Simulation: Great Power Technology

srbija, Belgrade.

This is La Zirou's third month in srbija. She has gradually adapted to the life here. The comfortable temperate continental climate, rich river systems, and the beautiful natural scenery make her feel more and more like herself. A correct choice was made.

You must know that when she chose to come to srbija as a resident reporter three months ago, both her family members and her superiors persuaded her, consciously or unintentionally, to consider carefully, because the geographical location of this place and the The political environment is too special, and in the current environment, no one knows how long it will remain stable.

But out of some special feeling, she still decided to come here, not only to complete her work, but more importantly, she wanted to see the monument with her own eyes, to see this piece that was once soaked with the blood of her predecessors soil of.

Just today, after finishing all the work, the project at hand finally came to an end, so she finally found time to lay a bouquet of flowers in front of the monument.

When her fingers brushed the gilded text on the monument, she clearly felt a kind of echo, that echo has nothing to do with time and place, but a feeling that transcends time and space and is buried in the hearts of foreign workers like her .

This kind of feeling once drove the seniors to go all over the world at the most difficult time, to open up the road and establish its own influence for the nascent republic, but now, it has driven me to come here.

La Zirou sighed incomprehensibly, stood up again, and asked the waiting companion:

"Yuanyuan, have you come here to lay flowers before? Are there many Chinese people here?"

The companion named Fu Yuan next to her heard her words and replied:

"A lot. When it was just an ordinary iron plate, there were a lot of people, and the characters on it were blurred. That is to say, the marble gilded monument that you see now has been replaced recently."

"But to be honest, there are relatively few Chinese who are still in srbija recently, so naturally there are not many people coming. It's not that everyone is not coming -- basically, most of the people who come to Belgrade will still come. Take a look."

"And you can see that the flowers in this piece are updated almost every day. Throughout Belgrade, you can find places where flowers are laid every day, except for Tito's tomb, which is the Friendship Monument."

"Is that so...I think it's just the two of us, and I thought everyone forgot about it."

"How can I forget! Don't worry, today is not a weekend, there are fewer people, and you can still meet a lot of Chinese people when you come here on weekends. The first Chinese mutual aid group I joined here was the one in front of this monument. Big brother took me in."

"I rubbed a lot of food in the group. Later, when everyone returned to China, they were mobilized and contacted less. However, the avatar of our group is still a group photo of us here."

While speaking, Fu Yuan took out her mobile phone and opened WeChat, handed it to La Zirou and said:

"Hey, that's all, how about it? It's a good shot, right? I made this picture myself, hehe, I even made it a little more for myself."

La Zirou took the phone, looked at it for a few seconds, and replied with a smile:

"It's really good, and you can fix it for me when you go back."

"No problem! Well, it's time for us to have lunch. After lunch, I'll take you to Ada Island to play. I've been working hard recently, and I won't have anything to do in the next two weeks. You can rest well."

After speaking, Fu Yuan pulled La Zirou up and wiped her hands with a tissue before continuing:

"I'll take you to eat beef mixed with ajvar sauce in a while, but it's delicious. Then I'll serve it with fresh wheat bread and Mushaka, so you can't forget it once you eat it."

"I don't want to eat Musaka, I ate it last time, and it always smells weird..."

"That's because you haven't eaten authentic food, let's go, let's go, I'll take you to my favorite restaurant, and I will make you satisfied!"

Saying that, Fu Yuan took La Zirou's hand and walked across the street. The two walked along the European-style street for a while. After crossing the Seine River, they finally found a small cafe hidden in a hidden corner. He greeted the boss in a familiar way, and led La Zirou to the seat by the river.

"Grilled steak, tossed beef, mussaka, salad... What would you drink? Juice? Would you like to try their polenta?"

"...Wait, why is this polenta so expensive?"

Halfway through speaking, Fu Yuan's brows suddenly wrinkled.

On the menu in her hand, a small label had been affixed to the place where the price of polenta was originally marked, with the new price handwritten.

26 dinars for a bowl!

This price has quadrupled compared to two weeks ago, and the equivalent of the soft sister currency is close to 15 yuan.

Maybe this price is not expensive in the first-tier city restaurants in China, but srbija is a traditional food producer and exporter in Europe. The most important thing in the whole country is corn and wheat. Similarly, the price of related food is also extremely low.

Polenta is the most common food for residents of Belgrade. Although the method is slightly different, the cost is basically not much different. Even in a cafe with an extremely superior environment and location, it is a bit exaggerated to sell 26 dinars. .

Fu Yuan continued to look at the menu, and then she found something even more surprising to her.

The bread, which was originally provided for free with the steak, has to be charged separately.

The price of a piece of bread is 6 dinars. Although it is not expensive, it seems extremely abrupt to appear here.

Seeing Fu Yuan's puzzled expression, La Zirou asked:

"Yuanyuan, what's wrong? Isn't the price right?"

Fu Yuan shook her head gently and replied:

"This price is not just wrong, it's just outrageous.... Gajqi! Come here!"

The waiter in the distance heard Fu Yuan's call, and hurriedly put down the coffee pot in his hand and walked over, then said with a gentle smile:

"To serve you, forever beautiful Yuan."

Fu Yuan frowned, did not respond to the other's compliment, but asked directly:

"Gajitch, what's going on with your menu? Why is the price of polenta going up so much? Why is there a charge for bread?"

Hearing her question, Gajic sighed and replied:

"Yuan, you don't know, the price of flour and cornmeal in the market has risen too much recently. The price of corn flour we purchased yesterday morning has more than tripled, and the price of flour has more than tripled."

"I heard that it is because of the rise in international food prices, which is also something that can't be helped."

"Can't the cost go up, the price of the food we provide remains the same, right?"

Fu Yuan nodded slightly, and looked at La Zirou, both of them had worried expressions in their eyes.

In fact, as journalists, they have already heard about the news of the increase in international food prices, but as to the scope of this price increase, because it is not at the core of the decision-making level, in fact, they do not have a very clear judgment. Think of it as a normal, but larger swing.

But now, things have apparently changed.

Grain prices have also started to rise in srbija, one of Europe's largest granaries.

This is a terrible signal. If the previous increase in food prices was only due to the imbalance of food supply among various regions, the increase in prices in major grain-producing areas means that the world has entered a situation of insufficient food supply. .

After a moment of silence, Fu Yuan waved Jiaqi to wait first, and then said to La Zirou:

"I have a feeling that something is wrong, this price increase is a bit exaggerated, and to be honest, we didn't feel any signs of it before..."

"It stands to reason that with the grain reserves of srbija, even if the price is going to rise, it should be a slow process, and it is impossible to jump like it is now."

"Look, our representative office also purchased a large amount of reserve food last month, and the price at that time was almost the same as last year. Do you remember this? At that time, it seemed that you went to the market as a supervisor with the purchaser. come."

La Zirou nodded slightly and replied:

"I remember. The price of flour at the time seemed to be less than two dinars a kilo. What is the price now?"

"I don't know, we have to go to the market immediately. This is a new situation and we have to report to the embassy immediately."

Hearing her words, La Zirou immediately grabbed the backpack she put aside and planned to leave, but Fu Yuan quickly stopped her and said:

"Don't be in such a hurry, eat first! Just take a bite, we're not short of time!"

La Zirou hesitated for a moment, and finally sat down again.

There was a deep worry in her heart, which made her almost restless.

She recalled the materials she had read, subconsciously compared the situation she had found so far, and then came up with a preliminary guess in her heart:

Food prices will never rise in this way, especially in areas where supplies are plentiful.

And now, Belgrade has indeed seen such an anomalous situation.

Then there is only one answer.

Some forces are secretly manipulating food prices in this country.

That once evil opponent has made a comeback?