aircannonsinc Chapter 66 Unexpected
Chapter 66 Unexpected
Chapter 66 Unexpected
"Hey! Are you stupid? It's convenient for Chinese people to live together! Those foreigners all have their own customs and habits, it would be such a hassle to live together. Besides, could you stand their body odor?"
"That's true," Hu Yi said with some skepticism. "But the building manager of Building 10 seems like a decent guy."
Wang Shen said with great certainty, "Don't worry, it definitely won't be done properly without sending some gifts. You can try it if you don't believe me."
Hu Yi nodded silently and remained silent. Wang Shen said with a grin, "Well, I'll be going now?"
"If your daughter needs a gift, just let me know, and I'll contact the person for you!"
The next afternoon, Hu Yi returned to Building 10. The building manager started work at 5 PM, but Xiao Ma didn't arrive until almost 6 PM. Seeing Hu Yi waiting at the door, he frowned: "It's you again?"
"It's me," Hu Yi said with a sneer. "You asked me to come today."
"Oh, right." Little Ma opened the door and entered the room, limping towards the desk. "Have you chosen? Which room do you want to stay in?"
Hu Yi followed behind him, watching him take off his coat, hang it up, and sit down with difficulty in a chair before speaking, "Neither room is very good, I think—"
"Why is it bad? What's wrong with it?" Little Ma interrupted him gruffly, "The rooms here aren't good? Then go to another building." With that, he picked up a stack of documents on the table and started reading them by himself.
"No, no, it's not that the room is bad." Hu Yi recalled what Wang Shen had said last night, and a sense of unease welled up inside him.
The people living inside are—not ideal.
"Not ideal?" Little Ma tossed the documents back onto the table, leaned back in his chair, and looked up at him with a smile. "I see, Chinese people only like to live with other Chinese people, right?"
"No, not exactly." Hu Yi frantically searched his mind for the right words: "I just want to find a quiet place to live. Those rooms are too messy and will affect my studies."
"It will affect your studies?" Little Ma tilted his head, looked him up and down a few more times, and grinned, "I've worked in Building 10 for several years, and this is the first time I've heard a Chinese person worry about their studies."
Hu Yi raised an eyebrow slightly, making a helpless expression. Little Ma chuckled dryly, straightening his posture: "Sorry, I'm not saying all Chinese people have problems. Of course, there are some excellent Chinese students in Building 10, but many others just stay in their rooms drinking, playing cards, and playing computer games every day. I don't understand why they come to Moscow. Can't they do these things in China?"
Hu Yi had a general understanding of the dormitory situation at the Friendship University. He knew that government-sponsored international students and high-achieving students mostly lived in Buildings 1 and 2, while the students in the other buildings were of varying abilities. Building 10 had a relatively large number of Chinese students, mostly male students who liked to socialize, so it was inevitable that they would leave a bad impression on the administrators.
Young Ma, perhaps finding it rare to have a chance to vent his frustrations about Chinese students, went on and on: "Of course, people from other countries are like this too, Russians too. But it's especially bad with Chinese and Vietnamese people. A whole bunch of them get together every day, making a racket, as if they never have enough to say or drink. Can't they just stay quietly in their rooms and study?"
Hu Yi had spent his days like this during his time at Maji Preparatory School, but it was only after coming to Yuda University that he gradually changed his personality and began to prefer quiet. However, he still felt a little awkward hearing Xiao Ma say this, so he casually replied, "Chinese people like to be with their friends; friends are like family to them."
Little Ma placed his fingers interlaced on the table, looked up at him with interest, seemingly wanting to hear him continue. Hu Yi stared into his eyes, suddenly becoming slightly agitated: "Maxim, do you know? In China, a family, one child. They grow up without siblings, only able to grow up in loneliness. Loneliness, do you understand?"
"I think I understand." Little Ma wasn't really prepared for this topic. His eyes were a little blank as he nodded and muttered, "I don't have any brothers or sisters either."
"I'm glad you understand. For them, friends and classmates are like brothers and sisters. There are very few Chinese people in Moscow, and even fewer friends, so Chinese people prefer to get together with friends. This makes them feel safe and warm, like they are part of a family."
These words came out of his mouth without much thought, though they contained a lot of sophistry, but they also came from Hu Yi's heart to some extent. He said "they" but in his mind he was thinking of himself, Li Baoqing, Yu Feifei, Yan Zhiwen, Lu Tao, Xu Qiang, Zhou Dali, and even Peng Song. Weren't these people just like his own brothers and sisters?
"I know it's not good to be loud in the dorm." Hu Yi felt he had gone off on a tangent, so he chuckled awkwardly. "But I think it's probably because—they're having fun with their friends."
"Who isn't? Who isn't?" Little Ma's brows furrowed, and he suddenly picked up a cigarette from the table, put it in his mouth, and shrugged, saying, "But this is a student dormitory after all, not some kind of club."
After saying that, he lit a cigarette, took a puff, relaxed his brows, and smiled at Hu Yi: "Many Chinese people in this building can't even speak basic Russian. They need someone to translate for them when they come to my office. You just graduated from preparatory school and came to find a place by yourself, and you can even bargain. You're talking to me about friends and family, and your Russian pronunciation is quite fluent. Haha, that's rare, really rare."
Hu Yi was secretly pleased with himself. Just as he was about to say something modest, several students came to the door and knocked twice on the open door.
"Wait a minute!" Little Ma called out to them, reached for the accommodation registration book, quickly flipped through several pages, and pondered, "I have an empty room here, you can stay there, it'll definitely be quiet."
"An empty room?!" Hu Yi was overjoyed. "Great! Thank you so much!"
"You're welcome. My job is to help each student find a suitable room." Little Ma calmly filled out a check-in form, leaned on the table to stand up, walked to the wall, and took down a large brass tray covered with keys. "That's a triple room. We'll definitely need to arrange for other people to move in later. I'll try my best to choose quiet roommates for you. If they're not good, just let me know."
"No problem! Thank you very much!" Hu Yi didn't know what to say, and sincerely felt that this was the most understanding administrator he had ever met.
Little Ma took two keys from the copper tray and handed them to Hu Yi, resuming his usual slightly indifferent expression: "This room was previously occupied by Vietnamese people, so it might be a bit messy. Go and tidy it up first, and come back to complete the formalities and pay when you check in."
"Okay! I'll go right away!" Hu Yi couldn't help but bow slightly. "Thank you again!"