Half-breed Xi hides in a Chinese city

Xi, Anastasia, really missed her friends, because two years have passed since the breakup. For those who have not read the book "Millionka" or have forgotten the events of this book - I remind you: Si (Anastasia) is a half-breed Korean. The girl's father is Russian, mother is Korean. The book ends with Xi having to flee the city where she was born. Xi is pursued by Honghuzi. Honghuzi are Chinese bandits who do not know pity either for strangers or for their own. What is Chinese, what is Russian, what is Korean - it does not matter to them. For the hunghuz, a father is a robbery, a mother is a profit.

It was useless to wait for pity or indulgence from the red-bearded (Hunghuz).

The Honghuzes were determined to capture Xi and shake information out of her. And in the summer of 1907, Xi, along with her guide and friend Pavel, was forced to leave for China by secret paths.

So, two years have passed. Xi was tired of being alone and thought about her friends all the time. She especially missed Eneko, a Japanese friend with a difficult character.

The Chinese family that took Xi in was strange. They had something going on all the time. However, the girl has not been surprised by anything for a long time. In this family, everyone, one way or another, was connected with smuggling. It is unlikely that Mrs. Petukhova, Hsiai-lin's mother, knew what the friends she sent Xi to were really doing.

No one was going to feed and support the girl just like that. Anastasia understood this very well. The very next day, after Pavel went back to Vladivostok, she began to work. Pavel promised to bring news from friends. In two years, Xi met with a friend only six times and was more or less aware of the events that were taking place in her city.

The girl's work was simple, but endless. She twisted and wove ropes, which were then tied around smuggled goods. Xi's working day ended at 12 at night and began at 4 in the morning. There were no exits. Resting only on general Chinese holidays. The food was scarce, but everyone in the family ate like that. Nobody offended Xi. But even such meager food was more plentiful than that which the girl ate at home.

However, Xi was ready to starve and not sleep at all, if only there was an opportunity to return to her hometown. But so far this has not been possible. Yes, and Paul disappeared somewhere. The time that was discussed was long past, but Pavel was not there.

And the girl kept thinking about the book she found in the underground city. About your book! The book was calling her. The book talked to Xi at night. The book continued to reveal its secrets and share knowledge. This usually happened in a dream.

The girl, who had not completed a single class of the parochial school (not to mention the ordinary one), now knew a lot. So many that if someone needed to write down everything that Anastasia knows, then one library for these books would not be enough. Three or even six would not be enough.

Xi missed her Russian speech. The family of smugglers did not keep any books or newspapers in their house. No, however, there was one book, it was called "The Book of Changes". Guessed from this book. Tried to find out the meaning of dreams. Tried to know the future. What to expect and how it will end. Children were taught from this book.

In the village where Anastasia lived, there were many foreign missions. There was also a Russian representation. However, Xi was in no hurry to meet with her compatriots. The girl did not feel any guilt for herself, however, just in case, she did not go to the center of the village once again.

Over the past two years, Xi has grown. She became even taller, and now it was difficult for her to get lost among the crowd. From a long sitting at work and the fear of being recognized, the girl began to stoop.

"The Village of Flags" - the place where Nastya lived, had another name. In Russian, it sounded like this: "Pogranichnaya Station."

Before the construction of the CER, there were only a few tiny villages on the territory of Pogranichnaya station. By the time the railway, the CER, was in full operation, the "Village of Flags" had become a place where life was in full swing. There was even a Russian church and a Russian-Chinese school here.

Church Si visited only once and was subdued by the courteous priest. Unlike Father Feofan, who was stern and unsmiling, Father Bartholomew was talkative, affectionate and… very curious.

The girl already wanted (oh, how she wanted!) to tell the good father everything, everything, the whole story of her sad life, but at the last moment for some reason she became timid and confused. Intuition, which in the slums of Millionka more than once saved a hungry girl, did not let her down even now.

Father Bartholomew was not in the service of the hunghuz - God forbid! The spy of the Honghuzes was the elder brother of the Chinese Vaska. Vaska served at the table during the meals of the Verkhovtsevs. Such a surname in the world was borne by Father Bartholomew and Mother Seraphim.

Eating borscht and pike in sour cream on both cheeks, the priest spoke with rapture about a strange girl who lives in a strange Chinese family and does not go to school. The girl is Russian, but lives here, in this village of adventurers, without a father and mother. Mother Seraphim groaned and asked the girl's name. Father called himselfan old fool and confessed that he forgot to ask the girl's name.

Mother Seraphim reproached her husband for his callousness and inattention. The priest agreed with a sigh and made an oath to ask the girl about everything in more detail when she comes to confession.

But the girl never came. This upset not only the father and mother, but also the elder brother of the Chinese Vaska.

He really wanted to distinguish himself in front of the Honghuzi. Not hoping for anything, he nevertheless sent a denunciation to that of the Honghuzi, who was responsible for collecting tribute in the "Village of Flags".

The answer came unexpectedly quickly, and contained the order: "Find the girl, watch her, but do nothing else."

Big brother is pissed off! Where can you find this girl? The village grew before our eyes. Manchus, Hans, Koreans, enterprising Russians - all this cloud of people suddenly poured into the Pogranichnaya station. And the further, the more. Children also came with their parents, and among them, of course, there were many girls.

True, Xi's position was really unique - all the children were like children, and only Anastasia came alone, to such a distance, and without parents.

The elder brother of the Chinese Vaska was called Vanek, which was the name given to him by his Russian masters. I will not pronounce his real name (Chinese) here. Subsequently, Vanek became one of the leaders of the Honghuz gang, and his name is still pronounced with fear by ordinary Chinese.

So, Vanek began to look for the girl.

Xi passed by the school many times, but did not dare to go in. And what could she say to the headmaster and teachers? Take me, an overgrown child, to study with you? I read Russian by syllables, but I perfectly know the alphabet of the Jurchens, Bohais and Shubi! I also know dozens of dead languages.

The languages of those states from which not even a handful of dust is now left. And the names of these states remained only in the book.

Xi once again walked past the school building. It was lunch time. Children who studied at school poured out into the street with a hubbub. Russian children returned home on their own, on foot, Chinese children were waiting for cabs and rickshaws. Parents shifted at the school gates, not daring to go inside and hurry the clumsy child.

Anastasia had a few free hours. Once a week the goods were taken to Russia. Naturally, before that there was preparation. Great preparation. It was necessary to carefully pack the goods, prepare the corridors for its movement. Moving safe. Find people who would agree to accompany the goods. People had to be honest, enterprising and desperately brave. The goods were sent by water and by land. For each batch, a percentage was given to the hunghuz. And it doesn’t matter whether the consignment of smuggling reached the place where the cargo was expected, or something happened with the smuggling on the way, the Honghuzi still demanded their percentage.

So, once a week, at the moment of sending the contraband, Xi was sent for a walk and told not to return for two or three hours. The Chinese owner did not smile at all for Nastya to see what exactly was being packed in bales. It was also undesirable for the girl to see the one who would accompany the goods across the border. Of course, the owner trusted Xi, otherwise he would have sent her back to Vladivostok in the very first week. But still ... God saves the safe! This proverb, of course, altered in a Chinese way, was quite popular at Pogranichnaya station.

Xi didn't mind resting. She went as far as possible from the house where the smugglers lived, and enjoyed freedom to the fullest. At home, in Vladivostok, summer was just coming into its own, but here, in the Village of Flags, it was already hot. Xi went to the river and looked at the water for a long time, which flowed and flowed without stopping for a second.

A few hours of rest were given at the end of the week. At this moment, all the eyes of the household were directed towards the children. At the end of the week the teacher came. The children of the smuggler, and there were six of them, three boys and three girls, did not study at a general school.

The teacher made the children learn the text of the Book of Changes. The text was difficult, the children did not understand it. However, the father explained to the children that it was not necessary to understand anything. You just have to learn by heart. Understanding will come later. This teacher was already the third in a row. The two previous ones were calculated for being too loyal to the children.

The current teacher was a beast. Especially got from him to the eldest boy. The boy had a birth injury, and teaching was difficult for him. However, his father did not give him any discounts and concessions. The boy was very afraid of the teacher. Punishment followed punishment. The father was pleased with the teacher. The rest of the children, all five, as a result of training, could already recite almost half of the book by heart. The older boy did not give in to training.

Nastya thought that they would let her go during the classes. It wasn't there. The owner offered two options to choose from: either study with the children, or continue working, taking on the workload of the older boy.

Naturally, Xi chose to study. The girl knew the Chinese alphabet perfectly. The book gave her this knowledge back in Vladivostok. Of course, that alphabet, which the book owned, was already a little outdated, but the girl quickly figured out the modern alphabet. Fortunately, there was a basis!

Xi worked with children. The work the children were doing was monotonous. Each of the children clearly knew their duties and did not try to shirk the norm that the father appointed in the evening.

The older brother's name was Yulong, the jasper dragon. Seeing how the boy was afraid of the end of the week and the arrival of the teacher, Nastya decided to help him. The girl memorized what the teacher explained from the first time. The same was the case with memorizing the Book of Changes.

During the endless and monotonous manipulations with the material from which the ropes were made, Xi quietly repeated with Yulong what was asked in the last lesson. From the sixth time the boy began to memorize something. After the twelfth repetition, the boy knew the entire text by heart. The rest of the children did not delve into what the older brother was talking about with the new girl. Yulong may not have been particularly smart, but he was the strongest of the children.

By the right of an older brother, the boy could work less, but, on the contrary, he managed to fulfill not only his norm, but also help the younger ones. And despite this, the children still barely managed to do their job. Naturally, the little workers had no time for idle talk.

The family of Mr. Zhang, the children's father and Xi's master, came to Flag Village from Shandong. There were some difficult family circumstances that caused Mr. Zhang to leave his hometown and join a glorious clan of smugglers.

Vanek dug the ground with his nose. He certainly didn't have his own spies yet. Status was wrong! Yes, and, speaking in Russian, he had not yet come out with a snout, but still it was not difficult for him to track down those who came from Russia. In China, where everyone is a brother, matchmaker and relative, where family ties are very branched and terribly confused, you can not even devote to the essence of the problem, but simply ask in a relative way and they will help you. They will follow up, prompt, and even explain in a related way how best to approach the solution of the problem. Xi was saved only by the fact that she did not come the day before and not a year ago. Two years have passed since the arrival. However, Anastasia's position was still precarious. The situation was unique and from day to day it was possible to expect exposure. Moreover, Mr. Zhang was firmly connected with the Honghuzi. It is even surprising that Nastya has not yet been found. The old folk wisdom probably worked, if you want to hide something well, hide it in a conspicuous place. Probably, it simply could not occur to the Honghuzi that Xi lives in the family of a well-known smuggler.
Полный текст тут http://proza.ru/2014/08/13/182