My hometown is far away in Moscow.

Chapter 187 Guarding the House Alone

After more than a month of make-up exams, Hu Yi performed at a relatively good level in the final exams. His class attendance was originally a bit low, but thanks to the frequent false alarms at the beginning of the semester, the teachers didn't scrutinize everyone's attendance too much and gave him fairly good grades.

He took leave from work during the exam period, and when he went to the market after the exam, Fu Jiahui's fourth uncle had already returned to China.

"Fourth Uncle is gone? So soon? He's only been here for less than two months, right?" Hu Yi was a little confused. "Did he just come to check on things here?"

"That's right, they're here to check the situation, or you could say they're here to pave the way." Fu Jiahui looked up at the sky leisurely: "They'll probably come back in a while, maybe it'll be him, maybe it'll be someone else."

"Act as a scout? What do you mean? Aren't you their scout?"

Fu Jiahui didn't answer his question, but slowly shook his head and pondered, "Old Hu, you're not going back to China this summer, are you?"

"I—" Hu Yi paused for a moment, then nodded in agreement: "I was originally planning to go back, but if you need me to stay, I'll stay here."

"It would be best if you could stay. I might have to go back to China in a while, and I'll have to ask you to keep an eye on things here then."

"Okay, no problem." Hu Yi hesitated slightly, then asked, "Didn't you just go back in April? How long will you be gone this time?"

"It's not certain yet." Fu Jiahui clicked his tongue. "Meng Xuanna is going to separate from the family soon, and there are many things to take care of. I need to go back and help my dad. I'll come back once everything is settled."

"What?" Hu Yi had already gleaned some clues from various signs, but hearing it from his own mouth still greatly surprised him: "You want to split up the family?! Why?"

"Sigh, it's a long story." Fu Jiahui let out a long sigh: "But it was bound to happen sooner or later. Uncle has been planning this for a long time, and we were all prepared."

"But...but you're all family, all relatives. Wouldn't it be better to unite and work together to earn money and do business? Why do you have to insist on separating the family?"

"What do you know?" Fu Jiahui glanced at him with a smile: "In the past few years, everyone came out to start a factory with my dad. They were all loyal, hardworking, and obedient. The family atmosphere was great. Later, as the business grew and we made more money, all sorts of gossip and trouble started to emerge."

Hu Yi had heard Sun Shoutian mention these things before, but he couldn't quite understand them yet, so he frowned and muttered, "Your uncle was the one stirring things up behind the scenes, wasn't he? He's really no pushover."

"Hey, you're mistaken. My uncle isn't very ambitious, but he's easily swayed and lacks his own opinions. Even someone like Sun Shoutian can easily fool him." Fu Jiahui shook his head. "Actually, it was others who were dissatisfied with my father, but they were powerless and went to persuade my uncle, the eldest in the family. He was fooled by them all the way, and eventually ended up where he is today."

"This, this is really..." Hu Yi felt that the affairs of their large family were too complicated, and he had no need or interest in figuring them out, so he smiled and sighed.

"Alright, I'm not going to nag you about this anymore. It's so boring, I find it annoying myself." Fu Jiahui smiled faintly. "Anyway, after I leave, I'll leave this whole mess to you."

"Don't worry," Hu Yi nodded in agreement, "I will take good care of everything."

With the start of summer vacation, Hu Yi was finally free from worries about school and could focus his energy on the market.

Having worked here for almost half a year, Fu Jiahui trusted him implicitly. Now that Sun Shoutian had been driven away and Fourth Uncle had returned to China, Hu Yi was in charge of almost everything, big and small, in the box, and was none other than Meng Xuanna's head housekeeper in the market.

Fu Jiahui returned to China in mid-July. Before leaving, he handed over the daily remittance work to Hu Yi and carefully instructed him: "Take all kinds of daily expenses from the box, just keep good records. Call me anytime if anything happens. Remember, in case of an emergency, make sure your personal safety first."

"Okay, I've got it."

"From now on, your salary is increased to 20,000." Fu Jiahui handed him a stack of rubles: "Here, this is for this month. Keep it safe. If I'm not back by next month, you can take it from the box yourself."

With Fu Jiahui gone, Hu Yi became the sole owner of the box, spending his days and nights at the market. He was now intimately familiar with the daily routine, which consisted of the same few tasks every day, making it somewhat monotonous.

But now that the weather has warmed up, he no longer has to endure the bitter cold, so he doesn't find it too hard. When he has free time, he chats with Uncle Yu for a while, sits by the box, smokes a cigarette, reads a book or newspaper, and is quite content, treating the box as another home.

Da Liu's rented novels were occasionally updated, and he would always send a text message to Hu Yi as soon as he got a new copy. Hu Yi, however, still vividly remembered the intoxicating smell of the toilets in Huanglou, so after going there once, he never went back. Every time he rented or returned a book, he would wait for Da Liu to come out of Huanglou, or ask him to bring him the newspaper when he passed by.

The novels under Da Liu's bed were of varying quality, and few of them could pique Hu Yi's interest. Over the past few months, he had almost finished reading them all. He also brought a few novels he had already finished reading from his dormitory to pass the time. When he felt really bored, he would go to a nearby internet cafe for a while.

Unlike Sun Shoutian, Hu Yi didn't know how to play online games at internet cafes; he could only find a single-player game to play for a while. Sometimes, when he felt like it, he would play Counter-Strike online with others, but unfortunately, he wasn't very good and often got crushed, which inevitably made him feel frustrated.

In addition, the internet cafes in the market were smoky and had poor hygiene. In the summer, the stench of sweat, feet, and farts would come in turn, creating a pungent and unpleasant smell. So he never stayed there for long.

Later, unable to bear it any longer, he simply stopped going. Back in his dorm, he would often use this as a negative example to complain to Anna, reminding her to maintain good hygiene and ventilation in the internet cafe.

Using these examples to warn Anna seemed somewhat unnecessary. She had been managing the internet cafe in the dormitory for several months, keeping the indoor environment clean, bright, and orderly every day.

The internet cafe has been doing well since it opened, and Caihua and Zhou Dali bought a few more computers before returning to China for summer vacation. Now they only care about the money and leave everything else to Anna, rarely even concerning themselves with other employees or paying salaries.

While diligently running the internet cafe, Anna's small clothing stall maintained its original size and sales speed. Natasha would come to the market every week to buy three to five bundles of pants. If it wasn't too late to pick them up that day, she would stay with Hu Yi in the boxes for a while, and then they would go home together.

Hu Yi has been at the market almost every day for the past six months, and he's become quite familiar with the box vendors around him. Now that Fu Jiahui trusts him to look after the boxes, they naturally trust him more as well.

The owners of goods don't have much to do in the market. Shipping and receiving payment can be completed in just a few hours. The only time-consuming part is waiting to pick up the goods.

Most of the bosses are restless people. Every afternoon, after remitting money back to China, they think about enjoying life. Some want to go out and gamble, some want to go home and play computer games, some want to find girls and have a good time, and some want to have a few drinks and rest early.

The ideas were all wonderful, but if the truck arrived late that day, they would always have something on their minds, and they couldn't enjoy themselves or rest in peace.

Now that people have noticed Hu Yi waiting at the market every day, rain or shine, to pick up his goods, some have started to imitate Uncle Yu's practice, asking him to help them bring their goods along. Of course, in addition to Bacha's wages and various toll fees, a taxi fare of 500 rubles per trip is also unavoidable.

Since it required little effort and offered the opportunity to earn extra money, Hu Yi naturally accepted any such request. As the nighttime pickup agent for several cargo owners in the vicinity, he often picked up thirty or forty packages of goods in a single night, quickly becoming the biggest customer and a rising star in the eyes of the parking lot vendors.

Now, whenever he appears in the parking lot at night, a group of Bachas immediately swarm around him, vying for his services. Hu Yi always greets Yabalov and his friends first, and then picks a few familiar faces or people he finds agreeable, depending on his needs.

After a while, he got too lazy to worry about it himself. Whenever there was a lot of cargo, he would give several shipping bills to Yabalov and ask him to arrange for someone to deliver the goods.

Although Yabalov was honest and straightforward, he had been in the market for a long time and had naturally learned some tricks of the trade. Bacha originally charged 100 rubles per package, but he negotiated down to 90, pocketing the extra 10 rubles for himself, and he never hid it from Hu Yi.

Hu Yi saw this and felt a little uncomfortable, but considering that Yabalov was a pitiful poor man who had been diligently delivering goods for him, he didn't say anything.

Unexpectedly, after several nighttime pickups, Yabalov approached Huy with two thousand rubles: "Anton, this is your money."

"What?" Hu Yi stared blankly, "What money?"

"I've been saving you money these past few days." Yabalov pulled a small notebook from his breast pocket, a slightly smug,憨厚 smile on his face. "The people I arranged saved you ten rubles per package. Since it was too small a sum, I rounded it up before bringing it to you. Here are the records for each time; you can check them."

"The money you saved for me??" Hu Yi was inexplicably moved and pushed the money and notebook back to him one by one: "No need, Abba. You can keep this money for yourself, I don't need it."

"I'll stay?" Yabalov's mouth dropped open. "It's all your money!"

"It's not mine, it's... many people's." Hu Yi felt there was no need to explain further, and shook his head with a smile, "Anyway, this is the wages for transporting the goods. Whoever can save money keeps it, understand?"

Yabalov scratched his head with a pained expression and mumbled softly, "Can...can I really stay?"

"Of course you can! If I say you can, then you can."

"Alright, then," Yabalov hesitated for a moment, then took out a thousand rubles and handed them to Hu Yi: "We'll each take half."

(End of this chapter)