.

The case of vodka Wang Ye lifted costs more than six hundred Rubles per bottle, making it five thousand Rubles for the entire case.

This took Angelina by surprise. She stood there, taken aback, before finally asking, "Are you crazy? Why are you buying so much vodka? We usually only buy one bottle."

The differences between China and Russia were once again highlighted here.

In China, when giving gifts, you generally give them in pairs, with the meaning of "good things come in pairs".

But in Russia, you can only give an odd number!

However, Wang Ye buying a case could still be considered a single item.

Wang Ye waved his hand dismissively, saying with a smile, "In our country, if you only bring a bottle of liquor, you’d be asked to leave. We always gift boxes of them."

Well, another cultural difference, Angelina had nothing to say in response...

Choosing a gift for Angelina’s dad was easy. If he likes to drink, then you just buy him alcohol. But choosing a gift for her mom was a bit of a headache.

Wang Ye didn’t know what a Russian old lady would like...

So, he consulted Angelina for her opinion.

Angelina thought it over a bit and said, "A box of chocolate would do. Here, if you don’t know what gift to bring to someone’s house, you bring flowers and chocolates; you can’t go wrong with that."

Wang Ye shook his head, chocolates?

This wasn’t some child’s trick; it seemed rather shabby!

He suddenly thought of something, asking, "Do your parents have a mobile phone?"

"Dad has one, Mum doesn’t." Angelina answered.

"That’s easy then. Let’s buy a mobile phone as a gift for her. It’ll make it easier for you to contact home in the future." Wang Ye suggested with a smile.

"No, we can’t! It’s too precious! Let’s not buy it." Angelina hastily waved her hands in negation.

But evidently, her objection held no merit.

After buying some snacks and drinks to eat on the road,

Wang took Angelina directly to the mobile phone shop they had visited before.

Even though Wang Ye was now wealthy, he didn’t waste money extravagantly. He didn’t choose an expensive phone, he just asked the salesperson to bring out two Nokia 3310s, just like the ones he and Angelina were using.

Wait a minute...

Why were there two of them!

Angelina spotted a problem.

"One for your mom and one for your aunt," Wang Ye explained it as if it was common sense.

He thought it was a good idea to solve the gift problem while not spending much money, and they would certainly like it.

"Nova’s still a child, she doesn’t need a mobile phone!" Angelina objected.

"Nova" was the name of Angelina’s younger sister.

She was just in Senior Three this year, and in Angelina’s eyes, she was still a brat.

Thinking back to when she and Wang Ye first met, she had already graduated from college and started working, but she hadn’t bought a mobile phone back then.

What does a high school student like Nova need a mobile phone for!

However, Wang Ye disagreed, "She’s about to go to college, and she’ll come to Moscow for her studies. Having a mobile phone will definitely be a lot more convenient. If she needs to contact us or her family, it’ll be simple."

This reasoning left Angelina without a retort.

If money wasn’t a problem, then buying a mobile phone shouldn’t be an issue.

Back then, mobile phones were purely for communication and didn’t have any entertainment functions...

The problem was, she felt that Wang Ye was spending too much money, and it was a bit difficult to accept.

It was well known that Wang Ye was wealthy now, Angelina knew this well.

She was Wang Ye’s girlfriend; if Wang Ye had bought her gifts, or if Wang Ye paid for their living expenses, that’s not a problem.

But if he spent too much money on her family, Angelina felt that it was not right...

Maybe this was just the difference in perceptions between Europeans and Chinese people.

......

However, in the end, seeing Wang Ye bring out his money to buy the phones anyway, Angelina did not continue to object.

She just reminded him, "I know you’re going to say that this is Chinese etiquette. Let it be this time, as it’s your first visit to my home. But don’t buy overly expensive gifts for my family in the future. Not only will I mind, but my family may also take issue with it."

Wang Ye was left speechless. Who wouldn’t like to receive gifts?