Far away in Moscow

Chapter 16
On Sunday morning, a group of new preparatory students, including Hu Yi, Li Baoqing, and Yu Feifei, gathered downstairs in the dormitory. They followed Yan Zhiwen and Lu Tao to the subway station like students on an autumn outing. Hu Yi’s new hairstyle came naturally. became the focus of everyone's topic.

"Look at you who have never seen the world, this hairstyle is worth three hundred rubles." Hu Yi looked up at the sky, mocking himself: "Which one of you has ever had such an expensive haircut?"

Yan Zhiwen patted the back of his head and laughed wildly: "You idiot, don't go to Lao Maozi's barber shop in the future. The expensive ones are deadly, and the ugly ones are ugly."

Hu Yi carefully tidied up the curtains on his forehead, and wondered, "Then, where do you usually go for a haircut?"

Lu Tao, who has never commented on Hu Yi's hairstyle, replied: "I usually get a haircut in a big market. You don't have to travel so far. The surrounding Chinese buildings, Vietnamese buildings, Korean buildings, as long as they are places where Asians live can be fine." A haircut can be done for a maximum of one hundred rubles, and the craftsmanship is very good, which is more in line with our hairstyle aesthetics."

"It's only a hundred rubles?" Hu Yi felt pain from yesterday's high consumption, and he smiled coyly: "My hairstyle is actually not bad, but you are just not used to it for the time being. After all, it's quite nice to cut your hair like this It takes a lot of work, and you get what you pay for.”

"Yes! Yes!" Everyone laughed: "Such an expensive haircut means you are an aristocrat! The hairstyle of an aristocrat is naturally different!"

While walking and chatting, they soon arrived at the subway station. Preparatory students occasionally take the subway to travel these days, but usually they only go to the nearby stations and rarely go to the city center.

Unlike the newly expanded stations around the city, most of the subway stations within the Moscow Ring Road were built in the decades before and after World War II. They not only undertake their own transportation functions, but also demonstrate the strong national power of the Soviet Republic to a large extent.Especially those hub sites, the interior is tall, spacious and magnificent, like a continuous underground palace, which is jaw-dropping.

Compared with the beautiful stations, most of Moscow's subway vehicles are very old. Although they run at a high speed, the noise is unbearable.When everyone first arrived in Moscow, they lamented that Russians like to read books when they take the subway. Later, they realized that chatting in a running car is definitely a laborious task, and reading a book is more comfortable.

Entering within the ring line, the flow of people at each station gradually increases.The complicated subway passage is like a maze. If Yan Zhiwen and Lu Tao were not leading the way, Hu Yi and others would have been confused.

When transferring trains, they noticed that there were more than a dozen young soldiers wearing military uniforms and belts on the platform, neatly lined up in two rows, very conspicuous. Each of them was carrying a small green military schoolbag. Two people in groups followed the passengers and boarded the carriages.

Peng Song blinked his eyes twice: "Huh? Is the Russian army so poor? All the soldiers take the subway together when they go out? Why do they get on the train separately?"

Yan Zhiwen turned his head to look, and replied casually: "Well, a bomb was found in the Green Line train a few days ago, so the anti-terrorism duty has been stepped up recently. Haven't you noticed that there are often policemen wandering around the subway station? These soldiers are probably It was temporarily transferred to the car for inspection."

"Bomb, bomb?" Peng Song's expression changed, and the people around him hurriedly looked around: "In the subway car?"

Yan Zhiwen seemed to enjoy seeing these new students startled, and he pretended to be nonchalant and replied casually: "Yeah, fortunately, it was discovered in time and there was no bombing. But it is said that radioactive substances were detected, and the whole green line is It was down for several hours."

The doors closed, the train shook and started slowly.Hu Yi stared anxiously at the two soldiers patrolling slowly in the car: "Did they get any clues? Could it be that a bomb was planted in this car?"

"No, if there is definite news, they will definitely stop and evacuate the passengers. These people should only come up for routine inspections, mainly to deter terrorists." Yan Zhiwen smiled mysteriously: "Do you know what is in the small bags on their backs? "

"I don't know." Several people shook their heads together.

Yan Zhiwen clasped his hands in front of his chest, raised his chin slightly: "Have you ever played CS?"

"Played." Several boys nodded together again.At that time, the computer game "Counter-Strike" had just begun to become popular all over the world. Hu Yi knew a little bit about it in China. After coming here, Russians were often seen fighting each other in the school Internet cafe. He also tried it a few times himself. The content of the game is fairly familiar.

The noise inside the car gradually became louder, and Yan Zhiwen yelled at the top of his voice: "What they put in their backpacks is the bomb disposal pliers used by the police in CS."

The freshmen looked at each other, feeling a little nervous involuntarily.Li Baoqing was even sweating from fright, and licked his lips tremblingly: "My mother, this is too suspenseful, if it really blows up, won't we all have to belch? I think it's better to take the subway less in the future. "

Lu Tao shouted lightly from the side: "Don't be so nervous, this kind of extreme situation will not happen frequently, as long as you are careful when taking the subway, generally there will be no problem."

"Be careful?!" Peng Song's expression twisted, and he hugged a guardrail beside him tightly: "This thing will explode if it says it will explode, so why be careful?"

Yan Zhiwen beckoned them to come to his side: "The characteristics of the terrorists are obvious: they mainly come from the Caucasus region, mostly middle-aged and elderly women, wearing black clothes and black headscarves, with empty eyes and a dull expression. It can be seen at a glance that they don't want to live." Yes, the Russians call them black widows. Most of those people live in the mountains, and the whole family was killed in the Chechen war. It is difficult for them to live on their own, so they simply come to Moscow to take revenge with the idea of ​​dying together. You will see this kind of people in the future Get as far away as possible!"

Several people tried to outline the image of the black widow in their minds, while looking around nervously at the passengers in the carriage.Hu Yi asked doubtfully, "Brother Yan, have you met him before?"

"It's common to see people dressed like this, but I've never met one with a bomb, otherwise, would you still see me?" Yan Zhiwen laughed and squeezed toward the door: "We're arriving soon, ready to get off. "

After all, it was a group of young people, walking from the oppressive and dark subway station to the sunny street, the tension just now was swept away immediately.Everyone was attracted by the majestic classical buildings and statues around them, and they raised their cameras one after another, chatting with each other and snapping snaps.

Unlike most of the snow-covered suburban scenery near Maji, the city center is bustling with traffic and bustling.

This is the most important tourist area in Moscow. The road is crowded with pedestrians of all skin colors. You can see patrolling police in groups of two everywhere. Everyone has a strong back and a capable look, with a police AK-74 on their shoulders. Assault rifles give tourists a full sense of security.

Yan Zhiwen and Lu Tao took them all the way along the Moskva River, visited the Kremlin with a large number of tourists, took a few photos in front of the Red Square Church and Lenin's Mausoleum, and strolled around the nearby State Department Store , and then walked towards Arbat Avenue in a mighty manner.

Hu Yi and the others have been nesting near the school since they entered school, until today they feel that they have really come to Moscow. They are excited to look here and there, and they are all very interested. They stop to take pictures when they see any rare things. .Yan Zhiwen was not a few years older than these freshmen, and he was also a child at heart. He led everyone around and had a great time playing.

Lu Tao seemed much calmer. He was not very interested in shopping. Except for stopping at a gun shop for a while, he just led the way dully, stopping from time to time to count the number of people and gather the team for fear that someone would get lost.

Arbat Avenue is a pedestrian street in the center of Moscow. It is not too long and not too wide, but it is a world-renowned tourist attraction.This is a street where tradition and fashion coexist harmoniously, and where commercial and artistic atmospheres are perfectly intertwined. There are many tourists throughout the year and it is very lively.There are shops, restaurants and bars on both sides of the street, and there are many simple stalls in the middle of the road, specializing in the sale of various art works and tourist souvenirs.

As soon as they walked into the street, Yu Feifei and several girls were attracted by the exquisite Russian ethnic ornaments on the street shops, and gathered around to choose one by one.Peng Song stood by the newsstand, holding a beautifully printed full-color magazine, and stared blankly at the young Russian girl in cool clothes.

Hu Yi didn't eat in the morning, and now he was very hungry. When he saw something new on the road, he couldn't help but want to buy it and try it.Just after eating a piece of pie, he saw someone selling Turkish barbecue in front of him, so he turned to greet Li Baoqing and said, "Come on, let's try that."

"I'm not hungry." Li Baoqing felt a little tired after walking around for a long time, and followed Hu Yi in a dispirited way: "Oh, I think that's the reason why Moscow is so beautiful and awesome. Look at that Red Square is much smaller than Tiananmen Square, even the bricks on the ground are uneven.”

"Indeed, it's too petty. It's not spectacular at all, and it's not worth seeing. But the surrounding statues and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier are not bad." Hu Yi took the Turkish barbecue and echoed.

"This Arbat Street is shabby enough, how big is it?" Li Baoqing opened his arms and gestured, "It's not as wide as the Jiefang Road at the gate of our community. There are practice stalls from the beginning to the end, and there are no new things in sight." Son, other than nesting dolls and cheap jewelry, it’s boring.”

Hu Yi pointed to the distance: "Go to the front and have a look. Brother Yan said that Pushkin's former residence is over there."

"Pushkin? It's boring. Our middle school Chinese teacher said that he was a fool. He wanted to fight others for a woman, but he was shot and killed."

Hu Yi laughed and stopped talking.The two strolled forward a few steps, and two policemen, one tall and one short, came to meet them.

"Passport." The young, short policeman stretched out his hand to them, his voice cold.

After the two arrived in Moscow, their passports were interrogated twice in three days. They were already familiar with the police's work procedures, so they took out their passports and student ID cards and handed them to them.

The two policemen rummaged through the papers and returned them to them.Just as Hu Yi was about to leave, the short policeman stretched out his hand again, stared at him expressionlessly and said, "Please wait a moment."

(End of this chapter)