chsdbacks 046 African Prince
046 African Prince
Wang Shen, hiding behind, saw Li Baoqing enter the room and suddenly felt emboldened. He pushed through the crowd, pointed at Hu Yi's nose, and sneered, "What? You're giving me face? How many rubles is your face worth? How dare you be so shameless? Let me tell you, Hu! That fat guy and Li Baoqing, neither of them will escape today! Don't try to stop us, or don't blame us for being impolite!"
As Wang Shen spoke, he pointed and gestured, his index finger waving back and forth less than a centimeter from Hu Yi's nose. Hu Yi narrowed his eyes, his expression shifting between light and dark: "You're not going to be polite? Fine, let me see." With that, he suddenly reached out and grabbed Wang Shen's index finger, gently bending it in the opposite direction of the joint.
"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" Wang Shen cried out in pain, his body contorted as he knelt on his side. The preparatory students outside were filled with righteous indignation and rushed over, ready to punch and kick Hu Yi. Hu Yi quickly released Wang Shen and took two steps back. The door immediately fell, and several of the other students rushed into the room, crowding around the cabinet by the door and cursing loudly.
Hu Yi knew he was in trouble. He grabbed a kitchen knife from the utensil shelf by the wall, held it in his hand, and took two steps forward with a desperate stance, yelling, "What are you babbling about? Just behave yourselves!"
As the saying goes, even the best kung fu master is afraid of a kitchen knife. Hu Yi was only holding the knife to intimidate and protect himself, but the other party was so frightened that he retreated repeatedly, disappearing like the receding tide and disappearing outside the door in a flash. Hu Yi took two more steps forward, and the crowd followed suit, revealing Wang Shen sitting on the ground.
The situation changed too quickly. Wang Shen had just been hiding behind the crowd, whining and rubbing his fingers, when suddenly Hu Yi strode out, glaring at him with a gleaming kitchen knife in his hand. Terrified, Wang Shen scrambled back, stammering, "No, no, no, don't get agitated! We're all Chinese, let's talk this out. Don't use the knife, don't use the knife! A gentleman uses his fist… but not his knife!"
Yu Feifei was terrified by the scene before her and hurriedly tried to go over to stop them, but Li Baoqing stopped her with his hand: "You can't go over there, it's too dangerous. Although there are many people on the other side, they're nothing special. Old Hu can definitely keep them in check."
"I'm worried he'll hurt someone." Yu Feifei shook her head anxiously and whispered, "Hu Yi, please don't, please don't..."
Li Baoqing stopped at the door with his hands on his hips, leaned close to Hu Yi's head and whispered, "Don't be impulsive, don't cause any trouble."
Hu Yi nodded slightly. He certainly wouldn't use a knife to hurt anyone, and the people opposite him didn't dare to make any rash moves either, but neither side was willing to back down, so they remained deadlocked at the doorway.
After the two groups had been making a ruckus for most of the day, Zhou Dali, who had been lying drunk on the bed, finally woke up. Still half-asleep, he noticed the strange expressions on everyone's faces and, looking confused, got out of bed and went to the door: "Huh? What's going on here? Wang Shen? What are you doing here? Lao Hu, what are you doing with that knife?! What happened?!"
The Thai girl followed cautiously, gently pressing down on Hu Yi's hand holding the knife: "Anton, killing is wrong, please don't kill."
The tense atmosphere eased slightly, and Wang Shen slowly got up and retreated to a safe distance. Hu Yi pouted, unsure how to explain to Zhou Dali, so he pointed to the cracked door frame: "Ask Xiao Wang, he's the one who caused all this trouble."
"Oh my god, you're really good at making baseless accusations!" Wang Shen stood more than two meters away from Hu Yi, his neck stiff with anger. "Ask these brothers, am I the kind of person who causes trouble?"
The preparatory students outside the door shook their heads in unison. Wang Shen regained some courage, his leg trembling as he looked up at Hu Yi with a sidelong glance: "Hey Hu, we don't really have any grudges, so I won't hold it against you. After all, we're from the same school. How about this, you hand over that chubby kid Maji, and I'll slap him. That'll settle things, okay?"
Hu Yi raised an eyebrow: "Bullshit."
Wang Shen's lips moved a few times, but he didn't speak. He had suffered setbacks tonight, and his spirits were completely broken. He was also mostly sober and knew he wouldn't get the better of him. However, he still had a group of buddies backing him up, and he really didn't want to lose face in front of them.
Hu Yi was preoccupied with saving face. With all the Chinese people on the fifth floor standing in front of him and he in a superior position, how could he possibly back down?
Just as the two sides were deadlocked, someone walked over from the side speaking in broken Russian: "Calm down, calm down, we need peace, not fighting."
Everyone turned to look, and there came a tall, thin man with thick, long curly hair and a face covered in short stubble. He was handsome and sunny, but his expression was somewhat gloomy. He was the Arab man who had sung and teased Li Baoqing earlier.
The tall, thin man walked between the two groups, looked at Hu Yi, and then at Wang Shen: "Today is your Christmas Eve, isn't it? Since it's called Christmas Eve, it should be peaceful. Don't fight; fighting only brings suffering to people."
Someone came to mediate, and both sides breathed a sigh of relief, focusing their attention on the tall, thin man, but neither moved an inch.
The tall, thin man's face darkened slightly, and he said loudly, "I am His Highness a Prince from Morocco. If you do not stop immediately, I will report you to the dormitory manager tomorrow and have the school expel you from Building 6."
These words clearly carried weight. Hu Yi reluctantly lowered his tense shoulders, handed the kitchen knife to his left hand, and Wang Shen and the others also turned around hesitantly, unwilling to leave just like that.
"Go back, all of you go back. The prince needs to sleep. No one is allowed to make a sound." The tall, thin man spread his arms and herded them away like sheep. "We want peace, not fighting. I hope all Chinese people are happy and safe!" He turned around and pushed Hu Yi and Li Baoqing into the house. "You two need to sleep too. Goodnight!" He then closed the door and drifted away.
The whole affair ended in such a confused and bewildered way that Li Baoqing scratched his head, wondering, "What did that guy say he was? A prince?"
Hu Yi didn't quite catch it either: "It sounded like a prince from Morocco, but that's unlikely. Would a prince live in a place like this?"
"Nonsense, there are plenty of swindlers at Yuda University." Zhou Dali chuckled dismissively. "Last year, there was this guy on the fifth floor who claimed to be a Syrian prince. Later I found out that Syria doesn't have a king, so where would a prince come from?"
Li Baoqing suddenly realized: "Oh, haha, so he was a fraud."
Hu Yi thought for a moment and said, "That's not necessarily true. I've heard that many royal families in Arab countries have relatives or blood relatives. They might be descendants of some princes who are not even remotely related."
Li Baoqing then became respectful: "Oh, so in that case, even if you're not a prince, you're at least a nobleman, right?"
Hu Yi laughed heartily: "Possibly. Just think of him as a distant nobleman, even if he's from Africa."
The group chatted idly in the room for a while. Hu Yi opened the door, checked that no one was in the hallway, and then escorted Peng Song out of the dormitory. Yu Feifei and the Thai girl left with them. Li Baoqing shifted in his chair a few times, but ultimately didn't muster the courage to walk Yu Feifei home. Only when Hu Yi returned did he eagerly greet him: "Old Hu, what did Feifei say?"
"I told you, we should stay calm in the future and prioritize harmony when we're out and about."
Li Baoqing shifted his body slightly: "Did they... mention anything about me?"
"Your matter? Oh, I mentioned it. Feifei told you to focus on your studies and make sure you graduate smoothly. We'll talk about other things later." Hu Yi smiled slyly. "She also specifically told me to tell you to go to her if you have any problems with Russian in the future, and not to be embarrassed because of what happened tonight."
Li Baoqing's face, which had been filled with worry all night, instantly blossomed into a chrysanthemum-like smile: "Hey, hey! Hehe, okay, I definitely, definitely study hard!"
"Tsk, stop being so vain." Hu Yi turned around and inspected the rickety door. "This door is no good. Let's use some clear tape to fix the frame first, and then have the building manager send someone to repair it tomorrow."
Russia has largely inherited the cumbersome bureaucratic system from the Soviet era, which is notorious for its inefficiency. Even something as simple as farting requires an application, a report, and approval from each level of authority.
Repairing a door is far more complicated than farting, so Hu Yi and the others weren't surprised that there was no progress for several days after submitting their application. Fortunately, doors are only good for keeping out honest people, not scoundrels; as long as they can be closed, their sturdiness doesn't matter.
On New Year's Day, Zhou Dali was going to attend a party organized by the embassy. He woke up early, checked his watch, yawned, and saw that Hu Yi and Li Baoqing were still fast asleep. He took his toiletries, quietly opened the door, and found a black-haired foreigner with a small mustache standing in front of him.
Both of them were startled at the same time. Zhou Dali rubbed his eyes, still half asleep, and asked, "Huh? Who are you looking for?"
The man with the mustache hesitated for a moment, then looked down at the door frame: "Is your door broken?"
"Oh, right." Zhou Dali said softly, "But we have to leave right away, can you come back this afternoon?"
"Okay, no problem." The man with the mustache nodded and hurriedly turned to leave. Hu Yi, awakened by their voices, asked sleepily, "Who is it?"
"The door repairman," Zhou Dali said, turning his head. "Get up, it's time to leave. Baoqing, wake up!"
After washing up, the three of them dressed neatly and went downstairs. A minibus was waiting on the road outside the dormitory area. Li Baoqing nudged Hu Yi with his elbow: "Look, it's Sixth Brother."
Hu Yi looked up and saw Sixth Brother standing by the car door with his hands behind his back, talking to Wang Shen beside him with a serious expression. Wang Shen hung his head and didn't say a word, drawing circles on the snow with one foot. He only looked up and met their gaze when Hu Yi and the other two approached, then turned around and got into the car dejectedly.
"Happy New Year, Sixth Brother." Zhou Dali said with a big smile, "You look really handsome today."
Sixth Brother glanced back at the three of them, then turned and smiled, "Hey, handsome, huh? Even the youngest one, no matter how much he tries to dress up, can't match the spirit of you young people." He then took a small step, intentionally or unintentionally blocking the car door, "By the way, I heard that Wang Shen had a bit of a falling out with your family a few days ago?"
Sixth Brother was in his thirties, of medium height, with a straight back. He spoke with a slightly off-key Tianjin accent and had a shrewd and capable look on his face. He wore a thick woolen overcoat open over a sharp dark suit, a red tie, and a black and white checkered scarf casually wrapped around his neck twice, giving him a rather refined air.
Hu Yi and Li Baoqing didn't have much contact with Sixth Brother; they would just greet each other when they met and rarely talked. Zhou Dali was a student he had taken on last year, so they were a little closer. He said with a grin, "There was nothing unpleasant, just a small misunderstanding, it's all in the past."
"That's good. It's not easy to go to school, so it's fate that we bump into each other." Sixth Brother smiled and shifted his gaze to Hu Yi and Li Baoqing. "Little Shenzi is a good kid, but he has a stubborn temper. I've told him several times, but he hasn't improved. Letting him stumble a little is good. However, it takes two to tango. We're both adults. If there's a conflict, we can resolve it through reason. There's no need to resort to violence and ruin our relationship, don't you think?"
Li Baoqing nodded repeatedly, and Hu Yi smiled frankly: "Sixth Brother, don't worry, as long as others don't come looking for trouble, we will definitely not cause any trouble."