Building a Closer Relationship

They said Russia had plenty of beautiful women. Wang Ye had spent so many years in Moscow in his previous life, and he had indeed seen many beauties.

But someone as beautiful as Angelina... he had only ever seen one.

Perhaps his social standing had been too low. He had never had the chance to enter higher circles, so naturally, he had never met other top-tier beauties.

Of course, that was according to his own standards of beauty. Perhaps in the eyes of Russian men, Angelina was merely fairly pretty, not a top-tier beauty.

After all, her figure was not "smoking hot" enough...

It could be said that Angelina was the first girl Wang Ye had developed feelings for after arriving in Moscow.

But in his previous life, how could he have dared pursue her?

His pockets had been empty, and with studying and part-time work "oppressing" him every day, he had had no time or energy for it.

As far as he knew, that handsome Latin American guy seemed to have pursued Angelina. On Valentine's Day, the guy had dressed himself up all slick and polished, then carried a huge bouquet of flowers to Angelina's office.

But when he came back, his expression had not looked too good...

He probably had not succeeded either.

Wang Ye did not know much about Angelina. In his previous life, they had merely had an ordinary teacher-student relationship. Although they had interacted quite a bit, they had only discussed academic matters and never touched on anything personal...

Perhaps in this life, Wang Ye would have a chance to become closer to Angelina...

But that was something for the future. Before he solved his basic "food and shelter" problem, his wallet could not support him considering how to chase girls.

Whether at home or abroad, pursuing girls cost quite a bit of money...

Don't blame Wang Ye for being fickle or for forgetting his "former" wife and children. After being reborn, he was destined to take a path entirely different from his previous life!

The trajectory of his life had already completely veered off course. The people he met and the things he experienced in the future could not possibly remain the same.

If he still wanted to repeat everything he had experienced in his previous life, then his rebirth would be completely meaningless...

From Angelina's introduction, Wang Ye learned that she was only twenty years old. She had just graduated from the Russian Department at People's Friendship University and had stayed on to teach preparatory classes.

Graduating from university at that age and being able to remain at the school as an instructor, even if she was only a preparatory teacher, showed that Angelina had probably been an excellent student.

However, as far as Wang Ye knew, preparatory teachers were not paid much, only three or four hundred dollars a month.

In a high-cost city like Moscow, that was enough to support one person, but it would not leave much to spare.

The school did provide faculty housing. If she had needed to rent a place herself, that amount would not even rent a decent apartment!

Nothing much happened that morning. Their preparatory courses were simple, mainly focused on learning Russian.

Classes began at nine thirty in the morning and ended around two in the afternoon, with only three long periods.

So there was no lunch break. During the break after noon, students could casually buy something to fill their stomachs. Nobody ate a proper lunch.

Of course, after starting freshman year, there would be more afternoon classes, and the school had all kinds of small cafeterias where they could eat lunch.

Unlike Chinese universities, there were no huge central dining halls here.

Instead, each teaching building had several small cafeterias. They generally were not very large, with seating for only around a hundred students.

During the noon break, Wang Ye went to the only little shop on the first floor and bought a fried meat pie.

It was one of the few foods that suited his taste.

Thin dough wrapped around a meat filling, fried to a golden brown. It tasted pretty good.

He also bought a bottle of iced cola. That was his lunch.

Many students made do the same way...

After eating something simple, Wang Ye returned to the third floor. But instead of entering the classroom, he went to one end of the corridor.

He pushed open a door. It led to the emergency stairwell, which also served as the so-called "smoking area."

Quite a few Russians smoked, especially girls. The proportion of female smokers was even higher than that of male smokers!

Sure enough, as soon as he pushed open the door, he saw quite a few people gathered there, puffing away. Among them was his teacher, Angelina...

Wang Ye had smoked in his previous life too, though he was not really a heavy smoker.

In fact, he had picked up smoking while studying abroad in Moscow.

By the time of his rebirth, he had smoked for nearly twenty years, but his addiction had never been severe. A pack lasted him two or three days.

He had not developed any illnesses from smoking, either.

When he had gone to the supermarket a few days ago, Wang Ye had not been able to resist buying a carton of cigarettes, his favorite kind.

Sobranie's Black Russian!

A carton cost eight hundred and fifty rubles, making it relatively expensive.

Other brands, such as Marlboro, cost only one hundred fifty or one hundred sixty rubles per carton, while Pall Mall cost a little over two hundred rubles.

Black Russian had a distinctive design: a flat, hard black pack, with a glittering golden double-headed eagle national emblem printed at the top!

The cigarettes themselves were completely black, with golden filters. A black double-headed eagle national emblem was printed above the filter as well.

Anyone who did not know better would definitely think it was Russia's "national cigarette" upon seeing that emblem...

But it was not. The brand actually belonged to Britain's Gallaher Tobacco Company. He just did not know why Russia allowed them to print the Russian national emblem on it.

In Russia, smoking this brand was like smoking premium cigarettes back home—it gave you status!

Like many Russian girls, Angelina smoked too, though she smoked the slim women's cigarettes with a very light flavor.

After finishing one, she apparently had not had enough. She took out her cigarette case, preparing to light another.

But when she opened it, she found it completely empty. Nothing left...

She tossed the empty case into the trash and was about to return to her office when a hand extended from beside her, holding a black cigarette pack.

"I have some," Wang Ye said with a smile.

Angelina looked up at Wang Ye in surprise and recognized him as one of her students.

After hesitating slightly, she still opened the pack Wang Ye offered and took out a cigarette.

Snap! Wang Ye flicked his lighter on.

Leaning toward Wang Ye's hand, she lit her cigarette, took a deep drag, and exhaled a stream of bluish smoke.

Only then did Angelina say, "Thank you."

She did not think there was anything wrong with Wang Ye smoking, nor did she intend to criticize him.

University life here was fairly free.

Quite a few university students even got married and had children while still in school.

And if you took your marriage certificate to the dorm manager and applied for a private room for the couple, the manager would absolutely not refuse your request...

Smokers everywhere were family, and Angelina and Wang Ye quickly grew a little closer.

As they smoked, the two chatted.

At first, Angelina had assumed Wang Ye's Russian was poor and that he would not be able to hold a conversation with her.

But after only a few exchanges, she was astonished to discover that Wang Ye's Russian was far beyond what she had expected...