Volume 1: A sound on Wall Street, Xinxiang City is busy copying books Chapter 9 Red and White
Chapter Subtitle: Bloody Mary and the White Russians
"Here we are. This is my home."
Yuan Yanshu held the paper bag and followed Anna across several streets to an apartment building. Her rental house was on the roof of the fifth floor. Although it was only half the size of Yuan Yanshu's 10-square-meter small house, the furnishings were much more exquisite, there were more pieces of furniture, and even a small kitchen.
Anna said a little embarrassedly: "Miss Tuoyuan, oh, Neo, please sit down. This is the first time I bring a man home."
Yuan Yan suddenly sat down at a small table that served as both a writing desk and a dining table, and said solemnly: "It's my honor. Um..."
He tilted his head and saw the photo frame on the table, which contained a slightly yellowed black-and-white photo.
In the center of the photo is Ms. Ivanovna, who is obviously much younger. She has a sweet face and is holding a chubby white baby in her arms. Standing next to her, with his arms around her slender waist is an extremely handsome young officer. Apart from the mustache that does not quite conform to our Master Yuan's aesthetic standards, he can be described as having an imposing manner. In front of the family of three are sitting two old people, a man and a woman. The grandfather on the left has white hair and beard, a majestic beard on his face, and is wearing a military uniform covered with medals. The slightly plump old grandmother on the right is smiling kindly, with a goose egg-sized gem pendant hanging on her chest.
In short, one can tell at a glance that this is a family portrait of a certain Tsarist Russian military aristocracy.
Anna noticed her gaze and turned her eyes to the photo. Her face changed and she suddenly rushed up without any courtesy and pressed the photo on the table. The atmosphere in the room suddenly became a little awkward.
Yuan Yan sighed in her heart , and thought of a not-so-funny joke. After the October Revolution, the White Russian prostitutes who were living outside and whose origins were humble all claimed that they were daughters of nobles to raise their value; while the real noble women kept silent about their origins because they felt ashamed.
He swallowed and said, "I'm sorry. I really didn't mean it."
"No, I should be the one to say sorry." Anna stuffed the photo into the drawer, cleared the clutter on the table, and then put the food in the paper bag up.
Yuan Yan quickly changed the subject and said, "Anna, you said you were leaving. Where are you going?"
The red-haired woman who was arranging the food hesitated and said, "Go to another city, to a place where no one knows me."
Our Master Yuan understood immediately that she wanted to be a good person. I wonder if she can find someone to take over...
There is nothing much to say about Russian food, especially for Chinese people. Even though she was born into an aristocratic family, in Yuan Yanshu's opinion, the food Anna chose was too greasy. But it was really rich, and there was even a little caviar.
"It's all thanks to you today." Anna looked particularly gentle when she finally placed the bottle of clear and transparent "water".
Then she lit a candle and placed it in the middle of the table. Just as she was about to sit down, Anna remembered something and clapped her hands, saying, "Please wait a moment."
After a while, she came out of the small kitchen again, holding a bottle of ketchup in one hand and a bottle of milk in the other, and asked Yuan Yanshu: "Neo, do you want red or white?"
The one knew that this was not a question about whether he wanted wine or liquor, but two kinds of cocktails with vodka as the base. He secretly praised her in his heart, worthy of being a Mao girl, if she wanted to make a "water”.
He said without thinking, "Today is your and...her birthday. We Chinese always use red when celebrating, so I'll go with red."
Anna frowned slightly and said hesitantly: "But I like white...Okay, let's drink our own."
She poured vodka and ketchup into a glass and said apologetically, "Sorry, no lemon or celery root, and no ice."
"It doesn't matter." Yuan Yan took the monkey version of the "bloody mary" and picked up a piece of cucumber and said, "We have this."
As he spoke, he used the cucumber to stir the red wine, allowing the two to blend together.
Anna took another cup, poured "water" and milk into it, shook the cup and said, "Okay, although there is no coffee liqueur and fresh cream, this is my 'white russians'."
A Russian woman and a Chinese man raised their glasses. The woman holding the white wine asked, "What are we toasting to?"
The man holding the red wine smiled slightly, lowered his head and began to recite a poem in Russian:
If life deceives you...
Don't be sad, don't be anxious!
In the days of depression, one needs to be calm..."
Anna's eyes suddenly lit up, and she continued, "Believe it! Happy days will come .
The heart always yearns for the future;
Now I am often depressed...
Everything is fleeting, everything will pass;
And what has passed will become a fond memory.
After reciting Pushkin's famous work "If Life Deceives You", they gently clinked their glasses and drank them all.
Anna put down her wine glass excitedly, and a string of Russian words came out from her beautiful lips: "&％￥#@&..."
Our Master Yuan had no choice but to raise his hand and said, "Anna, Anastasia! I only know these few sentences. I really don't know Russian."
He thought to himself, this is the only function of the Master Ball system that can be used at present, as a search engine!
However, when he received the information, his feelings were simply indescribable. It was as if an invisible but cold, slippery and soft tentacle in the void had forcibly inserted itself into his...frontal lobe, and then shot the searched content into his...hippocampus, which processes long-term memory!
Although this feeling was very uncomfortable and weird, especially for a straight man like Yuan Yanshu, he still endured it for the sake of showing off.
"Is that so..." Anna's eyes dimmed, "I'm sorry, I thought..."
Seeing the reluctant Yuan Yanshu, he had no choice but to say, "But, I also know a song..."
He put down his glass, stood up, straightened his clothes, cleared his throat and sang:
The Volga River is covered with ice and snow.
There were three chariots running on the glacier.
Someone is singing a melancholy song.
The one singing is the coachman...
Our Master Yuan did not think about pretending to be cool, but he was not a college student in the 1950s or 1960s after all, and his first foreign language was not Russian. Moreover, the Russian songs he was familiar with were "Katyusha", "Red Berries in Bloom", "Cossack Song", "Moscow Evening", "Young Guards Song", "Unbreakable Alliance"... They were not suitable to sing in front of Anna, and they were not within the scope of the Master Ball system. So he had to sing this "Troika".
Of course, the effect was great. Anna's eyes turned red as she hummed along with his melodious voice (after all, she had practiced it in karaoke). When our Master Yuan finished singing, she clapped her hands and said sincerely, "Oh my god, you are so awesome."
"No, no, just sing a little." Yuan Yan, who felt like she was in a KTV back then, said naturally, "I've sung before, it's your turn."
"Me?" Anna shook her head vigorously and blurted out naturally, "No, no, no, I can't do it. My mother told me since I was a child that singing is the hobby of lowly women..."
