My hometown is far away in Moscow.

Chapter 77 Searching for People

Chapter 77 Searching for People

Sister Sun breathed a sigh of relief: "Thanks to you, we'll treat them to a nice meal tonight, and everyone's spirits will be higher. The group meals these days have really been inadequate."

"Don't worry, I'll treat you to something nice tonight," Hu Yi said with a smile. "Since you're in Moscow, why don't you take a stroll? I'll walk slowly along the street, and call me if you need anything."

"Okay." Sister Sun glanced at the tourists scattered around and instructed, "Go wait for them under the statue, I'll follow behind."

Hu Yi agreed and strolled leisurely along the street. The group's itinerary for the day was nearing its end, and in retrospect, he felt it had gone quite smoothly. He was also quite satisfied with his performance, especially the dinner arrangements. They not only provided everyone with a good meal, but Huang Hai also took care of a few tables of guests, and he could also visit Lao Wei and the others. It was a win-win situation.

In a fleeting glance, Hu Yi saw the middle-aged professor and the Northeastern woman arguing about something at a roadside stall. Recalling their lively behavior along the way, Hu Yi couldn't help but smile: the two of them, one male and one female, one tall and one short, one fat and one thin, one carefree, bold and outspoken, the other talkative, serious and old-fashioned, were simply a pair of clowns, two extremes, which added a lot of fun to the day.

Hu Yi's mind raced through the day's events, and before he knew it, he had arrived at the statue next to Pushkin's birthplace. He deliberately walked a few dozen meters ahead to make sure no other tourists from his group had gone past before turning back to light a cigarette, taking a leisurely puff, and tilting his head back to squint and carefully examine the statue.

He had seen the statue twice before, but only briefly. He remembered it as a scene of Pushkin and his wife attending a grand ceremony hand in hand. But upon closer inspection today, he realized that their hands were not touching, but rather intertwined, seemingly alluding to their unhappy marriage.

"So this statue had a hidden secret," Hu Yi muttered, circling the statue a few times. With a slightly sympathetic smile, he patted Pushkin's cold knees. Feeling a bit tired, he lazily sat down on the base beneath the statue to rest.

After sitting there for half a day, the tourists in the group gradually arrived at the meeting point, taking photos and chatting and laughing in front of the statue. Sister Sun, walking at the back, saw Hu Yi and asked, "Is everyone here?"

Hu Yi was taken aback: "No, I've been counting, there are two short."

Sister Sun went through the tourist roster and, sure enough, two people were missing: "Hey, where's that elderly couple from Dezhou?"

Hu Yi immediately remembered the elderly couple who spoke with a northwestern Shandong accent, and quickly looked around: "Yes, I haven't seen them at all."

"Hasn't we gone too far?"

"Impossible." Hu Yi shook his head firmly: "I'm fast on foot, I'm definitely ahead of them."

"I haven't seen them along the way; they probably went into a store." Sister Sun stared in the direction they came from. "Let's wait a little while."

Ten minutes passed, and Hu Yi was getting a little anxious. He stood next to the statue, smoking one cigarette after another, and occasionally stood on tiptoe to look into the distance.

Twenty minutes passed, and the guests in the group stopped chatting and anxiously searched for the elderly couple in the surrounding crowd.

Sister Sun started to worry: "Oh dear, have they gotten lost?"

Hu Yi also became nervous: "Should I go look for it?"

"I'll go too," Sister Sun said worriedly. "Please, whatever you do, nothing bad happens."

Hu Yi hesitated and said, "I'll go by myself. You stay here and watch over the others."

Sister Sun looked at him, then at the others, clearly hesitant. The middle-aged professor volunteered, "Little Sun, you stay here with the others, I'll go with Little Hu."

Hu Yi was in a dilemma: "No, no, if you get lost again, I really don't know what to do."

"No! I'll stay right beside you, not leaving your side for a moment!" the professor said seriously. "An extra person means an extra pair of eyes, and besides, I wear glasses, so my eyesight is excellent."

The three were still undecided when the woman from Northeast China stepped forward, patting her chest confidently: "All three of you go! Little Sun, don't worry, I'll take care of these people! I guarantee they'll be safe and sound, not a single one will be missing!"

"Okay!" Sister Sun didn't have time to say anything more and hurriedly followed Hu Yi and the professor downstairs.

The three of them divided the work and searched as they walked. Hu Yi was responsible for searching for pedestrians on the road, while Sister Sun and the professor checked the shops on both sides of the road. They walked all the way to the street corner where they had just parted ways, but did not see the two old people.

Sister Sun looked dejected, muttering repeatedly, "It's all over, so embarrassing, so embarrassing!"

Hu Yi was extremely anxious and glanced at Sister Sun with dissatisfaction: "How can you still be thinking about whether you're embarrassing yourself at a time like this? We need to find them first!"

"No, that's not what I meant!" Sister Sun said urgently, "I meant we lost our guests!"

"Don't worry, let's look again." Hu Yi comforted Sister Sun, but he was also at a loss and could only walk aimlessly along the road, with the other two following closely behind him.

Sister Sun remained silent, her face contorted with grief. The professor muttered to himself, "Strange, so strange. Although they are unfamiliar with this place and cannot communicate with other foreigners, these two elderly people should have considerable social experience, be very lucid, and have no cognitive impairments. How could they have gotten lost for no reason? This doesn't make sense; there must be some special reason."

Annoyed by his nagging, Hu Yi quickened his pace. Crossing the road, he came upon a subway station entrance that looked vaguely familiar. He paused briefly, remembering that this was the very subway station where the police had taken him back to Maji after the skinhead attack last year.

The memory of that incident sent a chill down Hu Yi's spine. He stared blankly at the subway entrance that stretched downwards for a moment, then looked up to check his direction and said to Sister Sun and the professor, "Wait for me here! Don't move!" With that, he turned and ran.

"Hey! Wait a minute!" The two were stunned. The professor said sternly, "I'm going with him! Xiao Sun, you wait here!"

"Don't go!" Sister Sun hurriedly reached out to pull him back, but the professor had already strode several meters away with his long legs. She stamped her foot in frustration and had no choice but to sling her backpack over her shoulder and chase after him.

Hu Yi ran straight to the police station where he had been taken. A short, stocky policewoman was leisurely smoking outside. When she looked up and saw a Chinese man rushing towards her in a panic, she quickly asked, "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Hello! I, I," Hu Yi took a moment to catch his breath, "Has any violence occurred near Albat?"

"Now? No." The policewoman gave him a suspicious look and added, "Not even today."