Chapter 1  : Just Another Ordinary Day

Hao Ren[1], being true to his name, was a good man.

Living in an unimportant town north outside of Beijing, his house was so far-off that it could hardly be counted as a part of the capital city. He was twenty-something, a little macho with a big square face, the type of common face that would not leave a very strong impression on those that passed him by. His ultimate goal in life was to be a good man.

Summer had just begun; the sun during the day was so scorching hot that even the town’s high altitude didn’t help to ease the unbearable heat. There was little wonder that only a handful of pedestrians were seen traversing on the walkways along the streets that were packed with moving vehicles. Hao Ren, in his grey pants and white t-shirt, was walking down the street under the shades of the trees and buildings with a few pieces of paper in his hands. He was sweating profusely. The annoying horn blares from the passing vehicles and the high pitch buzz of the cicadas on the trees on that summer’s morning did not help either.. Despite the unforgiving situation, he kept moving and glanced occasionally at the papers in his hand—two sheets on job advertisements and a flyer which he picked up from a school girl in the square. Printed on the flyer were photos of a sweet-smiling girl with a row of words underneath, reading: Jing Rong Obstetric and Gynaeocology Specialist Hospital, specialising in…

He felt that it was unprofessional for the school girl who passed him the flyer; he wouldn’t have passed out flyer to anyone seemingly penniless like him. That being said, the hard paper flyer did make an excellent paper fan.

“Last two interviews. If these still don’t work out, I’ll call it a day.” Hao Ren mumbled with the job flyers still in his hands. He figured he could complete those two ‘missions’ relatively quickly as the two locations were just around the corner. One of them was just a stone’s throw away across the street; it was an advertising agency with an unassuming (same meaning with façade) facade, but its name was in – the – face: Galaxy Media Pan-Cultural Development Co., any business with such a name was destined to fail in half a year. But what motivated Hao Ren was not the job interview itself but the curiosity to find out what kind of a person the owner who came out with such a grandiloquent name was.

He strode a few hundred meters down the pedestrian walkway with full enthusiasm. Enduring the scorching sun, he maneuvered around the road barrier and came up to the front of the grandiloquently-named advertising agency only to find that it was shuttered! A notice pasted on the glass door entrance indicating that the agency had closed down two days ago. But the job advertisement was dated only four days ago… What a dramatic change! Was the agency looking for some kind of scapegoat before it went under?

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Hao Ren crumpled the job flyer in his hand before discarding it into the refuse bin on the side of the walkway. He lowered his gaze and looked at the second job flyer before binning in the same refuse bin. He couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that he had gone for job interviews that were totally at odd with who he was; an office job in a public transport company, someone who has to be hardworking, possessing computer knowledge and working experience and has to be a lady of 25-40 years old!

There was nothing sillier than coming all the way to town for a job interview only to find himself standing in front of a company that had closed down two days ago!

Hao Ren, , 25 years of age, was a man with no noteworthy bad habits, not particularly choosy about what to eat, still a bachelor who had a few friends or relatives, living alone in a house he inherited from his parents in the old section south of town. He was a typical youngster of those days, aiming for a 5-figure income at the age of 25, marrying a pretty wife and owning a car (if that was at all possible). He did not have the chance to show his filial piety as his parents were dead. But by living decently, he at least salvaged his family’s name and had achieved one third of his goals.

His life was a sad story.

He came looking for a job in town. But there was nothing necessitating him to do so as he owned an old house passed down by his parents—it was a two storeys building that had been converted into an apartment.

For years, Hao Ren was living off the rental of the apartment. It had enabled him to live somewhat comfortably, it didn’t make him rich. The apartment was in the middle of nowhere and it seems unlikely that the government will resume the local development in the near foreseeable future.

Frankly, there was not, in the slightest, the need for Hao Ren to find a job for the time being. But perhaps he was in his comfort zone for far too long, he felt he needed some challenges and exploration. Besides, there was another important reason—his apartment was in a far-flung corner of the countryside where it was literally cut off from any civilization. Since the last farmer couples moved out half a year ago, the apartment had not harbor any new tenant. There was an uneasiness which he found hard to ignore: unless development was forthcoming, it would not be long before he had to look for a job.

After spending three days at home immersing himself in doing some urban planning research, Hao Ren came to the inevitable conclusion that the probability of his area being turned into a commercial zone was slim, not in a month of Sundays. Which meant, he had to plan ahead and begin to find a job.

He used to work part-time to pay for college, so he figured it wouldn’t be at all that difficult to going out there and getting a job wasn’t at all that difficult.

But fate played cruel tricks on him, leaving him empty-handed on the first day.

He stretched and decided to call it a day. He found a bench under a tree in a park nearby where he could wait out the sweltering afternoon before heading to a restaurant to grab a bite and go home. Amid the sprawling developments going on around the town, it still preserve a little oasis as such for people to find some serenity.

He wiped the bench clean before lying lazily on his back for a nap. He covered his face with the flyer from the pretty girl to block out the sun rays leaking through the leaves overhead. Of course he was still alert as incidents of pickpocketing were on the rise. It didn’t matter the fact that he was penniless, being pickpocketed was the last thing he needed; all he wanted was just to take a brief nap to refresh himself.

Before he could doze off, he sensed a shadow over him— it could be someone right beside him. He removed the flyer from his face and was shocked to find that the sun had almost set. And there, a person was standing right next to him at just the right angle to cast a shadow over him. He could barely see the person’s face. But judging from the slender body and facial contour, he could tell it was a girl with short hair.

“Hey, are you awake?”

As the girl spoke, she kept waving to him as if they knew each other. Hao Ren bounced up and feeling a little drowsy, he did a reality check by examining his surroundings to make sure he wasn’t dreaming—it was indeed sunset. He then looked up to the girl in front. The girl realized she was in the backlight, so she moved a little to the side so that she could be seen more clearly.

Hao Ren got a first proper look at the girl and his first impression of the girl was that she was as beautiful as a goddess.

The girl was simply dressed—a white slim fit top with a childish puppy ornament on the collar matched with a dark color shorts and a pair of casual shoes—very much like a college student who was skipping classes; her hair was shoulder length and her skin was wheat, a typical sporty and sunshine girl. She was pretty, especially her lustrous eyes, which were the most beautiful Hao Ren had ever seen.

Behind her was a huge luggage.

She looked at Hao Ren who appeared a little loopy. She smiled like a Cheshire cat (maybe the description was a little far off, but that was what Hao Ren thought of her). These days it is hard to find that kind of innocent smile among girls of her age. She tucked her hand inside her little bag, purportedly searching for something. It took her a while before she found a crumpled piece of paper and handed it to him. “Could you please tell me where this place is?” she asked.

Hao Ren patted himself on the face, attempting to rid himself of the grogginess. He took a look at the flyer and saw the address written on the paper… Uaah! Isn’t that my house?!

Translator Note

[1] 郝仁 (Hǎo rén) – Has the same pinyin and pronunciation as 好人 (Hǎo rén) lit. good person.