A fork in the road

"Another cup!"

"Two more cups!"

"Boss, just bring me that whole vat!"

"Oh, young man," the proprietress said, refusing to serve him any more, "this isn't how you're supposed to drink this wine!"

He had eaten a pot of pork hock with pickled cabbage from dawn until dark. A layer of brown gelatin had congealed around the edge of the pot, and a little pile of discarded bones lay on the table. It all looked a mess.

But an even bigger mess was Ding Ding, who had drunk half the owner's vat dry.

Sitting around waiting for the end wasn't Ding Ding's style. Until the bankruptcy proceedings were complete, he was still running around trying to find a way out of his predicament.

For the past month, Ding Ding had spent his nights in an eighty-yuan-a-night inn in an urban village, frequenting every smoke-filled roadside food stall.

By day, he became Mr. Ding again, buying expensive gifts and pushing open the once-familiar doors of those companies time after time.

Everything at the negotiating table came with a price, but Ding Ding had almost no bargaining chips left. It wasn't hard to foresee him being turned away.

He couldn't accept it.

But there was nothing he could do.

Only now did Ding Ding realize that none of his old connections could be relied upon at a time like this.

It made sense, really. If they had truly wanted to lend a hand, they wouldn't have stood by earlier.

His grand dream had vanished in an instant. Now that he had woken, nothing remained.

At thirty, he stood utterly alone, with nothing to his name, no road ahead and no way home.

Bankruptcy was declared. All his assets were frozen, taken over in full by a court-appointed administrator, then liquidated and sold, with the proceeds distributed to creditors in the order prescribed by law.

Ding Ding finally agreed to take off that rumpled suit and come out for a decent meal.

"So stingy. Fine, no more drinking!" Ding Ding grinned. "The bill!"

The Bayberry Wine hadn't made him drunk. Ding Ding walked out of the restaurant, and the gentle night breeze carried away the resentment clinging to him, leaving him feeling light.

Passing a small supermarket with its lights on, Ding Ding wandered inside.

"A pack of Yuxi."

"Twenty-five."

"..." Ding Ding paused. "A pack of Hongtashan."

Only then did the owner look up at him. He put the Yuxi back and took down a pack of Hongtashan.

"Eleven."

"The eight-yuan kind."

The owner clicked his tongue and slapped the cigarettes down hard. The crack was like a slap across Ding Ding's face.

Ding Ding paid, walked a few steps outside, then turned back. He stared at the owner with red eyes, saying nothing.

"What... what do you want?"

The smell of alcohol in the air wasn't strong, but it was enough to put someone on guard. "I'm telling you, I've got security cameras!"

Ding Ding kept staring at him. Only after a long while did he speak.

"A lighter."

"..."

Sometimes Ding Ding found it strange that when men gathered at business dinners, they rarely discussed business.

Cigarettes, alcohol, and women were their eternal topics.

If a man lacked any one of the three, he seemed out of place among them, unable to fit in.

Ding Ding had inwardly complained when he had to play along. Now, with smoke entering his throat, he found the sensation rather pleasant.

Holding the cigarette between his fingers, Ding Ding stretched his neck as he exhaled, feeling the slight pain as the cheap cigarette irritated his throat.

There were few pedestrians on the streets at this hour. As he passed a residential neighborhood, the lights in the rows of windows joined into a sea.

Lights shone in countless homes, but not one had been lit for Ding Ding.

A waft of floral fragrance on the breeze made him pause. Like a bubble, it floated before his eyes, then burst with a pop, bringing forth a goofy smiling face.

He wondered whether the fool was doing well.

He probably was, Ding Ding thought.

Music drifted from someone's home in the distance. The singer had a fine voice, every word clear.

"Look at that young man, in simple cloth and plain clothes, traveling a thousand miles into splendor.

The fine city holds endless sights, and some have futures soaring high.

Some climb tall walls like ants, wanting only a crack to wait for moonlight.

Even with heads bowed, there is still a moon,

Shining on their hurried steps, through winds and rains.

..." ①

Unfortunately, there was no moonlight tonight, and Ding Ding wasn't in a hurry either.

Across two roads lay the inn where Ding Ding had been staying.

A faulty connection made the streetlight flicker, lending the place an eerie look, as though once he stepped inside, he would be trapped, unable to escape even if he were flayed and torn apart.

Suddenly, Ding Ding didn't want to go any farther.

Between going forward and retreating, there could be a third option.

The cigarette butt burned his fingers. Ding Ding stubbed it out on the trash can, turned, and headed in another direction.

His steps were a little lighter this time. He remembered that west of here, then south, there was a very large lake.

He wanted to have a look.

"What are you looking at, Little Bai?"

"Flowers." Bai Congming pointed at an azalea blooming beautifully in front of him. "There are bugs."

Auntie Zhou never doubted him. At his words, she crouched beside him and began turning over the leaves to search.

"There aren't any..." Auntie Zhou found nothing. "Did you see wrong, Little Bai?"

Bai Congming shook his head. "There are bugs."

"Hmm..."

Auntie Zhou frowned, fetched some scissors, and cut off the azalea bloom. Sure enough, its stem had been hollowed out by insects.

She cut off several flowering branches in succession. They were all the same.

"There really are bugs." Auntie Zhou looked astonished. "How did you know, Little Bai?"

Bai Congming chuckled. "This flower stinks!"

"You're amazing, Little Bai!"

Auntie Zhou never held back her praise for Bai Congming, and Little Bai happily accepted it.

"Amazing!"

"..."

An infestation in fully grown flowers was no small matter for the Flower Nursery. Fortunately, it had been discovered early, before it caused too much damage.

These insects couldn't be killed with ordinary pesticides. They required treatment with a special fumigant.

That meant no one could stay in Greenhouse No. 3 for the next two days.

This was good news for Bai Congming. On his day off that month, Auntie Zhou had visited his home, leaving him unable to go out, and his plan to look for Ding Ding had fallen through.

Now that he had two days off, the weight on Bai Congming's chest finally lifted.

His wife had been gone too long. He was afraid that if he didn't go looking soon, he would never find him again.

So excited was Bai Congming that he got up very early the next morning. The sky was only just growing light when he left.

Commuters heading to work early filled every gap in the subway car.

Bai Congming tried hard to curl himself into a ball, but he was still inevitably squeezed against the wall.

By the time he struggled off the train, his carefully coordinated pink top and green trousers were all rumpled, and someone had even taken a bite out of the big meat bun in his hand.

"My big meat bun! My... meat bun..."

Bai Congming was very upset, because he felt he couldn't give Brother Ding something someone else had eaten.

"All right, he must have been hungry!"

Taking one second to console himself, Bai Congming found a less crowded spot and, looking thoroughly aggrieved, stuffed the three big meat buns into his stomach as though venting his frustration.

Big meat buns were so delicious. No wonder Brother Ding had hung up the plastic bag after finishing them...

When Bai Congming had come home that day, he hadn't seen Ding Ding, but he had spotted a plastic bag in the yard, blown onto the clothesline by the wind.

At first, Bai Congming had thought it was a present, but after taking it down and smelling the delicious scent of buns, he had decided it wasn't.

Brother Ding must really like these big meat buns and have left this here to tell him, Bai Congming thought.

Although the buns had already been eaten, Bai Congming didn't think it was a pity.

As long as he found Brother Ding and brought him back, they could have big meat buns every day from then on!

Four of them!