Huang Guosheng

Fuqiang tittered. “For that troop of people? I’d already made them eat their fill. Afterwards they stayed there, so that other new diners and passers-by could see how busy we were.”

Fuqiang seemed like an anteater in the tropical rainforest, which can tell by its nose whether ants are going out to look for food or are coming back to their nest to rest. When the anteater’s nose touches the ants’ den, it can judge which side has more ants and which less.

Huxi suddenly had the feeling of a cave being opened. “So the reason why you invited so many people for dinner here was just a trick. But aren’t you worried that they will take you to court?”

“How can they? They wanted to buy this restaurant and I wanted to sell it. So it met their requirements. Additionally those two didn’t know about the internal relationship among us,” said Fuqiang. “I neither robbed nor stole. And even so, only the one who is caught is called a thief.”

They all yelled again, like primary school children reciting — “Only the one who is caught is called a thief!”

“I just learn from others,” said Fuqiang. “Now let me tell you a story.”

He told them that when he first arrived in Shenzhen, he had once wanted to take a minibus from Gushu to Shazui, Futian. At that time two minibuses were available in the station. The back one was empty, and in the front only six people were sitting. Without hesitation Fuqiang got on the front one. When he sat down the steward approached to charge him for a ticket and he paid, but the minibus remained stationary. He urged the driver to start as soon as possible. Although the steward replied that it would set off soon, it still did not leave. Fuqiang could not get off because he had paid for a ticket. Only half an hour later when three new passengers got on did it begin to leave. At that very moment, however, the six people who had been sitting there all along spontaneously got off, leaving silently. They had not been required to pay the bus fare.

Fuqiang suddenly understood everything. Hearing it, everyone else understood, too. Fuqiang said that from then on he knew how to do whatever the occasion demanded.

One morning when he went to Gushu from Nantou checkpoint, he did not have enough money for a bus ticket. What could he do? A trick suddenly occurred to him. He jumped onto the No. 331 bus from Shekou to Songgang, which regularly passed Gushu. When the female steward asked him to buy a ticket and asked him where he wanted to go, he replied, “Shekou.” The steward said angrily, “You are going the wrong way, please get off at the next station.” Fuqiang did so, without paying. Then he jumped on the next bus from Shekou to Songgang. Another female steward asked him the same question and he gave the same reply. After getting on and off many times, he finally reached his destination smiling, because he had completed the journey without paying anything. However, before he got off the bus he was recognized by the first female steward. She told the driver to close the door and they drove straight to the police station. He was detained by the police, and he could not be released until his parents came to pay a fine at midnight.

Huxi then said something that worried Fuqiang. “So, we must be honest and do everything properly, or we’ll suffer the consequences.”

“Yes. Depend on it.” Fuqiang, who still had trust in luck, patted Huxi’s shoulder. “Come to Shenzhen as quick as possible. Who once said that originally there were no roads on the land?”

“It was Lu Xun. At the end of his short story titled ‘Hometown,’ he wrote: ‘At first there is no road on the land, but a road will appear as more and more walkers travel across it.’”

“That’s it! I’m sorry, I don’t remember Lu Xun.” Fuqiang punched his leg and said, “On the contrary, I think that there were originally many roads on the land, but the roads will not remain if there are more and more people walking on them.”

Everyone was stunned again. Then one of them exclaimed knowingly, “You’ve become a philosopher!”

They got into the car, laughing and chatting. Fuqiang had called on another friend to drive. They all drove to Shennan Road. Beside the road the longan and litchi trees were in darkness. Some lamps were lit in the industrial areas, and the routers and spark machines were operating noisily, as young men and women were going off duty.

When Huxi arrived at Shennan Road, he said goodbye to Zhenfeng and his friends. They were going back to their restaurant, and Huxi was going to west Guangdong. They went their different ways.

A long-distance bus to west Guangdong was coming. Huxi jumped on it, waving to Fuqiang.

Several months later Huxi again came to Shenzhen and worked as a foreign trade businessman in a company in Shenzhen. After several years of struggling he finally set up his own foreign trade company and factory in Shenzhen. Zhenfeng then became the chief of Huxi’s canteen in the factory and Fuqiang was employed only as a driver for Huxi’s Benz S320.