Short Story: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

I got on the tram at the three-way intersection at the end of Nanjing Road. Nanjing Road was named by the British Consulate in commemoration of the great benefits brought to them by the Treaty of Nanjing. However, Shanghainese who hate the United Kingdom prefer to call Nanjing Road main road.

There were not many people on the tram at seven o’clock in the morning, so I had the choice to sit in the second-to-last parking space by the window, which was on the right side of the tram, that is, directly behind the driver, because in the British newspaper "It was reported that this position is safer.

The tram rattled forward unhappily, and because of the window frame, I could only see a glimpse of the blue sky and white clouds floating over the top of the pointed church. If I was more greedy, I would touch the cold and hard glass Window, in this cold winter, I absolutely don't like this feeling.It seems to be mentioned in some magazine that on the far side of the Pacific Ocean, someone in the United States has invented a glass called plexiglass. It should be extremely comfortable to lean on this glass. I thought about it for a long time, but I couldn’t remember it. Which magazine is it.

After a while, the tram stopped at a station for a long time, and the quarrel in front made me realize that something happened.I only heard the driver say loudly; "Hurry up and pay the money!" He spoke in authentic Shanghai dialect, which sounds acrimonious here.A woman is leading a five or six-year-old child, who can't tell from the clothes that she is poor. I habitually guess that she should be of the middle and lower class.The child stood beside the height ruler with a terrified face and did not dare to move, probably not knowing why the mother was arguing with others.I roughly understood what happened. Probably the woman wanted to waive the child's ticket on the grounds that the child was not tall enough, but the child's height happened to be on the red bar of the height ruler, not up or down.It was supposed to be social welfare, but at this time it became the culprit of the farce. The two sides argued with each other and quarreled endlessly.At this time, some of the early shifters looked at their watches impatiently and scolded the women.The woman opened her mouth, but didn't say anything. With a livid face, she handed the ticket money for the two to the conductor, and the conductor swiftly handed over the two tickets that should have been given 5 minutes ago to the mother and the child.

After 10 minutes, the woman got off the bus at the second stop at Houkou Road. I understand the woman's previous behavior. No one would be willing to pay an extra ticket for two stops, especially when they can fight for it.

The tram turned a corner, went straight, turned again, scurried regularly in the city of Shanghai, passed through a residential area, bypassed the department store I often go to, and finally stopped firmly at the stop where I wanted to get off .

I got out of the car with a skinny boy in his teens or twenties. The air outside the car was very cold. Thinking of the harsh Shanghainese the driver said just now, the houses on both sides of the road were dry and shrinking aside.The glass reflects golden light under the sunlight in the morning, but in winter, this kind of warmth is not a feeling after all, but a color, and the northwest wind is the dinner.

When the boy and I stood in front of an office building at the same time, I was a little surprised, but I still asked friendlyly: "You also work here?" The big boy replied a little shyly: "Yes." That kind of demeanor, Reminds me of myself four years ago.

"How long have you been working here?"

"Two years."

"It's been such a long time." I suddenly swallowed what I was about to say. I wanted to put on a gesture in front of the newcomer, but I didn't expect that the newcomer seemed to be Old Jiang.He probably didn't expect that this was my second day working here.

Walking into the building, we didn't speak again until we parted.

I'm afraid I was shocked by my solemn suit. I thought proudly that it is my habit to wear a suit at work, it is the same in school, and it is the same now.

Here I have my own desk, but not my own office.A few stacks of accounts have been added to the table. This should be the task given to me by the previous accountant. Now it has become my job. I am the only accountant of this tobacco company. I need to count these accounts into data , I have to go to the warehouse to check the goods, which requires a little bit of culture to do it, but only a little bit, so I am actually not suitable for this. To put it simply, it is overkill.

Not long after sitting down, Xia Lan at the front desk came to the door: "Mr. Liang, the president is looking for you."