“You must eat this bowl of noodles, no matter what.” He emptied the pan into a gleaming steel bowl on a desk level with the window. The amount was just enough to fi ll the bowl. He handed me a pair of unmatched chopsticks and a plastic spoon painted a silver color, gesturing me to sit on his chair. “Eat, and eat slowly.”
While I was eating, he told the story with an impelling opening.
“You once said the only noodles you’ve had in our home village tasted like soap. Maybe someone did put soap powder into the fl our. Even then they faked anything you couldn’t see. Not many people are as honest as us. More bad, unkind and evil people are here in Shenzhen. They are people from everywhere. They move too fast. They are too good at following the modern pace.