Sounding Her Out

Since he wanted to become closer to Angelina, he had to find more opportunities to spend time with her.

Wang Ye was not handsome enough to make girls fall at his feet at first sight...

So today, Wang Ye took the opportunity of walking back to the dorm together to chat with Angelina. He also wanted to sound her out and get to know her better.

Angelina was quite tall, around 175 centimeters. She was also wearing a pair of heeled knee-high leather boots, so walking beside Wang Ye, she did not look much shorter than him.

Girls all loved beauty, and Angelina was naturally no exception.

Perhaps because she was not well-off, her clothes did not look very expensive and were probably not from any major brand.

Moscow was actually a bit like northeastern China. The truly rich people all wore mink coats...

Those a step below wore ordinary fur coats or down jackets.

Angelina naturally could not afford mink, so she was only wearing a white down jacket.

However, unlike Wang Ye's exceptionally bulky one, hers was fitted, making her look even more slender.

She had a red wool scarf around her neck. Against the bright red, her already fair skin looked rosy and radiant.

Perhaps the phrase "slender and graceful" had been invented precisely for girls like Angelina...

Wang Ye looked at her and asked curiously, "Angelina, aren't you cold wearing so little? It's more than ten degrees below zero right now."

They were both down jackets, but their thickness differed, and so did their warmth.

Wang Ye's down jacket might have been a little ugly, but it was truly warm!

Angelina's was pretty and fitted, but it was clearly not thick enough. Its ability to keep out the cold was questionable.

Hearing Wang Ye's question, Angelina narrowed her eyes slightly and replied jokingly, "Wang, you have to understand that for girls, being pretty is far more important than being warm! Besides, even if it is cold, it's only for the ten-odd minutes we're on the road."

That was true. People here rarely spent time outdoors.

Inside the buildings, the heating was so excessive that people could wear short sleeves and shorts. Naturally, they did not care how far below zero the temperature was outside.

No wonder he often saw girls in miniskirts beneath their coats!

The sun had made a rare appearance today, and its light shone on the snow piled beside the road, making it a little dazzling.

Walking north from the preparatory school building, they had to pass through a small grove. To the west of the grove was a large lake.

On the other side of the lake stood several high-rise residential buildings, half-hidden among the thick woods.

The area around People's Friendship University was said to be Moscow's wealthy district.

As they passed the lake, Angelina turned her head and gazed at those high-rises for a while. She sighed and said, "I wonder when I'll be able to buy an apartment here and bring my family over."

It seemed that Russian young people, like young people back home, hoped to settle down in a big city.

Wang Ye asked curiously, "Are homes here expensive? Didn't people say housing in Russia was free and allocated by the state?"

Back then, many Chinese newspapers and magazines published articles glorifying foreign countries, and Russia was one of their targets...

Housing was supposedly free, directly allocated by the state.

Going to the hospital and getting medicine was supposedly free too, thanks to universal healthcare.

Going to university?

Of course there would be no tuition or living expenses either. The state covered everything!

Angelina said with an amused smile, "That was all in the past. How could that still be possible now? Besides, even back then, employers provided housing, but those places were small and rundown. Who would want to live in that kind of home? Apartments like those across the lake are what everyone dreams of."

Wang Ye followed her gaze and looked over. The homes across the lake were indeed quite nice.

Their architectural style differed from Moscow's old buildings, looking much newer and more fashionable.

"How much are homes here per square meter?" he asked.

"You mean those homes by the lake? They're very expensive! I saw an advertisement in the newspaper. They cost more than two thousand US dollars per square meter. They're luxury homes. Everyone who lives there is incredibly rich," Angelina said enviously.

More than two thousand dollars per square meter—at the exchange rate of the time, that was almost twenty thousand yuan per square meter.

And this was the price in 2001...

Even in a first-tier Chinese city, that would definitely count as luxury housing.

"One day, you'll own a home there too. Believe in yourself," Wang Ye said, half-joking and half-serious.

Angelina wrinkled her nose and made a face, looking rather cute.

"I only make three hundred dollars a month. After necessary expenses, I could probably buy one square meter a year at most. If I work healthily for a hundred years, I should have enough to buy a small apartment there. But it doesn't seem like they have units as small as a hundred square meters. Besides, housing prices would have to stay unchanged for a hundred years," she joked as well.

Wang Ye had originally wanted to say that she was so pretty, so why not just find a rich boyfriend...

But he did not yet know Angelina's personality. It would not be good to say something like that rashly. Even as a joke, it might put her off.

So Wang Ye changed the subject. "By the way, isn't your family in Moscow?"

Angelina shook her head. "No. My family is on the Crimean Peninsula. Have you heard of a city called Yalta? It's by the Black Sea, an especially beautiful place!"

So Angelina was actually from the Crimean Peninsula!

This place was not all that well-known in 2001, but more than ten years later, its referendum to join Russia would cause a huge uproar and make it known throughout the world!

As for Yalta, Wang Ye had gone there on vacation once in his "previous life." It truly was very beautiful.

The city was surrounded by mountains on three sides and faced the sea on the fourth. White clouds drifted over the mountains, concealing and revealing churches, ancient castles, and palaces. The faint sound of waves in the distance made the city feel even quieter and more peaceful. Outside the city, vineyards spread across the land like emeralds scattered between the blue sea and sky.

It could even be said that it was Russia's most beautiful city, without question!

At this time, Angelina's nationality should still have been Ukrainian, so why had she stayed in Moscow to work?

But on second thought, it made perfect sense. After all, most residents of the Crimean Peninsula were ethnic Russians, and Russia had always believed the peninsula belonged to Russia. It was only because someone had gotten drunk back then that Crimea had been handed over to a brotherly country.

After the split in the nineties, the Crimean Peninsula would naturally return to Russia...

Therefore, Russia probably regarded people from the Crimean Peninsula as one of its own.

Over that short stretch of road, Wang Ye had more or less figured out Angelina's basic situation.

Her home was on the Crimean Peninsula. There were four people in her family, and she had a younger sister in high school who would also come to Moscow for university next year.

More importantly...

Angelina did not have a boyfriend yet!