Henry was a college student at UC Santa Cruz. For years, he had been saving up to buy a decent used car. He had a part-time job at a local coffee shop. He repainted a room in his neighbor’s house in his free time. He had an internship (实习) at a software company. He saved a lot: Christmas money, birthday money, a penny here, a penny there.

While Henry worked to buy a car, Hua Kuan had a car to sell. Kuan was born and lived in Mexico for about 13 years. His parents had immigrated there from China.

In Mexico, he didn’t really grow up in a very nice area. He had to work when he was young, a lot of restaurant work—cleaning dishes, bussing tables.

Kuan’s family headed north to California in the late 1990s. A few years later, he was awarded a full scholarship to UC Berkeley. During Kuan’s junior year, his proud parents bought him a first car.

Kuan’s parents were blue-collar workers, and worked very hard for their money. They bought the car for their son, which was the only gift they were able to provide for him. And Kuan had been driving that car since it was brand new for about 14 years.

However, Kuan is a 35-year-old dentist now. His friends convinced him to upgrade his ride, so he listed his beloved car for sale on Craigslist. By chance, Henry saw the ad for the black car with gold wheels and over 150,000 miles. However, it was priced at $7000. He fell in love with the car the first time he saw it, and thought it just might be the one. Although it was a little bit over his budget, he determined to take a chance.

So last Saturday, he headed north to meet Kuan.

Kuan took a thousand dollars out of the envelope and handed it back.

A Bowl of Beef Soup

At noon the rush hour had passed. There were few guests in the snack bar. It was not crowded. When the boss was about to take a break to read a newspaper, in came an old lady and a little boy. Their clothes were quite old but clean. Their signs proclaimed them to be hungry.

“How much money is a bowl of beef soup?” the grandma sat down, counted the money in her purse twice and ordered a bowl of beef soup. The grandma pushed the bowl to the little boy, who swallowed (吞咽) his saliva (水),staring at his grandma and mumbling, “Grandma, did you really have lunch ?” “Of course.” His grandma kept her eyes lower and chewed (咀嚼) a piece of radish (萝卜泡菜) slowly. Very quickly, the little boy wolfed down the meal.

Seeing this, the boss went over to them and said, “Old lady, congratulations, you are lucky to have the free food, for you are our 100th guest.”

Afterwards, over a month or more, one day, the small boy squatted (蹲) across the snack bar, where he seemed to be counting something, which shocked the boss when he happened to look out the office window.

When the small boy saw a guest walk into the snack bar, he would put a small stone into the circle he drew, but the lunch time had almost passed, the small stones he put into the circle were hardly 50.

The boss fell into worry,

Tina was a 13-year-old girl. She was playing in the yard one morning when she overheard her parents’ dialogue. Her father, a sheepherder who raised hundreds of sheep, was going to the nearest town to do some urgent things. He suggested that Tina should herd (放牧) the sheep while he was away. But her mother, a disabled woman, doubted whether Tina could do that.

Hearing this, Tina stepped into her parents’ room. “Mom, I can herd the sheep. I have grown up,” said Tina, full of expectation. Her parents smiled and agreed. After putting some bread and water into her bag as lunch, Tina drove the sheep out of sheepfold (羊圈), walking them south to a distant grassland. Her mother repeatedly told her that she didn’t have to herd the sheep until the sunset like her father did. But Tina had made up her mind to prove that she had grown up.

It was the first time that Tina had herded the sheep. That day seemed much longer than any other day before. The sun seemed to have stopped in the middle of the sky. The bread was eaten up soon and so was the water. So after some hesitation, Tina finally decided to drive the sheep back home while the sun was still high in the west.

Tina’s father was waiting outside the sheepfold, as if he had expected all that. He smiled at Tina but Tina just kept her head down. The sheep soon got into the sheepfold. Tina was about to shut the door when her father told her to count the sheep in case that some sheep were lost. Tina followed her father’s orders despite her unwillingness.

The sheep were not cooperative (配合的) at all. They were coming and going. Tina counted the sheep three times but each was a different number. She tried again and again and at last she told her father that she had lost three. Her father was not angry but said, “Three? Are you kidding?” Tina felt so guilty that she turned around immediately and went to look for the missing sheep and the pride as well.

It was getting dark and Tina walked along the path to the grassland in search of the sheep.

“No, you didn’t lose them,” her father said calmly, much to her surprise.