My hometown is far away in Moscow.

044 Peaceful Confession Night

Building 6 was unusually lively tonight. Being far from home, people tend to gather with friends and family during the holidays. The usually quiet corridors were bustling with people exchanging Christmas greetings, and even some students from the Middle East offered silent holiday wishes with friendly glances.

Hu Yi and his group neither cared about nor understood this religious festival; they were simply using it as an excuse to get together for a meal. Nevertheless, the atmosphere inside was still very cheerful. Everyone ate, drank, chatted, laughed, and toasted, thoroughly enjoying themselves.

After a few drinks, Peng Song vividly recounted the heroic deeds of Ma Ji's students when they clashed with Russians in a residential area. He became so excited that he gestured wildly, portraying himself as a majestic figure wielding a frying pan, dazzling and radiant. He described Yu Feifei as Princess Peach falling into the clutches of the evil king, and him as Mario the plumber venturing into the underground city; Li Baoqing as the young Liu Shan trapped at Changban Slope, and him as Zhao Zilong of Changshan, who charged in and out seven times. In short, he, Peng Song, was a hero who fearlessly took the lead, saving the damsel in distress, and incidentally rescuing an ugly woman as well.

The other three parties involved smiled without saying a word, but Zhou Dali, still somewhat dazed, believed it all and was filled with admiration for Peng Song. He abandoned his usual listless demeanor, slamming his fist on the table and exclaiming emotionally, "Good! Those Russians were too much! We had to act when the time was right! This battle showed the might of the Chinese people! Who dares to stand in our way? Only you…only you, General Peng!"

Since arriving in Moscow, Peng Song had rarely had the opportunity to so freely show off in front of others, and it was even rarer to have an audience willing to support him. For a moment, he felt a sense of meeting an old friend in a foreign land. Drunk and proud, he said, "To tell you the truth, I've been a class officer since elementary school. Class monitor, study committee member, discipline committee member... I've been the last one to finish all those positions! As for character, I'm absolutely... absolutely upright. I'm a master of everything... right! Baoqing and Feifei are our compatriots. They're in danger. If I don't help them, who will? Helping those in distress and upholding justice is our duty... right?"

"Yes! That's right! Well said!" Zhou Dali exclaimed with admiration, "I never imagined Brother Peng was a former class leader. You really can't judge a book by its cover. You must have had excellent grades back then, right?"

"Need I say more?" Peng Song said proudly, "From childhood to adulthood, in every exam, I've never fallen out of the top ten!"

"That's fantastic, truly remarkable!" Zhou Dali exclaimed with deep respect, "You're a government-sponsored student studying abroad, right?"

"No, that's not it." Peng Song's smug expression faded slightly, and he chuckled, "Back then, I slipped up in the college entrance exam and missed getting into my first-choice university by a few points. I was too ashamed to face my family and friends back home, and I didn't want to settle for my second-choice university, so I decided to come to Moscow alone to make my way in the world. —Brother Dali, how were your grades back then?"

Zhou Dali smiled sheepishly: "Hey, my grades are terrible. My homeroom teacher said that at best I could only get into Shandong University. When my dad heard that, he thought it was better not to go to such a bad school at all, and that I should just spend some money to go abroad."

"What?! What did you say?" Peng Song slammed his wine glass on the table, his face full of disbelief. "You're a terrible student? You can only get into Shandong University at best? Is Shandong University bad?"

Zhou Dali nodded and said, "Yes, Shandong University is really not that great; its admission scores are quite low."

"Low?! Shandong University was my first choice!"

"Huh? Why did you apply to Shandong University?" Zhou Dali blinked in confusion, then suddenly realized, "You mean Shandong University? We call Shanxi University 'Shanda' where I'm from, and its admission score is very low, extremely low."

"Oh, oh, oh! I see!" Peng Song finally understood. The two chubby boys, who had no chance of getting into Shandong University, looked at each other and laughed heartily. They put their arms around each other and downed three beers in a row, talking slurredly about their life insights.

While everyone else was chatting enthusiastically, Li Baoqing sat quietly at the table, drinking alone. He spent the whole night rehearsing his confession plan in his mind, occasionally stealing a glance at Yu Feifei, but he dared not take any action.

The Thai girl who came with Yu Feifei was very outgoing, and her drinking capacity and spirit were no less than that of a man. Under her encouragement, Yu Feifei drank a few more glasses. At this moment, she was slightly drunk, her face was flushed, and she had a hint of charm in her dignified demeanor, and a touch of shyness in her cheerfulness.

Li Baoqing became increasingly engrossed in the sight, feeling as if a swarm of ants were crawling all over his body, making him unbearably itchy and restless. Hu Yi, secretly amused, couldn't help but wave him over: "Come on, let's go take a pee."

The two walked out of the room one after the other. Hu Yi turned around, stopped, lit a cigarette, and urged, "What are you dawdling for? They'll be leaving soon, aren't you going to hurry up?"

Li Baoqing lowered his head: "I didn't get a chance. She was chatting with that Thai girl the whole time, so I couldn't get a word in edgewise. Maybe...maybe we can talk about it another day..."

"Change my ass! Alcohol emboldens cowards, if not now, when? Wait here, I'll call her out for you." Hu Yi finished his cigarette in two quick puffs, went back inside, and waved to Yu Feifei: "Baoqing needs to talk to you."

"Baoqing is looking for me?" Yu Feifei looked puzzled. "Where is he?"

"They're waiting outside, go on ahead." Hu Yi plopped down next to the Thai girl, smiling, "Sawasdee~ Is Bangkok fun?"

Yu Feifei looked around in the corridor and saw Li Baoqing rubbing his hands and pacing back and forth. She walked over and asked softly, "Did you need something from me?"

"Yes, I have something to say." Li Baoqing gave a stiff smile and mumbled in a low voice, "It's just... that... dish... was it good?"

"Oh? That's great, I think it's good." Yu Feifei looked at him with a smile: "That's all?"

"No, no, there's something else... I really like you." Li Baoqing looked up and took a deep breath.

"Huh?" Yu Feifei was caught off guard, her eyes wide open. "What?"

After holding back for so long, Li Baoqing finally blurted out, feeling a rush of alcohol to his head. He gazed at Yu Feifei with deep affection and said, "I...I like you! It's...that kind of liking."

A long silence followed. Yu Feifei looked at Li Baoqing with slight panic, forcing an awkward smile: "What...do you like about me?"

Li Baoqing felt his heart pounding wildly, as if it were about to burst out of his chest. He stammered, feeling lightheaded, "Well... I think you're really... well... a really good girl. We came to Moscow together, it's kind of... quite a coincidence. Uh, you... you often help me, you're so good to me. I'm really touched, and then I... uh, actually I can't really explain why, I just really like you, really."

Yu Feifei's cheeks flushed crimson. She pursed her lips and turned to look at the wall. After a long while, she sighed softly, "Oh..."

Oh? After all I've said, all she's given me is an "oh"? Li Baoqing's heart sank, but he continued unwillingly, "I want to... I want you to be my girlfriend. I promise I'll treat you well, I promise I'll treat you exceptionally well, okay?"

"I...I don't know. We're very good friends, but...I haven't thought about anything else." Yu Feifei stammered, her face showing great difficulty. "Did you drink too much tonight?"

Li Baoqing had previously imagined various reactions from Yu Feifei when she was confessed to: shyness, excitement, timidity, enthusiasm, tacit agreement. He hadn't considered what to do if she rejected him, and hurriedly said, "No! I'm not drunk! Please think it over, okay?!"

"I...I...we'll talk about it later...please don't drink anymore." Yu Feifei glanced at him awkwardly, then turned and walked towards the stairwell.

Li Baoqing felt like he had tumbled head over heels from the fifth floor. He stood there stunned for a few seconds before quickly chasing after him, calling out, "Hey, don't go! We haven't finished eating yet!"

"I'm going to the restroom, you go back to your room first," Yu Feifei said hurriedly without turning her head. In Building 6, male and female students live separately by floor. The fourth and fifth floors only have men's restrooms, and girls have to go to the third floor to use the restroom.

"I'll wait for your decision!" Li Baoqing said, his hands gripping the railing as he watched her descend the stairs. "I'll always be waiting!"

Yu Feifei didn't answer, but suddenly someone behind her sang in Russian with deep emotion: "She's gone~gone quietly~like a breeze~like a little bird~you'll never get her answer."

Turning his head, Li Baoqing saw the Arab man living in the next house looking at him with a mocking expression. Feeling weak all over, he said irritably, "Shut up." He walked a few steps away, leaned against the wall for a while, and then went back to his house dejectedly.

Just as they reached the door, Peng Song staggered out, covering his mouth in pain, and said, "I... um... I'm going to throw up."

"Over there." Li Baoqing casually pointed towards the toilet, not in the mood to say anything more. Upon entering the room, he saw Zhou Dali slumped on the bed, snoring, while Hu Yi and the Thai girl chatted quite amiably. Li Baoqing casually picked up a wine glass, downed it in one gulp, and plopped down in a chair.

Hu Yi was taken aback: "Finished? So quickly?"

Li Baoqing nodded listlessly, and Hu Yi pressed further, "What did she say?"

She said... she considered me a good friend.

"This is bad." Hu Yi frowned. "What else did I say? Didn't I leave you any hope?"

"They said they'd consider it in the future... but said nothing else." Li Baoqing looked dejected, staring intently at the beer bottle in front of him.

"Then it's probably hopeless." Hu Yi sighed, gave the Thai girl who was left standing to the side an apologetic smile, and turned to comfort her, "Oh well, if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. What's that song again? Why be hung up on one girl? You can't force feelings. Big Wave is always clinging to you, but you still don't like her, right? I think Big Wave is pretty good-looking, at least not worse than Fei Fei."

"You only care about looks! What's the use of being good-looking? Relationships aren't determined by appearance!" Li Baoqing closed his eyes in agony, the alcohol he had been suppressing suddenly surging up, his voice filled with disdain: "I only like Feifei, I have no feelings for anyone else, none at all!"

"But Feifei doesn't have feelings for you." Hu Yi smiled and poured him a full glass of wine. "Just like you don't have feelings for Big Waves."

"I know, I understand," Li Baoqing sighed drunkenly, "but I just don't feel good. It feels like my heart has been hurt again."

"Again?" Hu Yi raised an eyebrow without changing his expression.

"Yes, this time the injury is more serious."

"When was the last time?"

"It was that time with Masha!" Li Baoqing blurted out, then suddenly stared blankly at Hu Yi: "You didn't know before, did you?"

"I don't know." Hu Yi chuckled and shook his head. "I've never heard you say how she hurt you."

"That was also a rejection of me." A look of bitterness gradually appeared on Li Baoqing's face: "Last winter vacation in Maji, that time when we smoked those really smelly cigarettes together, Masha came to find me, do you remember? It was that day."

"Oh! I remember now!" Hu Yi was taken aback, then clapped his hands and laughed, "So I misunderstood you back then. It turns out you and she really did have a purely platonic relationship. You're only telling me now, buddy, you did a good job keeping it a secret!"

Li Baoqing swayed and laughed, then picked up his wine glass to put it in his mouth again. Suddenly, he heard a few loud "bangs" and "smacks" from the corridor, followed by a chaotic shouting and cursing. Among the voices, two could be vaguely identified as Peng Song and Yu Feifei.

"What's wrong?"

"Let's go take a look!"

Hu Yi and Li Baoqing stood up at the same time. They had only taken two steps when Peng Song crashed into the room with a loud bang, locked the door behind him, and looked at Li Baoqing, still shaken: "There's...there's...someone outside who wants to hit me!"

The words had barely left his mouth when the door was pounded on from the outside. The Thai girl turned pale with fright, and Zhou Dali, still groggy, rolled over. Li Baoqing asked in surprise, "Who's hitting you? Where's Feifei?!"