Far away in Moscow

Chapter 17 Twenty Rubles
Hu Yi was taken aback for a moment, and obediently stood where he was.The short policeman hesitated for a moment, turned his head to look at the tall colleague next to him, and saw that he was looking at him with encouraging eyes, so he plucked up his courage and smiled shyly at Hu Yi: "Can you...give me twenty ruble?"

"What? What did you say?" Hu Yi blinked, thinking he had heard it wrong.The policeman in front of him looked young, with a clean-shaven square face, and a little childishness between his eyebrows and eyes. His stature of about 1.7 meters [-] was not too short, but it was still noticeable among tall Russians. Somewhat skinny.The big cap of the Russian policeman is extraordinarily wide, and wearing it on top of his head is even more incongruous and funny.

"I mean, could you please give me twenty rubles, I want to buy a bottle of beer." The short policeman repeated each word slowly.

Hu Yi still couldn't believe his ears. He had heard Yan Zhiwen say that the Russian police would ask foreigners for money, but he always thought it was just grabbing something and extorting bribes.Unexpectedly, at this time of broad daylight, the sky is bright, and on Arbat Street, which is bustling with tourists, a policeman will ask for money from him, and the request is so straightforward, so blatant, and so unreasonable.

Hu Yi grew up in a traditional family that attaches great importance to ideology and morality. Most of the elders in the family are revolutionary soldiers who are strict in self-discipline.Although he has become a bit carefree and cynical during the rebellious and restless adolescence these years, the indoctrination he received as a child has long been deeply imprinted in his heart.

Therefore, in his inexperienced mind, the police are worthy of trust and respect. They are supposed to be guardians of citizens who eliminate violence and bring peace to the poor;From childhood to adulthood, he was the only one who picked up money and handed it to the police uncle. He had never heard of a policeman who had the cheek to ask others for money.

The corner of Hu Yi's mouth twitched slightly, looking straight into the eyes of the short policeman, showing a disdainful smile.Although twenty rubles was indeed not much in his own opinion, this act of insulting the reputation of the police really made him feel very uncomfortable, very unhappy, and very contemptuous.

But this is a foreign country after all, maybe the customs here are different, or the police are not so conscious?And it's always a bit embarrassing to refuse others in person, Hu Yi put away his smile, pointed his finger at his ear with a cold face, and said deliberately stuttering: "I, no, I don't understand."

Li Baoqing hurriedly leaned into his ear: "I understand when he said he asked you to give him twenty rubles."

"I know. Are you Er?!" Hu Yi rolled his eyes at him angrily, walked around the policeman and walked on.

The short policeman refused to give up easily, and kept a distance of half a meter from Hu Yi in front of him with a smile on his face, slanting his body sideways while backing up and talking non-stop: "Friend, don't do this. I only need twenty Rubles, not much. You see, I just want a bottle of beer, I'm so thirsty..."

Hu Yi could barely understand these few sentences, and really didn't understand the rest.Seeing him pestering me like a dead-hearted salesman, feeling bored and helpless, I didn't know what to do for a while, so I stopped and said in English: "What are you talking about? I just came to Moscow not long ago. Don't understand Russian, OK?"

"OK, OK!" The policeman blinked, straightened his back and raised his breath for a while, trying to hold back a few English words: "I... um... you... Ruble..."

"What?" Hu Yi pretended to be at a loss and frowned.The policeman was a little embarrassed, and when he turned his face and saw a souvenir stall a few meters away, he stretched out his hand to signal Hu Yi to wait, and trotted over to whisper to the female stall owner.

The woman selling souvenirs was obviously familiar with the police, she giggled a few times, and shouted to Hu Yi from a distance in Russian tongue-rolling English: "He said, please give him twenty rubles to buy beer!"

Hu Yi didn't expect that he was so persistent that he would not hesitate to find someone to translate for twenty rubles, and he was not afraid of being laughed at by that woman.Now he can no longer pretend that he does not understand English, so he can only smile and spread his hands: "I have no money."

After understanding this sentence, the short policeman immediately showed disappointment, and tilted his head to the side angrily: "Cut, you. Oh, it's really not good." The tone sounded like he was complaining about Hu Yi's stinginess, and then It seemed that he was unwilling to ask for the money.

Hu Yi saw that the policeman had been begging for money in a humble manner, and at first his dislike for him disappeared a bit.Turning his head and looking behind him, he saw that Peng Song was still holding a magazine by the bookstall, his head was almost buried in it, and the owner of the bookstall rested his chin with his hands, with a helpless expression on his face.

Hu Yi showed a smirk, stretched his hand over the shoulder of the short policeman, and said in the direction of Peng Song, "Look, that fat man has money, if you ask him for it, he will definitely give it to you."

The short man glanced at him dubiously, hesitating and not moving.At this moment, Lu Tao quickly walked over from behind, and reached out to pat Hu Yi on the back: "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"It's okay, the police asked me for money to buy wine." Hu Yi smiled and briefly explained the situation just now.

Lu Tao squinted at the policeman: "Really? How much does he want?"

"Twenty rubles."

The short policeman couldn't understand what they were talking about, but observing his words, he guessed that Hu Yi hadn't said anything good, so he turned around and left.But Lu Tao stopped him, took out twenty rubles from his pocket and stuffed it into his hand.

The policeman grabbed the money and stood there stunned, peeking at Hu Yi, and then smiled at Lu Tao, looking a little embarrassed.Lu Tao stretched out his hand and patted his arm, and said lightly, "My friend, you are welcome. You have worked hard on duty, go drink some beer and take a break."

The short policeman was overjoyed, held Lu Tao's hand and thanked him repeatedly, then gave Hu Yi a grateful look, and trotted towards his tall partner.Hu Yi and Li Baoqing were quite surprised: "Brother Tao, what are you doing? Why did you give him money?"

Lu Tao watched the two policemen rush into the small shop on the side of the road, turned around and replied: "Russians have more or less the social traditions of the former Soviet era in their minds. Everyone is Davarish. It is very common to ask strangers for cigarettes and alcohol. Twenty rubles is the price of a bottle of beer, not much."

'Davarish' means 'comrade' in Russian.Hu Yi rolled his eyes: "It's really not much, and I don't feel sorry for the twenty rubles, it's just that this kind of behavior is not pleasing to the eye. I'm not their Davarish, and I can't get used to their stink."

Lu Tao smiled tolerantly: "These policemen are not greedy, but they are forced by life and need to earn some extra money. Seeing that he is not a few years older than you, he should be a young policeman who has just started working and has received his basic salary every month. It’s only about fifty dollars, which is really not enough.”

"Fifty dollars?!" Hu Yi and Li Baoqing said in surprise, "No way, that's less than 400 rubles... [-] yuan? Is it too little?"

Lu Tao nodded: "Moscow's wages and prices have not matched these years. Your preparatory Russian teacher's salary is lower than that of these little policemen, only [-] rubles per month."

"My God, nine hundred rubles." Li Baoqing looked at Hu Yi's forehead and murmured, "What is that money for? Get a haircut and buy a watermelon, and you'll be gone. How can you live?"

"It's really too little. Fortunately, the government will enforce the guarantee of the price of basic daily necessities such as bread and milk, and the residents' food and clothing will not be a problem, but your Russian teacher still has to teach part-time in several schools at the same time to live a relatively decent life. As for the police, Those with power can get gray income, and these small patrolmen have no choice but to fight the wind on the road."

Hearing these words, Hu Yi felt a little uncomfortable, feeling that his performance just now seemed a little stingy.Lu Tao saw what he was thinking, and chuckled: "You are right not to give him money. They are all poor students. How can they have spare money to help others? I never paid attention to them before, but now I earn some money by working part-time. , the money is not as tense as before, seeing that it is not easy for him to patrol in the cold weather, so I should treat him to a drink."

Hu Yi felt a little relieved. From a distance, he saw two policemen, one tall and one short, had walked out of the store, took off their big caps and stood at a high table outside the store door, sipping beer and enjoying a short break.

The short policeman looked this way, happened to meet Hu Yi's eyes, and waved the wine bottle in his hand with a busy smile.The afternoon sun shone directly on his face, causing him to narrow his eyes slightly, his bright smile looked simple and shy under the sun, just like a big boy who is still childish.

big boy?Hu Yi was taken aback, realizing that this was the first time he treated a policeman as his peers.Maybe it's because the other party is indeed too young, or maybe it's because he has grown up without knowing it.

He raised the corners of his mouth slightly at the short policeman, lowered his head, lit a cigarette, and listened thoughtfully to Lu Tao telling Li Baoqing about the novelty of the big market.The three of them stood in place and chatted without saying a word. When Yan Zhiwen led other people to gather together one after another, they gathered the team and continued to move forward.

After wandering around the city center until after four o'clock in the afternoon, the group started to walk back, and it was already dark when they got out of the subway.Everyone had a great time playing, and was exhausted, dragging the sparse team back to the dormitory one after another.

Li Baoqing's footsteps were heavy, and he fell at the end to face Hu Yi's weak complaint: "Oh my god, I'm cold and hungry, what should we eat when we go back?"

"I'm not hungry. I haven't digested what I ate at Arbat in the morning." Hu Yi said with a leisurely smile, "Who told you not to eat?"

"I wasn't hungry then." Li Baoqing muttered with a mournful face, "I'm hungry now, let's go downstairs and buy something to eat."

The two casually bought some instant noodles, eggs, and milk downstairs in the dormitory. As soon as they walked out of the store, they suddenly saw the thick windshield curtain at the gate of the dormitory lifted, and two men with bloody heads stumbled in.

(End of this chapter)