Courtyard House: My Wife is Xu Huizhen

Page 340

Because He Yuzhu was hiding behind the trash can, the other party didn't see him and assumed there was no one in the alley, so they dragged the little girl inside.

Because one of them had covered the girl's mouth, she could only make very soft sounds.

The two burly men were clearly drunk and wanted to have some fun. They were speaking rapidly in Russian, using a lot of slang, so much so that it was hard to understand. However, He Yuzhu could guess that they were praising the girl for being pretty and saying that she had really hit the jackpot today.

The little girl had golden hair and was struggling desperately after being taken hostage, but she couldn't break free from the strong man's arms. She could only kick her legs, but it was no use, and she was still dragged in.

He Yuzhu finally shuddered, turned off the tap, and put it away.

What a ridiculous situation! I just came here to relieve myself, and I never expected to encounter something like this.

No matter what, the other person was a young girl, and although she looked like a typical Russian, he couldn't get over that hurdle in his heart.

If it hadn't happened, it wouldn't have been a problem; these kinds of things happen all the time. But it happened right in front of me, and I couldn't just ignore it.

When the other person came closer, they were surprised to find a Chinese person standing in the trash can.

He Yuzhu shouted, "Stop!"

Of course, it was in Russian, but the intonation was a bit peculiar, and you could clearly hear that it was a foreigner's accent.

Since they're not native speakers, their language always sounds a bit strange, which is quite noticeable. It would take three to five years of practice to sound like a local.

To He Yuzhu's surprise, the two burly Russian men didn't react at all; instead, it was the little girl who shouted in broken Chinese, "Help!"

He Yuzhu was almost speechless with astonishment; he hadn't expected the other person to speak Chinese.

“It’s actually a Chinese person,” one of the Russians said in Russian.

Another burly Russian man casually pulled out a dagger and lunged at He Yuzhu.

Because he was drunk, he was swaying unsteadily and his lower body was very weak, making him look like an ordinary person who had never practiced martial arts.

He Yuzhu took a step forward, raised his foot, and delivered a flying kick to the opponent's stomach. The opponent screamed, spat out a mouthful of blood in mid-air, and then crashed into the wall behind him, spitting out another mouthful of blood before sliding down the wall.

Then, clutching his stomach with both hands, he struggled and was in so much pain that he couldn't get up at all.

This was all thanks to He Yuzhu holding back his strength. Otherwise, a normal kick would have shattered a person's internal organs and caused their ribs to collapse.

That would result in someone's death, and things would become much more complicated.

The outcome was beyond their expectations. The pretty girl, who had been released by the Russian, covered her mouth with her hands in surprise and exclaimed, "My God! My God!"

Although He Yuzhu is tall among Chinese people, he looks much thinner than the Russians.

Moreover, in her understanding, Chinese people are generally shorter and not as strong as Russian men.

But the fact that she witnessed He Yuzhu kick a burly man so hard that he vomited blood and couldn't even get up shows that the power of that kick was beyond her imagination.

It's truly astonishing. If I could have taken down the second burly man, I wouldn't have been humiliated today, and this young man in front of me would have saved me.

At this moment, the burly man who had released the young woman first dropped the dagger, then pulled out a pistol from his waist and pointed it at He Yuzhu.

He started by swearing, then said, "Don't move, lie still on the ground."

The young woman saw a figure flash before her eyes and then saw He Yuzhu suddenly start moving, rushing forward quickly. Before the burly man could react, she had already snatched his pistol and then crashed into his arms.

She was a small person who bumped into a tall person, but the result was beyond her expectations.

The burly man was thrown into the air as if he had been hit by a truck. Like the first burly man, he crashed into the wall, coughed up blood, and then slid down.

He Yuzhu tucked the pistol into his waistband, picked up the two daggers from the ground, walked up to the burly man, and kicked each of them in the head, knocking them both unconscious.

The young woman, now certain she was saved, exclaimed happily, "Thank you, sir, for saving my life!"

He Yuzhu said, "This is not the place to talk. Let's leave here first."

"Okay, you're right. Let's leave now. I'll never come to this place again."

The two left the alley and stood by the roadside again. The young woman led them to the side and said, "Sir, thank you for saving me. My rented house is not far from here. How about you come to my place for a drink?"

"Aren't you afraid I might be a bad person too?" He Yuzhu asked with a smile, speaking in Russian, of course.

"Actually, I can speak Chinese too. I studied translation in school and am fluent in several languages, but my Chinese isn't very good."

After the pretty girl finished speaking, she said, "I believe you are not a bad person, otherwise you would not have saved me. If you were a bad person, you would have just colluded with them."

"makes sense."

The blonde woman asked, "Are you new to Moscow? Don't you have a place to stay?"

"Why would you ask that?" He Yuzhu did not give a direct answer.

"Because foreigners almost never go out at night; they just stay in their hotels."

He Yuzhu now understood why so many people had been staring at him curiously while he was on the road, especially during meals when even more people were looking at him.

I thought there were very few Chinese people here and they were just curious. It seems that the ordinary residents don't have a good attitude towards foreigners, so all the outsiders are afraid to come out.

President Qi had mentioned it once before, reminding me to try to go out less at night. At the time, I didn't quite understand, thinking he didn't want me to get into any accidents.

"So that's how it is. Don't you think you know too much?" He Yuzhu said, frowning.

"Don't worry, I won't say anything. You saved my life, and I'll keep your secret."

"You're overthinking it. I'm actually here to do business."

He Yuzhu would certainly not admit to having done anything illegal; who knows what kind of background this woman has?

Having learned from his previous experience, He Yuzhu will no longer trust anyone from Russia this time.

"I don't care who you are, all I know is that you saved me from those villains, you are my savior."

Chapter 249 Iron Pillar

He Yuzhu asked, "Are you a student?"

"Yes, I'm a third-year university student majoring in translation." The blonde woman said this in Chinese.

Then she asked, "Sir, my name is Natasha."

"Natasha, that's a nice name. You can just call me Pillar."

He Yuzhu asked a few questions and learned that although Natasha was a student, she did not live on campus, but rented a house here and would do odd jobs to supplement her living expenses.

I came home late from work today and ran into those two drunk men, which led to an unpleasant incident.

Is the security situation this bad here?

Natasha said, "It's usually fine, but as you know, Muscovites like to drink, men and women, young and old, so drunk people are more likely to do illegal things."

He Yuzhu nodded. No matter how good the public security management is, there's nothing that can be done when you encounter a drunkard. He could only say, "Then you'd better change jobs. You can't stay up this late."

"Thank you for your suggestion, I will consider it."

After chatting for a few minutes, the two soon arrived at a five-story residential building.

The house is relatively new; it looks like it was built in the last few years.

Natasha proudly introduced, "This is the Khrushchev Building. He's the one who promoted it. Now, all over the city, people are building these new-style buildings."

He Yuzhu had read in the newspapers that the previous leader, Stalin, liked to build very tall buildings, and had built many skyscrapers in Moscow, each one more exquisite than the last.

After Khrushchev came to power in 53, he vigorously promoted this new type of residential building.

These buildings, known as the "Khrushchev Houses," solved the housing problems of a large number of Moscow residents, allowing them to move from basements, sheds, dilapidated houses, and overcrowded shared housing to new homes.

It is worth mentioning that these buildings are assembled using a factory-modular assembly method, meaning that individual houses are first produced in a factory and then transported to the location and assembled.

The factories in Moscow operate in three shifts, manufacturing building walls, floor slabs, and interior partitions on assembly lines, in a standardized manner.

Precast concrete slabs are transported to various construction sites by precast concrete transport vehicles from Moscow transport companies.

In just two or three days, a five-story residential building can be erected.

To reduce construction costs and ensure timely completion, most of the residential buildings adopted prefabricated slab structures, lacked elevators and garbage chutes, and eliminated the arches and colonnades popular during the Stalin era. The size of kitchens, bathrooms, lobbies, and corridors was strictly controlled. It is said that Khrushchev himself was very proud of the small bathroom design, boasting that as long as it could fit him, no one else would have a problem.

Natasha led He Yuzhu upstairs, opened the door, and after entering, He Yuzhu first toured the room. Although the room was not large, it was quite functional, with a kitchen and a bathroom, which could meet people's daily living needs.

Compared to the increasingly common tenement buildings in China, this is already much more advanced.

Tong Zhi's dormitory at the heavy machinery factory was a standard tenement building, with a long row of buildings and multiple staircases, next to which was a public water pool.

There is a bathroom on each floor, which means that none of the houses have a bathroom or kitchen.

Cooking involves fetching water from the communal water tank, setting up a stove in the passageway in front of the door, and cooking directly.

At night, they use chamber pots or go directly to public toilets.

After Tong Zhi got married, the factory only allocated him a house, which was only a little over 10 square meters, no more than 15 square meters.

Natasha rented a one-bedroom apartment, which had a bedroom, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a small living room, but no entryway. The total area was over 20 square meters.

Compared to the back room, it's not too bad, but the room is relatively low, only about 2.8 meters high, which makes it feel a bit cramped.

However, it's enough for one person to live alone.

Although the living room was small, it was decorated very warmly. While He Yuzhu was still looking at Natasha, she took out a bottle of wine and two wine glasses from the wine cabinet.

Then he raised his hand to signal, opened the bottle, and poured the wine into it.

He put down the bottle, picked it up, and handed one of the glasses to He Yuzhu.

"Thank you for saving me, cheers."

After saying that, he tilted his head back and drank all the wine in his glass, then sat on the small sofa and poured more wine into his glass.