My hometown is far away in Moscow.

024 The Angry Hu Yi

Lu Tao's neck relaxed, and he gasped for breath a few times, glancing sideways at the leader: "Is it over?"

"Yes, that's it. Let him go!"

Although skinheads are ruthless, Russians are generally straightforward and keep their word when it comes to simple matters, and they usually don't resort to any underhanded tricks.

Lu Tao released the tall, thin man and pushed him aside forcefully. The tall, thin man fell to the ground, clutching his groin and sobbing.

"You little brat... you haven't even grown your hair yet and you dare to mess with me!" Lu Tao cursed as he knelt on the ground, spitting out mouthfuls of blood. Only then did he feel the pain all over his body and struggle to get up to see Li Baoqing. But the chained man behind him, still seething with resentment, suddenly mustered all his strength and kicked Lu Tao hard in the back of the head.

Caught off guard, Lu Tao was violently shaken by the kick and fell to his knees once more. The world spun before his eyes, and he could barely support himself with his hands, feeling as if he were about to fall into an abyss.

Before the leader could stop the chained man, he reached out and patted him on the back: "What are you doing? I said it was over."

The chained man walked away cursing. The foreman ordered them to help the tall, thin man, who was still sobbing, to his feet. He then woke up the short man who had been knocked unconscious at the beginning. The foreman walked over to Lu Tao, smirking coldly, and said, "You're lucky today. Get back to your country now. You won't be so lucky next time we see you!"

Lu Tao's head throbbed with pain, his mouth was parched, and he couldn't utter a single word. He barely managed to stay upright only through sheer willpower. In a daze, he saw six bald men supporting each other as they walked out of the alley. As Lu Tao shakily tried to get up again, his hands suddenly went limp, and he collapsed to the ground.

After an unknown amount of time, Li Baoqing was gently shaken awake. His ears were ringing, and he vaguely heard Lu Tao calling his name.

"Brother Tao? Where are they... the skinheads?" Slightly more awake, Li Baoqing struggled to open his eyes a crack. He felt his face was tight, swollen, and painful. He reached out to touch it and found that his left cheek was swollen high, while his right cheek was cold and slippery. He could vaguely smell a faint bloody odor in his nose.

"Don't move, your face is stabbed by a bottle, there's a big gash, and there might still be shards of glass inside. We need to clean it up quickly." Lu Tao pointed to the broken bottle lying near Li Baoqing's face, then turned to look at the alley entrance and hesitated, "They should have left. I only remember one of them saying they weren't going to fight anymore, and then... then I don't know what happened, he suddenly passed out."

The pain in his face gradually became clearer. Li Baoqing gasped softly and looked up at Lu Tao. His face was mostly covered in blood, the areas without blood appearing extremely pale. Li Baoqing was in too much pain to open his mouth, and mumbled, "Are you...are you alright?"

"I'm fine, let's go quickly." Lu Tao gently smoothed his hair, which was stuck together with blood, picked up the hat that had fallen to the ground and stuffed it into his pocket. He then bent down to pick up the things that Li Baoqing had scattered on the ground. Suddenly, his body trembled a few times and he began to vomit violently without control.

Li Baoqing was startled and quickly got up to support Lu Tao. Lu Tao vomited everything in his stomach, rested for a moment, and then waved his hand slightly, saying, "I'm fine, just a little dizzy and nauseous. Hurry up and pack your things, I'll take you to the hospital to get stitches."

Seeing that he slowly straightened up and steadied himself against the wall, Li Baoqing felt relieved and went to pick up his things. He saw that the bottle of Lao Gan Ma chili sauce was stuck diagonally in the snow, several beautifully packaged cigarettes were trampled and flattened, some dried goods and seasoning bags were torn, and mushrooms and star anise were scattered all over the ground.

Li Baoqing slowly picked up the items one by one and put them back in the plastic bag. Suddenly, a surge of immense grievance welled up inside him, and a few tears uncontrollably spilled from his eyes. He reached up and forcefully wiped his eyes, muttering under his breath, "Damn it, why are they bullying me! Why?!"

Hu Yi accompanied Yan Zhiwen to the computer market for two hours, helped him carry the new monitor home, and then enthusiastically played Monopoly with everyone for half a day.

Hu Yi went back to his room, took a shower, and finished his homework, but Li Baoqing still hadn't returned. Hu Yi felt a little strange, but didn't think much of it. He lay on the bed, crossed his legs, and picked up the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" that he had brought from China.

He'd had a rough day outside, and after only a few pages, he couldn't keep his eyes open anymore. Hu Yi tossed the book onto his pillow, intending to take a nap, when Li Baoqing pushed open the door and walked in.

"Just got back? Where have you been gallivanting off to again..." Hu Yi sat up slightly, only to see that Li Baoqing's left cheek was bruised and swollen, and his right cheek was covered with a thick bandage. He exclaimed in surprise, "Oh! What happened to you? What's wrong?"

"We ran into skinheads." Li Baoqing put the dirty plastic bag on the ground and gave a brief, indistinct account of what happened. He then gently touched his right cheek and said, "I only got hit with a stick. This half of my face was cut by broken glass on the ground. Brother Tao was beaten pretty badly; the doctor said it was a mild concussion."

Hu Yi rushed forward to examine his injuries closely, and couldn't help but angrily say, "In broad daylight, with police everywhere, how dare the skinheads act so lawlessly?"

Li Baoqing shrugged with a wry smile: "What a coincidence, we walked the whole way and didn't run into a single policeman."

"Damn it, all he does is beg for money on the street for drinks, but when it really matters, he's nowhere to be found!" Hu Yi cursed angrily, then frowned and asked, "Where's Brother Tao? Is he in the hospital?"

"No, the doctor said I'll be fine after resting at home for a few days."

"I'll go check on him." Hu Yi put on his coat and walked to the door, then turned back to Li Baoqing: "Where's Peng Song? Didn't he leave with you?"

Li Baoqing seemed to have just remembered this matter. He bit his lip and stared blankly for a moment before suddenly getting up and rushing to the door of the opposite house. He pounded on the door and shouted, "Peng Song! Open the door!"

The Ugandan young man opened the door with a displeased expression, about to say a few words, but he paused slightly when he saw the injury on Li Baoqing's face. Li Baoqing reached out and pulled him aside, then walked a few steps to Peng Song's bedside. Hu Yi, unaware of what was going on, smiled awkwardly at the Ugandan and followed him in.

Peng Song lay on the bed, the blanket covering his head, shivering with his round body. Li Baoqing kicked him hard at the edge of the bed: "Get up! Why did you sneak off?! Talk to me! Why were you in such a hurry to run away?! You left us here just to come back and sleep?!"

Peng Song poked half his chubby head out from under the covers, and froze when he saw Li Baoqing's face, unable to utter a word. Hu Yiqi exclaimed, "He got away? With his guinea pig-like physique, how could he escape?"

Li Baoqing said angrily, "We finally managed to hail a taxi on the roadside, and that bastard actually secretly told the driver to drive off while I went back to find Brother Tao, leaving us behind!"

"What?!" Hu Yi roared in fury, grabbing Peng Song by the collar and dragging him out of bed. Peng Song was terrified, kicking his legs wildly on the bed before shrinking against the wall and stammering, "I, I, I didn't... The driver asked me a question, I didn't understand, so I answered 'yes,' I didn't expect... I didn't expect him to start driving."

"Bullshit! Nonsense!" Hu Yi kicked off a slipper and threw it at him. "You fucking bastard, couldn't you tell him to stop?! Aren't you supposed to speak fluent Russian?!"

Before Peng Song could even raise his hand to block, a slipper slapped his face, leaving a large shoe print. He burst into tears, crying, "I...I...I'm afraid the skinheads will catch up..."

"Damn it! Aren't you afraid they'll get beaten up? You coward!" Hu Yi picked up a slipper, gripped it in his hand, rushed over, and smacked Peng Song on the head several times.

Li Baoqing pulled him back, saying, "Forget it, he's just like that, hitting him won't do any good." Then, he coldly looked at Peng Song: "Where are Brother Tao's things? You didn't lose them, did you?"

"It's not lost, it's not lost, it's right here!" Peng Song said, trembling, as he picked up a plastic bag from the bedside and handed it to Li Baoqing.

Li Baoqing didn't answer, but grabbed his wrist and turned to leave. Peng Song thought he was going to get beaten up, so he clung to the headboard with all his might, crying and wailing, "I was wrong! Please don't hit me!"

Li Baoqing angrily retorted, "Why did I hit you! Come with us to see Brother Tao! Apologize to him!"