Far away in Moscow

Chapter 8

After packing up his things, Hu Yi went to take a shower first.After being bored on the train for a whole week, he could almost smell a faint sour smell from his body.After a while of vigorous rubbing, soaped twice, rinsed twice, then reluctantly walked out of the bathroom, and waved to Li Baoqing: "It's your turn, I'll go downstairs and make a call."

Sitting on the rickety elevator to the first floor, Hu Yi felt unprecedented ease and freedom.Probably because he is far away from home, so he is extra free.He called his parents, then walked out of the dormitory building and walked along a small path next to him.

The path leads to a large forest behind the dormitory, and occasionally you can see a few dilapidated two-story buildings on the side of the road, which seem to have been abandoned for a long time.At this time in Moscow, it was the end of autumn and the beginning of winter, the sun was about to set, and there was silence all around, and there was a deep sense of bleakness as far as the eye could see, only the rustling sound of feet stepping on the withered yellow leaves all over the ground could be heard.

A middle-aged woman in a headscarf passed by, holding a large bag of food in her arms.The woman walked in a hurry, staring straight ahead with blank eyes, with a tired and peaceful expression, giving people a feeling of almost numbness, as if she was forced to enjoy the peace brought about by the pressure of life.This is the helplessness and bewilderment left behind by their generation after experiencing social turmoil and change, but the young Hu Yi can't understand it at all.

After walking outside for half an hour, the sky gradually darkened.When Hu Yi returned to the dormitory, he happened to run into Li Baoqing who had just finished making a phone call in the lobby on the first floor.

"Where did you go?" Li Baoqing stared at Hu Yi: "Didn't Brother Yan just tell us to go out as little as possible?"

"I just went shopping nearby, but I didn't go far." Hu Yi looked at the plastic bag in his hand: "What did you buy?"

Li Baoqing pointed at the small shop next to him: "Instant noodles and eggs, let's have this for dinner."

"Eat instant noodles on the train for a week, and you won't be bothered by it."

"Master Kong's beef noodles really vomited, try another Russian instant noodles."

The two chatted and walked to the turnstile. The guard in the sentry box knocked on the window and motioned them to show their IDs.Hu Yi took out a temporary pass and handed it over. The guard took a look at it, first frowned, then twitched the corners of his mouth, and waved his hand for him to pass with a half-smile.

"Is there something wrong with this kid? What a joke." Hu Yi murmured displeasedly, holding up the pass and looking at it for a long time without knowing it, but there was not a single word he could understand.

"Yeah, isn't it great to sit in a glass cage? Just say it if you have something to say, what are you pretending to do!" Li Baoqing also felt that the guard's behavior was very impolite.

Hu Yi shook his head: "Forget it, anyway, we can't understand him when he speaks Russian." The two returned to the dormitory inexplicably, feeling a little hungry.Hu Yi dug out the tableware, pickled mustard, and ham sausage, and Li Baoqing walked into the kitchen with a large frying pan he had carried back from China.

The dormitory kitchen uses an electric stove, which heats up slowly.Li Baoqing waited patiently for the water to boil, opened four packs of instant noodles and threw them into the pot, after a while, sprinkled with seasoning, tore a few pieces of seaweed, put in two eggs, and the aroma immediately dissipated.

"Hey! Isn't this taste the same as the Sanxian Yimian that I ate when I was a child?" Hu Yi yelled in the bedroom.

"Yes, that's the taste! I haven't eaten for a long time." Li Baoqing swallowed, turned around and threw the instant noodle packaging bag into the dustpan, and suddenly found that the sliding door from the kitchen to Room B on the opposite side was opened a crack, and there was a thief. His black eyes were staring at him through the crack of the door.

"Who?!" Li Baoqing was startled.

The door was opened with a "wow", and a round, fat man rushed in, staring at Li Baoqing with joy on his face: "Are you... Chinese?"

The little fat man was not tall, with round eyes and thick lips, his facial features were so-so, but his expression was dull, his sticky hair covered his neck and ears, his face was shiny and greasy, and he looked very sloppy.

Li Baoqing nodded: "Yes."

"Great! It can be regarded as seeing a loved one!" The little fat man's voice trembled slightly.

Seeing that he was emotional, Li Baoqing smiled friendly and said, "My name is Li Baoqing, and the other one is Hu Yi. We just arrived this afternoon."

The little fat man gave an absent-minded "Yeah", squeezed from beside Li Baoqing to the front of the stove, put his face to the side of the pot and sniffed vigorously: "Hey! Where are the noodles? What noodles are so delicious! And... and eggs? !"

"The instant noodles I bought at the canteen downstairs are three rubles a pack, which is less than one yuan in RMB." Li Baoqing saw that his eyes were shining, and pointed at the pot: "Why don't you come and eat some together?"

"Okay!" The little fat man swallowed, turned around and went back to the room to bring a large sea bowl, and grinned at Li Baoqing: "Hehe, then I... I'm not welcome!"

"You're welcome, there's a big pot, you can fill it yourself."

"Hey! Good!" The little fat man scooped up a few chopsticks. Seeing that the noodles in the pot were almost bottomed out, he took some back in embarrassment: "Do you have a spoon? I'll scoop up some soup."

Li Baoqing went back to the house to get a spoon, and returned to the kitchen with a ham sausage: "Here, here is this for you."

"Golden gong ham sausage?!" The little fat man snatched it away and held it tightly in his hand: "Hey, hey, I'm sorry!"

"You're welcome, let's eat." Li Baoqing smiled lightly, pointing to the poached eggs in the pot: "Here's an egg."

The little fat man seemed to have been waiting for this sentence a long time ago, picked up an egg with a spoon, held a bowl full of noodles and ham sausage, and licked his lips: "Then, I'll eat it."

Li Baoqing put the remaining noodles and eggs in the pot into a bowl, and brought them to Hu Yi when he returned to the house, and then cooked another portion himself.

"Has the kid next door not eaten for three days? Why are you so useless?" Hu Yi had been listening to their conversation in the bedroom, obviously disdainful of the little fat man.

"Who knows. Looking at the fat head and big ears, it doesn't look like a lack of mouth."

Both of them were so hungry that they wolfed down the noodles, then packed up the dishes and sat on the chairs.

"Cool." Hu Yi rubbed his stomach and lit a cigarette, picked up the latest issue of "Popular Software" that he bought before going abroad, and flipped through it.

"I'm not happy at all." Li Baoqing sighed: "I eat instant noodles every day this Sunday, and I want to eat my mother's cooking."

Hu Yi didn't raise his head: "That's simple, let's go shopping around after school tomorrow, buy some food and improve it by ourselves."

Li Baoqing looked at Hu Yi: "Can you cook?"

"Try it, it shouldn't be difficult." Hu Yi was stunned, and said with a smirk: "If it doesn't work, I can let Yu Feifei do it."

Li Baoqing smirked and stood up: "By the way, let's go and see Feifei."

Just as Hu Yi was about to agree, the kitchen door was opened.The little fat man next door wiped his mouth and burped and walked in: "It's delicious, you really know how to cook."

Li Baoqing smiled honestly: "Instant noodles, anyone who makes them will taste the same."

"That's not the same, your cooking is very delicious." The little fat man praised a few words, glanced at the big box standing beside his bed, and said in surprise: "Huh? Your box is really big enough, you won't be overweight on the plane ?"

"We came by train, not overweight."

"Oh? Didn't take the plane? It's okay, the train ticket is cheap, it's more suitable for ordinary people."

Li Baoqing was choked for a long time without saying a word, seeing his sincere expression, it didn't look like he was trying to ridicule himself, so he had to laugh twice.

The little fat man reached out and picked up the half pack of cigarettes that had been opened on the table, shook his head and said with emotion: "Honghe? Dude, we've all gone abroad, let's buy some good cigarettes. Marlboro here is only [-] yuan per pack."

"This cigarette is smoked by us ordinary people. If you don't like it, don't smoke it." Hu Yi was very upset when he heard what the little fat man said just now, and saw that he smoked his own cigarette without asking, and he was actually picky. He secretly held his breath, and said coldly.When he was in high school, he squeezed money out of his teeth to buy cigarettes. Usually he could only smoke two yuan a box of Big Chicken and Hardman. Before going abroad, he gritted his teeth and bought two Red Rivers and brought them to Moscow. He thought it was very face-saving. I didn't expect to be ridiculed on the first day when I got off the train.

"I don't smoke, I won't." Hearing Hu Yi's bad tone, the little fat man hurriedly smiled apologetically, "Honghe is actually... pretty good, very good. Definitely a good smoke, a good smoke."

"What are you talking about without smoking?" Hu Yi squinted at him angrily, and asked with a frown, "Who are you?"

(End of this chapter)