My hometown is far away in Moscow.

006 Not happy

Hu Yi followed his gaze and saw that the person in the distance was shorter than him, thin, but his body looked very strong. He had a round forehead and a pointed chin, with a head of short, spiky black hair standing on end. His high cheekbones almost touched his lower eyelids, and his small, narrow eyes revealed a fierce look.

"It doesn't seem like it. It could be someone from a minority group." Hu Yi sized up Li Baoqing. "Your appearance is similar. Hey? Are you Han Chinese?"

Li Baoqing retorted indignantly, "Come on, I'm not that ugly! Look at him, his eyes and nose are all squeezed together, like a steamed bun."

As the two were chatting and laughing, Yan Zhiwen jumped out of the car and greeted the man at the door loudly in Russian.

The man was intently playing basketball on the open ground, his movements simple yet highly skilled. Hearing Yan Zhiwen speak, he picked up the basketball and threw it over, shouting, "Not happy!"

Yan Zhiwen caught the racket a few times, walked over and tossed it back to him, chatted for a few more minutes, and then waved to Hu Yi and the others: "Come on, come in."

Dragging their luggage into the lobby on the first floor, Yan Zhiwen found a man who looked like a manager and said, "Take out your passports and wait for him to check you in."

The three looked around. The hall was dimly lit, the floor tiles were dirty and broken, and there was nothing around except a small shop and two card-operated public telephones.

Li Baoqing was deeply disappointed with the dilapidated dormitory building. He muttered a few complaints to himself, then leaned close to Yan Zhiwen and whispered, "Brother Yan, wasn't that guy at the door Chinese? I think I heard him say something in Chinese?"

"Chinese? Which sentence is in Chinese?"

Li Baoqing chuckled and scratched his head: "Hehe, I heard him say 'not happy,' what does that mean?"

"Not happy?" Yan Zhiwen was stunned for a while, then burst into laughter with his hands on his hips: "He said 'buloha,' which means 'bad' or 'not good' in Russian. Hey, not happy, you really know your stuff."

"Oh, right, right, we learned that in the training course before I came, but I forgot." Li Baoqing smiled sheepishly. "It's not funny, but it does go quite smoothly. His pronunciation is a bit strange, what country is he from?"

"His name is Bayin, he's Mongolian, and he arrived two months before you. This kid plays basketball really well, he's incredibly agile, like an eel." As Yan Zhiwen was speaking, the administrator came over and handed him three slips of paper, then patted him on the shoulder, said a few jokes, and turned to leave.

"These are your temporary access passes. Go to the school tomorrow to complete the formalities and then exchange them for official passes." Yan Zhiwen walked through the mechanical tripod turnstile in front of the elevator and turned around to help them carry their luggage inside.

"Why are the school dormitories so complicated? Moving things is such a hassle." Li Baoqing glanced disapprovingly at the uniformed young man sitting in the guard booth next to the turnstile, observing coldly. "Why is there a policeman sitting there too?"

"It's security guards." Yan Zhiwen pressed the elevator button and ran his hand through his hair. "Terrorist activities have been rampant in Moscow in recent years, so schools have upgraded their security measures."

"Terrorism?!" Just as Li Baoqing was still in shock, the button next to him suddenly clicked, and the elevator doors opened. The three of them then discovered that the buttons on the wall were actually wooden mechanical buttons that would press in and automatically pop out when the elevator arrived.

"This elevator is so outdated," Yu Feifei couldn't help but complain. The elevator car was small, and their luggage took up most of the space, so the four of them could only stand close to the elevator wall. After everyone was in place, the elevator doors didn't close for a long time.

"You're overweight. Your luggage is quite heavy." Yan Zhiwen leaned back forcefully, raised his right leg and braced it against the opposite wall, causing the elevator doors to creak shut. The elevator car then jolted violently and began to sway and ascend.

This blatant attempt to deceive the elevator left the other three completely dumbfounded. Li Baoqing said anxiously, "This...this elevator is shaking quite badly, won't it fall?"

Yan Zhiwen shook his head nonchalantly: "Don't worry, it sometimes gets stuck in mid-air, but it usually doesn't fall down. Oh, right, it did fall once a while ago, but the elevator was empty then, so nothing serious happened."

"Huh?! What the hell kind of lousy elevator is this?" Li Baoqing's legs went weak, and he instinctively leaned back. "Brother Yan, you just said that terrorist activities are rampant in Moscow? Is that true?"

"Of course! Why would I lie to you? Didn't you know before you came?"

"No, I've never heard anyone say that." Li Baoqing's expression changed.

"You guys still think Moscow is a good place?" Yan Zhiwen looked at him with schadenfreude. "In previous years, Russia was fighting with Chechnya, and a lot of terrorists came from there. They liked to set off bombs and stuff all the time."

"The Chechen Wars? That seems...it seems to be over, right?"

"That's right, it's over, but there are still some aftereffects." The button clicked again, and the elevator doors creaked open. The group hurriedly moved their luggage out and stood in the middle of the elevator lobby.

"Room 1302, Room A. You two go pack your things first, I'll come find you in a bit." Yan Zhiwen handed Hu Yi two sets of keys, then picked up Yu Feifei's suitcase: "You're in 1313, I'll take you there."

Maji Dormitory is a suite structure. Room 1302 is located at the end of the corridor, with the bathroom at the door. There is a bedroom on each side. The door to Room B on the left is closed, and it is unknown whether anyone lives there.

Hu Yi opened the door to Room A. It was a rectangular room, and although the floor and wallpaper were old, it was reasonably clean and tidy. The furnishings were simple: a writing desk, two chairs, and two single beds against the wall opposite the door, each with a small bedside table. There was also a sliding door leading to the kitchen. Overall, it looked much better than the eight-person dormitories that were common in Chinese universities at the time.

"Hey? This house is quite spacious, and not as dilapidated as the corridor outside. Not bad, not bad at all." Li Baoqing dragged his luggage into the bedroom, first opened the closet to take a closer look, then opened the window to look outside, nodded in satisfaction, then put down his suitcase and began rummaging through it.

When consulting about studying abroad, the agency repeatedly warned that Russia has a cold climate, extremely high prices, and a shortage of goods, meaning many things are unavailable even with money. Worried that their children would suffer abroad, the parents prepared ample supplies for them, from clothing for all seasons to bedding, from dried goods and seasonings to pots and pans—everything imaginable, filling their extra-large suitcases and carry-on bags to the brim.

That's why they chose to travel to Moscow by train, which is not only much cheaper than flying, but also has no restrictions on baggage weight.

Li Baoqing pulled out some slippers and put them on, stretching his sore feet. Turning his head, he saw Hu Yi fiddling with a bundle of thin hemp rope and couldn't help but ask in surprise, "Hey? What are you doing with that rope?"