Chapter 67: Big Trouble
Translated by: kevin1782
Edited by: Isalee
Natalia Sasha Ivanov. The name sounded very beautiful and pleasant. But after meeting the real deal, Gao Yang really couldn’t connect his imagination of Grolev’s wife with the big aunty holding a hunting rifle right in front of him.
Grolev’s daughter, the barbaric girl, looked very beautiful, but he couldn’t link her with how Grolev had described her: an obedient, cute, and lovely girl. What he saw was heavy makeup, her exhaling cigarette smoke circles, and a face full of barbarism. Even though he knew the pair was the one he was looking for, he felt that he had to ask one more time.
Gao Yang was still full of smiles as he said, “I’m sorry, can you please tell me your names? I have to know if I found the right person. Am I right?”
“My name’s Natalia Sasha Ivanov and my daughter’s name is Elena Euler Ivanov. If your friend is that a.s.sh*le Yuri, he wouldn’t have any other wife and kid.”
Completely sure of it now, he exhaled a sigh of relief and laughed along. “I’m so happy to see you guys. I’m Grolev’s friend. As y’all know, he couldn’t come back, but he really misses you guys. He saved all his money, and since I just happened to come over, he requested me to bring the money over to y’all. Here, this is twenty-three thousand dollars. All here.”
Natalia’s face became ‘detente’, she didn’t hustle to take the money from Gao Yang’s hands. Instead, grief was written all over her face. She said, “Does that a.s.sh*le still remember us? Darn it, after so many years, I always thought he was dead. Even when he can’t come back, can’t he send a letter at least?”
Gao Yang was astonished. “What do you mean? According to my information, Grolev sent money to you guys every year!”
Natalia was puzzled as she replied, “What kind of joke is that? The second year he ran away, he asked a guy named Ivan to send one thousand dollars to us. Other than that, there’s been no communication after all these years, what money are you talking about?”
Gao Yang furiously patted his thighs with repugnance and said, “I got it. That dude called Ivan, he didn’t even give y’all the money, he swallowed all the money Grolev sent y’all. This b*stard, he died too late. But what about the photos of you and your daughter? Why did Grolev have your photo? He had your daughter’s photo from school, and the portrait photo of you and your daughter. Even from previous years too. He also showed me the photo of you and your daughter where Elena was holding an award certificate from school.”
Elena threw the cigarette onto the floor and extinguished it by stepping on it. She clapped and said, “I think what you’re talking about are the photos I posted on Faceb*ok, it’s not really that hard to download and print them. Seems like somebody used our photos. Alright, don’t let me see that b*stard, otherwise I’ll stamp on his b.a.l.l.s till they explode. By the way, just asking, how’s my dad doing now?”
“Uhh, your dad’s doing pretty well, another thing I wanted to say was that the bast*rd who swindled your dad and you guys all these years is already dead. He died not too long ago.”
Natalia glared at Elena once and reprimanded her. “You’re at home now and you’re talking to your father’s friend. Can’t you act like a normal child? Don’t use that ‘communication technique’ you use in the bar.”
Elena swiftly changed her expression to show a smile. She used a soft and lovely voice as she spoke gently. “Thank you for bringing news about my dad, mother and I are very grateful. Thank you.”
Gao Yang was somewhat taken by surprise when he was confronted with Elena’s sudden change of ‘face’. He was looking at Elena who was in a ‘barbaric girl’ outfit, but her voice and tone was full of unspeakable loveliness and cuteness. It was really difficult for him to digest all that. After coughing twice, Gao Yang was a bit fl.u.s.tered as he placed the money before Natalia. Somewhat panic-stricken, he said, “The money. Please, it’s better to keep it with you.”
Natalia took the hunting rifle and laid it properly on the table on the side. She rubbed both hands on her clothes for a while and took the money from Gao Yang. There was no ferocity emanating from Natalia at this moment as she instead looked like a kind neighborhood aunty.
Natalia took the money and said with embarra.s.sment, “Hurry, have a seat, I’m really sorry. I’ve been keeping you guys standing. I’m really sorry just now, I thought the people from the bar came for us so I fired. Hope that didn’t scare you guys.”
Gao Yang laughed bitterly. He didn’t have the guts to say that he was half scared to death just now, including the fact that Old Liu almost got his head blown off. But Natalia’s words reminded him of the incident from before.
“Yes, the incident that happened downstairs won’t be a problem, will it? If you need help, just say the word, I’ll be really happy to be of service.”
Natalia was full of disdain. “It’s okay. What else could it be? The police never come to this place. Those soft nuts wouldn’t dare come find trouble with us.”
After saying that with such ferocity and harshness, Natalia switched to another expression and gently said, “Ay, you should also know that a.s.sh*le Yuri left us for so many years. If we weren’t tough, we wouldn’t be able to live these days.”
Gao Yang nodded and expressed his understanding. He then replied, “Doesn’t Elena go to school now? I see that it looks like she works in the bar?”
Natalia’s face had melancholy written on it. “Elena is still in school, it’s just that I lost my job last year and I can’t find one even now. My poor Elena, she’s only sixteen and she has to earn her keep to go to school. Our living expenditures solely rely on her. Don’t look at her current appearance, she’s just actually using this method to protect herself.”
Gao Yang immediately garnered great respect for Elena, but he still didn’t understand. “I hear that your English is excellent. In fact, your whole family speaks English very well. I guess it would not be too hard to find a job, right?”
Natalia helplessly smiled and said, “I was originally an English translator. Grolev and Elena were my most successful students. But after that, you know, since Grolev got into trouble, I can’t stay in this line of work lest somebody notices. Then I kept on teaching children English, but now n.o.body’s willing to hire me as their teacher. I think it could be because of my reputation. Since it’s normal that n.o.body wishes to hire a tough, savage-like lady to educate their children.”
Gao Yang nodded and replied, “Got it. But after this your days won’t be the same. I think Grolev’s money will keep coming so Elena won’t have to go to work anymore.”
Elena smiled at Gao Yang. She extended her hands, made a piano-playing posture, and said with a smile, “Actually my work is very simple, I play the piano in the restaurant. I get paid and I get tips. It’s really safe, but the money I make there is very little. So I was planning on playing the electric piano at the bar across my house to earn some extra bucks, but I didn’t expect that I would already beat off the eighteenth bast*rd who wanted to get laid in under a month. I think the reason the proprietor of that bar was willing to hire me continuously was maybe because I can help him sell more alcohol.”
Gao Yang told Elena solemnly, “No matter how much you can earn, you shouldn’t go to that sorta place anymore. Your dad really misses both of you, and he’s proud of you. You should be properly schooled and then go onto the best music school.”
After saying that, he pondered briefly and earnestly said, “How about this, since y’all already have a good sum of money, I think the money’s enough to help you guys move to a safer district. No need to worry about the life afterwards. Grolev will send you money in a timely manner, and I guarantee this on his behalf.”
After saying all that, he patted his head and chuckled, “I almost forgot, Grolev now has a satellite phone. Y’all couldn’t contact him before, but now it is different, you can call him straight away. Have you guys got a handphone? You can call him right now.”
Natalia was surprised and pleased. She chimed, “Can I? He said last time that we can’t contact him anyhow under the KGB’s[1] suspicion.”
Hearing that Grolev was actually involved with the KGB, Gao Yang was dazed on the spot. He only knew that Grolev seemed to be involved in a murder case, but he didn’t know why he couldn’t go home. He didn’t even dare to make a single phone call. He only understood that Grolev actually was involved with the KGB with that case of his.
Of course, the KGB Natalia was talking about should have been in the Pre-USSR era as the KGB had changed into the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) and the Federal Counterintelligence Service (FSK) now. But for most of the people on the globe and the Russians, they still habitually referred to the departments as the KGB.
Knowing that Grolev was involved with the KGB, Gao Yang couldn’t let Natalia and Elena call Grolev now. Some things were better clarified first before doing. It’d save Grolev some unnecessary trouble.
Apologetically smiling at Natalia, Gao Yang solemnly said, “I’m sorry, you guys better not call him for now temporarily. I guess you can give me a number and then I’ll ask him to call you guys. It’ll be better that way. Also, are you really sure what happened just now was really nothing much? My friend here seemed to hear that the one of the people whom Elena hit was a mafia boss’ son around here.”
Hearing Gao Yang’s words, Elena appeared to be somewhat alarmed and panicky. “I didn’t know who he was, I was too agitated at that moment. I didn’t hear what they were saying. I think it’ll be alright, I guess.”
The color on Gao Yang’s face changed in an instant — it didn’t matter how many normal lecherous douch*bags she chased away with beatings. Just her and her mother’s battle prowess wouldn’t lose out a single bit to normal people, but if they really offended real triad or gang members, it would mean big trouble.
Gao Yang immediately and decisively said, “I get it. Don’t say anything, get whatever’s necessary, we gotta get outta here fast. No, no, don’t take anything, we go NOW.”
Gao Yang’s decision was still a little too late. His voice had just faded and messy footsteps could be heard. Jin solemnly said, “Somebody’s coming, and there are a lot of them.”
Translator’s note(s):
KGB: Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti,