Tong Xiaoqian felt her head aching at the sight of the densely packed crowd. Why couldn’t they just line up properly?
Standing there, she did not even need to move on her own; pushed and swept along by the crowd behind her, she was swallowed up and rolled right to the front of the information desk. Resistance was completely futile.
These people were simply too fanatical. It was just asking for information and signing up for a tour group, yet they were acting as if they were losing their minds. If they were actually going abroad, they would be even more frenzied.
She quickly inquired about the required documents and costs for joining an overseas tour group.
Apart from the lower price, it was no different from later generations.
By the time she squeezed her way back out, her hair was a mess and her clothes were crumpled, looking as though she had just emerged from a three-hundred-round battle in a cornfield.
Lei Yihong looked at her disheveled hair, feeling a slight urge to laugh, though a strange, indescribable feeling lingered in his heart.
Only when Tong Xiaoqian walked up to him did she catch her breath. “That squeezed the life out of me!”
Lei Yihong took a glance at her and immediately turned his eyes away. Tugged at his own collar, he reminded her, “Your clothes…”
Tong Xiaoqian looked down—damn it!
Two buttons on her floral shirt had been popped open in the crush. Fortunately, she was not wearing a bra inside, but a white tank top.
She hurriedly buttoned herself up.
Lei Yihong pointed to the recruitment notice posted on the wall behind them. “Do you speak Russian?”
Tong Xiaoqian nodded and looked up at the notice.
Requirements: Ages eighteen to thirty-five, any gender, Russian fluency required.
With the reform and opening-up, state-owned and private travel agencies were multiplying, but international travel agencies remained few and far between.
Ordinary citizens were still subject to many restrictions when traveling abroad. First, too few people had money; second, the procedures were difficult to process.
Long Province, being home to border port cities, was the first to establish international travel agencies. Moxi City was the very first to launch international tourism, starting in 1988.
The Laibin City International Travel Agency had just been established this past spring.
The current rise of border trade caused a sudden explosion in the number of people wanting to travel to Russia.
As a result, there were not enough tour guides to go around.
Back when relations with Russia were good, schools primarily taught Russian. But after the rift, everyone switched to English. Young people who knew Russian grew fewer and fewer.
Now that the ice had broken, everyone was scrambling again to snatch up talent fluent in Russian.
The only requirements on the job posting were Russian fluency and a good personal appearance.
Whether one had relevant tour guide experience was entirely secondary, and there were not even educational qualifications listed.
Yet the single requirement of speaking Russian alone could filter out ninety-nine percent of applicants.
Tong Xiaoqian was an International Economics major who knew four foreign languages: English, Russian, German, and Japanese. Among them, Russian and German were self-taught.
Lei Yihong had been at a higher starting line since childhood and spoke even more foreign languages.
Tong Xiaoqian looked at him. “I’ll go ask.”
If she could become a tour guide, things would be much more convenient.
Nowadays, tour guides at border ports engaged in buying and reselling goods on every trip abroad; none of them ever traveled back and forth empty-handed.
Wasn’t there a popular saying these days?
*Out of a billion people, nine hundred million resell, and the remaining hundred million are searching for goods.*
Ever since the crackdown on the illegal activities of *daoye*—the gray-market traders—began in the mid-to-late 1980s, many of them started shifting their operations internationally.
Some of them were driven to this out of sheer necessity for survival.
Currently, many state-owned enterprises were unable to pay wages, and quite a few workers were being laid off one after another. To survive, those people joined the ranks of traders too.
This was especially true in the three northeastern provinces, which had previously been known nationwide for having money, grain, and factories.
Large state-owned factories were particularly numerous there, but now, as these plants and mines suffered losses or went bankrupt, it proved disastrous for the workers.
Those near the mountains lived off the mountains, and those near the water lived off the water; living near a border port meant naturally depending on this unique geographic location to make a living.
Why were the two of them signing up for a tour group? Because obtaining a private passport was extremely difficult. It required an invitation letter sent from relatives overseas, and the materials needed were as thick as a book.
Neither of them had relatives abroad right now.
Going on official business was even more impossible, as that required an invitation letter from a foreign company.
For ordinary people, joining an international tour group was the best way to obtain a passport.
Tong Xiaoqian did not squeeze back into the crowd this time. Shouting over the noise, she asked, “Where do I apply for the tour guide position?”
A staff member inside raised his head and pointed to the office beside them. “Go in there and look for the manager!”
Compared to the service desk, the manager’s office was far quieter.
The two walked over and knocked on the door.
The manager was a middle-aged man in his early forties. Seeing the two of them, his attitude was somewhat indifferent. “Can I help you with something?”
Currently, international travel agencies were scarce, and people were rushing to travel to Russia, so there was no need for aggressive sales pitches.
“Are you hiring tour guides who speak Russian here?”
Hearing this, the manager’s eyes lit up, but after looking at their attire, his attitude cooled down again.
Tong Xiaoqian had changed her clothes, but she was still wearing a somewhat rustic pink floral shirt and loose blue pants.
City dwellers nowadays dressed very fashionably in T-shirts, jeans, and the like.
Lei Yihong was no different, wearing a white shirt and dark blue pants that did not fit quite right. At a glance, both looked like they were dressed for the countryside, hardly resembling educated people who knew Russian.
“You speak Russian? I’m not looking for someone who just knows a single ‘khorosho’ and claims to understand Russian. You must be able to translate and communicate fluently, as well as read Russian text.”
Tong Xiaoqian smiled. “No problem. You can give me a Russian book.”
The manager looked the two up and down, then picked up a newspaper from the desk.
It was an evening paper from Russia. Placing it on the desk, he pointed to a news item on it. “Read this out loud first, then translate it.”
Tong Xiaoqian picked up the newspaper and scanned the news item, then immediately began reading fluently.
The moment she opened her mouth, the manager was stunned. He sat up straight and listened attentively. He knew Russian as well; though he had not reached an interpreter level, normal communication was no issue for him.
It was a news report about the Russian Prime Minister visiting China.
After Tong Xiaoqian finished translating, she handed the newspaper to Lei Yihong. Lei Yihong casually found a short piece of news, read it, translated it, and placed the newspaper back on the desk.
The manager froze for a few seconds. Suddenly, he stood up, snatched the newspaper from the desk to examine it closely, and looked up at the two of them. “You really do speak Russian?”
He still had not fully processed it. Many people had come to apply over the past few days, all knowing that tour guiding was a high-paying job. More importantly, holding the status of a tour guide made obtaining visas extremely convenient, and train tickets were free.
Many were trying to fish in troubled waters. Some could not even handle basic communication, knowing only how to say “hello” or “sorry,” yet still attempted to apply.
Tong Xiaoqian glanced at the newspaper. “What do you think, Manager?”
They couldn’t possibly have known what he was going to test them on and studied in advance, right?
“Excellent, simply excellent! My surname is Cheng, here is my business card!”
The manager handed them a business card, which read: Cheng Junsheng, General Manager of Laibin City International Travel Agency.
“The probation salary is eighty yuan a month, with a daily allowance of three yuan whenever you lead a tour group. After becoming a full employee, the base salary is one hundred yuan, with a daily allowance of five yuan.”