My hometown is far away in Moscow.

Chapter 240 Deputy Director Andrei

"What? The phone's ringing?" The policewoman was startled, turned around, and whispered, pressing her index finger to her lips, "Shh! Don't talk! Be quiet!"

The residents in the hall immediately fell silent, glancing around nervously, but all they could hear was the thin policeman muttering in the distance as he turned over in bed, "So annoying... Ring ring... Ring ring... Ugh... Quiet now..."

The policewoman picked up Hu Yi's phone, pressed a couple of buttons, dialed the number again, and then, while gesturing for the others to remain quiet, jumped off the table and walked towards the thin policeman. Hu Yi followed her quietly for a few steps, vaguely hearing the ringing of a cell phone coming from behind a half-open door.

The policewoman pushed open the door, and the ringing became clearer. Behind the door was a corridor with several offices on either side. They followed the sound to the far end of the corridor, next to an office with a sign on the door that read "Deputy Director: Andrei Mikhailov." The phone was ringing from this room.

"Are you looking for our Andrei?" The policewoman smiled at Hu Yi, raising an eyebrow, and knocked heavily on the door a few times. "Andrei! Are you there? It's Elena."

No one answered. The policewoman put her ear to the door and listened for a moment, then gently turned the doorknob.

The door wasn't locked. She stepped inside, frowning and covering her nose. "I'm in... Good heavens! This is a nightmare! What's wrong with you all... Who is this?!"

Hu Yi quickly peeked inside from behind her and saw that the spacious office was in a mess, reeking of alcohol, with a glass bottle and several plates of food on a small coffee table.

A thin, middle-aged man in sportswear was reclining on an old sofa against the wall next to the coffee table. Opposite him, a chair was overturned on the floor, and next to it, a chubby boy was fast asleep with his head on the ground and his butt sticking out. It was Xiao Linzi.

"Xiao Linzi!" Hu Yi was overjoyed. He rushed over, helped up the chair, and nudged Xiao Linzi. "Wake up! Damn! You were sleeping so soundly! Get up! Hey! What's wrong with you?"

The policewoman quickly walked to the window, drew back the curtains, opened the window, and then returned to the sofa, gently calling to the middle-aged man, "Andrei, what are you doing here? Get up, Andrei!"

The middle-aged man was completely unaware. The policewoman held his head and shook it a few times, then shouted in his ear, "Andrei!!!"

"Huh?" Officer Andrei's lips moved, uttering a single word lightly, his eyelids barely opening a crack: "Who...me..."

"Where? Your office!" The policewoman was both angry and amused, gesturing to the round-faced men who had rushed over upon hearing the commotion: "Quick, get him some cold water."

Andrei finally regained some consciousness, but Xiao Linzi remained unconscious. Hu Yi slapped him hard across the face a few times, then shouted into his ear, "Xiao Linzi! Salty Fish! Lin Xianyu! Wake up!"

There was still no movement. If it weren't for Xiao Linzi still snoring softly, Hu Yizhen would have thought he was dead.

A moment later, someone brought over half a basin of cold water, and everyone laughed and splashed it on Andrei to wake him up. Hu Yi also scooped up a handful and poured it on Xiao Linzi's face.

"Ouch...oh...oh...I..." Xiao Linzi jolted awake, his eyes darting around with difficulty. He braced himself on the ground, then forced a stiff grin and said, "Brother Hu...how come you're here..."

"How did I get here?!" Hu Yi slapped him hard on the back of the head. "You idiot! What are you doing drinking so much?"

"Drink...no..." Xiao Linzi looked confused. "No...drink, right? Hmm...where are we...?"

"Damn, he blacked out already?" Hu Yi laughed and cried at the same time. He helped Xiao Linzi sit up slowly. Xiao Linzi was wearing pants and a t-shirt that were obviously too long, and he was also wearing an oversized police cotton coat. They must have been provided by Officer Andrei.

Officer Andrei had managed to sit up straight, supported by the policewoman and the round-faced man on either side of him, both wearing gloating expressions: "Hey, how much did you drink? How did you get so drunk?"

"How much? Not much." Officer Andrei's tongue still seemed to be numbed by the alcohol as he pointed unsteadily to a nearly half-full, thick glass bottle on the table: "Just... that..."

"Only half a bottle and it's already like this? It can't be that bad, can it?" The round-faced man picked up the bottle and brought it close to his eyes. There were no labels or writing on it; it looked like a 500ml glass IV bottle used in hospitals. He pulled out the stopper, took a sniff, and then frowned. "What kind of liquor is this! It's so strong!"

"This... okay." Andrei leaned unsteadily against the policewoman. "Chief Jima's... homemade wine..."

"Jima's homemade wine?! That's at least 90 proof!" The round-faced man picked up the bottle and shook it twice. "You drank most of it?!"

"No...no...there's...him! The two of us...together." Andrei pointed excitedly to the small grove on the ground, then suddenly saw Hu Yi and, with glazed eyes, exclaimed, "Huh? Who...is that man?!"

"They came from Moscow to find you!" The round-faced man and the policewoman explained the whole story in a flurry of words.

"Ah! It's you!" Andrei's eyes widened slightly. He looked up at the clock on the wall and muttered reproachfully, "It's past midnight. Why are you so late?"

Officer Andrei represented Abalensk in a tree-climbing competition in a neighboring town yesterday afternoon, successfully defeating his opponent and escaping unscathed.

Competition Day is a shared festival for both towns. The various contests are just for entertainment. Regardless of winning or losing, both sides will hold a lively banquet to celebrate all day long.

After his victory, Andrei lingered for a while, had a few drinks with his police colleagues from a neighboring town, and then drove home drunk. On the roadside, he encountered Xiao Linzi, who was scrambling out of the woods. After learning what had happened over the phone, he put a coat on the shivering Xiao Linzi and planned to take him back to town to wait for Hu Yi to pick him up.

However, as a local who had grown up in Abaryansk, he was well aware of the town's traditional competition day customs and knew that the villagers, after drinking, would not easily let go of the outsider who had come to visit that day. In order to avoid any trouble, as soon as he returned to town, he secretly took Kobayashi to his office and then went to the town square alone to participate in the celebration.

In Abaryansk, the day of the competition is as important as New Year's Day. Officer Andrei quickly became very drunk and didn't remember that someone was still locked in his office until he received a call from Hu Yi around 8 p.m.

Hu Yi had arranged to arrive an hour and a half later, so he spent the time in the square with everyone until 9:30 before grabbing a few plates of food and sneaking back to his office to wait for Hu Yi to come and pick him up.

Xiao Linzi was starving, so he grabbed the plate and wolfed it down. Andrei wanted to chat with him to pass the time, but Xiao Linzi's Russian was terrible, and no matter what he said, Xiao Linzi just stared blankly with his round eyes and shook his head.

Andrei suddenly felt bored and sat there for a while before craving wine again. So he took out the homemade wine that the director had given him from the cabinet, set out two wine glasses, and drank with Xiaolinzi.

Xiao Linzi had a good tolerance for alcohol and was quite bold with it. He didn't understand Andrei's explanation, but after raising his glass and smelling it, he thought it was ordinary vodka and started drinking it casually, sincerely thanking Andrei as he drank.

Unexpectedly, the homemade wine was extremely strong. When Xiao Linzi first drank it, he felt a burning sensation. After drinking only a few sips, he swayed and fell to the ground unconscious.

Andrei was already six or seven tenths drunk, but relying on his high alcohol tolerance, he loudly mocked Xiao Linzi while swaying and pouring himself a drink, quickly passing out drunk as well. The two of them lay there in the office, fast asleep, unresponsive to Hu Yi's repeated calls, until others arrived and splashed them awake.

(End of this chapter)