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The weather was unusually sunny that day, so Zhang Sushang and Wu Yeming chatted as they walked to Nevsky Prospect, where they bought two meat-filled pirozhki.
“This bun isn’t as good as what we have in the Northeast, it isn’t as fermented as well as ours either. When I go back to China, I’ll cook an entire goose together with the dough, that’s what’s called delicious,” Wu Yeming said.
Zhang Sushang gulped down saliva. “I want to eat ones filled with cabbage and meat.”
At this time, cabbage wasn’t something you could see everywhere like in later generations and, known as a ‘noble vegetable’, was even somewhat expensive.
Zhang Sushang’s craving for cabbage prompted Wu Yeming’s. “Pork and cabbage vermicelli is the best,” he sighed.
As they chatted, Wu Yeming mentioned that Zhang Sushang’s weight loss plan was very useful. He had already lost almost six pounds by following the diet.
“What you said before is right. After eating healthily and exercising regularly, I feel that it’s easier to do everything and I have much more energy. But I don’t train as much as you do, so I don’t need to do cupping with Jinghu as much as you,” Wu Yeming commented.
He almost thought Zhang Sushang had a serious injury when he saw him at the hospital.
“Brother Wu, are you doing speed skating now?” Zhang Sushang asked curiously.
Wu Yeming smiled awkwardly. “Yes, it’s more fun to practice on the ice than on the ground. And the weather’s been colder recently, so we can go on some lakes as long as we’re careful.”
The two sports had different requirements. Figure skating included jumps — if the ice surface wasn’t solid enough, Zhang Sushang might fall straight in when he landed. If one only wanted to skate fast, as in speed skating, they could use thinner ice.
They found the beach. Seagulls flew overhead and the chilly sea breeze blew their faces red, carrying with it a unique salty tang.
“In ages past, we read the books of sages with a pure heart. Later, we studied for the sake of imperial examinations, and now we study to save the country, but no one knows where the true path lies. Now that I’ve come out and seen the new Russia, I finally understand what the future can hold,” Wu Yeming sighed.
Zhang Sushang lowered his head and took a bite of his pirozhki. “Yeah, the way is right, but we’ll have to pay a lot if we want to walk down it.”
“There are many who are willing to sacrifice for the country. I am not alone,” he replied softly. “Compared to those people in China addicted to opium, whose faces are sallow and their families bankrupt, we can be considered to be living a good life. If we want the country to rise and the nation to prosper, young people must read more and strengthen their bodies, so that we don’t become sick men in the eyes of others.1The sick man of Asia, see Wikipedia After seeing you practice sports, I also tried it and it feels quite good, so I want to keep practising like this.
“If I’m lucky, I can go to competitions in the future to win glory for my country and prove to the world that we Chinese also have athletes and that our physiques are no worse than theirs. I met Yegor on the ice. They only accepted me because I skated faster than a few of his teammates — if I didn’t have this ability, they definitely wouldn’t care about me.”
Here, his tone brightened, and he looked at Zhang Sushang. “Qiupu, you should be more talented than me. I heard Yegor from speed skating say that not only are you coaching Misha, but your ability isn’t inferior to that of professional athletes. Do you have the intention to compete?”
Zhang Sushang spread his hands. “What’s the point of training if I’m not going to compete?”
The two smiled at each other and exchanged fist bumps.
As time passed, Zhang Sushang realised that these people who came to another country to study with him were not only patriotic and passionate, they also had clear thinking, good brains, and open minds. They truly were rare, outstanding talents.
He hadn’t expected Wu Yeming to become an athlete but he was happy to see it happen.
But when it came to participating in competitions, Wu Yeming also knew of his lacking financial situation. It already wasn’t easy to study here, he didn’t have enough money to compete elsewhere.
“Should I also submit something to earn some money? But I don’t know how to write novels,” he muttered.
Zhang Sushang’s eyes lit up. “Of course. I saw the paper you wrote last semester, it was concise, clear, and easy to read. If you’re not aiming to make a masterpiece and just write for fun, you’re definitely good enough.”
Wu Yeming not only had a height of 1.72m, which was considered quite tall in this era, but he also looked handsome, studied so hard that he completed an entire year’s curriculum in just six months, had talent in sports, and had a predilection for languages. After one year, his Russian level was no different from that of Zhang Sushang’s when he just transmigrated.
This was the kind of person others called ‘the chosen one’.
“As for novels, it’s not hard to get started,” he advised. “Aren’t you from the engineering department? You can write something about engineering.”
He preferred melodramatic stories like Thunderstorm and Home Temptation that made people say ‘what an unfortunate life’, but Wu Yeming didn’t seem like someone who could write those plots.
“But engineering covers such a wide range, what should I write about?”
Zhang Sushang scratched his head. “Um, I don’t know much about it, but if I were a reader, I’d want to see something interesting. Ordinary railroad construction probably won’t work.”
“I’ve said it so many times, not everyone who studies engineering builds railways,” Wu Yeming said expressionlessly. “There are many specialties under engineering. Architectural engineering, hydraulic engineering, chemical engineering, materials science…”
Zhang Sushang blushed at the long list he spat out. “Hey, I’m a medical student, I don’t know anything about engineering. Thanks for explaining.”
Although Wu Yeming officially only studied mechanical engineering, he was very versatile and had strong hands-on skills. If a circuit in a classroom was broken or a lightbulb needed to be replaced, he could fix it as well as any electrical engineering student. Anyone with a broken bicycle would also go to him.
Zhang Sushang did the same whenever his own bike broke down.
After thinking for a while, he suggested, “If we’re talking about what attracts the most attention, it must be something everyone aspires to, like flying. A novel about going into outer space might get very popular. You should know a bit, right? I remember seeing you reading one of Tsiolkovsky’s texts at the library.”
Tsiolkovsky2For more about Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, see Wikipedia was a member of the Academy of Sciences of the new Russia. Between 1903 and 1911, he published several papers that laid the foundation for rocket flight, including proposing the use of liquid fuel and multi-stage rockets.
By the way, the world’s first liquid-fueled rocket was launched into space from the United States this year, in 1926.
“I’m indeed interested in it, but I don’t know anything about its specifics,” Wu Yeming said, hesitating. Counting on his fingers, he continued, “I haven’t studied anything about aircraft design, fuels, manufacturing, or the environment up there and how humans might survive. I only have a general understanding.”
“Do you think you have to have a professional-level knowledge about the subject before you can start writing?” Zhang Sushang looked at him helplessly.
“Don’t I?” Wu Yeming looked back at him, equally confused.
Zhang Sushang, who wrote detective novels but knew nothing about how real detectives worked: …
You academic geniuses are so strict with yourselves, he thought. Liu Cixin could write a masterpiece like The Three-Body Problem, but it wasn’t as if the author knew how to make a dual-vector foil.
Afterwards, he thought that Wu Yeming had abandoned the idea of writing a novel and made preparations to support his future competition expenses, but by the next week, when he went to Jiang Jinghu for physical therapy, he discovered that Wu Yeming was going to study aeronautical engineering.
He wanted to strive for a double degree! Even if he couldn’t build a rocket, he wanted to build an airplane!
In his own words: “Anyways, I’m already in Russia. I don’t know if learning just one major will be useful once I return, so why not learn more? Besides, knowing more things is never a loss.”
Even if Zhang Sushang was someone who could be admitted to Tsinghua University or Peking University, he still couldn’t figure out what these ancient academic gods were thinking.
He could only whisper to Li Yuan and Jiang Jinghu, “So we have another textbook to translate?”
“Yes, and they might not be so happy for us to bring this back,” Li Yuan sighed. “Jiang Jinghu and I discussed it. We should each memorise a portion, that way if they don’t let us take the book, we can at least have the knowledge in our brains and write it out over there.”
Li Yuan had a photographic memory.
“Do you want to memorise part of your chemistry as well?” Jiang Jinghu asked. “I have some free time, and chemistry has some similarities with medicine. I can help.”
Little Doctor Jiang also had a pretty good memory.
So I’m actually the most useless of us four, Zhang Sushang reflected.
Since he had a bad brain, he could only earn a bit more money to improve their living situation.
The next day, he bought five sets of thick military-green coats, caring only for how warm they were. They would be relying on these to live through the winter.
Zhang Sushang had already calculated it — he and Alexei would each take one, and the remaining three would be given to Jiang Jinghu and the others.
The only issue was that Alexei was 1.9m tall, making it hard to buy clothes in his size. It was only through their time together as flatmates that he slowly realised Alexei made most of his own clothes.
No wonder his sewing skills were so good if he were constantly using them.
He visited several stores before he found a suitable winter coat and, satisfied, he returned home carrying 15 kilograms of clothing. There, he saw Alexei lazily operating a treadle sewing machine.
The treadle sewing machine, invented and patented in 1859 by American businessman Isaac Singer, was a beloved tool among tailors.
Zhang Sushang, putting down his things and sitting next to Alexei, felt his mood relax amid the sewing machine’s clacking and clicking.
“Is this the one for Misha?” he asked, resting his chin on his hands.
“It’s yours.” Alexei didn’t even look up.
Next to him was a small table covered with a sewing basket and colourful fabrics, as well as a design by Giselle. This woman had excellent taste, wonderful in everything except for her refusal to compromise on her choreography and designs.
On the snow-white paper, a model based on Zhang Sushang wore a simple yet elegant crimson outfit, looking like a little prince.
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