My hometown is far away in Moscow.

Chapter 274 Feifei and Baoqing

"Wow, Feifei, you're keeping it a secret from me?" Hu Yi enthusiastically beckoned to Xiang Nan, "Come on, tell me what's going on?"

"They met online a while ago—hey, this is completely different from what happened with my Dongzi. Feifei talks to him on the phone every few days, and that guy even came to see her last month!"

"Really! What kind of young man is he? Is he handsome?"

"I think...it's alright, just a little dark-skinned, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder," Xiang Nan said with a smile, covering her mouth. "He's Malaysian, and I heard he's a fruit business owner."

"He's a Malaysian Chinese. His family sells fruit in Malaysia, and he's studying in St. Petersburg." Yu Feifei's face flushed slightly. "I didn't mean to keep it a secret. It's just that I haven't seen you lately. Besides, I've only met him once, and we're not... not completely settled yet."

"Okay, okay, it's not too late for me to know. Sigh, this is a long-distance relationship both international and domestic, that must be tough." Hu Yi grinned, then added with a hint of worry, "Is that person reliable? Will there be any problems?"

"We've talked quite a bit online and on the phone, and it seems to be going well," Yu Feifei said, regaining her usual calm demeanor. "I'm planning to go to St. Petersburg in a while to see him again."

"Then you'd better be careful, lest you get swindled out of your money and your virtue!" Hu Yi laughed, raising his glass. "But I believe in your intelligence; finding someone you love is ultimately a good thing. Come on, let's toast Feifei, congratulations!"

The group raised their glasses, clinked them together, and each drank them down in one gulp. Hu Yi put down his glass, looked thoughtfully at Yu Feifei, and sighed, "It seems... Li Baoqing is finally... hehe... finally free."

Xiang Nan and Xia Yan weren't very familiar with Li Baoqing, so they turned to Natasha and started chatting about other things. Yu Feifei lowered her eyes sadly: "Baoqing...sigh. I...don't know what to do, I feel really sorry for him."

"You don't need to think like that." Hu Yi slowly shook his head: "These things... can't be forced. This kid is just in love with someone he doesn't like."

"But I feel a little guilty." Yu Feifei turned her head to look out the window and sighed softly, "After all... after all, we came to Moscow together, and I've always considered you two as my best friends. But in recent years, he's just been very good to me... to me, without ever explicitly saying anything, and I could only pretend not to understand. Now... I don't even know how to bring it up."

"Don't worry," Hu Yi said with a carefree wave of his hand. "I can pass on your message and tell him to give up on that idea as soon as possible."

"You're going to say it for me?" Yu Feifei bit her lip. "That's not a good idea. I should explain it to him myself."

"That's true." Hu Yi hesitated for a moment, then picked up two slices of red sausage and threw them into his mouth. "But it's best to get this done as soon as possible. The sooner the better... no, a short pain is worse than a long one... sigh! Actually, it doesn't matter. He's been thinking about you for so many years, so a month or two later won't make a difference!"

"Hmm... I can't let it go now that you've brought it up." Yu Feifei's expression was complicated, a mix of helplessness, difficulty, and reluctance: "If he hadn't been busy and couldn't come, I really would have told him tonight, so I wouldn't... keep having this on my mind."

"Yeah." Hu Yi snapped his fingers and picked up his phone. "His business should be finished. I'll call him and ask him to come over for a drink."

"Now? No, no, it's the middle of the night." Yu Feifei raised her hand to check her watch. "It's almost eleven o'clock. Natasha should be resting by now, right? We should go back too."

Hu Yi nodded and smiled, "Okay. Eat some more, then I'll drive you home."

"No need to trouble yourself, it's such a long way, we can just take a taxi." Yu Feifei and the others sat for a while longer, helped tidy up the room, and then got up to say goodbye. Hu Yi and Natasha had just seen them off when their phone rang.

"Wow, look at that! That's what you call telepathy!" Hu Yi laughed and handed the phone to Yu Feifei: "Baoqing's calling, do you want to say a few words to him?"

Yu Feifei hesitated for a moment: "Um...no, I think I'll talk to him alone another day."

"Okay." Hu Yi answered the phone as he went downstairs: "Feeding? All done?"

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone. Li Baoqing breathed a sigh of relief and slowly squeezed out two words: "It's over."

"Heh, not bad, what are you pretending to be, kid?" Hu Yi laughed. "What's up? Shall we find you a place to calm your nerves tomorrow? To celebrate you escaping danger again?"

"There's nothing to celebrate," Li Baoqing chuckled softly, his voice unusually calm. "I mean, I'm finished."

"Huh? What?" Hu Yi slowed his pace, stunned. "You said... what's over? What do you mean?"

"I'm...I'm finished." Li Baoqing smiled wearily. "My goods are gone. I'm doomed."

"Gone?! Where did it go?!" A chill ran through Hu Yi's heart. He stammered, "You...you weren't you supposed to be picking up the goods? No, how could it be gone?! There must be a mistake! Wasn't it supposed to be destroyed tomorrow? What about the others?"

Yu Feifei and the others who were ahead had already gone down the stairs and outside. They were all startled when they heard the sound and turned around to stare blankly at Hu Yi.

"It's all over." Li Baoqing's tone was almost monotone. "We were robbed, we lost everything, we lost everything."

Hu Yi's body trembled, and his phone nearly slipped from his hand: "Robbed...robbed? Who? Who did it?"

"They're bandits."

"Bandits?! What on earth is going on?!"

"Don't ask any more questions. In short, we're completely finished this time." Li Baoqing groaned softly, seemingly in great pain. "Come and get me. I can't move much right now."

"Okay! Where are you?" Hu Yi turned around, went upstairs to get his car keys, and then rushed back down: "Where are you hurt? Is it serious? Do you need to go to the hospital?"

"No, no, it's just a slight bump on my lower back, I'm a little weak." Li Baoqing chuckled weakly in a low voice, "Old Hu—"

"what?"

"You missed the last time I got shot, but this time I'll give you a chance to pay your respects properly."

"Shut your stinking mouth! Just wait here!" Hu Yi hurriedly ran to the car and briefly explained to Xiang Nan and the others who had chased after him, "You guys go back to the dorm, I'm going to find Li Baoqing."

"I'll go with you." Xia Yan walked around to the passenger side and opened the door. "It's too late, I don't want anything to happen. Besides, Brother Li is tall and strong, it's not easy for you to handle him alone."

"I'm going too!" Yu Feifei's eyes were glazed over, and she was unusually panicked. "Baoqing, he won't be in any trouble, will he?"

"It should be fine." Hu Yi looked at her intently. "It's the middle of the night, you shouldn't go. What if something unexpected happens again..."

Yu Feifei shook her head vigorously, opened the door, and got into the car. Natasha, not fully aware of the situation, hurriedly stepped forward and grabbed Hu Yi's hand: "Anton, is there any danger?"

"It's alright, there's no danger, don't worry." Hu Yi smiled slightly at her, "I have to go to the market to open my stall early tomorrow morning, you should go to sleep first."

"I'll wait for you to come back." Seeing that Xia Yan had already gotten into the car, Natasha reached out and pulled Xiang Nan to her side: "Let Nan Nan stay at home and wait too."

"Okay, okay." Hu Yi patted Xiang Nan's head twice. "Don't worry, we'll be back soon."

"Okay, bro, be careful." Xiang Nan bent down and called into the car, "Xia Yan! Sister Fei Fei, be careful!"

Hu Yichong waved to Natasha, opened the door, got into the car, and sped north.

Near the ring road in northeastern Moscow, Li Baoqing leaned against a tree by the roadside, utterly despondent yet calm. Not because his self-control had reached a state of perfection, but because he simply lacked the strength to stir up any more trouble. Both his body and mind had been utterly defeated in the mere ten minutes that had passed.

Everything was going smoothly tonight. The group of them waited early on the roadside, about a hundred meters away from the cargo destruction site, watching as a large fleet of container trucks brought in the sealed boxes, piling them up densely in a large open area of ​​the cargo yard.

After waiting anxiously for several hours, darkness gradually fell. Law enforcement officers in various uniforms left one after another, leaving only a small number of guards to watch over the cargo yard.

"Is it almost ready?" After waiting for another ten minutes or so, Li Baoqing impatiently leaned out of the car window. He was the youngest and most impatient of the group.

"Don't worry, wait for our notification." Li Baoqing's boss gripped his phone tightly. "There are other people coming to pick up the goods through various channels, so we might need to coordinate things. Yuri will call us when it's our turn."

Before he could finish speaking, several lights suddenly came on again in the freight yard, which had just been quiet. After a flurry of activity, many trailers that hadn't unloaded their cargo started up one after another, forming a long queue and slowly driving toward the freight yard gate.

The gate reopened, and trucks began to leave the freight yard in batches. Li Baoqing watched as the cars parked nearby disappeared into the darkness, following their respective convoys. He was burning with anxiety: "Isn't it our turn yet? It'll be soon, won't it?"

"It should be soon." Before the boss could finish speaking, his phone rang loudly. The call that everyone in the car had been eagerly waiting for finally came through.

"Yes, okay, okay. Got it, thanks." The boss's broken Russian conveyed a sense of ease and joy as he patted Li Baoqing on the shoulder: "Our goods are almost ready, get on board!"

(End of this chapter)