Today at 11 PM, I left my girlfriend Sev's house and prepared to go home. When I reached the entrance of the residential area, I opened my phone and casually hailed a taxi.
It was late at night and the journey was 15 kilometers to the outskirts of Beijing. I thought it would be difficult to find a taxi, but to my surprise, a driver accepted the order within a short time. It was a six-minute drive away.
I waited for a while at the same spot, but the car icon on the map on my phone remained stationary. Just as I was getting confused and impatient, the driver called me. I could hear a middle-aged woman's voice with a distinct dialect on the other end of the phone: "Hello... I accepted your order." There seemed to be another passenger's voice in the background.
It seemed that the driver was still dropping off another passenger and was afraid that I would cancel the ride due to the distance. I quickly said, "Okay, okay, I'll wait for you at the same spot." Then I hung up the phone.
When I checked the map again, the car still hadn't moved.
So I sent a message asking about the delay. After the message was marked as read, the driver called again.
"I'll probably be there in three or four minutes, please wait a moment..."
Only then did the car icon start to move slowly. So I waited at the same spot, imagining what the driver looked like based on the tone of her voice.
After a while, the car arrived. I opened the back door, quickly got in, and reported the last digits of my phone number while glancing at the silhouette of the middle-aged woman sitting in the driver's seat. In the dimly lit taxi, I could only see the outline of a middle-aged woman.
Instead of immediately starting the car, she muttered, "Wait, wait," with her finger hovering over her phone, waiting for something. I looked at the old Android phone mounted in front of her, displaying a loading screen that only an old Android phone would show.
After a moment of silence, the loading finally finished. She asked for the last digits of my phone number again, entered it, and then we waited for a long time.
"Do you know the way?" she asked in a low voice, staring at the phone screen.
I realized that she was waiting for the navigation to load. I smiled and said I didn't know, jokingly asking if her phone was too slow.
"Yeah... oh. The previous passenger was like this... I have no idea how to get there..." she said in a heavy dialect. "It's okay. My son will get me a data card. That should make it faster." As soon as she finished speaking, the navigation finally loaded. The car started to move slowly.
I became more puzzled and asked, "Is this data card from your son?"
She followed the navigation while driving and said, "No. My son will get me a new data card tomorrow. It might be faster."
"How many gigabytes is your phone now?"
"I don't know. People of our generation don't bother with that. We don't even know the way, but luckily we have navigation..."
I realized that she was a new driver from out of town who had just come to Beijing. I couldn't help but worry that she might be criticized by other passengers for her slow phone and lack of knowledge of the city. I agreed and said she should definitely get a new card, then confirmed, "You just arrived in Beijing, right?"
After that, she casually told me about her situation.
"Yeah, I'm from Inner Mongolia and I just came to Beijing half a month ago... My son is studying in Tianjin... I live near the Capital Airport." She naturally mentioned her son throughout the conversation.
"You must be quite far away. It must be difficult to visit him regularly."
She smiled and said, "Why bother? He has his studies and life, and I can't interfere too much, right? He studies, and I earn money. It's good... He's not having an easy time either. You're young, about the same age as my son, so you should understand. It's not easy, right?" She glanced at me a few times in the rearview mirror, expecting me to respond.
"Well... I..." I hesitated for a moment, thinking about my own situation.
At that moment, a notification sound from the ride-hailing app came from her phone, reminding the driver and passenger not to discuss personal privacy.
A silence filled the car as we continued driving on the night road.
I stared at the relatively still back of the driver's seat, feeling a sense of tranquility and warmth. Then I snapped back to reality and said, "It's been two years since I graduated. I've been working in Beijing for two years."
"Oh, that's great. What do you do now?"
I briefly talked about my job as a programmer, my girlfriend whom I had just visited, and my hometown.
She genuinely seemed happy for me and said I was doing really well. She also talked about her son's situation and how he also wanted to become a programmer. After that, she asked what my parents did.
Once again, I hesitated for a moment and said I came from a small family in a small city, and our financial situation was average. My parents divorced when I was very young...
She heard this and raised her voice, saying, "It's okay! It's okay, child! Parents' divorce is nothing. You have to be confident and strong."
I stared at the back of the seat and said, "Yes, you're right."
She continued, "We went through the same thing. I divorced his father too. I often tell my son that even though he may see other children with the love of both parents, there's no need to feel inferior... Oh, that period was really tough... But now we're doing well. A mother raising a child, what's wrong with that... His father often calls and says the child is not good here and there, doesn't want to see the child, and doesn't provide any financial support... I'm in my fifties too, probably around the same age as your mother. We can only wash dishes and do handicrafts to earn money. I find driving a taxi easier..."
Hearing this, my eyes started to well up, and my nose tightened. I couldn't speak.
"And now you're doing well. You have a job and a girlfriend. You're living a good life to show them!"
I swallowed a few times and said that my father remarried when I was very young, but my mother has always been good to me. My grandmother took care of me when I was young, and later my mother earned money to support me until I graduated from university. She didn't remarry because those uncles wanted her to have another child. My mother just wanted to take care of me alone.
She angrily said, "That's right. Child, having a rich father is not as good as having a strong mother." She often tells my child...
For some reason, the image of her overlapped with my mother's. The bitterness and silent endurance she had endured over the years, and the pressure and grievances I had endured, all erupted in this small car. I started to choke up in the back seat. Tears silently blurred my vision, accumulating into crystal-clear and heavy drops that fell onto the back of my hands clasped tightly on my thighs, swaying with the slight movement of the car.
It took me a few seconds to regain control of my throat and emotions. I quickly changed the subject and asked, "What time do you finish work today?"
"I'm planning to work the night shift. People say it's hard for a woman like me to work the night shift, but it pays more, and the platform offers incentives. I'll work until a little past midnight, then rest for one or two hours before going out again. I have to take someone to the airport at 3 AM. After that, there's another airport trip. Once I finish those, I'll be done for the day."
As she spoke, we happened to reach a junction near the Capital Airport. She looked at the sign for the airport expressway next to us, confirmed it for a moment, and happily said to me, "Oh, we're near the airport. My home is nearby. It'll be easier to drive now. I didn't know the way before."
Then she sent a voice message to the local driver WeChat group on her phone, saying that she was near the airport, and listened to several voice messages with a local accent.
Putting down her phone, she told me that those were people from their area who came to work as drivers. They were all young men in their twenties. They were all good people.
The red light ended at that moment, and she stepped on the gas pedal, continuing to complain, "Ah! They are such good kids. How can these parents not take responsibility... Ah!"
I stared out the window, already on the familiar street near my home. The streetlights, like the gentle guidance of time, were evenly spaced, casting a soft yellow light, quietly accompanying us in this slowly moving car. Then they gradually receded in the car window, disappearing into the dust of time.
"Is this it?" The car had arrived, and she asked me.
I said yes, opened the door, and was about to leave when I hesitated and awkwardly said, "Auntie, I wish you all the best in the future!" and reached out my hand.
She turned her body, and I finally saw her face. She smiled and said, "Oh, thank you, thank you!" She also extended her warm hand and shook mine.
I got out of the car and walked towards the residential area.
[End]
[Post-credits Scene 1]
Just as I entered the residential area, I saw a food delivery rider, a young man in his twenties, chubby, wearing black-framed glasses. He was holding a bag of food in his left hand and a phone in his right hand. When he saw me, he anxiously, humbly, and panickingly asked, "Hello, is this... X Court?"
My brain suddenly went blank, and I couldn't answer.
At that moment, his phone connected. He was at a loss for how to ask for the specific location: "Hello... is this... X Court?"
The person on the other end of the phone impatiently corrected him, "It's not X Court! It's XX Court! There's only one court!"
He kept apologizing while anxiously muttering about X Building, all while holding the phone and not knowing how to ask for the exact location. "Hello... is this... X Building...?"
I couldn't help but feel anxious too. I had no knowledge of the environment in the residential area and couldn't help him. On the other hand, the customer on the phone kept urging him.
I could only frown and shrug, saying I didn't know either. But I still opened my phone's navigation to help him search.
He quickly thanked me and followed the instructions on the phone while walking anxiously. He asked me if I knew where X Building was as he walked...
I was also worried that he would get lost, so I followed behind him. Eventually, I found the location of X Building and called him to stop, saying this was it.
He continued to thank me and even bowed a few times, then hurriedly walked towards the building while still on the phone, talking about X Building. He asked me if I knew where X Building was...
I couldn't help but feel anxious too. I had no knowledge of the environment in the residential area and couldn't help him. On the other hand, the customer on the phone kept urging him.
I could only frown and shrug, saying I didn't know either. But I still opened my phone's navigation to help him search.
He quickly thanked me and followed the instructions on the phone while walking anxiously. He asked me if I knew where X Building was as he walked...
I was also worried that he would get lost, so I followed behind him. Eventually, I found the location of X Building and called him to stop, saying this was it.
He continued to thank me and even bowed a few times, then hurriedly walked towards the building while still on the phone, talking about X Building. He asked me if I knew where X Building was...
I hesitated for a moment and said, "Come with me," leading him in the direction of the entrance to the building.
He walked with me, nervously asking, "Do you also live in X Building?"
I said, "No, I just wanted to help you."
He thanked me profusely and insisted that he could find it himself if he followed the road. He didn't want to trouble me anymore. He quickened his pace, afraid of delaying me.
I said it was no problem and continued to lead him to a point where the entrance to the building was visible.
He thanked me again, and I said it was nothing. He even bowed to me a few times before rushing towards the door.
Finally, I turned around and walked towards my own building. On the way, I felt a sense of sadness. I wanted to hug him and tell him not to be so anxious and flustered, that he didn't need to be so panicked and subservient...
Life is really not easy for many people.
[Post-credits Scene 2]
When I got home, I called Sev and told her about this short "adventure" along the way. I choked up several times during the recount.
As Sev said, this conversation was very helpful to me. So, in the end, I sent the driver a 500 yuan red envelope as a token of gratitude.