My hometown is far away in Moscow.

Chapter 177 Spending Rubles Like Water

"This is indeed too much," Hu Yi said, slightly flustered. "I don't need to go to the hospital for such a minor injury, and medical care is free for students."

"Really? Free medical treatment? Is there really such a good thing?" Fu Jiahui was stunned for a moment, then impatiently pushed him around: "Then take it and do whatever you want with it. Stop nagging, what am I supposed to do if you don't charge me? Do you expect me to kowtow to you?"

Hu Yi didn't refuse anymore: "Okay, I'll take it. You two go back and get busy. The truck will arrive at four o'clock today, so I can stay here and oversee the pickup. I can just stay home and rest tomorrow."

"Come on! Do you think the earth can't function without you?" Fu Jiahui gave a disdainful smile, dragged Hu Yi out of the box and out of the market, and helped him hail a taxi: "Go home and rest well. Call me if you need anything."

Hu Yi agreed, ducked down, and got into the car. Fu Jiahui bent down and gave him a thumbs-up: "Old Hu, you were really awesome today. But if you encounter this situation again, remember safety first. If the situation turns bad, don't hesitate to let go. Understand? Money can be earned back, but you absolutely cannot get hurt."

"I know." Hu Yi squinted at him. "You're much more long-winded than me."

"Damn it, like a dog biting Lü Dongbin." Fu Jiahui laughed and cursed, then slammed the car door shut. "Let's go!"

As the car slowly drove a short distance, Hu Yi's mood became slightly agitated. He touched the thick wad of rubles in his arms, feeling it was a bit hot to the touch, but he immediately recalled the three ravenous robbers and the thrilling feeling of desperately clutching the money bag.

After carefully considering what Da Liu and Fu Jia Hui had said, Hu Yi calmed down a bit. Regardless of how much the 500,000 rubles he had saved really mattered to the boss, at least he felt perfectly justified in taking the 60,000.

Sixty thousand rubles was a huge sum of money for Hu Yi. If he had that much money during the winter break, he certainly wouldn't have chosen to work at the market.

Moreover, he had initially come here with the sole aim of earning 18,000 rubles a month, but now, after only a little over a month of work, his salary and miscellaneous extra income have already reached over 30,000, and with what he has in his pocket, it's nearly 100,000. This number makes him feel a little bloated, and he simply doesn't know how to spend it.

Lost in thought, Xia Yan returned to her dorm at noon. School was closed today, and Xia Yan was in her room. Seeing the bruises on his face, she quickly got up to check on him and then called Caihua at the internet cafe to ask him to inform Natasha.

Natasha rushed over with Caihua upon hearing the news. As soon as she saw Hu Yi, she threw herself at him and hugged him tightly. Her eyes reddened, and a few tears rolled down her cheeks. "Anton, what happened? Who did this?"

"Don't cry, don't cry." Hu Yi smiled and wiped away her tears. "They're just a few hooligans. It's nothing, it'll be fine tomorrow."

Natasha carefully examined every wound on his face, and with heartache, she pressed herself tightly against him: "I won't go anywhere else this afternoon; I'll stay in the room and take care of you."

"No need, I'm perfectly fine." Hu Yi stretched his limbs and laughed. "Go ahead and get busy, aren't you supposed to buy food for Misha? I'm going out to buy a cell phone anyway."

"Then I'll go with you!" Natasha said decisively, "Misha has plenty of dog food to eat, no rush."

"Okay, let's go together after we finish eating." Hu Yi gently kissed her on the head, then reached out and took out five hundred rubles, handing them to Xia Yan: "Could you run an errand for me and buy two Turkish kebabs for each of us? Oh, and don't forget to deliver two to Anna at the internet cafe."

Xia Yan agreed, took the money, and left. Caihua eagerly approached Hu Yi: "Brother Hu, is there anything I can do for you? Just let me know!"

"You'll have plenty of work to do, no rush, we'll do it after dinner." Hu Yichong smiled at him, "Aren't you quite knowledgeable about mobile phones? Come with me to the computer market this afternoon to give me some advice."

This was a time of rapid and diverse development for mobile phones, with manufacturers putting considerable effort into product design and functionality. Candybar, flip, slider, landscape—a variety of unusual shapes emerged, some sharp, some robust, some smooth, some dignified. Even different product lines from the same brand boldly displayed their unique individuality, giving consumers an unprecedented range of choices.

Of course, the main difference in choices lies in the appearance. Mainstream brand phones are largely similar in terms of functionality and performance. The major giants such as Nokia, Ericsson, Siemens, Motorola, Samsung, and LG are also evenly matched in people's minds. When ordinary people buy a phone, they often only care about the price and appearance.

Therefore, the advice offered by someone like Caihua, who has some knowledge of mobile phones, seems to have very limited value. At best, she can only discuss her subjective opinions on various brands, but she has no decent insights when it comes to specific models.

However, Caihua's opinion was actually irrelevant. Hu Yi, too, couldn't resist choosing based on appearance and ultimately selected a reasonably priced Motorola flip phone. He enthusiastically inserted the SIM card, turned it on, and dialed Natasha's number.

"How was it? Did you hear me clearly?"

"That's wonderful." Natasha smiled and took two steps back. "The sound seems clearer than before."

Hu Yi hung up the phone and handed it to Natasha: "Here, what do you think? Does it look good?"

"It's very beautiful, it suits you perfectly." Natasha gently took the phone and stroked it a few times. "This phone is really pretty."

"You like it? We can get a new one together." Hu Yi rested one elbow on the counter, casually tossing his head at the phone seller: "Please bring another one, the same one."

"No, don't!" Natasha quickly stopped the clerk, turning to look at him with a puzzled expression. "What? My phone is still working fine."

"What's so good about it? It's been used for years, hasn't it?" Hu Yi snatched her phone away: "Look, the numbers on the keypad are barely visible, and the screen is blurry."

"It is a bit old," Natasha said, blushing slightly. "But it can still be used. I can't... I can't let you buy me something so expensive."

"Is it expensive? Not at all." Hu Yi casually reached out and pulled her into his arms. "I have plenty of money. I'm going to get you a new phone today."

Natasha frowned and smiled, "Anton, what's this...?"

"Please listen to your boyfriend," the mobile phone salesperson interjected half-jokingly. "He buys a phone from me and gives it to you as a gift. He's happy, you're happy, and I'm happy. What a wonderful situation that would be!"

"He's absolutely right!" Hu Yi nodded repeatedly.

"Oh dear." Natasha closed her eyes blissfully. "Alright then. But I don't want yours, is that okay?"

"Of course! Find one you like best." Hu Yi lowered his head, about to help her choose, when his new phone rang. It was Xiang Nan calling.

"Hello, Nan Nan?"

"Brother! Are you alright?" Xiang Nan's voice was tinged with fear, worry, and indignation. "I heard someone beat you up. Are you alright?"

"Hey, it's just a minor cut, nothing serious." Hu Yi chuckled. "You're pretty well-informed, aren't you? You know all my embarrassing moments."

"Xia Yan said it on QQ." Xiang Nan paused slightly. "I'm going to see you. When are you coming home?"

"Okay. I won't be back for a while, so why don't you... come over to my place for dinner tonight!"

After hanging up the phone, Hu Yi looked up and pondered for a moment before asking Caihua, "Hey, how much do laptops cost these days?"

"A laptop? It depends on what you'll use it for." Caihua shrugged. "If you're playing games, a decent one would cost at least two thousand dollars, right?"

"Damn, that's too expensive." Hu Yiqian laughed. "I don't need anything that good. I just use it for browsing the internet, chatting on QQ, listening to music, and watching movies and TV series. Oh, and as long as the hard drive is big enough to store more movies, that's fine."

"At that price, you could probably get it for around eight or nine hundred."

"Eight or nine hundred, hmm," Hu Yi said, looking down and calculating briefly. "Alright, take me to pick one later."

Just as the two finished chatting, Natasha had also chosen a Siemens slider phone. Hu Yi grabbed a wad of rubles to pay the bill, fully enjoying the pleasure of spending a lot of money on his girlfriend. Then, with Caihua's help, he bought a relatively good value laptop.

Back in his dorm, he installed the operating system on the laptop, connected it to his own computer, and started copying TV series onto it. Anything on his hard drive—"The Eloquent Ji Xiaolan," "The Secret History of Xiaozhuang," "Li Wei the Magistrate," "The Grand Dyeing Workshop," "The Grand Mansion Gate"—he copied it all to the laptop.

Just as they were handcuffing him, Xiang Nan arrived. As soon as she entered, she pouted and ran to Hu Yi's side: "Brother, let me see. Oh dear, it's all broken, does it still hurt?"

"It won't hurt, you'll be fine after a nap, don't worry." Hu Yi smiled at her and pointed to the laptop: "Look, I promised to get you a laptop, and here it is, I'm copying some movies onto it now. You can take it home later, and then you can watch TV while lying in bed."

"A notebook? For me?!" Xiang Nan was stunned for a moment. "Brother, how much did this... cost?"

"It's cheap, not much money."

"No, it would cost at least several thousand yuan." Xiang Nan shook her head repeatedly: "Too expensive, I can't accept it."

"Hey, you little rascal, who said I was going to give this to you?" Hu Yi frowned and smiled. "This... my boss gave it to me. Originally, I wanted to keep it to watch movies at work, but the market... well, the market is too cold, it's unusable. So, you can take it and use it for now."

"Really?" Xiang Nan stuck out her tongue shyly. "Then... then I'll take it back to watch TV for now. Let me know when you need it and I'll bring it back to you."

"Okay, you can keep it and use it without worry. We'll talk about it later." Hu Yi waved his hand dismissively. "This computer has low specs, I basically don't need it. I'll ask your brother Dongzi to buy me a better one when I go back to China."

Xiang Nan nodded in agreement, then suddenly smiled and said, "Oh, right, my brother has a little secret he hasn't told you yet."

(End of this chapter)