My hometown is far away in Moscow.

015 Trendy New Hairstyles

The older woman was intently wielding the scissors, muttering to herself, "Don't talk, I'm going to give you a cool new hairstyle, you just need to wait patiently."

Hu Yi didn't quite understand, but since half of it was already cut, he couldn't just get up and leave. Unable to communicate, he could only watch with pursed lips. Later, unable to bear it any longer, he simply closed his eyes and let his older sister do as she pleased.

Half an hour later, the older sister finally finished her work. Hu Yi opened his eyes with trembling hands and saw that his once handsome side-parted hairstyle had become extremely silly. He couldn't tell if it was a mushroom cut or a bowl cut. His head looked like it was covered with a thin steel helmet, making it incredibly round.

That's a minor issue. What's even more outrageous is that the bangs on her forehead were cut into zebra stripes, neatly and squarely pasted on her forehead, making it look like she had Pigsy's nine-toothed rake hanging on her forehead from a distance.

Looking at his sideburns again, they had also been neatly trimmed into rectangles, making him look like a complete idiot.

"How is it? Do you like it?" The older sister bent down and pressed herself against Hu Yi, gazing lovingly into the mirror with him, her face full of joy, as if admiring a work of art she had just completed.

Hu Yi stared tremblingly at his reflection in the mirror, looking even more foolish than Eight-Taels-of-Gold, and said in a shaky voice, "No... I'm not happy!"

The older sister's pretty face darkened: "Why aren't you happy? He's so handsome!"

Hu Yi said angrily, "I'm not happy... I'm not happy at all! It's not handsome at all!" He got up and grabbed a comb to try to restore his side part, but his hair had already been cut into a style, and combing it made it even more messy and unbearable to look at.

"No! Don't move! Sit down!" Seeing this amateur trying to break her artwork, the older woman hysterically pushed Hu Yi back into his chair, tidying his hair while angrily scolding, "You're so shallow! You have absolutely no understanding of fashion! This is the most popular hairstyle right now! Young people all love it!"

"This is no good! No!" Hu Yi struggled and pointed to the tassel on his forehead.

"No way! This is the soul of the entire hairstyle!" The older woman's expression was ferocious as she insisted on her interpretation of art.

Hu Yi was powerless to resist and watched helplessly as his older sister reshaped his bangs into zebra stripes. He was so angry that he wanted to cry, so he threw down three hundred rubles and fled in panic, covering his face as he hurried back to his dormitory without even daring to lift his head.

The moment he stepped through the door, Li Baoqing's furious roar erupted from the bedroom: "You son of a bitch! I still had over eighty minutes left on this card, and you used them all up in one go?!"

Hu Yi was taken aback, and then heard Peng Song reply nonchalantly, "Hey, I was just calling my girlfriend, and I accidentally went too far with the conversation. I'll be more careful next time."

"There'll be a next time?!" Li Baoqing pointed at Peng Song's nose, about to say something unpleasant, when Hu Yi pushed open the door and walked in: "What's going on? What's all the noise about?"

Without turning his head, Li Baoqing held up the international calling card in his hand, furious: "This kid said he had an emergency and borrowed my international calling card, but he ended up talking for over an hour, using up all eighty minutes on my card, and then had the nerve to come back and give it back to me!"

Hu Yi looked at Peng Song with disgust. Seeing that Peng Song hung his head and didn't say a word, he turned to Li Baoqing and sneered, "Serves you right. Don't you know what kind of person he is? Who told you to lend him the money?"

Li Baoqing rolled his eyes at Hu Yi, about to speak, but then froze, staring at Hu Yi's head for a long time before bursting into laughter: "What the hell?! What happened to your hair? Who cut it for you? Let's go find him and make him pay!"

Peng Song looked up at Hu Yi and couldn't help but laugh. The more he laughed, the more heartily he became, until he was laughing so hard he was squealing like a pig. He had completely forgotten about Li Baoqing's phone card.

"I...I...you wouldn't understand, this is called Russian fashion. We're going downtown tomorrow, so I specially got a hairstyle that locals like, when in Rome, do as the Romans do." Hu Yi pretended to toss his hair at Li Baoqing, then turned to Peng Song with a stern face and said, "What are you laughing at!?"

From the first day they moved in, Peng Song could tell that Li Baoqing was easy to talk to, so he only asked Li Baoqing for meals or to borrow phone cards, while he was a little afraid of Hu Yi. Seeing Hu Yi's unfriendly expression, Peng Song quickly suppressed his smile and stuck out his tongue awkwardly.

Seeing that Peng Song remained silent, Hu Yi seized the opportunity to vent his pent-up anger from the barbershop: "Where's your own SIM card? Why are you using Baoqing's?"

"My card just ran out, and I wanted to ask Brother Yan to buy some, but he said it wouldn't be available until tomorrow. I was worried my girlfriend would get impatient, so I had to borrow Baoqing's," Peng Song replied ramrod straight, his voice full of confidence.

Hu Yi persisted: "International calls cost several dollars per minute. Five or ten minutes is enough. Do you really need to talk for eighty minutes? Is your girlfriend giving birth on the other end of the line?"

"I, I..." Peng Song looked earnestly at Li Baoqing, then at Hu Yi, and said emotionally, "Don't you understand? Women need time to be with them. I can't be by her side in person right now, but it's only right that I call her every day to chat and make her happy."

"You call China every day?" Hu Yi crossed his legs and squinted. "That's really strange. If you're going to spend all your time with women, why bother coming all the way to Russia? Wouldn't it be better to stay in China and be inseparable?"

Peng Song hesitated for a moment, then said proudly, "A real man should... should prioritize his studies, establishing himself before starting a family. Romantic feelings can cloud one's judgment, and this temporary separation is for the sake of giving her a better life in the future. How can I sacrifice my future for a moment of tenderness?"

Hu Yi and Li Baoqing were stunned by his unexpected words. Peng Song sighed softly, looking up at the ceiling with tenderness in his eyes: "As a man, what does it matter if I suffer a little to be able to spend more time with my beloved woman in a foreign land and give her ample care and love? I save every penny to call her!"

Hu Yi spat, "Pah! You're saving every penny? All the savings are going to us! We're all poor students who don't earn any money, and you're trying to squeeze every last penny out of us for phone calls, what's the point?"

Peng Song blushed, biting his lip as he stammered, "I... I thought we're all Chinese, so it's only right that we help each other out."

"Damn it!" Hu Yi laughed angrily, slapped his thigh, looked Peng Song over a few times, and sneered, "Forget it, with your looks, finding a girlfriend will probably be pretty difficult. You can continue to save money, but don't try to hit on us again. Remember, don't push your luck."

Peng Song blushed again, unsure how to respond. Seeing his embarrassment, Li Baoqing felt a pang of sympathy and stepped in to smooth things over, saying, "Alright, alright, it's not a big deal. We're neighbors, so if you encounter any difficulties in the future, just let us know. We certainly won't stand idly by. But you should also be careful not to go too far. Right, Lao Hu?"

Hu Yi snorted, got up, went to the table, took out his books, and started doing his homework. Peng Song reluctantly nodded, took two steps towards his room, then turned back to Li Baoqing with a beaming smile: "Are you guys going to the city center tomorrow? Take me with you!"