How to Marry a Chinese Millionaire

Chapter first

Do you want to get married?
Let's complicate the issue.
Do you want to marry a millionaire?
Are you still with me?
Haven't finished the book yet?
Then, I'll complicate the question even more.
The question will sound like this: do you want to marry a Chinese millionaire?
I can still hear how the spine of the book took its usual place, someone slammed the book shut indignantly.
Have a good trip!

Those who stayed with me and really want to know what kind of bird this is, Chinese millionaires, where they are grown, and whether it is really difficult to marry a Chinese millionaire, will receive answers to their questions.
I will tell you about all this step by step.
For good friends, I do not feel sorry for anything, even secret techniques to win over Chinese millionaires. Moreover, I know about this problem firsthand. I got married twice.

And all the two times I married a Chinese man.
Or rather, not just for a Chinese, but for a Chinese millionaire.
Are you still reading what I wrote?
So you are my man!
So it will be easy for me to talk to you and tell my stories.
Are you offended that I switched to "you"?
Thus, I feel that we have become closer.
All the time of our lives we devote to the search. We are always looking for something, looking for: knowledge, various goods, thrills, exclusive things, new countries, and also, love!

Yes, yes, I can still hear the hint, we are looking for a loved one!
And for someone, love is absolutely not the right decoration. Someone just wants to find a husband, get married, and believes that it is absolutely not necessary to love the future chosen one.
For those who believe in love, and for those who don't, this book will, I hope, be helpful.
The first time I married a Chinese man was completely by accident.
If you live in Russia and love to chat, then, of course, you know programs that allow you to chat for free. I'm talking about computer programs like Skype, Viber, WhatsApp. Of course, in these programs, not only Russian Internet users swim like a fish in water.

But I want to tell you about one more program, although it is difficult to install it on a personal computer, but it can be easily installed on a mobile phone.
This program is called WeChat. And almost the entire Asian population of the planet uses this program.
My precious reader, you feel how I am leading you with a firm hand to where, like goldfish in a pond, Chinese millionaires swim in the vastness of social networks. So, back to the program that I once installed on my mobile phone.
I generally love everything new.
I love everything unusual.
So, the program that I installed on my mobile phone was unusual.

I found out about this program completely by accident.
That day I was in a bad mood.
I had a fight with my boyfriend. We had known him for a long time, shared not only the bed, but also all the joys and sorrows.
My young man was good in everything, but he had a big drawback. He categorically did not want to get married. This concerned not only me, or rather, he just treated me well.
Not wanting to marry was his philosophy of life.
When we met and began to live together, I thought that over time, my young man, let's call him Igor, will change his attitude towards marriage. However, time passed, and Igor did not want to change his point of view.
So, back to that fateful day.
That day, I finally realized that my young man was not going, absolutely not going, to change anything in his life. Half an hour before that, we had a serious conversation in raised tones, which ended with a thrown pipe and my tears.
The working day only reached its middle, and I was unbearably ill.

However, let's leave my bad mood of that day in the past, this is not a tearful sentimental novel, but a real story.
Here is a practical guide to transforming your life from something gray and mediocre to something bright, happy and carefree.
But back to the gray working day.
Outside the window began a small, nasty drizzle.

I've gone to the ladies' room twice already to mourn my failed women's story.
My young man was firm in his convictions, and I, already several times, secretly, looked into bridal salons, and even tried on a wedding dress several times.
To be precise, there were about eight dresses.
I spent about four hours on fitting. I would have continued to hang out in this salon, but my boss called and said that if I didn’t show up for work now, she would be forced to tell the general director that I skipped a working day.

My boss was my friend, but we had a fight that day.
The boss's name was Nadia, before I met Igor, we were friends like water. Nadia thought that Igor would never propose to me, because we already live together.
Of course, I knew that Nadia was right.
But she could not decide to break with Igor.

I'm sorry, I've deviated from my goal again. You remember that I wanted to write a practical guide stvo, but again hit the sentimental memories. However, as you will understand further, all these events were not accidental, and they prompted me to seriously engage in the search for a life partner.
Until that moment, I did not take serious steps to find another life partner, as I felt almost like a husband's wife. My young man was, of course, a complex figure, but I believed that they did not look for good from good.
It turned out that the family life that Igor and I had was just a sand castle. And this sand castle was crumbling right before my eyes.

I returned from the ladies' room, sat down at the computer and began to mindlessly surf the Internet.
The task that the general director set for us at the morning meeting was, of course, not completed, but this did not bother me at all. I knew that when the time came, I would be able to concentrate and do what was expected of me.
When it was necessary, I was able to collect my thoughts in a heap and could complete the task in just half an hour. Everyone in our department knew about this peculiarity of mine, and therefore, turned a blind eye to my quirks.
So, the working day slowly flowed into the second half, and I suddenly saw the name of a new program in which it was possible to communicate with friends and strangers.
I already told you that I love everything new and unusual.

The WeChat program was unusual for me, but for the Asian population of our planet, it has long been tested and they did not see anything unusual in this program.

How it happened that until now I had never heard of this program, I do not know. After briefly reading about the advantages and disadvantages of this program, I immediately decided to install it on my mobile phone. To my surprise, it didn't work at first. It took some time before I got what I wanted. The program was somehow heavy and loaded with difficulty.
Well, you see, how uncollected I am, I burdened you with sentimental details, and now I plunged into the computer characteristics of the new program. I solemnly promise and swear that I will not do this again.

In general, I installed this program, but it turned out that I had no one to communicate with in it. There was nothing special about the program, except for one small touch. In WeChat, a “browse” button was found, by clicking on it, I again went to some kind of menu, where, among other names, there was a name: “shake”.
I became curious. I shook my phone. The shake was accompanied by a certain sound. It was a concrete sound, the sound of something being shaken with great force. The shaking was so loud that my colleagues turned around.
I planned to shake the phone a few more times, but seeing the familiar sparkle in the eyes of my friend Nadia, I decided to postpone the shaking plans until I was alone.

Having played with the program, I finally got down to business. When the working day came to an end, I was tired of looking at hunched backs and distant faces.

There was silence in the office, everyone was sitting separated from each other by the walls of the booths, no one paid attention to me, and I decided to play pranks. Taking out my phone, I logged into WeChat again and shook my phone three times. Everyone started. It seems to me that if there was such an opportunity, then my colleagues would have torn me to pieces on the spot.
One lady told me that if she was taken away in an ambulance today with a heart attack, then I would pay for the treatment.

The joke didn't work. Showering me with a rain of contempt, colleagues again turned away.
“Alena,” Nadya turned to me when we went for a short break, “why are you doing this?” You're turning the whole team against you!
“Nadyusha,” I answered, “well, you know, I’m not doing this out of malice! It seems to me that it's fun that everyone will laugh with me, but it turns out ...
“Yes,” Nadia summed up, “it turns out badly!
“Sorry,” I suddenly felt ashamed, I realized that once again I let my friend down, “it’s just that everyone is sitting so boring, wrapped up, and outside the window, as always, grayness, I wanted to defuse the situation a little!”
- Alena, - Nadia raised her voice a little, it was clear that her friend was boiling, - you understand ...
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” I hugged my faithful girlfriend in order to at least somehow calm me down, “I’m unbearable as always ?! Am I ruining your life? Do you want me to quit? It still makes no sense to me! I violate corporate ethics, my performance is low! Want?
“Girlfriend,” Nadya calmed down a little and even smiled at me, “okay, don’t get mad!” I'll get you out somehow! Of course, you do very little work, but that's what girlfriends exist to cover for each other!
“Nadya,” I confessed again, “I will try, you increase my workload, don’t be afraid!” If anything, I'll sit still at night, anyway I go to bed late!
“Very well,” it was evident that Nadezhda had completely calmed down, “go, but now without these ... Without your little things!”
"Alright mate, I'll try my best!" However, if I break loose again, you tell me, I will immediately write a statement! Imagine a picture, I'm leaving uh, packing all my things in a cardboard box, like in American movies. I walk through our office with a guilty head, and everyone understands that now I am fired! And you know...
“That’s it, you’ve been carried away again,” Nadya smiled wearily, “okay, the break is over, go and work, dreamer!”
I was bored. The work was already done, and there was still half an hour before the end of the working day. But everything ends sometime.

I entered the elevator first. My colleagues were silent, only one, not very young man, smiled slyly and reminded me that it's the 21st century and it's time to learn how to connect headphones before you start using a mobile phone.
I didn't mean to argue with anyone. My good mood has long turned into a dull and dreary one, and therefore, I just smiled pathetically, not at a young colleague, and decided to wait until everyone got out of the elevator so as not to meet the eyes of angry colleagues.
The bus I needed came up, but my colleagues decided that today was the day when they needed to go in the same direction as me.

I absolutely did not smile at the prospect of seeing the faces of those whom I had the honor to observe all the working day all the way home, but, as far as I knew, the next bus was supposed to arrive in 20 minutes, and therefore, looking into my wallet, I decided to take a taxi .
My colleagues had already left a long time ago, and I couldn't get a taxi.
Well, I had such a day today, not very successful.
Voting and trying to stop at least some taxi, I mindlessly shook and shook the phone, I liked the sound of shaking.
At least no lady will complain that I gave her a heart attack.
Passers-by looked at me, but I was like a drum.
The indignation of passers-by could not affect my bonus, which, by the way, I was already deprived of today.
They took it away after the lady who promised to call an ambulance complained to the general director that I, instead of working, am a hooligan and terrorize my colleagues.

Finally, a taxi stopped in front of me.
Having settled down inside, I paid attention to the fact that my phone emits, every second, signals that are not characteristic of it.
Turning on the phone screen, I found that I now have a huge number of Asian friends in the ViChat program.
And the number of friends grew at an insane rate every second.
My Asian friends were eager to get to know me. I don't know any of the Asian languages.
Japanese, Korean and Chinese have always sounded like mysterious oriental music to me. However, this ViChat program had one more feature. Another plus. To translate what my new friends wrote to me, I didn’t have to go into Google translator.
It was possible to immediately translate what my new pen-friends from all over the Asian continent were writing about so excitedly.
All troubles were immediately forgotten. I returned home in a good mood.

While driving home, I managed to text 15 new friends.
Ah, sorry, I forgot to give my name and describe my appearance.
My name is Alena, I am a natural blonde, but my height is so small that I was not accepted to model school in my youth. Although, except for height, I met all the parameters.
When I registered in the ViChat program, I posted my photos there. My new friends were probably impressed with my photos and so the messages kept coming and going.
Finally, I got tired of answering, and the taxi had already pulled up to the house.

However, upon entering the apartment, my good mood began to disappear at an alarming rate. My boyfriend is sometimes very boring.
I had long forgotten about the conversation about the wedding, and he, apparently, was winding himself up all this time, and as soon as I entered the apartment, he began to explain for a very long time and in detail his point of view on the wedding, on the stamp in the passport, and on family life in general .
- Alyonushka, well, don't turn away! Hear what I say!
— I won't! I plugged my ears and shook my head, “I won’t listen to you!” You're so funny when you try to focus before you start making a speech!
- Alena, what are these expressions? Where did you get this? Do you ever, at least sometimes, think about what you are saying? Speech cannot be pushed, speech can be conducted, and also ...
Everything has begun! So what is my day like today? Everyone educates! Let me pass!
- Alyonushka, I do not understand the reason for your aggression! You and I have already talked and discussed the topic of marriage a million times!
“Get out of the way,” I whispered, “get away, otherwise I’ll start running shoes, stilettos, oh, how sharp!”
- Alena, you're not like that! Why are you behaving like this? When we met you, I was struck by the look of defenselessness on your face. Also, you looked so intelligent. No face paint, no tattoos!
- Tomorrow I will go to the tattoo parlor and get a tattoo on my entire back. I will ask you to write: “Igor, idiot and bore!”
And there was no paint on my face, because it was raining, I was without an umbrella!
You were as beautiful as the actress from the movie The Princess and the Pea. Do you remember that moment when she knocks on the castle gate and tells the king and the queen, that she is a real princess! Water flows from her hair, her dress gets wet, but her posture shows that she is still a real princess! Because the breed, the blue blood, cannot be hidden or concealed, and that is why I have told you so many times...
Well, why did you push me away? Of course, you can shut my mouth, but you won’t get away from yourself!
- Okay. Okay. If you want to speak, speak! But not out of the blue, at least let me eat!
“You don’t understand, intelligent conversation is food for the soul. People stopped talking, they… Well, what am I talking about? Well, why did you, my soul, take out a smartphone?
- Igor, you speak, speak, I just need to look through some information!
“You know that I am convinced that telephones should be used for their intended purpose. Connecting a phone and a computer in one small box was a bad idea!
- Yeah, write about it to the developers! Or, that's what came to my mind! There is a stage in the central square, get in there, and, go on, push, sorry, keep talking about the fact that computer programs added to smartphones and iPods are bad! I'll look at you after you answer! Eggs are not thrown - expensive! But tomatoes - for a sweet soul! No, you won't go! You are a coward and a bore, you can only get me, but how to do something concrete ...
- Alenka, what are you doing? Well, why are you like this? You know that I don't want to get married, not because I don't love you, I just think that the stamp in the passport will kill our love. Well, what are you missing, we already live together, I think ...
- Get away from me - I could not stand it and burst into tears - go away! Better step aside, otherwise I'm not responsible for myself!
- Well, where are you? You didn't even have dinner!
- Yeah, - I returned halfway - I remembered! The truth is, I’m already sick, I’ve heard enough of your conversations that I don’t even want to have dinner! Wait, - I ran to my room and immediately returned, - listen, last time I recorded your ardent, in quotation marks, speech on a recorder. I'm in the bathroom, and you sit and listen! If you do not believe, then now you will be convinced that your speech is only a repetition of speeches from yesterday and the day before yesterday. And last week you said the same thing!
“Wait,” Igor held out his hand to me.
“And in general,” I laughed, “I am amazed at how you manage to say the same thing, and even with the same intonation ?! Maybe you are a robot? Funny, I live with a robot! It will be necessary to look at night, maybe you have something that is mechanical below the belt ?!
“Alena,” Igor threw up his hands, “how can you? I didn't know you could joke so flatly! So it went!
- And in general, - I choked with tears, - you ... you ..
Realizing that a little more I would burst into tears all over the apartment, I rushed in the direction of the bathroom, however, not forgetting to take my mobile phone with me. Turning on the phone, I immediately entered the WeChat program. There were already about a hundred messages. Wiping my tears, I ran my eyes from one message to the next.

Suddenly my eyes stumbled upon a message I couldn't get past. The young man - it was a Chinese, with whom I had already exchanged a few words, in all seriousness invited me to marry him.
At first it became funny to me, and then, having heard Igor's boring voice, who persuaded me to leave the bathroom already, I wrote that I was ready to marry a Chinese young man if his intentions were serious, and even come to visit him if he give me some money for the plane.

I had money, but I left it as a pledge in the bridal salon, as I ordered a wedding dress from the catalog, which was now sewn in America specifically according to the parameters of my figure.

For some reason, I was so sure that Igor, sooner or later, would make me an offer anyway, that I decided to order a dress. It so happened that at the moment when I received the marriage proposal, I didn’t have, or almost didn’t refuse, money. I was hoping for a bonus, but, as you now know, because of my hooligan antics, I was deprived of it
After all, I thought, I'm not risking anything. If my new fianc; turns out to be a miser, he will simply stop communicating with me on WeChat.

I have already got used to the fact that all my potential life partners are quite stingy. So I did not expect anything good from the new gentleman. But, to my surprise, my new Chinese fiance immediately agreed.
He only asked how to send him the money so that I could buy a plane ticket as soon as possible.
I got lost.

Correspondence in WeChat suddenly turned into something concrete.
So, it's time to sum up the first chapter.

In order to lose your head and agree to marry a Chinese man whom you have not yet seen in person, you need several prerequisites.
1. Everything should be bad at work.
2. Everything should be bad on the personal front too.
3. Relationships with close friends must be ruined.
And in general, life is a disgusting thing when all the money is invested in a new project (I mean a dress that was being sewn now in America), and the award, completely undeservedly, was suddenly deprived.
If suddenly it occurs to you to be surprised by my soon burning solution, go back to step 1, 2, 3.
And I hope you all understand.

Chapter two.

Good morning! Are you still with me?
Then let's go!
They say that you need to sleep with the problem, and in the morning the solution will lie under your pillow.

I opened my eyes, I was alone in bed, my boyfriend had already gone to the country to help my mother, and I kept trying to open my eyelids.
Yesterday I went to bed late, because I stayed too long, or rather, lingered in the bath.

Turning on the water to the fullest, and pouring half a bubble of bath foam, I almost sank into a hat of foam. Only my nose and hand with a mobile phone stuck out. The nose tried to breathe, but it didn't work well. It (nose) was stuffed up because I cried a lot. It was easier with my hand, I could immerse it in hot water, and relax completely, but ... I didn’t immerse it! I kept shaking and shaking my phone!

The water was noisy so that I myself did not hear the sound of shaking, so it is unlikely that my fianc;, who did not take place, heard something. Time passed, and I felt so good that I could not force myself to leave the warm bosom of the bath. It seems to me that I dozed off with my arm outstretched up, because I came to myself from a sharp knock on the door. In surprise, I dropped my phone into the water.
It was a disaster!

It was the latest model phone, I spent one and a half of my salary on it!
Fortunately, I managed to catch him before he could go deep into the water.
Yes, by the way, about water. While I was dozing, the water overflowed, flooded the bathroom floor and went to visit the neighbors. It was they (the neighbors) who woke up my fianc;, who was also dozing off after a hard day's work and a stormy scene with me.
I did not immediately understand what was happening and did not want to open the door. I rose above the edge of the tub only when Igor promised to break down the bathroom door if I didn't open it right away. Without leaving the bath, I reached for the door latch, and then I saw what was happening on the floor.
I immediately felt like opening the door.

Putting the phone on the edge of the bath, I turned off the water and plunged completely into the water depths. Here, in the depths, the knock on the door was not so loud, but it was still audible.

Sighing, I emerged, and just like that, without drying myself, I stepped over the edge of the tub and splashed through the water to the door. After the bath, the water that accumulated on the floor was cold and somehow dangerous. Opening the door, I walked past the dumbfounded Igor, and dived straight into the bed, in the remnants of the foam.

Igor was silent for a while. I don’t know what had thrown him into a stupor, a bathroom in which the water on the floor was almost flush with the side of the bath, or my mysterious appearance and body in lumps of foam, but it didn’t matter anymore.

I was in bed!
 A few seconds later, my boyfriend burst into a whole cascade of incoherent exclamations, but I was already falling asleep, and nothing could make me open my eyelids.
And now, the memories of the water disaster made me jump up, although the eyelids still did not want to open.
The corridor and bathroom were dry.
I even thought that I dreamed about the water splashing over the side of the bath, but I saw a line of buckets with muddy water. Also, on the kitchen table, I found a note from my boyfriend. After reading it, I learned a lot of new and interesting things about myself. The note was as long and tedious as the nature of my failed fianc;.

After reassuring myself that it was real, I decided to think about the problem with the unexpected dream in the bathroom later, but now another thought dawned on me! In all seriousness, for some reason, I decided that the solution to my yesterday's problem lay under the pillow and rushed to the bed.
Forgive me, apparently I was still sleeping, that is, I was sleeping on the go.
As expected, there was nothing under the pillow!
As always, I had to make the decision myself.

Suddenly I went cold, my phone!

I dropped my precious phone into the water yesterday!
Oh my God!
I ran around the room like a wounded animal! There was no phone anywhere!
Then, a little calmer, I put on a dressing gown and sat down in front of the mirror. Morning makeup always has a calming effect on me and clarifies my thoughts. So it is, by the time the mirror reflected not my face, but the face of a beauty queen, almost Marilyn Monroe, I remembered where I had put the phone before I left the bathroom, but I was not sure that he was still there.
I have such a heavy, female lot!
However, a pleasant surprise awaited me, the phone was where I left it.
That is, on the side of the bath.
Overjoyed, I rushed to the phone, and ... dropped it back into the bath.
Luckily this time, the tub was dry!
Holding the phone to my chest, I closed my eyes!

God, God, God! Please, God, so that my phone does not break!
Opening my eyes, I poked the treasured button and took a breath!
The phone worked!
First of all, I dived into the WeChat program.
Oh, and is that all to me?
Hieroglyphs, sentences in English, Arabic, Japanese, Korean, immediately caught my eye. There was even a message from an Indian citizen. But there were especially many messages from the Chinese fianc;, whom I had not yet seen in my eyes, but who persistently asked for the number of the account to which transfer money.

I took a deep breath, and reminded myself that all this was no longer a dream to me. I've opened my eyelids for more than two hours now.
It's good that today was Saturday, and I didn't have to go to work.
Remembering yesterday's story with shaking the phone, I giggled.
And then ... Then she jumped up and spun around the room! I was alone and could shake my phone endlessly!

I shook the phone about ten times, but soon I got tired of it.
The forbidden fruit is sweet, and vice versa, when no one forbids anything, it is boring and not interesting to perform the same actions.
Another message came from the Chinese. And again he asked to send account details.
After a little thought, I still sent the details of my bank account.
And then, almost instantly, I received an SMS that my account was replenished. I looked at the message, and did not believe my eyes, the amount that my future sent was very large. This amount would be enough to fly around half the globe. I immediately wrote to him about it. And I also wrote that he was probably wrong, the amount we agreed on at the beginning was a few zeros less. But in response, she received only a smiling smiley. I kept insisting that he was wrong. But he sent another emoji and then went offline altogether.
I looked around the empty apartment. At some point, what I'm doing seemed absurd to me.

And then I remembered yesterday, or rather, the events of yesterday, and told myself that I was doing the right thing. I once again carefully examined the apartment in which I lived for the last six months.

It was the apartment of my failed husband, and it never became my home. Before meeting Igor, I lived in my own house, where all my big relatives lived with me. The apartment in which I now lived, I first rented. Actually, I rented one room. And then I got to know, closer, the owner of the apartment, and, after that, he invited me to live with him. Naturally, I stopped paying for the room.

I took out my big sports bag and began to put into it the little things dear to my heart that had accumulated over the six months of living in this apartment. Little things have accumulated not very much. I did almost nothing around the house in this apartment. When Igor and I occasionally argued, and he blamed me for not doing anything after I returned from work, I had one answer.
- Let's get married!
After that, all claims were immediately withdrawn. And now, I was standing in the middle of the apartment, which I never entered as a legal mistress, and tried to dissuade myself from taking a step, after which there would be no going back.
Suddenly, another SMS came, there were no messages in it, only a red question mark.

 My Chinese fianc; couldn't understand why I didn't take action. We agreed with him that after the money is transferred, I will buy a ticket and immediately tell him the flight number that I will fly to. I myself did not understand why I hesitated and did not take any steps. A second SMS came in which there was a question mark, and then a third, and only after that, I sat down at the computer and paid for an electronic ticket to Beijing.

The place where my new fianc; lived was called Ningbo, and there was no direct ticket to this locality.
Of course, I felt sorry for Igor, but yesterday's conversation dotted the "and". It's a pity it's not a pity, but there was no way back. The plane for which I bought an e-ticket took off in six hours. I was not afraid that Igor would return and persuade me to stay.
 Usually, Saturday-Sunday were dedicated to his mother and his mother's dacha. So I wasn't in any hurry.
Three hours later I was on my way to the airport. I left the key under the rug, and I also left a note in which I explained to Igor that I could no longer live with him without registration. Igor was a calm and not very temperamental young man. I did not think that he would rush after me and, in general, would look for me. He will most likely breathe a sigh of relief.

Soon I was on the plane. I warned my parents that I would not be home for some time and explained that I was leaving my hometown for a short time. I did not explain anything to my friend Nadezhda. I just sent an SMS that I was leaving and I asked you to fire me of your own free will.

While I'm on the plane, it's time to tell you one story. It was the time when I was trying to find a fianc; on a dating site. Although the way to Beijing is not very long, but still, it will take some time, which we pass for a fun story.
Then I lived with my parents and tried to establish my personal life. One of the ways to establish this, your personal life, was acquaintance by correspondence, on a dating site.
 Once I met a man and went on a date with him. Next, we will speak from the point of view of a man. Why this is so, I will explain to you later. The man's name was Peter.
“I met Alena in the fall. It was a warm September evening when we saw each other. I invited Alena to the restaurant "Two Mongols".
The price tag was horse. Since the last time I was here with another woman, prices have skyrocketed if and if I knew, I would have invited the current lady to another restaurant, but what now ...
The lady opened the menu and well poke at different dishes. I counted such pokes at least nine times. My mood level plummeted! The only consolation was that somewhere out there, in the back of my mind, there was a glimmer of hope. I believed that our evening would last a long time. I hoped that after dinner the lady would invite me to her place, because I had nowhere to invite the lady. I lived in a rented apartment with my daughter and two nieces.

Alena was a prominent lady, everything was with her. Height, weight, age - everything almost corresponded to my ideal. In the meantime, Alena brought all the dishes that she ordered. I was also very hungry, but my two unfortunate dishes still did not carry. The lady asked why I ordered so little for myself, I laughed it off and said that I was not hungry!
I lied, I wanted to eat brutally, but I understood that all the money would go to pay for the dishes that Alena ordered, and decided to endure the hunger. Nothing, not the first time! Let my stomach remain empty, but after dinner the lady will satisfy my other hunger, which torments me day and night, and especially in the morning! Hope it satisfies!
Everything comes to an end, and so did the long supper.

By the way, the lady ate like a mouse. Almost all dishes remained untouched. The lady scratched the dishes with a fork, but ate almost nothing. Licking on what was left on the plates, I paid, and we went out into the warm September night! The lady took my arm and offered to take a walk. I didn't mind, anyway, I came by taxi, so there was nothing to lose. Time passed, Alena chatted, her mouth did not close for a minute. When the walk had just begun, I unsuccessfully tried to break into the conversation, then gave up these attempts.
They walked for a long time, the lady was on high heels and moved at a snail's pace. Finally Alena slowed down and expressed a desire to kiss me on the cheek.

I rejoiced, at last! I believed that happiness is already very close! But that was it.

Alena announced that we were almost there. The entrance of her house loomed before us. But I was not destined to enter this entrance. Alena affectionately said goodbye, promised to call, and went to the entrance, I timidly threw a few words after her that it would not be bad to drink tea or coffee at her place.

The lady stopped and smiled again.
My heart stopped, it seemed that just about, a little more, and I would receive the cherished invitation, but the words that the lady uttered cooled my feelings, which had already risen to the top! Alena said that she lives with her parents and several other relatives.

Alena's apartment is small, and it will simply be impossible to find a corner to drink ... coffee.
Waving her hand again, Alena entered the entrance, and I gritted my teeth and went home.

Everything fell apart again!

Well, what kind of aunts on this site? Is it really hard to write in the questionnaire that there is nowhere to drink coffee, due to the fact that her relatives are snooping around everywhere. Having learned such details, I would be careful, and would not invite a lady to a restaurant with the last money.

Oh, women, women, in the sense of a woman!

Well, here I am again with you. Do you enjoy looking at yourself from the outside?
It was somehow not very good for me, but what to do, as they say, there is nothing to blame on the mirror if the face is crooked.
I have many male friends. So this man, after some time, after this curious story happened, got on the list of my friends. He became my pen pal.
 Once I asked him what was the most unhappy day in his life over the past six months, what you read above was the story of the most unhappy day.

The plane will soon be landing, and I'm summing up the second chapter: try to fall asleep in the bathroom, with the phone in your hand and your nose blocked from crying. And in no case before going to bed do not close the valve with water. Just try and fall asleep. After that, you will find out how, in fact, your lovers, immediate family and neighbors feel about you. If after that you want to leave the house, do not resist. Suddenly, this will be the first step towards your happiness?
And may luck be with you!

Chapter Three

Just before the plane landed, I suddenly wanted to sleep.
It must have been something nervous.
However, I could not help myself and fell asleep. I slept no more than 25 minutes, but it seemed to me that I slept for a very long time. Next to me was a chair occupied by a man. The man was a negro.

Falling asleep, I thought about the question, I was interested in what the Negro man was doing in cold Vladivostok, and why was he flying to Beijing?

With this thought, I fell asleep.
I dreamed that Igor and I were driving his car to relax in nature. At some point, in a dream, I wanted to show my beloved man how much I love him, and I put my head on his shoulder. However, I immediately discovered that my skinny Romeo for some reason suddenly resounded in my shoulders. Where only an ear and a quarter of a head could be placed, two or even three heads as charming as mine could now fit.

Opening my eyes, I found myself lying on a powerful shoulder My neighbor is a negra. Of course, the neighbor was cramped, but he was by no means indignant at the fact that a blond head rested on his shoulder. When I fully came to my senses, the plane was already stopped.
I apologized as best I could to the man.
However, he only smiled, took my hand in his big hand and kissed my wrist. I smiled sheepishly and lowered my head. Male attention is, of course, great, but I was a little nauseous.
I smiled, but my head was full of panicked screams. Apparently, the sharp transition from sleep to wakefulness affected. I didn’t understand what I was doing here, in this cabin of the plane, and why there was a big and swarthy man next to me?

Just today I was going to a nightclub with my girlfriends. Or maybe I abused alcohol and I only dream of all this?
However, it was not worth entertaining yourself with stupid fantasies. Every minute I came more and more to my senses, and memories swirled around me like bees. However, it was time to get up from your seat.
Border formalities did not take long.
 Another fifteen minutes and I was already standing in front of the Chinese, who was holding a sign with my name and surname in his hands. Seeing me, the Chinese smiled and, checking something on his mobile phone, nodded. And then he showed me my own photo, which flickered in the depths of the phone. If I had any doubts up to this point, now they have disappeared.
The man met me.
However, this was not the man with whom I corresponded in the program.

  Maybe it seems to someone that all the Chinese look the same, but it didn’t seem so to me for a long time.
The thing is, I live in a city that is a tourist attraction for the Chinese. A long time ago, the Chinese government donated the land where my city now stood to the imperial government. The Russian Tsar ordered that a city appear on the site of the taiga. However, the Chinese still believe that the land on which the Russian city now stands should belong to them. And they sigh nostalgically when they hear the name of the city - Vladivostok.

That is why Chinese guests very often visit my beautiful city.
And for a long time it doesn’t seem to me that all Chinese are the same person. I generally have a good memory for faces, although I seem somewhat absent-minded to others.
Therefore, I immediately realized that in front of me was not at all the man who confessed his love to me and promised to marry.

I was at a loss, the idea of a trip to the capital of China - Beijing, now seemed to me more and more wild.
Seeing my dumbfounded face, the man holding the sign with my name and surname smiled and asked me something. I can't say that he spoke in perfect Russian, but I understood a few of his words.
The man asked how the flight went.
I politely thanked him for his concern, and asked when my fianc; would appear. The man with the sign smiled and then laughed. By the way, he had a very pleasant laugh. However, for some reason, I didn't feel like laughing at all. I was tired and desperately wanted to go home. I began to look around for a ticket office where I could buy a ticket for the return flight to Vladivostok.

The man seemed to understand my concern because he suddenly stopped laughing. He looked at me seriously, and then shouted something in his guttural voice. Immediately another Chinese appeared, in whose hands was a huge bouquet of flowers. The bouquet was so huge that it completely covered the one who carried it. After the bouquet with flowers migrated from the hands of the flower seller to the hands of the man who met me, and then to my hands, I seem to have begun to understand something.

However, I did not understand that and not about that.
I thought that my fianc; asked the greeter to give me flowers. It turned out that the person who met was my fianc;.
I learned all this a little later.
Now my concern was to get a suitcase, a bite to eat and buy a ticket back home. When I voiced this entire list of three points to a Chinese with a sign, he was dumbfounded. Only after some time, we were able to explain. I demanded that my fianc; immediately appear in front of me, otherwise, I threatened that I would return home. I was on the verge of hysteria. A little more and tears would flow from my eyes.

Seeing what was happening to me, the man became worried. Apparently, due to a stressful situation, he suddenly forgot all the Russian words, because he began to speak something quickly and passionately in Chinese, first to me, then to himself, and then, in general, hit himself on the forehead.

I was utterly scared.
To fly so many kilometers through the air, and to see someone maniac instead of the groom - this is not every girl can stand it. Seeing that I shied away, the man pointed at the phone several times, quickly explained something to the invisible caller, listened, and then handed the phone to me.
“Hello,” I pressed the phone to my ear, the interlocutor’s accent was monstrous, besides, he spoke illegibly and quickly, “sorry, I wanted to ask ...
The voice on the other end of the tube continued to speak, I tried several times to wedge in, then left this hopeless occupation. There was only one way out, it was necessary to listen to the end to the end.
“I just wanted to ask,” I could not stand it, I started talking again, “when will I be taken to my fianc;?”
“The groom is already here,” the interlocutor suddenly fell silent, and then spoke again. His speech was still unintelligible and endless.
Hearing that my fianc; was somewhere here, and I was standing there and could not get to know him, I slightly raised my voice to shout over the invisible interlocutor
“Excuse me,” I said loudly, “but could you tell him that I am standing here? You see, I'm tired and hungry.
The interlocutor suddenly fell silent, and then, when I already thought that the conversation was over, he suddenly again gave birth to two words
“I already told you,” he said clearly.

Hearing that my fianc; was already aware that I had arrived, I was delighted and wanted to press the end button, but the man again began to say something.
Having waited once again for the end of his speech, I asked the interlocutor to call my fianc; and asked him to come to me.

The man was silent again for a while, and then asked to pass the phone to the one who met me. I did so. The men had a short conversation, and then the receiver was again with me.
So, when is my fianc; coming? I again asked the question to the interlocutor. The answer was discouraging.
Your fianc; is standing next to you.
I turned around. Only the one who met me was standing nearby. About this, slightly raising my voice, I informed the invisible interlocutor.
“Maybe you didn’t understand,” I was completely nervous, and, therefore, I was almost screaming into the phone, “but I ask that the person who invited me to Beijing come up to me!” Next to me, my fianc; is not, even though you say that he is here! Only the person who met me is standing next to me.
The interlocutor muttered something displeased, he probably cursed, but the situation was still not clear.
“If you don’t call my fianc; right now,” I threatened, “I’ll go look for a ticket office where I can buy a plane ticket that will take me back home.”

The interlocutor also raised his voice. It was evident that the situation was starting to heat up for him as well.
He muttered something, rustling was heard, probably he was leafing through the pages of the dictionary, finally, I heard something that plunged me into a stupor.
“Your fianc;,” the interlocutor suddenly began to speak in a high voice, “is standing next to you. The man who met you is your fianc;.
I turned around, the man who met me smiled uncertainly at me.
“You must have mixed something up,” I said in a conciliatory voice, “I saw a photo of the one who invited me to China, I even talked to him via video link. The man who met me is not like the one I spoke to. You see, I have a phenomenal memory and I...
An angry voice sounded at the other end of the phone. The man did not want to delve into the subtleties. He only knew one thing, my fianc; is standing not far from me and that's it!
“He sent the money for the ticket,” the man summed up the conversation, but I started asking questions again.
“I don’t understand,” I moaned again, but the interlocutor again raised his voice to a higher note, and began to speak loudly, almost shouting
- You're russian? he asked, "Why don't you understand my good Russian language?" - it was heard that I finally got him with my questions, - I speak Russian well, and I already explained to you that your fianc; is the one who met you! What don't you understand, woman?
“But,” I tried again to clarify something, and then I realized that I had already received answers to my questions. After that, I could only thank the interlocutor.

He accepted my gratitude with grumbling, it was heard that he was not pleased. He expected satisfaction from the conversation and praises addressed to him, and the Russian woman completely exhausted him with her questions.

So: to sum up: the invisible interlocutor spoke Russian a little better than the one who met me, and explained to me that the man who met me was my fianc;.
If someone did not understand the meaning of the above dialogue, I will briefly summarize.

Before me was the person who transferred the money to me. Having given out this simple information, the invisible interlocutor wanted to disconnect, but I did not let him do this. I asked why the photo I saw on WeChat was of a different person?
The interlocutor began to explain something confused to me. The more he spoke, the less I understood him. The words he spoke were Russian, but there was no sense in this set of words.

Trying to understand something, I asked again and again, and the interlocutor suddenly took offense. He considered his Russian language to be perfect, and could not understand why a Russian woman did not understand what he was saying. After some time, I realized that it was easier to pretend that I understood everything than to try to find the truth in the words of a man who considered himself an expert in the great and mighty Russian language.

Finally I got tired of all this. I realized only one thing for myself. In front of me was my fianc;, that is, a man whom I met in the program just yesterday and who transferred money to me. And thanks to which I was now standing at the airport in Beijing.

Soon we were in a taxi. But when we arrived, it turned out that it was not a taxi, but my fianc;'s personal car, but there was a driver behind the wheel.
I was impressed, my fianc; had not just a car, but a car with a driver! I had very little opportunity to communicate with the groom and find out where he was taking me. At some point, I caught on.
 I suddenly realized with horror that I don’t even know the name of my future husband. I knew the name of the Chinese with whom I corresponded and who invited me to China, his name was Zhangbo, but I did not have time to make out the name of this man, he pronounced it very quickly and indistinctly.
However, sometimes I am very persistent.
When the car door was opened in front of me, and the groom said that we had already arrived, I stated that I would not move until the man clearly told me, and preferably, even, in syllables, his name. I would also like to see his passport. I recognized the name, but the man did not have his passport.
 Instead of a passport, they showed me some kind of certificate. On it was a photograph of this man in national costume. The place where they took me looked like a hotel, but the atmosphere in it was almost homely. The guests crowded in the common room, someone sang something in a high and ear-piercing voice, someone talked, and several people sat staring at the TV. Although, of course, I'm getting ahead of myself, I saw all this much later.

My fianc; escorted me into the room, kissed me on the cheek, and left.
The first thing I did was turn on the wifi.
I haven't been online for over 12 hours. Even before the end of dressing, I began to actively communicate. To my surprise, the world, during these 12 hours, has not changed at all. I thought that by turning on the phone, I would see a lot of messages from friends and acquaintances. However, I was disappointed. No one even paid attention to the fact that I'm not in the city right now. Only my friend Nadia languidly asked why I was going to quit so abruptly?

There were a few other minor messages and that's it. All this concerned the different programs in which I was registered, all except for this program. If earlier there were just a lot of messages in the chat, now this program worked with an incredible load.
The flow of messages has increased to an impossibility.
Probably the point was that the WeChat program is a Chinese program, and now I was in China, and not just in China, but on the territory of its capital. I was in Beijing.

Suddenly there was a sound, notifying me that a message had arrived. The message came to my mail.ru. Opening the message, I skimmed through the lines and immediately grabbed my head.

I forgot to pick up from Russia, from Vladivostok, the most important thing.
You will never guess what I mean by the term "most important". No, it wasn't a father and mother, or a photograph of a loved one. I see a lot of options that you sketched in response to my question. But I'm sure none of your answers are correct. However, of course, I could be wrong.

I don't want to intrigue you anymore and give the correct answer. The main thing, in this case, was a wedding white dress, which all this time was sewn in America, and which, right now, has finally arrived.
Which is what I was told by email.
Unable to bear the disappointment, I burst into tears.

And it just had to happen that at that very moment there was a knock on the door. My fiance has arrived. Glancing at the clock, I was taken aback. It's been two hours since I checked into the hotel, and I haven't even washed my face off the road and haven't completely changed my clothes.
I had to apologize to the groom, and ask him to wait a little longer. After two hours, I was finally ready. My fianc; dressed up too. I thought that he would greet me with a hail of reproaches, as Igor always did when he had to wait for me for a long time, but I immediately remembered that the Chinese fianc; spoke Russian poorly.

So the disadvantage immediately turned into a virtue.
When I left the room, I discovered that my fianc; was not at all bored. He was chatting animatedly about something with the guests of the hotel.

My exit made a splash.
I wore a tight black dress, fishnet tights and stiletto heels. I threw a fur cape over my shoulders. For some reason, I imagined that my future husband and I would go to a restaurant now to have dinner, but I was mistaken.
My fianc;, of course, was going to invite me to a restaurant, but a little later. Now his plans were somewhat different. At the main entrance to the hotel there was already a car that was supposed to take me and my fianc; to ...
We bet you'll never guess where!

Okay, I'll tell you.
As soon as my fianc; announced the purpose of the trip, I immediately lost the mood to joke. The groom solemnly informed me that he intended to take me to where his mother lives. To put it simply, he was going to introduce me to his mother. Yes, I got stuck again. The outfit that I pulled on myself was not at all suitable for the first acquaintance with the groom's mother.

I thought that my fianc;'s mother lives somewhere nearby, but today was apparently a day of mistakes.
my fianc; with walked next to the driver, and purred some song between calls on the phone. We all drove and drove. It began to get dark. I glanced at the clock. It was already nine o'clock in the evening in Vladivostok. The time difference was two hours. So now, in China, it was 19:00. Time passed, and we all drove and drove. Outside the window it became completely dark, and then it dawned on me that even such a large city as Beijing could not stretch so far.

The road was brightly lit, but the sides were lined with concrete blocks that stretched for miles. That is, I did not see any landscape. When another half an hour had passed, and my stomach was growling, I touched the groom on the shoulder. He turned to me with a surprised expression. I got the impression that, while we were driving, he forgot that he had a girl in the back seat who flew many kilometers to China to receive the status of a bride, and then a wife.
 However, doubt and confusion in the eyes of the groom immediately gave way to pleasure from recognition.
Thank God, my fianc; remembered that I exist in this world! Smiling at me with a dazzling smile, he touched my knee with his finger, and then wanted to turn away.
Dudki, mister groom!
I turned his head towards me again and pantomimed that I was hungry. Everything I could expect, but not the expression of fear. When I arbitrarily turned the groom's head towards me, he was frightened. However, the fright was immediately replaced by a smile when he realized what I wanted from him. And I didn’t just want to eat, I wanted to chew, tear pieces of meat with my teeth, I wanted to: eat! The last time I ate in the cabin of an airplane, and that was a long time ago.

Almost in another life.
After consulting the phone, which probably had a dictionary, the groom, by the way, in Russian his name was Sasha, turned to me the screen of the phone, on which the following was written in Russian: breakfast will be coming soon. Not immediately realizing that this was a translation error, I was about to make a fuss, because I realized that I simply would not live to see breakfast.
I cried again.

This time I did not stop and cry into a fist, now I sobbed from the bottom of my heart and at the top of my voice. At some point, I howled apparently so loudly that the driver almost lost control. In any case, he had to pull off the main road and stop. The groom moved in with me. It became clear that my emotions seriously frighten him. I once again repeated the pantomime through tears, clearly showing that I was very, very hungry. The groom moved away from me a little and began to poke at the phone again. This time the translator translated correctly. The inscription read: we will have supper soon.
I nodded, dried my eyes, and decided to be patient. On the clock that was on the control panel of the machine, I saw that it was already eight o'clock in the evening.

Remembering the girlfriends who were now having fun in a nightclub, I felt sad. There were: bright lights, loud music and admiring eyes of men, but here there was only a fresh smell of a car interior, Chinese speech, and darkness outside the window. Finally, we have arrived.
Sasha opened the car door and gave me his hand. I immediately admired his gentlemanship, I was very pleased.
 Later I realized that he gave me his hand because I was wearing high heels and it was dirty around. It had recently rained, there were no paved paths, and we paddled right through the mud. It was all about the public road.
The house where the mother of the groom lived had paved paths, but we would not have reached the house. The mud pits were so deep that they could only be overcome by submarine. We were expected. When we entered under the arches of the spacious house, it seemed to me that half of China came out to meet us.
There were so many people that the air conditioner could not cope.
There was a breathtaking smell and it was very stuffy. Showing off my fishnet tights, tight dress, and fur cape, I realized that the sweat that was streaming down my face would wash away all my makeup very soon. My fianc; kissed my mother on the cheek and immediately disappeared somewhere, and I was left alone, under the gunpoint of hundreds of eyes.
You may have noticed that in a stressful situation, I become aggressive. Of course, I can cry, but in the end, I will still do as I see fit.
My eyes still sting from tears, sweat is already flowing like a river through my body, and I sum up.

Do you want to marry a Chinese fiance?

So get out!

If you really want, then, in the end, you will still achieve what you want, but you must remember the following: despite the fact that we all live under the same sun, we sometimes seem to each other worse than aliens.

This applies to people whom fate, due to some unusual situation, has pushed close to people of another nation.

If you are ready for:
strangers will stare at you,
touch your hair
and sometimes even try to cut a strand from your hair,
spoon feed,
then to stuff the same spoon into your mouth,
to be interested, through a translator on the phone,
when was the last time you had your period
and, when, home?
And all these curiosities will not infuriate you,
but only cause an annoying smile,
then you are almost ready to
to become a Chinese wife who is a millionaire
of course, if you survive the meeting with the Chinese mother.

Chapter Four

If you imagine a Chinese mother as a kind of old woman in a national dress, you are far from the truth. Maybe somewhere out there, in the south of China, old Chinese women walk in such outfits, but my fianc;'s mother was dressed smartly and smartly.

From the abundance of sparkles rippled in the eyes. Sequins were everywhere, on a jacket, on a skirt, on shoes, on tights, even around the eyelids, and then a few sparkles sparkled. Mom had a great haircut, a thin waist, a smooth face without wrinkles. All mothers would look like this in their seventy years.
I tried my best to show sympathy for my fianc;'s mother, but I couldn't manage to do it. I was constantly distracted by friendly Chinese friends.
First there was a collective selfie, they put me in the middle, and everyone tried to push the other away in order to get as close as possible to me.
Of course, this attention touched me, but the stomach, which demanded attention to itself, and only to itself, did not allow me to relax and feel the friendly atmosphere of this house. I felt like crying again, but when I caught the worried look of the groom who came from nowhere, I realized that he was on the alert! While I was trying to get through the crowd of friendly people towards me, my fianc; disappeared somewhere again. In the crowd, a man in a smart suit flashed several times, who was trying to organize something. Here and there he heard his high voice. People listened to him for a minute, and then relaxed again. Then the man shouted something again, and after that...
There was silence.
And I saw a strange picture. My fianc; was dragging a trough with water, followed by a Chinese who looked like him like two drops of water. The second man dragged the shop behind him. The shop was so big that he constantly grabbed those present. At last the strange couple reached the middle of the room. The groom said something colorful and long, apparently what he said was so valuable to those present that they burst into applause.
The second Chinese, with visible relief and a terrible roar, lowered the bench to the floor. My fianc; was more careful, but still could not put the trough without spilling water. Yes, yes, he not only carried a trough, but carried a trough full of water. Turns out today was Mother's Day. And my fianc;, along with his brother, decided to wash my mother's feet as a sign of respect.
I thought that now something would happen, and I would finally be seated at the table. However, my fianc;, along with his brother, continued to say something. Every proposal of my fianc; was met with a roar of approving voices and applause.
At some point, I realized that I needed to take matters into my own hands. Imperceptibly, as it seemed to me, I disappeared into the crowd. I didn’t know my way around the house well, but I relied on my sense of smell. I reasoned simply, if there is a house, then there are people who love to eat. And if there are people who love to eat, then there should be a kitchen where they prepare dishes for people who love to eat. My sense of smell and rumbling stomach didn't let me down. I wandered a little around the house, but I still found the kitchen. You should have seen the faces of the chefs when I stumbled into the kitchen.
The kitchen was small, slightly smaller than the central square of my hometown of Vladivostok.
I couldn't count the cooks, they were moving all the time. However, when I materialized under the vaults of the kitchen, two of the cooks simply fell into a stupor. Buns lay on the nearest table, ready to be served to the guests. I grabbed the nearest bun and dug my teeth into it. The bun looked white and unbaked, but I knew that these buns were ready to eat and quite tasty. I tried such buns when I went for a short trip to the border city of China, the city of Suifenhe.
The muffin I grabbed from the kitchen table without permission looked exactly the same. I did not notice how I ate this bun and immediately reached for the second one. However, this time, one of the chefs decided to show courage and stood up for the master's dishes.
Picking up a kitchen appliance that looked like a ladle, he began to walk around the table. He had a heroic grimace on his face, it probably meant that he was ready to lay down his life, but would not allow the owners, on such a solemn day, to remain hungry. I don't know how I seemed to the kitchen workers, but I suspect that my seductive appearance frightened them today rather than touched.
The situation was getting dangerous. The rest of the cooks also came to their senses, and were ready to defend the dishes they had prepared to the last. Fortunately, my fianc; was on the alert and came after me. The appearance of the groom made the atmosphere in the kitchen almost friendly. Seeing that I was holding a bun in each hand, the groom said something to the cooks with a smile, and then beckoned me to follow him.
Fortunately, no one paid attention to my return, as well as to my absence, because at that moment a car drove up to the house, and everyone in the room, in a friendly crowd, rushed to the front door. Whether the dirt, during my presence in this house, had time to dry, t whether the car in which the guest arrived was more powerful, but the fact remains that the guest drove straight into the yard. It turned out that my fiance's grandmother had arrived.
I finally understood why they didn’t start the holiday, probably they were waiting for my grandmother.
What happened next was this. The grandmother was seated on a bench, she lowered her legs into the trough, and the groom's mother began to wash her feet. After the feet were washed and dried, the groom's brother quickly dragged the trough. While he was gone, Sasha ordered that all the women present in the hall should be given multi-colored carnations. Before the last woman had time to press the bouquet to her, my fianc;'s brother ran into the living room again. In his hands he also had a trough, but with a new portion of water.
The same performance with washing the feet was repeated, only now, Sasha's mother was awarded the high honor of putting her feet in the trough. Sasha washed her feet this time. If you think that on this solemn part dedicated to the celebration of Mother's Day was completed, then you are mistaken, everything was just beginning. The women were seated, the men stood nearby. At the cotton of my fianc;, some boards, coasters and pieces of cloth were brought. A few minutes later I realized that a stage was being set up in the living room.
Sasha decided to please his ladies. First he, then other men, took turns climbing the stage and showed amateur performances dedicated to Mother's Day to the amiable ladies. There were songs, playing national instruments, recitations and musical numbers from Chinese opera, and much, much more. I ate my buns a long time ago. Fortunately, there were teapots and small bowls on the tables. So I even found something to drink my buns with. The tea I drank seemed a little bitter to me, but I didn't care anymore.
Of course, I didn’t eat two buns, but the worm froze. And the concert was in full swing, and now not only men, but also women performed.
I started to fall asleep.
I was full, I was warm, what else is needed for happiness? At some point, I dozed off, so deeply that I dropped my purse from my hands.
Those present turned to me in unison. This was the moment when the organizer of the holiday took the floor. He said something for so long that he tired even his compatriots. That is why the invitees paid attention to the knock. If the purse had fallen at the moment when the orchestra of folk instruments rumbled, of course, no one would have led an ear, but I'm so lucky.
I immediately woke up, but it was too late. The organizer ran up to me, picked up my purse, and chirped something excitedly. Those present roared and burst into applause. The sudden excitement seemed suspicious to me. I never complained about the lack of intuition. It was evident that the groom was also confused. Coming up to me, he gave me his hand. I was delighted and thought that they would lead me to the table in a solemn atmosphere. I really was led, but not to the table, but in the direction of the stage.
When there were only a few steps to the stage, I began to slow down and resist. It has come to me. I was also offered to somehow congratulate my fianc;'s mother and grandmother. I understood that by dropping my purse, I drew attention to myself, and now the situation could not be reversed.
“Okay, then,” I thought maliciously, “now I’ll arrange for you. You will remember for the rest of your life that you cannot drive me into a corner.
A few days later, a holiday was to take place, which I loved since childhood. Victory Day, May 9, was approaching. For two weeks now, on the eve of the holiday, military songs have been heard on the streets and on TV screens, and Katyusha's song was broadcast especially often.
So I decided to sing. It is the song "Katyusha".
I always knew that the Chinese are very musical people, and I was sure that I would be asked to shut up after the first line that I sang, this always happened at my house, during family holidays.
But the well-bred Chinese did nothing to show that a bear stepped on my ear, they only smiled benevolently and clapped their hands with all their might. At some point, the orchestra even struck out, which immediately drowned out my weak voice.
Mom and grandmother even began to dance. The holiday was a success. By the time we were finally seated at the tables, I felt almost at home. The only embarrassing thing was that I was not allowed to finish eating. I finished the dish to the middle, they touched me on the shoulder, while I tried to understand what they were saying to me, it turned out that my half-eaten dish was no longer in front of me. But a little later I had another course of dishes before me. As I tracked where the plates of my half-eaten food disappeared, I laughed. Two girls of 13-14 years old, either nieces or some other distant relative, fought over the contents of the plate.
I don’t know what the younger generation of the family imagined there, but the teenage girls tried to share the food that they didn’t let me finish eating. As my fianc; later told me, the girls hoped that if they could finish the food from my plate, their hair would turn golden and their eyes blue.
All in all, the holiday was a success. but glory!
Dinner was coming to an end, I thought that after dinner I would be taken to the hotel. Probably, everything would have been so if grandmother had not received a call on her mobile phone. Grandmother could not understand for a long time where the call was coming from, Sasha immediately rushed to help. They dug through the entire large bag, and only at the very bottom of the bag was a telephone, which by that time had already stopped ringing.
Grandma was terribly upset. Sasha immediately found the missed number and pressed the button. It turned out that Sasha's aunt from America called to congratulate her sister and mother.
What started here!
Mom and grandmother had already talked to their sister, but the conversation continued. Each of those present was eager to pay respect to the unfortunate, in their opinion, compatriot, who lives so far from home, in distant America. Time passed, and the flow of those eager to talk did not stop.
Sasha briefly talked about something with his mother, then picked up the phone from another relative, and, as I understood, he agreed on something with his aunt. After that, the organizer was called. The man spilled like a nightingale. When he repeated the speech, relatives and guests nodded their heads in unison.
After Sasha added a few more words, those present nodded their heads with even greater enthusiasm. I became curious, but I did not hope that someone would explain to me what was happening.
However, Sasha suddenly remembered me, came up, turned on the screen of his mobile phone and this is what I read there:
“We will talk on Skype with America, let's go to the cinema”
Of course I went, where would I go, from this submarine?
The cinema hall was small, there were no more than three hundred seats in it.
The booth with the computer and speaker mixer was somehow connected to the screen. It took about 15 minutes to seat relatives and guests. While Sasha was turning on the computer, the organizer was running in front of the screen and saying something with inspiration, and finally, an image of the computer desktop appeared on the screen, and it was clear that Sasha turned on Skype.
A little more and we saw American relatives, and they saw us.
Happiness had no chapel. Those present in the hall were so inspired that right from the spot they began to communicate with Sasha's aunt. However, there were also many Chinese relatives on the other side of the globe and they also wanted to talk. At some point, I realized that it would drag on for a long time and decided to get some sleep. I don’t know how much I slept, but I woke up from the fact that silence hung in the hall. I rubbed my eyes and raised my head.
Horror!
The relatives were silent and looked at me.
There was some kind of trick. Sasha took out a handkerchief, spat on it, and stretched out his eyes to me with the handkerchief, which probably meant: stop sleeping, all the relatives are looking at you.
I got angry, I was tired of being woken up all day and not being allowed to eat, so I took Sasha's hand away.
Sighing heavily, Sasha again took out his mobile phone and told me that my aunt wanted to meet her future daughter-in-law.
Get hurt!
I looked at the clock, it was 4 am at home, and here the holiday was in full swing. However, there was no one to be offended by. Everything that happened was my fault. If it hadn't occurred to me to fly halfway across the world to get the status of a wife, I would now be sleeping peacefully in my bed. Tomorrow will be Sunday, I would have had time to relax, quarrel with Igor and even cry.
On Monday, I would go to work, look at the same insipid faces, and do work that I don’t like. Having said all this to myself, I suddenly realized that I did not want to go home, that I already liked everything.
Taking out a comb, a mirror and lipstick, I put myself in order under the admiring glances of those present. Looking at myself from all sides, I got up and, swaying on my heels, moved towards the screen.
At some point, I swayed, and would certainly have fallen if Sasha had not supported me in time. Aunt was not at all like Sasha's mother. She missed glitter. Here she just looked like old Chinese women from photographs of the last century. Even the grandmother looked more fashionable and stylish than her.
Apparently, in this way, in America, the Chinese remained faithful to their homeland. Everything else was the same as here. Behind the back of the aunt, a large family was chirping, laughter, isolated cries and a rumble of voices were heard. However, there was also silence on the other side as soon as I stepped out and stood facing the screen. My aunt chirped something, Sasha smiled, and I realized that my American relatives also accepted me into their big family. After that, they stopped paying attention to me. I tried to sleep, but I couldn't anymore.
And in front of the screen, the unseen was happening.
Relatives from America lined up on the screen, and relatives from this side began to actively photograph them, then they changed. This side lined up, that side took pictures.
And then they remembered me again.
They put me in the middle and the photo session began again.
I was photographed alone, then with Sasha, my mother, grandmother and brother, and then again with all the other relatives. Then an idea came into my aunt's head, which she immediately voiced. American relatives lined up on the screen, leaving a poster one empty space.
I was asked to come up to the screen. It turned out that I was standing among the line of American relatives. Relatives from China actively photographed all this. It was already 6 in the morning in Vladivostok, when everyone began to go home. Relatives from America asked relatives from China to drop a photo in the morning, where they are photographed with their daughter-in-law and all other family members. On this, the family holiday dedicated to Mother's Day was over.
After that, I was taken to the guest house.
The house was wow, cool!
It had two bathrooms, two bedrooms, an office, a living room, and a dining room.
It did not have any Chinese national motifs that were present in all the premises of the main house, but this did not make it less comfortable. I promised Sasha that I myself would figure out where everything was in the guest house and sent him away.
God, I was finally alone!
Throwing myself on the bed, which was a little smaller than the auditorium, I promised myself that tomorrow I would sleep until evening. Let them try to wake me up!
However, I can't sleep until I take stock of the day and share it with you.
So: my dear compatriots and especially, compatriots, I ...
I want to sleep. My thoughts are confused and I...
I want to tell you...
Take buns with you on the road, oh, sorry, take some food if you are flying to a meeting with the groom from another country.
Who the hell knows what their eating habits are, maybe they eat once a day, or maybe every hour?
Everyone has their perks!
Each nation takes food in accordance with its national customs, and we, Russians, love to eat when the soul, excuse me, the stomach asks.
Yes, we are Russians!
We live as our soul tells us, well, sometimes, I wish ... to ... to!
Everything. I sleep. Till tomorrow. And don't wake me up early.

Chapter Five

Let me move smoothly from the guest house to the house that I finally entered as the hostess. The apartment was not far from the center of Beijing, and although it was in an apartment building, it had two floors. There was also a country house in which Sasha liked, right in his shorts, to sit in the courtyard and listen to the birds singing in the cage. These cages were taken out into the yard every morning and hung on the trees.
I'll talk about the wedding a little later, okay?
In China, there are several unwritten rules that, if you want to earn the respect of society, you must follow.
Civil marriages, so popular in Europe, are not welcome here.
The bride must be younger than the groom, at least a week, at least a day.
Young people cannot marry if they are in the status of a student.
Even if you are a master, bachelor, then still, be patient! Otherwise, you will be thrown out of school.
The marriageable age of the bride is 21, the groom is 22.
Before the wedding ceremony, demons are scared away by cannon shots. Dragon dance - promises prosperity and well-being.
We fit each other in all respects, none of us was a student. I was much younger than the groom, and we were both well into our twenties.
But I'm getting too far ahead.
If in the European part of the planet, after the wedding, the bride and groom go on a honeymoon trip, then in China, the honeymoon trip takes place before the wedding. This is necessary so that, directly at the wedding, the bride and groom can provide the guests with the story of their love, captured in photographs. Many hotels just exist due to the wedding theme.
Our pre-wedding photo shoot took place on the island of Sanya. We lived in a hotel near the sea, and every day, as if to work, we went to the seashore, where they were already waiting for us: a make-up artist, a costume designer, a photographer with an assistant, and also a wedding designer-director. Before starting the photo session, the scenario of the future photo was thought out in seconds. How to turn, where to turn, how to stand in relation to the groom. Facial expression, mise en scene, position of arms, legs, head - all this had to be agreed in advance.
Three days flew by like a flash. I didn’t even swim in the sea in a human way. Dresses that were prepared in advance, especially for a wedding photo shoot, we changed every day 3-5 times.
Here I took my soul!
And also, my dear compatriots, I will tell you a big secret, Sasha and I had separate rooms in the hotel. That's how it was supposed to be. It suited me just fine. I don’t know if this suited Sasha, I didn’t ask, in general, after arriving in China, I spoke very little. It just wasn't with anyone. Sometimes it seemed to me that I was playing some role, doing some work. A job that I created for myself. At some moments, it was not easy for me, but it never crossed my mind to cancel the wedding and go back.
By this moment, at home, in Vladivostok, everyone had already fully realized that I had left and would not return soon. My fianc;, Igor, suddenly developed feelings for me and bombarded me with emails and text messages. He was ready for anything, even offered to marry, if only I would return.
Nadia's friend was also unhappy.
When I worked with her, I did volume works, and effortlessly, which was to be divided into six people. I found out about all this just now and was a little offended by my friend. Of course, if she had told me about it earlier, nothing would have changed. I am not one of those people who go to the authorities every week and ask for a raise. But at least I wouldn't feel like a black sheep.
Nadia asked me to come back several times. When I refused, she tried to get a benefit from the other side. Since I could do my work remotely, she tried to persuade me to do something supposedly for her personally. Several times I fulfilled her requests, but the flow of requests did not decrease, but increased. And now I work absolutely free. I wrote my resignation letter and faxed it and my boss signed it.
Returning to Beijing, I fulfilled Nadia's requests several times, but when I realized that because of the work imposed on me, I was ready to take a swing at the sacred, skip dinner with my beloved fianc;, I told Nadezhda that I could no longer help her. At first, Nadia was silent, but the next day I received an angry voicemail accusing me of all possible and impossible sins.
Here is a short excerpt from her message
“Dear, beloved friend Alena. You are a bastard! Because of you, I lost this quarter's bonus! You deserted, and I was left behind! Your act has no justification, I tell you as the head of the department and as your friend. Yes, I understand that it's time to explain something to you!
The fact is that you were doing the work of a subdivision that existed only on paper. That is, you were listed in this subdivision, but besides you, there were six more people. These people didn't actually work in our department, but since you did all the work for them, no one cared! Yes, you are right, you did not receive money for the work of these six, I received it. Well, that's what friends are for, to help each other. I saved this money to buy an apartment, just a little was not enough and now I'm in flight. And it's all your fault. You are an awesome friend!!! If you had even said a word about your plans, I would not have let you fly away! Bones would lay down. Well, now you are a millionaire, and I have lost hope of buying an apartment. But I'll take revenge on you! Since I am now left without an apartment because of you, I phoned Igor, your fianc;! Oh, this idea came to my mind recently, but I already like it! Here I will take revenge on you! I'll rent a room in Igor's apartment, the room where you lived, and I'll sleep in your pink bed! And use your pink headset! You didn't take them with you to China, did you? And you won't take it! Igor just said that he was taking away your furniture, pink set, on account of the rent! I gave him the idea! I understand that this is ... not fair, but I am doing the same as you did to me, treacherous friend!

Looking ahead, I will tell you that, six months after my departure, Igor and Nadia got married. They agreed on the basis of general dissatisfaction with me and my sudden act.
That is life!
But let's go back a little to the wedding.
I didn't mention another circumstance that was very important. The parents of the bride and groom must be present at the wedding. However, as you know, this rule is valid not only in China. Even if before the wedding, they did not manage to get to know each other, then at the wedding all parents should be in full force.
My parents were very old and could not fly to Beijing. Mom just couldn't take the flight. Therefore, the acquaintance happened all in the same skype. My parents did not know how to use Skype, so one of my relatives was involved in the connection. Let me tell you straight away, communication did not work out. Judge for yourself what kind of communication it is if a simple question that is asked with the desire to receive an immediate answer has to go through many stages.
Imagine this situation, the groom's grandmother wants to know how the health of the bride's father. In order to convey this simple question, the groom must listen to his grandmother, then find the translation of the question on the mobile phone, I must read it, then voice this question to his father. The response followed the same pattern.
However, the conversation lasted quite a long time, fifteen minutes. I thought we wouldn't last that long. Sasha's grandmother liked my dad, what opinion my parents had, I found out much later.
I don’t know if you noticed or not, but I deliberately play for time and do not talk about the wedding.
Judge for yourself, well, what impressions from the wedding can remain if the bride was not wearing a white dress during the wedding ceremony. So we come to the most basic component from which the wedding feelings of the bride are built. When all the elements that would make up the wedding were discussed, I hinted that they would send me my white wedding dress, which was waiting for me at home in Vladivostok. Sasha didn't argue with me. But when we were alone, he said that white is not a very popular color in China.
brides, to Those who want to be dressed in dresses of light shades during the wedding ceremony, put on a cream-colored dress. I got excited and said I didn't want a cream dress.
Sasha was delighted and said that, choosing me as his wife, he was not mistaken in his choice. I paused, not knowing what to answer. It was clear that some kind of mistake had occurred, and Sasha and I simply did not understand each other. After a pause, I timidly asked the groom about the dress. I decided to clarify what color the dress should be worn by the bride during the wedding. During our communication, Sasha managed to find out for himself this: if I begin to speak timidly and frightened, it means that there will be a storm further. And hysteria is not the worst thing. However, this time I had to restrain myself.
Sasha said that her mother asked her future daughter-in-law to wear a red dress at the wedding. I lowered my head. The fact is that the request of the older generation, especially the mother of the groom, is sacred to me. Of course, if Sasha's father had voiced this request, and by the way, he had not been alive for many years, I would hardly have agreed, but I could not refuse my mother, but my mood was spoiled.
I went into the bedroom and lay there, not responding to the timid knock of my then-future husband at the door. So in the evening he went out to supper alone. The dress was chic, it was the most chic among the dresses, of which I reviewed a huge number in a week. Finally, the dress was chosen, it sat perfectly on me, but the mere thought that I didn’t choose the color myself, but imposed it on me, spoiled the whole mood from the upcoming wedding ceremony.
Well, it's time to talk about how the wedding went.
I'm not sentimental, but the memory of my wishes come true brings tears to my eyes. Tears of tenderness and happiness! Everything was perfect. I loved the people who were around me and they truly loved me. In any case, I hope so.
There were no wedding jokes that are present at a Russian wedding. No one stole the shoe, there was no fight at the wedding, and no one tried to steal the bride, that is, me, and did not demand a ransom. However, I would not want these touches to be on my wedding, which I have been waiting for, waiting for so long. There was beautiful music, there was a huge - huge hall.
Plus the chic decor. There were many candles, an abundance of red, there was live music, that is, a variety orchestra. The day was long, but it did not tire me. A choreographer was invited two weeks before, and every day we learned the dance moves that we performed for the guests. It was a medley of various Chinese songs. Of course, this was not the main number of the program. The main number was a slow dance of the bride and groom, that is, us. In fact, the wedding was very interesting, but it was not fun for me and my fianc;. It began with the fact that we stood at the door and greeted the guests, but in Russia everything would be the other way around.
There were many speeches, wishes, there were many other things. Moreover, the wishes were not only verbal. After the guest went inside, the first person he saw was ... Accountant. The accountant accepted gifts in monetary terms, in a red Hong bao envelope, and made sure that wishes were still written on the envelope. And he entered all this monetary congratulation in a red special book. That's it, no self-activity.
I don't know how it happens at other weddings, but that's how it was for me. I am calm about alcohol, but on this, the most important evening for me, I had to drink a lot. My husband and I moved methodically from one table to another, each time holding a new glass of liquor in our hand to thank those who came to our wedding. Fortunately, I am a hardened fighter, going to nightclubs every week still hardens, but I had a hard time, not to mention my fianc;.
My husband, who has attended many weddings in his life, said that the brides who survived the ceremony of gratitude to the guests who came to the wedding and stood on their feet can be counted on the fingers.
I have resisted!
Yes, I forgot to tell you, there was an inflatable arch in front of our future home so that the entire population of the area in which we will live knew that there would be a wedding here. The arch stood in front of the entrance to the alley, and in front of our house there was another one, on which, in large letters, in English, was written "Love". And also, there was a large banner, on which, almost life-size, several of our photos were placed, so to speak, a creative report from the honeymoon trip.
Our blanket, old-timers of the family, was stitched with a red thread of happiness.
The day before the wedding, the bride, that is, I had to spend in a narrow family circle. Since no one could fly to me, and sitting in a separate apartment in Beijing, I was bored alone, then, three days before the wedding, I flew home.
This may seem like waste to some, but do not forget that my husband was a millionaire and could easily afford it. In addition to Nadia, I had many friends, so I invited them and, according to Russian custom, arranged a bachelorette party.
But I was an owl a belt girl, and no one prevented me from sending video reports from the bachelorette party to Sasha and his friends. Sasha, and especially his friends, were very pleased. After all, there were a lot of beautiful Russian girls next to me.
I flew back to Beijing just before the wedding. The time of our meeting with my future husband was calculated by the stars. They added, calculated, minus, divided, and it turned out that our meeting was supposed to take place at 6 in the morning. At four in the morning, Sasha, along with his friends, was almost ready. On the street, near the house, loud music sounded, then firecrackers were blown up. I can imagine how housemates would behave in Russia if such wedding preparations took place there.
Stone sculptures, lions, which were on the path along which the wedding cortege was supposed to pass, were carefully covered with red silk caps. According to legend, stone sculptures have great energy, and it was better this morning to muffle this energy.
A cortege of 18 cars came for me. Sasha and I met at exactly 6 o'clock in the morning. Since I did not have a home in China, Sasha took me from a temporary apartment, which we rented for a few days.
A ransom of three million rubles was sent this morning to my father's passbook, the dress cost me twenty thousand yuan. They also gave me a car - it was a common gift from my relatives.
I will not announce the price of the car.
The organizer was also present at our wedding, though different, not the one that was at the bottom of the mother. For a whole week he learned several Russian sentences, the easiest of which was the phrase: "I love you"
The culmination of the holiday was, just, pronounced in Russian, by the groom, at the suggestion of the organizer, the sentence: “I love you”, I, too, uttered the same sentence, only in Chinese.
Since my father was far away, but someone had to hand me over to my future husband, they found an old man who agreed to play a temporary father. My future husband, solemnly swore to the dummy father that he would take care of me all his life. In China, a wife must have three virtues: in childhood she must obey her father, after marriage she must obey her husband, and if she becomes a widow, she must obey her son. I have now entered the second stage.
Registration took place right at the restaurant. We exchanged rings and signed something. As I was told later, I was now registered directly at my husband's place of residence. An oath was uttered to be together in sorrow and joy. Exactly like in our registry offices. But there were no kisses. The groom opened his arms to receive in them the sun of his heart, that is, me!
By the way, Sasha said that if we had not coped with gratitude to the invited guests, that is, the amount of alcohol would have knocked us down, then Sasha's brothers, relatives and cousins would have helped us, and if they had not coped with it, the sisters would have helped.
Dear friends and comrades, girlfriends, present and future, all those whom I know and do not know. I am extremely happy today!
Yes, my hasty decision to fly to China was pure gamble. But, fortunately, it ended very well. I'm talking about a solution.
My story is not over yet, I am still on the threshold of my new apartment and my family life.
What I want to tell you, if something doesn’t work out for you with your boyfriend or girlfriend, try to retreat for a while, go into the shadows, leave if there is such an opportunity. Then, after some time, you may or may not return. Relaxing, throwing away the idea of \u200b\u200bfix, which has been sticking out like a nail in your brain all the last months, you can finally see the world that surrounds you in all its splendor, and understand that life is not limited to just one person, there are millions of guys and girls.
Or maybe you should take a closer look at who is next to you every day. To your friend or girlfriend. On the one you trust, whom you trust immensely, as was the case with my friend Nadezhda. Sometimes our gaze is a little blurry and we look, but do not see the one whom we call a spiritual friend or girlfriend.
Yes, sorry, I keep forgetting that my book is a textbook, and I have to teach you something, teach, well, or, in extreme cases, tell something new.
Two fresh facts.
Firstly, in China, red is very popular, and they try to use white as little as possible. The fact is that in Asian countries, including China, white is the color of mourning, the color of death, the color of widows.
Red is the color of life, the color of love, the color of birth!
I hope you didn't know this, but if you did, then it's okay, repetition is the mother of learning.
And one more fact. Q. Due to some excesses in China's politics of the last century, there are now much fewer women in China than men. And there are not enough brides. Therefore, a wedding in China is now a very, very expensive event. Chinese women and girls, knowing all this, behave like princesses, and not just princesses, but capricious princesses.
I just stated these two facts to you, and I won’t comment on them yet, but you know, that these two circumstances were closely intertwined with my life and my story.

Chapter six

Hey!
My precious reader, I haven't spoken to you in almost nine months. All these nine months, I was very busy, but now there is emptiness around me, and I have absolutely nothing to do. And right now I remembered that I have unfinished business. I am now talking about you, my dear reader, and about the textbook that I did not finish, but you did not finish it.
Well, what can I tell you, life in China, and specifically in Beijing, has both its pluses and minuses. But, of course, there are more advantages. That's what I thought until last week. No, don't think, nothing terrible happened, it's just that Sasha and I decided to leave. To be precise, this is not entirely my decision, but it was I who put the final point.
Well, let me tell you everything in order. The first month after the wedding was magical. As soon as Sasha and I went outside, I began to feel like a princess. We were accompanied by admiring and envious glances. In the capital, this was not so visible, but as soon as we drove off to where the foot of a European person had not set foot, or stepped, but rarely, we were surrounded by relatives, friends and ordinary residents, and Sasha walked proud like a rooster.
However, another month passed, and another, and I finally stopped paying attention to others. I just wasn't up to it. Starting from the second month, alarm bells rang around me, but I did not pay attention to them!
I must tell you that in China there are several major events in the life of any person. This is admission to a higher educational institution, a wedding, and, finally, the birth of a child. However, these are important milestones for any European. However, if in Europe, newlyweds do not have children for a long time, no one perceives this as a tragedy. Some families still live without children, and do not worry about it at all. Having lived for some time without children, they begin to appreciate peace and comfort, and no longer want someone to change their lives. Childless couples get dogs and cats, start collecting stamps, gems and other nonsense.
In China, a family without children is a tragedy. If in my homeland, in Russia, they can hint or carefully ask why there are no children, then here, in China, relatives do not hesitate to ask questions about this.
If it comes to mind, they can come up, touch the stomach, or even put their ear to the stomach. I have encountered this behavior more than once. When three months passed, they began to ask me questions more insistently and specifically.
By that time, I already spoke Chinese quite well. I have a phenomenal memory, and therefore, as a child, I, like a rocket, flew from one class to another. Having walked through three steps all my studies at school, I, already, in my incomplete 13 years, studied at the university. It was that special case when I was forced to be admitted to a higher educational institution. However, if you think that I have become happier because of this, then you are mistaken.
My parents were, of course, happy, of course, because their child, however, it is not known why, suddenly showed such results that none of the schoolchildren of the city had. My mind developed by leaps and bounds, and the body did not have time. The body was the body of a little girl. If we take into account the fact that I was also small in stature, then almost until the third year, they did not want to let me into the university premises if I forgot my student ID at home.
I graduated from the university, as expected, in four years. After that, all my classmates left, and adult life began for them. My specialty was in great demand, and therefore everyone who studied with me easily found a job, and I faced unforeseen difficulties. Nobody wanted to hire me. I was underage.
With difficulty, they found a job for me, I worked part-time, returned home and finished the work at home. So I lived until the age of eighteen.
And now, in China, for the first time in my life, my phenomenal memory helped me at least in something for me personally. When three months passed, I could communicate at a primitive level, but I improved every day. The only obstacle was that I had no ear for music, and in order to master Chinese perfectly, you need to have a good ear for music or ... be born in China. However, I was patient and things moved quickly. In any case, my husband and relatives understood what I was saying, and I didn’t need more. I could explain myself in the subway, in the store, I could exchange a few words with my neighbors, what more could you want?
Meanwhile, my husband began to spend more and more time at work. No, don't think, he didn't have a mistress, that was the point. The Chinese are terrible workaholics, this is in Europe, if you are a millionaire, you can enjoy the fruits of your million and do nothing. The Chinese can't live like this. Work for them is the main thing! Of course, after the family. But the family is in the evening, after work.
I was alone at home all day. Of course I didn't get bored and, fortunately, there was the Internet, I met on the site "in contact" with Russian girls who lived and worked in Beijing. Two girls were generally from Vladivostok.
However, returning to an empty apartment in the evening, I increasingly wondered, what am I doing here?
My husband, increasingly began to fly away on business trips. Something happened at his work. Something that worried him more and more.
Once, when he returned after a week's absence, I made a scene for him, but was unexpectedly rebuffed. Of course, he didn’t beat me, God forbid, but he said so many hurtful words to me that it would be better if we had a fight and forgot about the quarrel.
His main offense, of course, was that I was still not pregnant. I would have kept silent, but I soared to the skies and said that the reason might not be in me, but in him. We fought for a long time. Later, he asked for forgiveness, I kind of forgave him, but the offensive words did not want to go into the past, because my memory, unfortunately, was phenomenal. We reconciled and actively engaged in the creation of an heir to the family, but month after month passed, and nothing changed inside me.
Oh, well, what am I all about sad?
Tomorrow I am moving out of this apartment, and I will look for an apartment where I will live separately from my husband.
It cannot be said that Sasha oppressed me, and my life in recent months has been difficult and terrible, it’s just that I don’t like it when they expect God knows what from me, it puts pressure on me and depresses me.
Due to the crisis, Sasha's business was shaken, and he was forced to agree to a merger with another company. Uncle, the head of the company, promised that he would make Sasha vice president of the company. However, the whole family was unhappy that Sasha did not expect an heir. This somehow could influence the choice of uncle. I was so tired of this story that I declared that I was ready to divorce Sasha. My husband got scared. Divorce would definitely have crossed out his path to the top.
Then I got nervous, and started screaming for Sasha to get himself a mistress, and she would give birth to a child for him. Sasha was even more frightened. It can't be done, he said.
That is impossible, that is impossible, what kind of life?
I endured as much as I could, and then I told my husband that since he did not want to get a divorce, then I would just leave and live separately. The husband got excited, and again began to repeat his eternal impossible, but I no longer listened to him.
Do you want me to tell you why everything fell apart with Sasha? Because I was forced to marry in a dress I didn't want!
All this, and a million more claims, I expressed to my husband and said that tomorrow I was moving to another apartment.
Believe it or not, my husband burst into tears. I was so amazed by this circumstance that I simply froze like a pillar, not knowing what to do.
We reconciled, but a week later I still carried out my intention.
I moved to another apartment.
And a week later I went to work, which my friends in the group "in contact" found for me.
Do you want to laugh?
Now I will tell you about a man who then, on WeChat, offered me to become his wife. Such a man really existed, and he lived, as he wrote at the beginning, in Ningbo. This man was Sasha's friend.
He really liked me then, and he offered me to marry him, but did not expect that I would ask him for money for the trip. He had no money, and this lack of money was chronic. But for the Chinese, the worst thing is to lose face, and, therefore, he wrote to me that he would add money for the Vladivostok-Beijing flight. Write what he wrote, but money from promises does not grow on trees. The man's name was, as I mentioned, Zhangbo. Zhangbo made a request to Sasha.
While Sasha hesitated, knowing that the money he borrowed from his friend would not come back to him soon, or not at all, Zhangbo, to put the squeeze on his friend, showed him my photo on WeChat. Sasha looked and fell in love. Sasha gave money to Zhangbo, but told Zhangbo to forget about me, and he also told Zhangbo to give his WeChat password, and logged in as Zhangbo. Zhangbo was not very upset, he took the money, created another WeChat page, and returned to his homeland, Ningbo. He was at our wedding, and often stayed with us when he was passing through Beijing. He was extremely proud that he introduced us to Sasha, and apparently believed that we, to some extent, were indebted to him. It never occurred to him that he had acted dishonorably, resignedly giving our personal correspondence to Sasha.
I had been living apart from my husband for two weeks when Zhangbo showed up at the door one day. I was going to work, and I didn't seem to be very polite to him. However, he, as if nothing had happened, went into the room and sat down in an armchair.
I told him I was leaving, he wished me a happy journey.
I was taken aback.
Time was running out, and I told him to leave. Then he collapsed, even more, in an armchair, and told me that he would now live here with me.
Knowing the nature of such impudent people, I took a rolling pin and said that I would hit him on the head now if he didn’t get out in the next few seconds.
Zhangbo tearfully reproached me for being ungrateful, and then told me that he wanted to marry me. My words that I am not divorced yet, but just living for now apart from her husband, he simply passed by his ears. I had, after all, several times to swing and, only after that, he got out of the apartment. We had mutual friends and even girlfriends. The next evening, the news reached me that he went from one girlfriend to another and proposed to everyone. I still don't understand the logic behind this. After all, he knew that my friends would immediately contact me and tell me about the matchmaking.
A week later, he came back to ask at least to wash his clothes.
Of course, I refused.
The idea that I should somehow repay the happiness that I received thanks to him, apparently sat so deeply in his head that he stubbornly tried to use me in some way. When I refused him, he did not resent, but simply repeated his attempts over and over again.
His last request, that week, was to look after his dog, which he, for some reason, had recently bought. The dog was large, the size of a calf, thoroughbred and playful. Despite the large growth, the dog was still a puppy. As far as I know, Zhangbo paid a lot of money for the dog, and now it turned out that he was not allowed on the train with the dog.
I lived in a tiny apartment and I had nowhere to take a dog. How the story ended with the dog, I do not know. But I know how the story of Zhangbo's matchmaking with all suitable and unsuitable women ended.
Returning to Ningbo, Zhangbo finally found a woman who agreed to marry him. However, as you may have read above, getting married in China is far from cheap.
Zhangbo turned to Sasha with a request. Remembering his friend's past merits, Sasha sighed and realized that he would have to fork out, otherwise, until the end of his life, Zhangbo would scream at all corners about the blond bride, who would already be his wife, if he, Zhangbo, had not given her to a friend.
I haven't seen Zhangbo since. They say that his wife caught him with character, and keeps him in a tight rein.
Did you smile?
So that's great!
It's been two weeks now that I've been fine. No one is quoting Confucius' sayings to me out of place, no one is suggesting that I go to the temple to ask the goddess Guanyin for the desired heir.
Moreover, now I have a good salary, and I can take my son to live with me.
Are you surprised?
Yes, yes, until this moment, I, of course, did not say a word about my son. Well, I thought that for you, as well as for my husband, this is redundant information. My son was happy in his boarding school for gifted children, but now, just like I once, he has outgrown his teachers, and they didn’t take young ones like him to the university. The son behaved badly in the classroom, he was bored, he already knew everything that the teachers told about. Every day there were conflicts. That is, the son behaved in much the same way as I did at work, when all the work was done, and there was still a lot of time before the end of the working day. Yes, the saying is right. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
So, of course, I couldn't scold him.
I talked to him on the phone every day, but it was still not the same, and when my son said that he was bored, I decided to take him to me, to Beijing. Here was expanse for the inquisitive mind of the son. While he learns Chinese, some time will pass, and during this time I will find him a new science, which he will be ready to learn.
Soon I had to move to another apartment. For us, with my son, this apartment has become cramped. This time I had to use the money that Sasha offered me. Until that moment, I had stubbornly refused his help. Yes, and the anger at my husband had already gone, I felt sorry for him when he sadly and hopelessly mentioned that it would be better if I were not so smart. When I decided to clarify, he said that knowledge of the Chinese language only harmed me. When I spoke only Russian, English and French, it was easier to find a common language with me. And now... Sasha again brushed away a tear and turned away.
Sorry, I have no time, I have to run, pick up my son from school, and therefore, I will quickly summarize this chapter.
The first, and rather paradoxical, advice: when you marry a foreigner, do not rush to learn the language he speaks, everything should happen slowly and gradually.
Second...
Sorry, the second I will tell you in the next chapter, the son has done something again, apparently there is a need to increase his workload at school.

Chapter Seven

Six months have passed. I tried to live so as not to depend on Sasha. To Sasha himself, of course, I had no complaints, but I harbored a grudge against his relatives. Once I caught a glimpse, from afar, saw Sasha and was amazed at the topic of how he lost weight, but it didn’t even occur to me to approach him. I knew it wouldn't lead to anything good. Well, I don’t like breakdowns, tantrums, I don’t like it when men cry.
Even if Sasha and I had reconciled, after some time the question would arise again about our common child, whom we could not conceive in any way. I understood that it was not about Sasha and his relatives. The Chinese value system is such that there should be children in the family who can take care of parents who will someday grow old.
in the tree Indeed, the eldest son in the family was called by a name that translated as the son of the grave. This meant that this son was responsible for the funeral of his father and mother when his parents died. And also, on some anniversary date, the son gave the elderly father as a gift ... a coffin. And the father was proud of the gift that his son gave him.
So, as I wrote above, six months have passed. My son and I were late for calligraphy class. It was an extra activity. It was high time for traffic jams, and we had to get to the place where the lesson was to take place in the next two hours. We couldn't get a taxi.
On that day, smog hung over Beijing and it was so stuffy that I felt disgust for my body, it was so sticky and dirty, and I could not take a shower soon. The taxis passed by without stopping, and finally a car stopped in front of us with a screech of brakes. However, it was not a taxi.
The door opened and my husband got out of the car. It wasn't the same car he'd once taken me from the airport. My husband stood near the car and looked at my son. When my son arrived in Beijing, I did not consider it necessary to inform Sasha. From the very birth of my child, I was sure that my son was only my concern. Approaching us, Sasha rubbed his eyes, probably, this gesture meant the following: am I dreaming about this or am I seeing this in reality?
We would have stood like that if my son had not pulled me by the hem of my dress. He was extremely unhappy with the delay. We had a condition when I or he was upset and tried to express his feelings in any of the languages known to us, except for Russian.

My son's name was Eugene, dissatisfied with the unforeseen delay, he whistled annoyedly and began to quickly chat with a friend on the phone. His friend was a Chinese boy and they went to school together. Naturally, the telephone conversation was conducted in Chinese. Turning away from us, the son sniffed annoyedly and continued to talk to his friend.
Sasha still hasn't said a word. He just stood and looked from me to his son. Zhenya, my son, was small in stature. He was already 9 years old, and he was the size of a five-year-old child. Unfortunately, he was as tall as me, although his father, my first common-law husband, was about two meters tall.
Finally Sasha spoke. He started telling me where he was going when he saw us, and he also said he couldn't believe his eyes when he saw me with a little boy. I realized that a scene was brewing. In order to somehow reduce the heat, I, in a deliberately everyday voice, told Sasha that after I started living alone, I decided to take my son to me. Sasha was silent.
The son ended the conversation and turned back to me. Since the object of his irritation had not disappeared, the son again began to hint to me that he was dissatisfied. This was expressed by the fact that the son began to speak to me in Chinese.
Seeing that Sasha was not going to say anything, I said goodbye to him and stopped the taxi, which turned up just in time. Day passed. I expected a hail of reproaches, but Sasha was silent. Another day has passed. The lull was becoming dangerous.
The next morning brought a surprise. It was five in the morning when I woke up from the sound of firecrackers, then an orchestra of Chinese folk instruments burst out. I went out to the balcony and was taken aback. Sasha was standing under the balcony in a national costume, the musicians from the orchestra were also dressed in national costumes. Seeing me, Sasha fell to his knees and held out his hands to me. I felt funny and embarrassed.
Then the orchestra went into the background to make room for the decorators. A truckload of flowers arrived. Then two more cars drove up. Sasha ran to one of the cars and opened the door. An imposing man appeared on the steps.
He was a famous decorator. He said something patronizingly to Sasha and patted him on the shoulder. However, everyone kept waiting for something. Another car drove up, a flock of young people jumped out of it. It turned out that the assistants of the decorator had arrived.
Soon the work began to boil. An hour later, the paved area in front of the house turned into a beautiful picture. The picture was created from sand, stones and flowers that the truck brought. I forgave my husband a long time ago, and considered everything that was happening outside the window superfluous, but I was not going to tell him about it.
I just stood at the window, and looked at what was happening below. After the picture was ready, Sasha again raised the receiver to his ear. I became curious, the artwork that I saw from the windows seemed finished to me, and I wondered who Sasha was calling now, and what did he want to add to what had already been created?
Soon I saw the one whom Sasha called. Another car drove up, the door opened and a leg in patent leather boots appeared. It turns out that Sasha invited a famous singer, a Chinese pop star. Sasha knew that I liked the song of this singer and decided that the sweet voice of the pop star would melt my heart completely.
The orchestra rumbled, the singer sang, the decorator gazed contentedly at his handiwork, and I realized that the time had come for me to emerge from the dusk. Otherwise, Sasha would not have stinted on the fact that I would like to invite some famous dance group or a show of Shaolin monks. When I left the entrance, my exit was met with applause.
I went to Sasha.
It was evident that the decorator, his assistants, the conductor of the orchestra, the pop singer, appreciated Sasha's choice. You will not believe it, my exit was greeted with applause, as if neither they, but I was a pop star, a famous person. The orchestra struck national music.
However, Sasha waved his hand and the orchestra fell silent.
There was blissful silence.
And at that moment Sasha fell on his knees in front of me a second time and asked me to forgive him and come back to him. I felt awkward. I don't like to be seen. However, Sasha was not going to back down. So I just went over and picked him up off his knees.
Those around me accepted this as my consent and applauded again. Clasping my hands in Buddhist fashion, I thanked everyone present, as well as those who poured onto the balconies and stuck to the windows. Not to mention those neighbors who came out of the entrances and surrounded us. For another hour we all thanked each other.
Finally Sasha and I were left alone.
I invited Sasha to the apartment where my son and I lived. Fortunately, the son slept soundly, and all this rumble outside the window did not disturb his childhood sleep. Otherwise, I would again have to listen to his speeches in Chinese. In English and French, Zhenya spoke well, German was a little worse, and in Chinese, for now, he still spoke quite badly.
I asked Sasha what he wanted from me and what he really wanted, and also reminded him that all our attempts to conceive a child did not lead to any result. Sasha was silent for a while, and then said that he did not like my secrecy. If I had said from the very beginning that I have a child, a son, then everything was fine with us now.
Sasha's logic was not entirely clear to me, and I told him about it. He explained to me that since I am his wife, my son can also be considered his son. Sasha said that he was ready to love my son as his own and raise him with me. But what about our common child, which Sasha dreamed of, I asked?
Sasha said that of course he would like his own child, but now that we have a son with him, whom he is ready to consider his own, this problem is removed. In the end, I realized that again I did not understand anything, and simply agreed to return to Sasha.
But, not just like that, but with a condition. You should have seen Sasha's frightened face when he heard that I had some kind of condition. However, when I explained what my condition was, he immediately relaxed.
Here, and now I will tell you what my condition was. I wanted to marry Sasha again, but now the wedding was to take place in Russia, in Vladivostok, and I wanted Sasha and I to register at my regional registry office.
And, pay attention, at the climax of my story, this time I will be in the American dress that was waiting for me now at home, in Vladivostok. And also, I told Sasha to be prepared for the fact that he would now have to get acquainted with my relatives, whom I had not much less than Sasha's. Sasha was ready for anything.

Summary for this chapter.
Take your children to classes in circles and studios more often. When you take steps to ensure that your children learn, then you yourself learn. Your guardian angel is learning. It is easier for him, the guardian angel, to lure the bird of luck when you yourself are on the road, on the road to knowledge and happiness. And believe that even on the most stuffy and disgusting day, an unexpected surprise can await you. But I can’t predict whether it will be a pleasant surprise or not. However, I really want the surprises that await you on the path of life to be only pleasant!

Chapter Eight

I wanted to be happy, and therefore, although I never believed in omens and beliefs, I was still worried whether a white dress would harm my future family life. On the other hand, I knew for sure that if I didn’t fulfill my dream of getting married in a light-colored dress, then Sasha and I would not succeed.
We flew to Russia, Sasha was a little worried, he had never been to Vladivostok. Several times, on company business, he flew to Moscow, but these were completely different trips. I understood him. Marrying me was a fateful event in Sasha's life, and the upcoming acquaintance with Russian relatives was a little scary. However, my husband was not allowed to be frightened and think about God knows what for a long time.
My son Eugene flew with us. I was a familiar country for my son, an open book, Sasha is another matter. The son knew that Sasha would patiently listen to his incorrect Chinese, correct him carefully, and not be annoyed, as I do when I talk with my son. Sasha was very patient, in my opinion, even too much.
Finally, over the speakerphone, they announced the landing. Another hour and a half and my family went beyond the aisles of the Knevichi airport. In order to avoid paying the parking fee, one of my many relatives was waiting for us not far from the entrance to the airport. It was not in vain that I told Sasha that my relatives were no less than his. While we were driving, I learned news about only a few dozen of his relatives. My cousin spoke without stopping, but he did not manage to retell even a quarter of the news.
But I didn’t worry, my mom and dad were waiting for me at home. I knew that in the next few hours I would become the owner of information that I absolutely did not need, but from which there was nowhere to go. You won’t interrupt your mother and say that information about my cousin’s daughter-in-law, from the side of my second cousin’s grandmother’s aunt, is of no interest to me at all. Parents were very worried, they dressed up in a festive way, thank God, although they did not take out the icon and bread with salt.
Sasha was also worried, he kept asking me to translate what mom and dad were saying. Finally, everyone calmed down. Our apartment was small, but I did not allow Sasha to rent a hotel room, I knew that this would offend my old parents very much. Yes, and it would be wild for me to live in a hotel room when my home is nearby. In addition, my parents missed their grandson very much. The flight was not very long, but I was still tired. I thought that my men would lie down to rest, but I was wrong.
The son quickly contacted his friends by phone and immediately asked to go for a walk, and Sasha asked me to show him the city after I put myself in order a little. I wanted to object, to say that we still have two whole weeks ahead of us, but I remembered the active nature of the Chinese. The Chinese always lack twenty-four hours a day. Therefore, putting myself in order, I put on a windbreaker, and we went out into the city, which was gradually drowning in fog. Summer in our city is such that the evenings are always cool and foggy. It can be very hot during the day, warm evenings are rare in our city. We walked until almost dusk.
However, when we returned home, it turned out that my son was still walking. I called my son, but it turned out that his phone was switched off. Everything was clear. The son was carried away and did not want me to distract him. I had to go into the yard and wander around all the treasured places that I remembered from childhood. It was my yard, the yard of my childhood, and I knew perfectly well all the places where you can hide from the annoying eyes of adults. Finally, I found my son. His plans did not include a quick return home, well, what to do, he had to correct these plans of his.
The next morning, while everyone was sleeping, I took a white dress out of the parcel box. It was fabulous. Probably, Cinderella, Snow White and other fabulous characters from Walt Disney cartoons got married in such a dress. But I was not a fairy-tale heroine, and I was not allowed to marry in a white dress. I twisted the dress this way and that, and finally, an idea came into my sleepy head.
I came up with!
If you order a cape for a dress, in a mesh, a little reddish color, it turns out that I am no longer wearing a white dress, but a dress with a pinkish tint. In the morning I voiced this idea to Sasha, but it seemed to me that Sasha would not be offended if the registry office of our district saw me in a pure white dress. However, my husband kissed me and said that he appreciated the fact that I adhered to the wedding traditions of his country.
My husband finally got the opportunity to rest, but for the Chinese, rest is a change of occupation.
We walked and walked.
During the time that I lived in Beijing, I got a little used to the streets of the Russian city. It was also unusual that passers-by did not pay any attention to me at all. I was so accustomed to being a princess at a ball, that is, a woman to whom attention is paid all the time, that now the absence of this very attention was even unpleasant for me.
Many relatives came to the wedding.
I didn’t know the exact figure, my cousin was organizing the wedding, I just gave her money to organize all the wedding events, and she herself considered the costs of the restaurant, photographer, toastmaster, pigeons and so on and so forth. But, at first glance, there were at least two hundred guests. To be honest, the restaurant we ordered was not up to par with the restaurant in Beijing where we held our first wedding. However, it was the largest restaurant in the city.
Unlike the first wedding, Sasha and I rested. When we returned from the registry office, I rested for a few minutes, and then we went to take pictures. I won't talk about the photo session. The techniques used by Russian photographers were not very different from those used by Chinese photographers. The only difference was that the photo session did not last three days, but only three hours, and finally, our limousine drove up to the restaurant.
At the door we were met by the organizers of the holiday and the toastmaster.
“And now,” the microphone rang out and the toastmaster shouted into this very microphone, so loudly that my husband flinched, but when he saw my worried look, he immediately smiled and showed his thumb. My husband, like a child, loved everything loud, bright and unusual - now we will all together show our attitude to a couple of young people who have just left the bowels of a wedding limousine. Dear newlyweds...
Tamada tried to speak even louder, because her words were drowned out by the booming orchestra, but immediately coughed. Yes, there is no reception against scrap. However, she didn’t have to say more, the artists who came to us from the Holiday company knew their business perfectly. They sang, danced, asked to gild the pen, and vice versa, they gave Sasha and me lucky nickels and involved us in a beautiful ceremony
A screen immediately flashed on the front of the restaurant, a film was turned on, which consisted of beautiful music, our photos, photos of our parents and text. Probably, the creators of the films did not rely on the memory of the newlyweds, and therefore, between the music and the photographs, the words of the oath slipped. Sasha and I just had to read what was written.
I managed to pronounce the words of the oath, and translate the meaning of the words to my husband. Sasha repeated Russian words with pleasure, which meant that now we will be together in sorrow and joy.
“Newlyweds,” suddenly, quite unexpectedly, the daughter-in-law shouted from the side of her great-uncle, “I still didn’t have a dewdrop in my mouth, and I’m already bitter.
I looked at my distant relative in bewilderment, if we were in the restaurant, everything would be clear and logical, but now the relative was clearly sober and quite serious. It was evident that she was worried, and tried to fulfill the role that the toastmaster had imposed on her as best as possible.
And then it hit me. I remembered that the word "bitter" is shouted when you need to kiss in public. It also dawned on others, and they began to chant: “Bitter!”. Amid this noise, I tried to explain to Sasha why we should kiss here, in front of the restaurant doors, and in public. It seemed to me that Sasha did not understand anything, but he kissed with pleasure.
I thought that they would finally let us enter the door, because my legs were tired, because the heels on the shoes were very high, but the toastmaster announced that a surprise was waiting for us. I cautiously looked sideways in the direction of this energetic woman, however, it seems that I was afraid in vain, the surprise was pleasant. A group of children ran out of the door of the restaurant, among them was my son.
The children were my relatives, far and near. Sasha smiled. The children were beautifully dressed and looked very touching. The girls were especially beautiful. Each of the girls had a copy of my dress, of course, in a reduced size. In general, the girls were dressed up as bridesmaids. They even made their hair the same as mine. Children surrounded us and began to shout out rhymes.
The meaning of the reading rooms was the same as in the rest of the congratulations, however, the counting rhymes were spoken by the children, and this was touching and so unusual that tears came to Sasha's eyes. Then a dozen more relatives ran out of the restaurant. They were also children, but older children.
The oldest was 16 years old. Teenagers ran out for a reason, in the hands of these children were cages with pigeons. The little children kept the cages, and the older children took out the pigeons. Sasha and I also received a couple of pigeons. The orchestra struck again, the toastmaster began to shout something, beautiful photographs flashed on the screen, I quickly translated everything to Sasha. And then this wonderful moment came, the children, and my husband and I opened our hands, and the doves of our fate soared into the sky.
So, for those who do not like long dialogues, I will briefly retell the latest events:
We have already met.
Met with songs and dances! At first it was a Russian folk choir, which was soon replaced by a gypsy choir. We were showered with rose petals and then pelted with handfuls of rice. A great-aunt on the father's side began to sing indecent ditties. You don’t think, my aunt was still sober, it’s just that the toastmaster distributed the roles in such a way. Before we even entered the restaurant, we were again surrounded by gypsies, only now they were my girlfriends, dressed in gypsy costumes. Witnesses paid off the gypsies, and we, to the sound of healthy songs, finally took our places at the end of the table. For about an hour everything was decorously noble. Then the toastmaster said that, according to the script, I should be kidnapped soon. I recounted what I heard from the toastmaster to my husband, he laughed and clapped his hands.
After making sure that my husband did not mind, I relaxed, and when it came time to be kidnapped, I did not resist. Soon I was released because the witnesses, once again, paid a ransom for me. When I returned to my seat, my husband was not there. I tried to find him, but when I failed, I had to ask the hall for help.
“Dear relatives,” I tried to shout over the noise, “I want to ask,” seeing that no one was paying attention to me, I had to raise my voice, “did anyone see where my husband went?” You know that he doesn't speak Russian well, I'm afraid nothing will happen to him.
- Drop it! - my father's cousin boomed throughout the hall, he was a forester, lived in the taiga, and was not afraid of anything in life. Uncle's voice was so loud that he didn't need any microphone - don't touch your husband. Not with that you begin your family life, oh, not with that! My old woman also tried to control me, and how did it end? We had to get divorced. Do you need it? A man should have free space, just take a walk, sometimes have a drink. Listen hey me, daughter, don't control your husband so much!
I tried to explain to my uncle that my husband hardly drinks, and he only likes to walk with me, but my uncle no longer listened to me, he, together with others, with pleasure, deduced the words of the song: “Oh, frost, frost.” I thought, maybe my husband really went for a walk?
However, she immediately dismissed that thought. It is unlikely that Sasha could have thought of going for a walk, at a time when a wedding celebration was taking place around.
“Dear guests,” I again tried to shout over the noise, “I beg you, please tell me where my husband is.”
- And you look, - a middle-aged lady whom I did not know got into the conversation. Of course, she was a relative on the part of mom or dad, there were no strangers in the hall, but I forgot what her name was - why are you sitting, look around, how many beautiful girls, maybe some one she took away! If I were younger, - the lady smiled so that all her false teeth became visible, - I would definitely take her away. The little man is good, sweet, well-mannered. He speaks bad Russian, nothing, I would teach him. The main thing is that he drinks little, I watched him.
"So you've seen my husband?" - I finally got excited, - tell me where he is, do not torment!
The lady easily poured herself a glass of vodka, and then another, and I was all looking forward to her answer. While she was slowly eating, I even had to repeat my question, and only then did she hardly tear her eyes away from her plate and said
- What husband? But who the hell you are? And who is your husband?
I moved away from the woman, everything was clear to me. In addition, I was afraid for my dress, the lady, when she spoke, sprinkled food from her mouth on her interlocutors.
I approached the organizers of the holiday, these people were at work, they were sober and collected, but they couldn’t help me either, they didn’t see my husband. The rite of kidnapping the bride, that is, me, occupied all their attention. They took every detail of my holiday very seriously. I had to take the microphone again
“Ladies and gentlemen,” I shouted loudly, “come on, quickly everyone turned their attention to me!” Eyes raised from plates and glasses - I'm afraid I was not very polite, but my mind began to fly off the coils - it's been two hours, and I can't find any trace of my husband. I ask again, where did my husband go?
“Your husband, you look for it,” the great-aunt shouted from the mother’s side, she probably decided that this was a joke, and the pranks continue, “come on, look, but don’t bother us celebrating.
I waited for a while, but my husband did not return. I started pestering my relatives again, but no one saw anything. Everyone had fun with all their hearts. It seemed to me that some relatives had even forgotten why they were here.
In any case, my uncle, on the part of my great-aunt, for a long time could not remember who I was and could not understand what I wanted from him. I got even more excited. Mom and dad, seeing that something was wrong with me, began to make their way through the crowd of dancers. I immediately made a carefree face, it was not enough for my parents to be taken away in an ambulance with a heart attack. However, time passed, and the husband did not return.
When the pop orchestra went to rest and it became a little quieter in the hall, I made a decision and asked the toastmaster to give me a microphone. I had to interrupt the relatives again, who had just started a spiritual song. I repeated my request three times before those around the table could force themselves to concentrate.
I explained the problem again, but there was no result, two and a half hours had already passed since I returned to the hall. I publicly announced that if they didn’t tell me right away where my husband had gone, I would call the police. However, the relatives only angrily waved me away, and began to fiddle with the toastmaster and ask the musicians to return quickly, they really wanted to start dancing as soon as possible. I took out my cell phone and started dialing the police number. However, I immediately felt someone tugging at my sleeve. I turned around and my son was standing next to me. He said not to call anyone. Seeing my tears, several friends and relatives sobered up. I explained the situation. Zhenya took us to where, according to him, my lost husband was. The son said that he saw how several people took Sasha away with them. However, in the place where Zhenya brought me, there was only one person now.
- Where is my husband? - I rushed to the kidnapper, - what did you do with him?
- I demand not, - the man hiccupped, - untouched, - the man hiccuped again, - I am a parliamentarian, I demand diplomatic immunity!
The man spoke so diligently that he even sobered up a little.
- Where is my husband? - any immunity was now a drum for me, and I could hardly restrain myself so as not to grab the man's hair - what did you do with him?
“Now,” the man smiled stupidly, and moved somewhere to the side, “Wait, where did it go?”
— What is it? - I soared again, - who are you talking about now?
The man waved his hand languidly and wandered slowly, like a snail, towards the front door.
I tried to remember the man's name, but apart from the fact that he was a guest from my great-aunt's daughter-in-law, no information no more crossed my mind
— Where is it? - the man was still trying to find the unknown it, - I have a mission! I should…
The man staggered, those who came with me tried to support him, but he suddenly waved his hand imperiously
"Men don't give up," he proclaimed proudly, "am I a man?" Man! I was instructed - I must fulfill!
— What are you looking for? - from terrible forebodings, a lump rolled up in my throat, - answer, finally, clearly!
“Hurray,” the man hiccuped again, “I found it!”
There was a mountain of bottles on the table, there was nothing but bottles, but there were so many of these bottles that they no longer fit on the table
“No,” the man laughed, “that’s not it!
The hiccup began to drop the bottles on the floor.
“When we drank vodka,” he laughed softly, squinting happily at the memories, “the idea was just pecking!
- What idea? I asked with a hopeless sigh, “can you tell me…
The man did not let me finish, the idea that came into his drunken head blocked the rest of the world from him
- No, no, - the man raised his voice a little, - when we were drinking whiskey, we were not yet ready to bring the idea to life!
He circled the room. However, it was a risky experiment, and the man immediately realized this. He slid softly to the floor and hit himself on the head.
“Yes,” he suddenly shouted, “the idea took shape while we were drinking cognac!”
The man threw another bottle off the table. We all began to watch the bottle throwing with interest, because it became clear that a man throws bottles for a reason.
Indeed, now there are fewer bottles, but a huge pile of glass has formed on the floor.
And there was one more circumstance: the fewer bottles there were, the more drunk the man became. I did not catch the connection between these circumstances, but, probably, there was one.

I was horrified thinking about where I should look for a husband when the man completely turns off.
However, he held on, he muttered about parliamentarians and diplomatic immunity, and continued to throw bottles
“No,” he squealed again, “we didn’t drink beer here, there was a keg, but it’s not on the table.
The table was almost empty when the parliamentarian finally remembered.
- Oh how good! he laughed happily again, “I remembered!” - there were only four bottles of champagne left on the table - we were divided into two teams, one team was engaged in the kidnapping, the other - that is, I hid the secret document, so that later I could hand it over
- To whom? - I no longer had the strength to listen to all this nonsense, - what to convey? To whom?
— And here it is! - the man once again laughed happily and with a gesture of a magician threw the rest of the bottles on the floor. After that, only a piece of paper remained on the table. The paper was the kind you find in trash cans.
The man pressed the paper like the greatest jewel, and with a victorious look began to wave it.
“Here,” the man suddenly became stern, “do you happen to have a suit for a male parliamentarian?”
“No,” I smiled against my will, “I don’t have such a suit!”
- How so? - the man shook his head regretfully, - you're a millionaire, you must have!
“I don’t have a suit,” I probably had a hysterical laugh, but I still laughed, “come on, don’t torment me, say where are you doing my husband!”
“Lady,” a gallant cavalier suddenly woke up in a man, “do I really look like someone who puts somewhere, someone’s husbands?”
The man so entered the role, which until now was not characteristic of him, that he tried to kiss my hand. I pushed him away. But she miscalculated and he fell. It was clear how much he wanted to stay on the floor and sleep a little, but duty was above all. First, he stood on all fours, then crawled to the jamb, and, finally, again took up a vertical position.
- Listen, - the man suddenly changed his image before his eyes, - you, shmara, take the memorandum, otherwise I am not responsible for myself! They taught you, earn millions and mock a simple, working person!
It dawned on me, the junk paper was probably the memorandum! As soon as the paper moved from the hands of the drunkard into my hands, I heard the sound of falling. The man fell, and froze in the position in which he found his dream. His mission was indeed accomplished.

However, the nasty piece of paper did not indicate the location of my husband, only there was an order: to bring a ransom. It was proposed to bring a million rubles in large bills. It was necessary to put them in a cardboard box and put them under the door. That was it. I had already raised my leg to rudely wake the parliamentarian, when suddenly my son reminded me of his existence. He said that he overheard the conversation of the men who took Sasha with them.
It turns out that several relatives conspired and decided to kidnap my husband. I did not hide from anyone that my husband is a Chinese millionaire, so my relatives, having gathered well, decided to kidnap my husband and demand a serious ransom for him.

I got scared. However, my son told me not to worry, he followed the relatives and promised that he would show me where they hid my husband. I burst into tears, only now I realized how much I love my Sasha, and how dear he is to me. Zhenya walked at the head of the column, the cat Oraya went to release my husband. It turns out that the relatives took Sasha to the back room, closed it there, and themselves sent a messenger for alcohol. The messenger returned several times to the wedding table, and brought alcohol from there.

So, I will briefly repeat the last events: when we opened the basement door, one of the relatives got up, smiled at me, and tried to hand me a note in which it was written in shaky handwriting that my husband was kidnapped, and if I want to see him, I must pay a ransom of a million rubles.
I was offered to put a million in large bills in a box, and put the box under the doors of the utility room. The kidnapping failed, the accomplices of the one who gave me the note were dead drunk. After the messenger gave me a note, he decided that his mission was completed, and you can also relax and even fall asleep. The key to the back room was on the table. Cold with foreboding, I opened the door, and at first I saw nothing. There was no light in the back room. Then we opened the door wider, and I finally saw my husband,

My husband slept, slept right on the floor with a cardboard champagne box under his head. I don't think he even realized he was kidnapped. The next day, I had a serious conversation with the unfortunate kidnappers, someone immediately admitted their guilt, but the bulk of the kidnappers told me that I didn’t understand jokes, and that I needed to visit my homeland more often and not break away from my roots.

On such a "spiritual" note, the conversation ended.
I wanted to change tickets and return to Beijing. However, Sasha dissuaded me, he said that by this act I would cause irreparable harm. I will show no respect for my parents, but Sasha could not allow this. He said that from the moment we got married, my parents became his parents. When I conveyed these words to my mom and dad, they shed tears.
I did not flog a fever and change tickets. Two weeks flew by like a flash.
Everything was fine, except that some of the unfortunate kidnappers asked to visit us several times. However, I was on the alert and categorically refused. I knew that the saying that what is on the tongue of the drunk is on the mind of the sober was true, and I was afraid that my relatives, now in all seriousness, would try to repeat the feat that had failed in the restaurant.

Dissatisfied with the refusal, the relatives went home.
Time raced forward. Sasha was pleased, he liked my city, he was proud that he had Russian parents, and also, I very often caught his proud and happy look when he looked at me and my son.
It turns out that my Sasha was an avid traveler. During the two weeks that we lived in Vladivostok, we visited many places that I had no idea about. We even almost climbed Mount Pidan, but on the eve of the ascent, I felt unwell, and the ascent had to be canceled.

The weather, surprisingly, this summer was cloudless and warm. Therefore, we even swam several times. Until this moment, I did not know that there were excursions designed specifically for wealthy Chinese. That is, there was nothing special in these excursions. There was nothing so forbidden. It's just that the price of these excursions was very high. The Russian historian-guide took groups to the places where the Chinese lived in our city before the revolution, and the translator translated all this.
We visited the Opera and Ballet Theatre, the Drama Theatre, the Museum of Local Lore, and the Art Gallery. We even visited the Museum of Automotive Antiques, which I had no idea existed. I told Sasha that we probably don’t have such a museum in our city, but Sasha showed me the location of the museum on the map of Vladivostok sights. I had to go. The museum was far away, in the area of Tikhaya Bay.

We visited Russky Island, went with our son to the museum of the Vladivostok fortress, the son climbed the cannons that stood right in the courtyard of the fortress, Sasha did not lag behind his son. I was struck by the curiosity of my husband, he was interested in everything, he asked me to translate all the inscriptions that hung next to the exhibits. However, everything comes to an end sometime. When we began to pack up for the return journey, Sasha promised her parents that we would arrive in three months, and, in general, we would visit Vladivostok very often.

The promise reassured my parents a little, but still, when the taxi that took us to the airport was leaving, and my parents were standing so alone, Sasha asked to stop the taxi, got out, and once again hugged his father and kissed his mother on the cheek. I burst into tears, in general, in the last week, for some reason I often cried. When the plane took off, I felt that I was sick again. I must have been flustered. However, when we returned to Beijing, and I continued to feel sick, and the nausea did not want to stop after a day or two, doubts crept into my head.

My doubts were confirmed when I bought a pregnancy test. However, I could not immediately convey this good news to my husband, because as soon as we returned to Beijing, he rushed off on another business trip. He went to such a Chinese darkness, where not there were even telephone towers, and, of course, I could not call my husband's mobile phone.
My mood changed ten times a day, then I was happy, and then I freaked out and scattered things. When the third day of Sasha's business trip went, I burst into tears, I felt sorry for myself.
I was alone in the apartment again. Nothing has changed for my son. He just changed one yard for another. Schoolchildren in Beijing had a short summer vacation, and their son disappeared from morning to evening on the street. I must tell you that during the summer holidays, Chinese students study even more than during the school year. Parents take them to various additional classes, clubs and studios.

I also had to enroll my son in a creative summer school, and also, since he graduated from the zero-level calligraphy school as an external student, I had to re-register his studies at the first-level calligraphy school. But I didn't have the strength. It seemed to me that I returned to the past, to the past when I had to decide everything myself. I sat and sobbed, in this state Sasha found me.
Seeing Sasha, I sobbed even more bitterly, my husband was so frightened that he even turned pale. Hiccuping and wiping my tears, I finally told my husband the good news! Upon learning that he would be a father, the husband turned even more pale.

For a while he looked at one point, and then he began to fuss, trying to seat me comfortably, then, seeing that the pots and the refrigerator were empty, he rushed to cook dinner for me. Going into the nursery, and not finding his son there, he anxiously asked if everything was fine with Zhenya.
I glanced at the clock, all the deadlines had already passed, and my son continued to walk, I did not have the strength to call him to order, and he used it with might and main. The door slammed, Sasha rushed to look for his son!

When the night came and the nausea receded a little, I finally felt how happy I was! My loved ones were with me, life promised only joys, of course, if some whim doesn’t come into my head and I don’t spoil everything again.

However, I believed that my search for the blue bird of happiness was now over. Having married a Chinese millionaire, I, in addition, unexpectedly found a man with a heart of gold, who had no price. I knew that life, of course, would not be cloudless, it just doesn’t happen, but the thought that now I can share all the hardships of life for two calmed me and gave me hope for a cloudless future!
Or maybe, well, their hardships?!
I want to be happy and I will be happy!
So, let's sum up the eighth chapter.
I'll quickly share my thoughts before nausea hits me again.

My simple story is coming to an end, and although there is much more I want to tell you, I still have to move towards completion. Otherwise, it will no longer be a textbook, but an instructive treatise. Probably you, like me, do not like being lectured. Nobody likes this.

We do not like to listen to someone else's experience, we are proud of our bruises and bumps, which we received in an unequal battle with life circumstances. Although it seems to be easier, listen to an experienced person and get around the trouble that awaits you around the corner!
So no, we...
Oh, I'm sorry, I got off topic.
We are all psychologists at heart, and you probably already guessed why a miracle that my husband and I had no hope for suddenly happened.
Well, if you haven't guessed yet, I'll tell you.
First. I got the opportunity to get married in a dress that I chose myself.
Even no, it's not. Having unexpectedly received a son, whom he did not even know about, my husband calmed down and relaxed.
Or even slightly different. Having ceased to concentrate on one idea, my husband stopped thinking about the same thing, and the miracle that we had dreamed about suddenly happened.
Which of the three reasons is correct, I do not know. But something, nevertheless, moved the bird of happiness off the ground, and now it has flown to us, never to fly away again.

Chapter Nine

In principle, my story is already over, but for the Chinese, the number nine is of great importance, and since I am now a citizen of China, I also get used to the fact that the number nine is the queen in the Chinese number series. The fact is that according to the concepts of the Chinese, the number ten is just a repetition, just a one with a zero. So I have something in store for you and I will tell you about it in this ninth chapter.

Do you want to laugh?

Now I will tell you about how I was preparing for discharge from the hospital. The details of the birth of my daughter, I will not tell you. I will tell you only about what happened after. Although the birth was easy, nevertheless, as you understand, I was not quite, how should I say, clean. When I came to my senses, I tried to find a shower, or at least a hot water tap, but, to my surprise, I did not find anything.

Since I already spoke quite decently in Chinese, I demanded that they give me a wash. You should have seen the horror in the nurse's eyes when I voiced my demand. It turns out that women in childbirth are allowed to water procedures, only in exceptional cases and with the permission of a doctor.
 When I called my husband uh, he began to persuade me to be patient, because the doctors know better. They agreed that for the time being I would get by with wet wipes, and soon I was the owner of a whole block of wipes. Of course, I didn't need that much. However, I had no one to share with, I was alone in the ward.
Days in the hospital flew like an arrow, my baby, my kitten, was adorable. Things were going to be discharged, and then I rebelled, I knew that my whole Chinese family would come to meet me. In any case, all those who live in Beijing and its environs. And on this fateful day, I was asked to go out to those meeting with a dirty head? Well, I do not!
I threw such a scandal that it came to the head physician! I screamed and demanded to give me the opportunity to wash at least my head! Finally, one of the nurses looked at me apprehensively and told me to go to the treatment room. In the treatment room, a basin of water was waiting for me! One nurse soaped my hair, another poured water over it. My body itched and itched, he, the body, also wanted hot water and a washcloth with soap, but I did not insist anymore. I knew that very soon, we, with my little treasure, would be at home, and I could wash as much as I liked.

And now the fanfare!

Now I'll tell you why I rebelled! You probably already noticed that I am white and fluffy and rarely lose my temper. It's just that a woman from the next room told me that it is not recommended for women in labor to wash after the hospital. The first wash should take place, you won’t believe it, only ... in a month!

Of course, this arrangement did not suit me. I don’t know why such oddities reigned in this maternity hospital, or maybe they reigned not only in this maternity hospital, but in all Chinese maternity hospitals, what do I, in general, care about this? I will live and do as I see fit.

 The woman explained to me about some signs, and also about the fact that doctors are afraid that a woman in labor will catch a cold and she will not have milk if she has prolonged contact with water after childbirth. In general, I left the hospital like a queen, however, immediately after that, they wrapped me up so that only my nose was sticking out, but the main thing is that I made the exit the way I wanted.

Now I'm at home, feeding the baby. The son did not go for a walk and every minute looks into my room to wait until my sister finally opens her eyes.
And here's what I'll tell you...
Oops, sorry, jinkled, WeChat, I got a message!
You will not believe, in the message that I received, an unfamiliar Chinese man told me that ... he wants to marry me!
Ha-ha, late dear, I'm already married, and I hope forever!