My hometown is far away in Moscow.

Chapter 69 A Garbage Hodgepodge

According to Russian law at the time, holders of student passports were prohibited from engaging in commercial work, and violators could face visa refusal and deportation. Although this regulation was not very effective and was mostly just a piece of paper, police around the market often used it to question students who came to work, taking the opportunity to make some extra money.

Li Baoqing had been in the market for over a month and knew a thing or two about it. He quickly emptied his pockets and put out 500 rubles. Although the policemen thought it was too little, they were there to assist in sealing off the warehouse, so they didn't bother him and even left him 100 rubles for his journey home.

In a panic, Li Baoqing went to inform his boss. Upon hearing the news, the boss was devastated and hurriedly sought help. The Armenian merchants were also at a loss. It was only after his Chinese friend, who had previously helped him, worked through the night to pull strings and finally managed to open the sealed warehouse two days later.

The warehouse was open, but it was empty; all the goods had vanished. The boss was thunderstruck; he collapsed to the ground, his vision blurred. The clothes he had stored there were worth over two hundred thousand US dollars, most of which were bought on credit. Now, overnight, he was heavily in debt and had no choice but to return to China to find ways to raise money to pay off his debts. Li Baoqing lost his job and didn't even receive his second month's wages.

"That bad?" Hu Yi frowned deeply upon hearing this. "Your boss is just too unlucky."

"Yeah, the Vietnamese were originally targeting the Armenians, but he ended up getting caught in the crossfire. But it's also his own fault for not listening to advice. What's that saying again? You can't blame society for bad luck." Li Baoqing sighed, "The legitimate warehouses are all under the market management company, backed by powerful figures, so the police don't dare to touch them easily. But he insisted on storing his goods in that dilapidated factory. Now it's too late for regrets. He's lost everything, picking up a sesame seed and losing a watermelon. It's all because he was greedy for small gains."

Hu Yi laughed and said, "Oh? You seem to have a lot of complaints about your boss."

"A little, but not much." Li Baoqing shook his head dejectedly. "I asked around at the market and found out that I'm the lowest paid person there. The boss is so stingy. See? Being stingy has gotten me into trouble."

"Haha, that's a good thing. Anyway, school starts soon, so you can focus on your studies now." Hu Yi patted him on the back a few times and led the three of them out of the elevator.

"I live here." Hu Yi pointed to the door of room 901: "Luckily, it's close to the garbage chute, otherwise it will be a real hassle to take out the trash later."

"Ha, you have a good view here too, you can see Building 6 right away." Li Baoqing took a few quick steps, stood at the window at the end of the corridor and looked out for a while, then suddenly turned to look at a door next to him: "What is this place?"

Hu Yi was taken aback. The door was right next to the window at the end of the corridor, and it looked very inconspicuous. He hadn't noticed it at all when he came yesterday. There was no room number on the door, and judging from the layout of the entire corridor, the room inside should be very small, at least not a suite.

"I don't know either, maybe it's a storage room. Let's not worry about it. Time is tight and the task is heavy, let's get started." Hu Yi clapped his hands and led them into the room.

The moment the bedroom door opened, Li Baoqing shuddered: "Holy crap! Is this even a place for a human to live?!"

Xia Yan was too shocked to speak. Zhou Dali quickly covered his mouth, exclaiming, "My god, what is all this?! Luckily I didn't eat breakfast, or I would have thrown it all up!"

"The situation is very serious, comrades." Hu Yi distributed the rubber gloves he had bought to everyone: "Let's divide the work. Xia Yan and I will be in charge of the main attack, clearing from the inside out. You two will be responsible for clearing the garbage from the outside."

Without a word, Xia Yan shooed away the flies swirling around his feet, bent down to pick up the things on the ground, and threw them into the dustpan, muttering as he picked them up: "Socks, umbrella, dirt—potatoes? Fish bones! Ah! Cockroaches! So many!"

Hu Yi squatted down and handed two empty wine bottles to Li Baoqing. He grabbed his tattered long johns and threw them at the door. With a disgusted look, he picked up a pair of dirty underwear and then tilted his head to scoop a large clump of rice soaked in soup into a winnowing basket. He was so choked by the smell that he almost cried. He quickly got up and stumbled to the window to open it.

He craned his neck to look at the forest next to the dormitory area and took a few breaths of fresh air, feeling a little better. Hu Yi pulled his head back and turned around, noticing a Vietnamese calendar hanging on the wall. The date on it was still set for July, and a petite Asian woman in a swimsuit was standing on the beach, looking all alluring. The style of the swimsuit and the woman's makeup and hairstyle had a strong 1980s Hong Kong movie star vibe, even by his standards, they seemed a bit outdated.

This wall calendar was probably the cleanest thing in the room. Hu Yi took off his gloves, casually picked it up, flipped through a few pages, and called out to them, "Look! Vietnamese beauties, they're all quite pretty."

Li Baoqing and Zhou Dali had just finished taking out the trash. They stood at the door with empty dustpans, peering around and scrutinizing the trash: "Hey! Not bad, just a bit outdated in their attire."

Xia Yan glanced up, then continued rummaging through the trash around him: "Orange peels, apple cores, ham sausage—instant noodles? Ugh, there's still a lot of meat on this chicken leg, what a waste. Vermicelli—hmm? What's this?"

The three looked over at the sound and saw Xia Yan holding a slightly shriveled, translucent rubber object between two fingers. Hu Yi examined it closely and exclaimed in surprise, "Throw it away quickly! It's a used condom!"

"What is that?" Xia Yan was slightly stunned, then suddenly realized what was happening and jerked his hand away, exclaiming, "Holy crap!"

"Damn it! Where are you throwing this?!" Li Baoqing and Zhou Dali laughed and cursed as they dodged the object, which flew between them and landed squarely on the face of a foreigner who had just entered the hallway.

The man was startled and quickly touched his face. He then looked down at the rubber sleeve lying on the ground. Suddenly, he screamed "Ah!" and pointed at the people in the room, angrily shouting, "What are you doing! How could you litter such filth!" Without waiting for their apologies, he turned and rushed into the bathroom, turning on the tap and washing his face repeatedly.

Li Baoqing hurriedly picked up the thing and threw it into the winnowing basket. Everyone felt a little embarrassed, but they couldn't help but laugh. They could only try their best to suppress their laughter and wink at each other.

Just then, a tall, thin Arab man with long curly hair walked in through the gate. Apart from Xia Yan, Hu Yi and the others thought he looked familiar, but couldn't quite place where they had seen him before.

The tall, thin man's gaze swept over the three of them in turn, and a smile spread across his face: "Hey! My Chinese friends, it's been a long time."

"Ah, it's you!" Zhou Dali exclaimed first, "Prince!"

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