My hometown is far away in Moscow.

Chapter 64 The Spice Vendor and the Rock Singer

Chapter 64 The Spice Vendor and the Rock Singer

Hu Yi walked to the table with a smile, handing over his passport, student ID, and a stack of photocopies and application materials: "Hello, I am a newly enrolled first-year student and would like to move into Building 10."

Little Ma slowly sat down, propped himself up on one leg, quickly glanced at the documents, then looked at Hu Yi with a playful expression. Suddenly, he grinned and chuckled a few times in a hoarse voice, appearing very happy.

Hu Yi naturally knew why he was laughing, and smiled without changing his expression, "You can just call me Anton."

Realizing his behavior was impolite, Ma quickly touched his nose, then apologetically lifted his backside and shook hands firmly with him: "I'm Maxim. Good evening, Anton."

"So you're also surnamed Ma." Hu Yi chuckled inwardly, then nodded and said, "Good evening."

Little Ma reviewed his materials again, then casually looked up and asked, "What kind of room do you want to stay in?" "What kind?" Hu Yi murmured, repeating himself, and casually replied, "Then—something nice, I guess."

Little Ma frowned and smiled: "Everyone wants a good room. What kind of room is considered good?" Before Hu Yi could answer, he wrote down two room numbers on a piece of paper and handed it to him: "School starts soon, and there aren't many rooms left. Go take a look at these two rooms and pick one you like."

The dormitory rooms at Yu-Nan University are similar to those in the Maji dormitory, but the difference is that each suite has two bedrooms, one large and one small. Room A, the larger room, accommodates three people, while Room B, the smaller room, accommodates two people. There is no kitchen in the suite, and the bathroom and toilet are separate, with a bathtub available for soaking.

Little Ma had written down "three-person rooms" on the paper. Hu Yi arrived at the first room and gently knocked a few times. After a moment, the sound of a bedroom door opening came from inside, followed by a soft male voice asking through the door, "Who is it?"

Before Hu Yi could answer, the door opened. A strong aroma of spices wafted out, making him wrinkle his nose. Standing inside was a chubby South Asian young man with dark skin, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, and a soft, sweet voice: "Who are you looking for?"

"I'm a freshman, and the administrator assigned me to this room." Hu Yi smiled politely. "May I come in and take a look?"

"You live here?" The young man hesitated for a moment, then reluctantly turned and went back into the house. "Come and see."

Hu Yi followed him into the room and saw a thin young man with a similar complexion and appearance to the fat young man sitting at the writing desk, writing furiously under the lamp. The thin young man must have heard their conversation; he turned his face lifelessly and nodded slightly to Hu Yi, his eyes filled with sorrow.

Feeling unwelcome, Hu Yi took the initiative and said, "I'm Chinese. You're from India, right?"

The chubby young man gave Hu Yi a deep look and said softly, "Pakistan."

"Oh!" Hu Yi was a little embarrassed and quickly turned to look at the room: "Inside—inside—goodness, it's quite crowded."

The room was supposed to be a triple room, but it was already extremely crowded with only two people living there. Apart from two beds, two writing desks, and a small dining table, the rest of the room was filled with all sorts of odds and ends, making it difficult to even find a place for two people to stand side by side.

Hu Yi turned to look at the chubby young man: "Why are there only two beds? Where's the other one?"

The chubby young man leaned against the wall with his hands behind his back and shook his head: "There aren't any more. Find another one yourself."

Hu Yi said with a wry smile, "Even if I found a bed, there's nowhere to put it!"

The chubby young man shrugged, a hint of smugness flashing across his face: "There really isn't any room."

Seeing his expression, Hu Yi was a little displeased. He crossed his arms, walked to the wall, pointed to a stack of boxes under a tattered bed sheet, and asked, "Could you move these things a bit?"

The skinny young man said coldly, "No, those are all my books."

"What about those?" Hu Yi pointed to several large cardboard boxes against another wall, filled with plastic bags of all sizes, with unreadable writing on them.

"That won't do either." The chubby young man adjusted his glasses and stammered, "That's ours—"

goods."

"Goods?!" Hu Yi squeezed through the crowd and peeked inside. It turned out that the contents were various seasonings, and the aroma of spices that filled the room was coming from there.

"Yes, you can buy from us if you need," the chubby young man said timidly with a smile. "It's very cheap."

With these boxes of spices fuming the air, even if there were beds in the room, it would be uninhabitable. Hu Yichong, the chubby young man, smiled, turned around, and went out to find a second room.

From a distance, he could faintly hear a frenzied singing and playing of guitar coming from ahead. As he approached, he saw that the door to the room was open, and the guitar music and singing were coming from the bedroom.

Hu Yi knocked on the bedroom door, and a Black woman wearing baggy pants and a tight T-shirt opened it: "Hello?"

"Hello." Hu Yichi paused for a moment, "I'm new here. The manager said there are still empty beds in this room."

The singing and guitar music stopped abruptly. The girl paused slightly, then firmly shook her head and said, "That's all. This room is already full."

"Fully booked?" Hu Yi looked at the paper in his hand, then at the number on the gate: "But the manager said—"

'

"It's really full." The girl interrupted him, stepping aside to let him in. "Come and see for yourself."

Hu Yi stepped into the room and saw two beds, one large and one small, against the wall, with a dirty curtain hanging between them. Two black men sat on the bed, staring blankly at him. The one with a guitar in his arms had a filthy braid, and the other was shirtless, holding a wooden spatula upside down in his hand, which looked like he was using it as a microphone.

"Look, one, two, three, exactly three people." The girl shrugged. "There really isn't enough room."

Hu Yi looked at her with some skepticism: "You—live here too?"

"Of course," the girl pointed to the dreadlocks, "He's my boyfriend."

"Okay." Hu Yi awkwardly retreated. "The administrator might have made a mistake. I'll go ask him."

"Please wait a minute!" The girl seemed to have just remembered something and followed Hu Yi into the corridor. "Please don't tell the building manager, okay?"

Why?

"Actually, I didn't check in. If you tell the manager, I'll definitely be kicked out." The Black girl pleaded, "Please, just tell me you don't like this room, okay?"

"OK." Hu Yi readily agreed. In truth, even without this girl, he didn't want to share a room with two rock singers.

The Black girl thanked him repeatedly and turned to go back inside. Hu Yi wandered aimlessly through the hallway for a few steps, when he suddenly heard a familiar "rustling" sound coming from a nearby room, accompanied by a few words of Chinese spoken at an uncontrolled volume.

Hu Yi's curiosity was piqued. Seeing that the door to the room was open, he casually walked in and peeked into the bedroom. In the middle of the room was a square table, around which four Chinese students were playing mahjong. The sounds he had heard earlier were from them shuffling the tiles. On a table against the wall were two computers, and two people wearing headphones and holding mice sat upright, seemingly playing Counter-Strike on the screen.

The person facing the door saw Hu Yi, looked up, squinted, and asked, "Hey? Who is it?"