??Chapter 21: Chapter 21 Steel Straight Man_1
Chapter 21: Chapter 21 Steel Straight Man_1
“You’re a preparatory course student abroad, haven’t you all never studied Russian? Why do you speak Russian so well? And why didn’t you directly apply for freshman year? There’s no need for you to continue at this preparatory level.”
Angelina asked, looking surprised.
Even though Wang Ye had only exchanged a few sentences, his Russian was exceptionally fluent, with standard pronunciation and no errors in grammar or word usage.
This was an incredibly advanced level of proficiency!
Not at all the level a preparatory student studying abroad is expected to have, hence Angelina’s surprise.
Given Wang Ye’s language proficiency, he could easily jump right into freshman year.
“The process of working out my travel arrangents delayed , so it’s too late to start my freshman year now. I’m taking the preparatory course for transition and to get used to life here. My Russian is good because…”
Wang Ye recounted the story he had told the dormitory administrator.
He really couldn’t co up with a more reasonable explanation.
As expected, the story was effective, and Angelina also laughingly referred to him as “Davarich”!
As his cigarette was almost finished, Wang Ye seed to suddenly rember sothing, he asked “Can you tell
your phone number?”
Angelina seed a bit hesitant, so Wang Ye quickly explained, “Oh, it’s like this. You know my Russian is already good enough to pass the preparatory graduation exam. So, I won’t be attending class every day because I’d like to take this ti to explore Moscow. The museums here are famous, I’d like to visit them. If there are any matters at school, we can communicate by phone.”
If this were in his ho country, telling your teacher that you plan to skip class, that would be like searching for death with a lantern…
But here, especially because it’s a preparatory course, Angelina didn’t see any issues.
However, she still seed a bit reluctant, hesitating a bit before telling Wang Ye: “I’ve just started working and haven’t bought a cellphone yet. Let
give you the numbers for my office and dorm. If it’s during class hours, call the office and for evenings or weekends, call my dorm.”
It was clear that Angelina’s economic situation wasn’t so good.
The teachers probably weren’t paid much. Friendship University is one of the few universities in Russia with good financial resources, so the teachers’ conditions were relatively better.
Regardless, a newly employed preparatory course teacher like Angelina probably wouldn’t earn more than three hundred US dollars.
This was mainly because Friendship University had many international students and thus, more money!
It’s said that teachers in smaller schools, with fewer international students, earn only about one thousand five hundred rubles, equivalent to fifty US dollars…
It’s been ten years since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, but Russia has yet to recover, and the overall national situation is in disorder.
Life is tough for many common people, including university teachers, researchers, public servants, their remuneration is generally low.
On the preparatory floor of Friendship University, there was a male teacher who would carry a large sports bag stuffed full every day when he ca to work.
This teacher wasn’t a sports enthusiast, nor was the bag filled with sports goods.
After work, he would go to the subway station to sell shoes at a street stall!
That sports bag was full of shoes wholesaled from the market…
So, it’s no surprise that Angelina hasn’t bought a cellphone yet. For her, perhaps a cellphone is not exactly a necessity and may not be sothing she can afford right now.
Wang Ye nodded his understanding, took out his cell, and recorded Angelina’s office and dorm numbers.
Angelina, a single woman, whose family seems to live outside of Moscow, resides in the dormitory allocated by the school—specifically, Dormitory Building 13, a high-rise building.
……
The studying abroad and university life of Wang Ye has officially begun then.
He quickly adapted to life here. After all, jokingly, how could he not adapt when he had already lived here for seven or eight years in his past life?
Life on campus is really boring, especially in January, the coldest ti of the year in Russia.
Although school was usually dismissed around two in the afternoon, there was basically no ti for playing around.
For one, safety was an issue. Secondly, it grew dark early here. By around four in the afternoon, it would start getting dark and completely dark by five or six.
Moreover, with the freezing cold weather outside, everyone was too lazy to leave their dorm.
Every day was just a simple back and forth between the dorm and the preparatory building.
On the first weekend of the term, as Wang Ye was lying in, he suddenly received a call.
Rubbing his sleep-filled eyes, he looked at the phone on his pillow; the caller was Nalan Yaqi.
What could she want with him?
Wang Ye frowned but still answered the call.
“Hello, Wang Ye. Are you busy today?” Nalan Yaqi’s voice ca over the phone.
“No, it’s the weekend, so I am relaxing.” Wang Ye replied lazily.
“Do you want to go visit the Red Square then? And the famous Kremlin.” Nalan Yaqi’s tone was full of temptation.
Perhaps for others, that was a definite place to visit.
But honestly, Wang Ye had visited the Red Square so many tis that he was sick of it!
On a bone-chilling cold day, making a fuss to go and see a small, broken square rather than stay in the warm dorm was simply not worth it!
So, Wang Ye refused directly, “I won’t go!”
Nalan Yaqi seed a bit taken aback, she hadn’t expected Wang Ye to refuse so flatly.
Once she recovered, she seed a bit annoyed and said, “Are you a sloth? What kind of man spends the whole day holed up in his dorm room? I’ll tell you straight – I am going to the Red Square with my roommate to play. There’s a huge underground mall there. Do you want to join us?”
He knew of the mall that she referred to.
The mall is right by the Red Square, and is completely underground!
It was the most upscale mall in Moscow at the ti, no doubt about it. Even the Nation Departnt Store, also known as ‘The biggest mall in Europe’, did not compare to this underground mall.
With high-end stores ca high consumption. Basically, they all sold luxury goods. Wang Ye couldn’t afford such extravagance with the little money he had…
So, he shook his head continuously, said straight up that he did not want to go, and before Nalan Yaqi could say anything else, he hung up the phone.
……
In another room on the sa floor of the dormitory building, Nalan Yaqi was staring at her phone in disbelief. The screen showed that the call had ended.
She never thought that she would be the one to be hung up on by Wang Ye!
She had invited him out to play, and he blatantly refused. Did Wang Ye have rocks for a brain?
Straight n, so clueless about romance!
She put on her coat angrily, walked out the door with her roommate, and imdiately ran into Zhang Ke, the short, long-haired guy who Wang Ye had punched.
Upon seeing Nalan Yaqi, Zhang Ke’s eyes lit up, he hurried over and asked “Hey, are you going out, Princess Qi? Where are you going? I happen to be free, can I join you?”
Nalan Yaqi looked at him in disgust, and said irritably, “We girls are going out to play, it has nothing to do with you. Stay out of it!”
Then she walked away, pulling her roommate with her.
Watching Nalan Yaqi’s graceful figure disappear into the distance, Zhang Ke’s face darkened…
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