My hometown is far away in Moscow.

037 Let's get serious.

It was already dark when they got back to the dormitory. Li Baoqing and several classmates were playing cards noisily. When they saw Hu Yi in such a disheveled state, they quickly surrounded him to ask what was wrong. Peng Song and the Ugandan also ran over from next door, pointing at the bloodstains on Hu Yi's clothes and shouting.

Hu Yi briefly summarized the key points, took off his blood-stained coat and draped it over the back of the chair, then sat exhausted on the bed, forcing a smile and saying, "I'm fine, I can take a beating, I'm just a little tired."

Hu Yi was well-liked in Maji. When they heard he had been beaten, the Chinese students in the building rushed to visit him with alcohol swabs, band-aids, and Yunnan Baiyao (a traditional Chinese medicine). Although Hu Yi had plenty of medicine on hand, he still felt very touched.

Bayin, Shibinglian, Dam, and a group of foreign friends also came to express their greetings. After the students left one by one, Hu Yi lay down on the bed wearily. Many parts of his body began to ache, and he felt lazy and didn't want to move at all, but he also felt very tense and uncomfortable.

Just as Peng Song was about to get up to take a shower, there was another loud knock on the door. Peng Song ran to open the door, and there stood Bayin's friend, the Mongolian girl who had bought beef earlier. On the plate she was carrying was a piece of raw beef the size of a fist, and next to it was a knife.

"Anton! How are you feeling? How are you feeling?" The girl's deep voice trembled slightly. "I brought your favorite beef. Eating beef will help you recover!" She placed the plate on the bedside table and looked at Hu Yi earnestly. "Eat, eat quickly."

The piece of beef still had faint red blood seeping from it. Hu Yi was quite hungry, but upon seeing it, he immediately thought of his reflection in the police station restroom mirror and felt a little nauseous: "No, I don't want to..."

"You don't want to?" A hint of disappointment appeared on the girl's face. Hu Yi couldn't bear it and quickly changed his words, "I'm injured and don't have the strength. I'll eat later."

The girl suddenly realized what was happening, quickly grabbed a knife, deftly cut off a piece, and used the tip of the knife to pick it up and bring it to his mouth: "Here, let me help you, eat it!"

A faint, almost imperceptible stench of blood assaulted Hu Yi's nostrils. He glanced at the gleaming knife, then at the girl's expectant expression, held his breath, opened his mouth, bit off a piece of meat, chewed haphazardly a few times, and hurriedly swallowed it, forcing a smile as he mumbled, "It's...it's really delicious!"

A relieved smile instantly appeared on the girl's round face. She reached out to cut more food, but Hu Yi quickly stopped her, saying, "Wait, wait a minute. I want to take a shower first, and then we'll eat later. Thank you so much."

The girl nodded and left, satisfied. Hu Yi took the remaining beef into the kitchen, picked up a glass and gulped down several mouthfuls of water, feeling both grateful and slightly apologetic. He then took off his clothes and went to the bathroom to take a shower, checking himself over and finding that apart from a few bruises on his limbs, he was otherwise unharmed.

Whether it was psychological or not, that small piece of beef I ate earlier actually made me feel quite energetic. After coming out of the bathroom and changing into a new pair of pants, before I even had a chance to put on a shirt, Peng Song suddenly shouted, "Ah! Brother Yi, your back!"

"What's wrong?" Hu Yi twisted his stiff back, feeling a slight soreness. Li Baoqing peeked over and frowned, "There are a lot of marks, like he was hit with a stick."

"Really?" Hu Yi turned his head to look at himself in the mirror, and sure enough, his back was covered with many evenly spaced purple marks. He immediately remembered the rebar the police had shown him and couldn't help but curse, "Damn it, these bastards really did hit me with a steel bar! I didn't believe it when the police showed me the weapon!"

"A steel bar?! Are you out of your mind? You didn't even notice a steel bar hitting you?" Li Baoqing pressed his fingers on his back a few times. "That's strange. This steel bar looks pretty thick, but you're all skinny and bony, how come it didn't break your ribs?"

Hu Yi knew in his heart that the reason the other party was not seriously injured was because the space inside the subway was too cramped and it was difficult for him to exert force. However, he said proudly, "This is called being tough. Don't look at me as skinny. I'm all muscle. Ordinary guys can't hurt me."

Li Baoqing chuckled: "You've been beaten up like this and you still can't stop bragging. Looks like you're perfectly fine."

Hu Yi clenched his fist and bent his elbow, striking a pose: "Have you heard of the Golden Bell Cover and Iron Shirt techniques? Although I haven't trained in them, I'm just naturally gifted!"

Just as they were exclaiming in surprise, a gasp came from behind them. The three of them turned around at the same time and saw Yu Feifei rushing in, pointing at Hu Yi's back and saying, "Oh dear! You... how did you get beaten up like this?"

Hu Yi hurriedly put on his clothes, but before he could speak, Li Baoqing interrupted with a laugh, "It's alright, he's practicing Iron Shirt, he specially hired someone to hit him with steel bars."

Yu Feifei disliked Li Baoqing's inappropriate joke and gave him a reproachful look before staring at Hu Yi: "Your face is badly injured. I borrowed a bottle of mercurochrome to apply to it first, then I'll put on a band-aid."

Hu Yi tossed his hair, revealing a dashing smile: "No need for any ointment, it's just a superficial wound, no big deal! I have strong healing abilities, it'll be fine tomorrow."

"Apply some medicine to kill the bacteria, otherwise the wound will get infected!" Without saying a word, Yu Feifei pressed Hu Yi down into a chair and carefully applied mercurochrome to his broken skin with a cotton swab.

Hu Yi felt a warm glow in his heart, but glancing sideways at Li Baoqing and Peng Song standing on either side staring at him, he felt a pang of embarrassment and coughed lightly, "You two, don't just stand there watching the show. I'm hungry, go make some instant noodles."

Yu Feifei quickly shook her head: "No! How can you eat instant noodles? You're injured and need to replenish your nutrition."

Li Baoqing chuckled and said, "Instant noodles are the most nutritious food in our family."

Peng Song leaned closer to Hu Yi: "Brother Yi, how about I go downstairs and buy a chicken, and make you some spicy chicken?"

"No! He can't eat spicy food after he's injured!" Yu Feifei said to Li Baoqing, "You go steam rice, and I'll go to the market to buy some pork ribs and stew them for him when we get back."

"How could I let you go!" Li Baoqing turned to put on his shoes. "I'll go buy them myself. Old Hu just had an accident, and I don't trust you to go out by yourself."

Yu Feifei laughed and said, "Forget it, skinheads don't hit women. I'm much safer than you when I go out."

The two were about to argue when Hu Yi spoke up, "Hey, it's getting dark, neither of you should go out. Isn't there a piece of beef in the kitchen? Just cut it up and stew it with some potatoes."

"Oh yeah, that's true." Li Baoqing grinned. "But what if the Mongolian girl comes back to feed you later?"

"Just say I cut it up and ate it! You be my witness."

Li Baoqing cheerfully went into the kitchen to get busy. Yu Feifei looked at Hu Yi's face covered in red medicine and sighed softly, "You should be more careful when you go out in the future." Then she picked up the few blood-stained clothes hanging on the back of his chair, saying, "I'll take them back and wash them for you."

The next morning, after getting up, Hu Yi went straight to the school clinic in his dormitory. The old school doctor examined him thoroughly, adjusting his glasses as he looked at him: "These are all superficial injuries; they'll heal in a few days. Is there anything else that feels uncomfortable?"

Hu Yi stretched his limbs, shook his head, and frowned, saying, "My head hurts a little."

"Oh, then you need to rest, get plenty of rest." The old school doctor wrote out a two-week sick leave note with a flourish of his pen.

After receiving such a good beating, Hu Yi was happy to stay home and rest for a few more days. However, he was still conflicted. On the one hand, some courses in the past two months had severely damaged his confidence as a poor student. Going to class was more unbearable than torture, so taking a break was a relief. On the other hand, he was worried that he would fall further behind in his studies.

Although it was a sick leave, Hu Yi didn't waste his time. During the day, he would study on his own with textbooks and dictionaries in his dormitory, and at night he would borrow Yu Feifei's class notes to catch up on his lessons. Young people recover quickly, and in less than a week, he was fully recovered. He couldn't wait to return to class, single-mindedly thinking about how to pass the final exams.

Unfortunately, many things are beyond the reach of mere willpower and stubbornness. For a complete academic failure like him, math was like a blind man trying to describe an elephant, a deaf person trying to read sheet music, or an ape trying to program. He thought he understood the letters and formulas in the books stroke by stroke, but once they entered his brain, they turned into a complete mess. Listening to the teacher explain in Russian only made him more confused, realizing it was entirely different from his own understanding and he had no idea what it meant. Only now did he have to admit that graduating from preparatory courses was simply a pipe dream.

"What should I do?" Hu Yi muttered to himself, sitting on the bed in a state of panic. If he hadn't been particularly worried about his studies before, he was now truly feeling the pressure and distress.

"What else can I do? There's nothing I can do. I can't understand anything they're teaching in class now. Anyway, I probably won't graduate, so whatever." Li Baoqing squatted down, leaning against the radiator under the window, gently pressing the wine bottle in his hand against his front teeth. His situation was even worse than Hu Yi's. He was doing terribly in all his courses, and before he knew it, he had the idea of ​​giving up.

"I doubt it either. Even if I manage to get lucky and pass the graduation exam, I'll definitely be even more clueless after entering the department." Hu Yi got up and walked to the window, staring blankly into the distance. Moscow had entered the season of long days and short nights, and it was still bright after dinner.

"You have no chance either?" Li Baoqing stared blankly at the clothesline above his head. "I remember you swearing so confidently when we first arrived in Moscow that you'd hang yourself if you didn't pass the exam. Is this rope even securely tied?"

"Get lost, we're being serious."

"Seriously? Seriously, I can't keep studying anymore, I want to go home." Li Baoqing looked up at Hu Yi, his mind in turmoil. "Old Hu, do you miss home?"

"I'm doing alright." Hu Yi lightly jumped onto the windowsill, dangling his legs as he took a sip of beer. "It's just that going to class is too tiring, and life is kind of boring."

"I feel like life is incredibly meaningless right now. Not only can I not understand the lessons, but I can't enjoy the food, I can't have fun, and I'm always walking around feeling anxious. The only things I remember from the past six months are fighting and playing cards. I might as well go back to China." Li Baoqing stretched out his legs and slumped to the ground, fuming. "I really regret it now. If I had known it would turn out like this, I would have just stayed in China and studied properly. Why did I come here to suffer like this!"

Hu Yi glanced at Li Baoqing: "To be honest, I'm tired of this lousy place too. But how am I supposed to explain going home like this to my parents? Are we just throwing away thousands of dollars?"

Li Baoqing slapped his head hard, his face full of distress: "I'm worried about it too. If my dad knew I was like this, he'd beat me to death."

"Yeah. Even if Mom and Dad don't say anything, it's too embarrassing to go back to China like this." Hu Yi paused for a moment, then suddenly jumped off the windowsill, sat cross-legged next to Li Baoqing, and sighed with a smile: "I have another idea. Let's change schools next year and repeat a year of preparatory courses."

"Change schools?" Li Baoqing blinked twice. "If I change schools... can I guarantee I'll graduate from the preparatory course?"