socalfunplaces 042 A New Life
042 A New Life
Zhou Dali tilted his head and pondered for a moment: "I've dealt with Sixth Brother a few times, and I feel that he's a reasonable person who treats others quite well. Many Chinese students ask him for help when they encounter difficulties, and he always helps if he can—of course, not for free. Besides, a study abroad agency definitely needs to make money, so it's inevitable that some people complain about his high fees and grumble behind his back."
"So that Wang Shen has powerful backers." Li Baoqing nervously touched his face. "He suffered a minor setback today; will he send someone to cause trouble and retaliate?"
Zhou Dali smiled sheepishly: "Don't worry, that kid has a bad temper and is very concerned about his image. He's always arguing and glaring at people, but it's all just bluster. I've never seen him cause any real trouble. Besides, with Sixth Brother keeping an eye on him, he wouldn't dare to do anything reckless."
"That's good, that's good." Li Baoqing breathed a slight sigh of relief: "We just want to study diligently and avoid causing any trouble."
On the first day of school, Hu Yi waited at the classroom door early. When he saw the teacher, he took the initiative to greet him: "Hello, teacher, I am your student."
"Oh? Good morning, who are you?" The teacher was a plump, fair-skinned, blonde middle-aged woman, and a faint, pungent body odor emanated from her thin coat.
"My name is Hu Yi." Hu Yi held his breath. "I know this name isn't very good, so please call me Anton from now on."
"Oh ho ho ha ha ha ha!" The fat teacher's laughter was carefree and wild: "I understand, I understand! Come on, Anton, we're going to start class!" Hu Yi was sprayed with spittle, and with an embarrassed smile, he followed behind the teacher, secretly wiped his face, and walked into the classroom.
The classroom situation was similar to Maji's; a small room was crammed with more than ten men and women of different skin colors. The plump teacher strode up to the podium, opened his mouth wide, and laughed loudly, "Is everyone here? Hello everyone, it's very hot today, isn't it? 'Hot,' do you understand?"
"Understood." The students nodded in unison.
"Very good, excellent! Please introduce yourselves first." The chubby teacher took off his coat, walked excitedly to Hu Yi, leaned forward slightly with his hands on the table, and grinned from ear to ear: "Let's start with this gentleman, please."
Another spittle flew at him. Hu Yi pursed his lips tightly, smiled, and stood up to speak when the fat teacher suddenly raised his arm and fanned himself twice.
She was wearing a sleeveless shirt, and the moment her armpits opened, a strong stench of body odor wafted out, assaulting Hu Yi's nostrils. Hu Yi saw stars and turned pale. Just as he regained his composure, the chubby teacher intensified her attack, grabbing the class roster from the podium and fanning herself under her arms a few times, muttering under her breath, "Oh my god, I'm drenched in sweat, it's so hot."
The power of these blows was comparable to that of chemical weapons, erupting like a volcano, wave after wave. Hu Yi almost fainted, shrinking back in panic, nearly forgetting what he was going to say: "I...I'm called Hu...oh no, I'm called Anton, I'm from China, I'm 19 years old, last year...I was studying preparatory courses...in Maji."
"Hahaha, very good! Your Russian pronunciation is very standard. Thank you, Anton, please sit down!" The chubby teacher launched another spittle-splattering attack, then turned and walked back to the podium: "Next."
Hu Yi took a few deep breaths, looking disheveled, rubbed his eyes which were stinging and brought tears to his eyes, and secretly wiped his face before calming himself down to listen to the other people's self-introductions.
The nationalities of her classmates were more diverse than Maji's, with a majority of girls. A slender Israeli girl had bright, intelligent eyes; a plump Sri Lankan girl had a kind and honest face; and a beautiful mixed-race woman from an unknown North African country stood tall and graceful, exuding charm with every gesture, her appearance and temperament resembling Cleopatra from a movie.
Hu Yi was slightly surprised. He thought that with his Russian language learning experience last year, he could easily get ahead in the preparatory class. However, most of his classmates had a certain level of Russian proficiency. Some of them were of mixed Russian descent; some had lived in Moscow for a period of time; and others came from the Commonwealth of Independent States and had received Russian language education to varying degrees when they were young.
The most outstanding among them are two beautiful and gentle Arab-Russian mixed-race girls who can communicate with the teacher almost verbally without any problems, and their pronunciation is so pure that it is no different from that of Russians, except that they have not received systematic Russian language education.
After several students finished introducing themselves, a burly young man stood up from the corner. His skin was jet black and shiny, with very short, fine, curly hair. Before speaking, he flashed two rows of large, white teeth: "I'm from Benin, and I'm currently staying with relatives in Moscow. Benin is a very, very beautiful country, absolutely gorgeous. I love sports and fitness, and I'm currently an instructor at the school's fitness club. You're all welcome to come and train with me and build strong bodies!"
"Wow, that's great! Hahaha!" The chubby teacher's eyes lit up like a lovesick girl: "Your body is so strong, so very strong!"
Xiao Hei proudly bent his arms to show off his biceps: "Of course, I also won the title of Mr. Bodybuilding in my hometown's youth group last year!"
"Fantastic! Absolutely fantastic!" The chubby teacher reluctantly withdrew his gaze from Xiao Hei and looked around at the students in the room: "Is there anyone who hasn't introduced themselves yet?"
"Me." A short boy stood up behind Hu Yi. He had short, flaxen hair parted to the side, deep-set eyes, a large nose, and thin lips—typical features of a Caucasian. The boy's face was full of arrogance mixed with a hint of shyness. He spoke in a hoarse voice, as if sawing wood: "I am Uga, Uga Abbasaf. I'm from Azerbaijan. My father is the president."
Everyone in the room looked at him, and the chubby teacher stood there respectfully: "What are you saying? Your father is the President of Azerbaijan? Are you sure?"
Uga shook his head: "No, no, no, Baku's, President."
The Israeli girl blinked her big eyes: "Baku is a city, it only has a mayor, not a president."
Uga's expression turned slightly unnatural: "In Baku, there's a company, and my father is the president! Understand?"
"President" and "CEO" are the same word in many languages. Xiao Hei grinned, showing his big white teeth, and said, "Oh my, the son of the company's CEO, a rich man indeed."
"Of course, my dad is very rich." Uga seemed to have been tickled, and a satisfied smile immediately bloomed on his face. "My uncle is in Moscow, a businessman, and he's rich too! I live in his house, a very big house, and he drives me to school in an Opel! You know Opel, right? German cars, a very famous brand, very famous!"
"What a braggart, what a bumpkin." Hu Yi smiled slightly, a slight smirk playing on his lips. The chubby teacher shrugged: "Yes, I know... Opel is indeed very nice, please have a seat."
Uga looked around contentedly, but seeing no admiration or envy in his classmates' eyes, he felt a little disappointed. He then raised his voice and said, "Hey, you know what? If you need a car, you can ask my uncle. He'll definitely help you!"
"Very good, Mr. Uga, you are a generous person." The chubby teacher smiled. "But we are about to begin class, please have a seat."
With the foundation laid last year, Hu Yi now finds classes exceptionally easy, even rivaling his mixed-race classmates in his grasp of grammar rules, though his vocabulary is somewhat lacking. The preparatory courses for linguistics are not particularly difficult, and he is very active in class, frequently participating in discussions, a stark contrast to his quiet, unresponsive demeanor at Maji.
Hu Yi got along well with his classmates. Sometimes after class, he would go to the gym to watch Xiao Hei's fitness instruction class. When he got into it, he would follow along and lift a few sets of dumbbells and pull some machines. After working up a sweat, he would reach out and knead and press his limbs, trying to feel the subtle changes in the muscle fibers.
When the weather is nice, we'll go to the basketball court to play basketball and enjoy the thrill of being above the heads of the Vietnamese gnomes, imagining ourselves as the cool and handsome Rukawa Kaede or NBA rookie Kobe Bryant—of course, this unreliable illusion usually only lasts for a short while before being brought back to reality by the slam dunks from our physically gifted black brothers over our heads.
Occasionally, I would go with the boastful Uga to the Arab restaurant downstairs in Building 6 for a beer, listening to his vivid praise of the prosperity of Azerbaijan, his father's business empire in Baku, and his uncle's newly bought high-end color TV.
Hu Yi had always been dismissive of his words, simply smiling and not responding. Uga, tired of his boasting, then pestered Hu Yi with questions: "Is China big? Does it have any bustling metropolises like Baku?"
"China's area is roughly equivalent to... a hundred Azerbaijans," Hu Yi replied casually. "There are at least dozens of cities like Baku in China."
"Impossible, stop bragging." Uga smiled, staring intently into Hu Yi's eyes, trying his best to expose his lie: "Do you know that Baku is a megacity with over two million people! How could China possibly have dozens of those?"
"Two million?" Hu Yi tilted his head dismissively. "China has 1.3 billion people; even six hundred Bakus wouldn't be enough to hold them all."
"Thirteen...hundred million? Thirteen hundred million?!" Uga's eyes gradually filled with confusion. "That's how many people? You must be mistaken, it should be...one hundred and thirty million, right?"
"13 billion!" Hu Yi dipped his finger in beer and wrote on the table as he explained, "0, followed by eight zeros!"
"Impossible, how can there be so many people?" Uga counted the zeros on the table over and over again, his expression sometimes confused, sometimes desperate: "How many is this? You must have miscounted."
Whenever they couldn't reach a consensus on geography and mathematics, the two would stop talking, stare at the Russian girls passing by and comment on them, then finish their beers, one going back to the dormitory and the other to his uncle's house.
Day after day, life went on like this. Although there was nothing particularly enjoyable about it, it was peaceful and pleasant. At least my spoken English improved, and I also learned a lot of interesting stories, some true and some false.
Li Baoqing's studies improved somewhat; at least he could understand most of what the teacher said in class, and he would occasionally discuss grammar rules and applications with Hu Yi and Zhou Dali back in the dormitory. As the courses progressed and the key points and difficulties increased, he would go to Yu Feifei for help every few days. Later, he simply went straight to Building 11 after class and didn't return until after dinner.