Helper 2. Chinese friend from Suifenhe

Morning and noon of the third day

I greeted the morning of the third day in a bad mood. It was freezing outside, and the poorly cleared streets turned into an ice skating rink. The city of Suifenhe can boast of straight streets only in rare places. Basically, the city is designed in such a way that the streets descend from top to bottom. In general, the relief here is approximately the same as in the city of Vladivostok. Yes, slipping and falling can be just as easy. It was no longer possible to shop; the weight in my bag had long since exceeded three kilograms. It was also impossible to walk. My shoes were not suitable for walking on bare ice. Besides, as luck would have it, I woke up very early. At home in Vladivostok it was six in the morning, here in the city of Suifenhe it was only four in the morning. I turned on the TV. Residents of the Comedy Club joked their jokes on TV in endless repetition. After somehow suffering for a few more hours, I crawled out from under the blanket. Looking out the window, I saw only the inside of several residential buildings. There was a snowstorm. Well, the third day has begun. After wandering around the room, I decided to take my bag and go weigh it. Next to the booth where Katya sat there were scales. I put my small purse on the scales and couldn’t believe my eyes, the scales showed six kilograms. Deciding that there was something wrong with the scales, as well as with this whole so-called hotel, I took something out of my bag and put it on the scales again, but the scale arrow did not move. The scales still showed six kilograms. I pulled out something else from my bag. The needle has moved, but, unfortunately, only by a few divisions. Now the scales showed five kilograms and five hundred grams. The problem had to be solved radically. But how? You won't throw away what you bought, will you? All that remained was to follow the path taken by all helpers who return to their homeland from the city of Suifenhe. That is, pull on things that weigh down the bag. I returned to the room. I had to take out several items of clothing from my bag, which I would have to put on myself when crossing the border. However, all this was coming to me only in four or five hours. The border crossing was expected at 14:30 - this was Chinese time. If we add another two hours, that is, go to the time in which Vladivostok lives, it turns out that the border crossing was expected at 16:30.
In general, this should have happened almost in the evening. But what could I do now? Having scolded myself for being pessimistic, I told myself to get dressed. I was so eager to get to this city, and now I lay there and whined. This will not work! As soon as I made the decision to fight the circumstances, my phone rang. It turned out that my pen pal lives in the city of Suifenhe. I corresponded with him for a long time, but I didn’t know that he lived here. The website on which I corresponded with him indicated that my friend lived in Hailongjiang Province. Hailongjiang Province is a huge territory and includes a sufficient number of Chinese cities. That’s why I didn’t even know that my pen pal lived in the city of Suifenhe. I don’t really like to complain, and I told my pen pal about what was happening to me at the moment only half an hour ago. Imagine my surprise when he told me that he lives in the city of Suifenhe. After this, events began to spiral. After meeting in real life, I received a gift: a painting, a neck massage, and I was even treated to dumplings. When I tried to pay for the dumplings myself in a cafe, my new friend was offended. Well, I didn’t object, if he really wanted to pay himself, then so be it. I just had twenty yuan left, which is what I wanted to pay for my breakfast, but, as you already understand, these yuan were left dangling in my wallet. Now they are lying somewhere in a drawer of the nightstand. But that's not what I'm talking about. I had fun during the remaining time before leaving. There were many paintings in the studio of my artist friend. I had time for a carriage and a small cart, and therefore I was able to leisurely look at the paintings and even choose the painting that the artist wanted to give me. My friend used to be a government employee. After he retired, which, as I understand it, happened not so long ago, he was able to engage in creativity. I knew that my friend not only draws pictures, but also writes poetry and composes music for poetry. But that’s not what surprised me, I was surprised that for every hobby my friend had his own studio. My friend painted in one place, and composed music and poetry in another. It’s not that my time was limited, but still, I had to leave soon and therefore, unfortunately, I was not able to visit the second studio where my friend was composing songs. Therefore, I can only tell you about the studio where he painted. The studio consisted of four rooms. However, he only worked in one room, and the other three rooms were abandoned. It was warm in the apartment while I walked through the rooms on a tour, I warmed up when they started choosing a painting, I even took off my jacket.
I complained to a friend that I had a headache, butthat he suggested doing a neck massage. After the massage, the headache went away, and the friend clicked his tongue in displeasure. He informed me that there was something very sad going on with my neck and shoulders. I knew about this problem and was not surprised. The most important thing is that my headache went away and for the first time in three days I felt warm. The first half of the day was so fun and productive. It was necessary to return to the hotel. The artist's studio was a two-minute walk from the hotel and soon I entered the cold room again. In my hands was a painting that I could not refuse, but which now needed to be somehow placed in my small luggage.