Today, at eleven o'clock in the late night, 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 fifteen 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 shortly after. It was a six-minute drive away from me.
I waited for a while in the same spot, but the car icon on the map on my phone remained stationary. Just as I was feeling puzzled and impatient, the driver called me. I heard a middle-aged woman's voice with a distinct dialect on the phone, saying, "Hello... I accepted your order." There seemed to be another passenger's voice on the phone.
It seemed that the driver was still picking up another passenger and was afraid that I would cancel the ride due to the distance. I quickly said, "Okay, I'll wait for you in the same spot." Then I hung up the phone.
When I looked at the map again, the car still hadn't moved.
So I sent a message asking about the situation. 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 in the same spot, imagining what the driver looked like from the tone of her voice on the phone.
After a while, the car arrived. I opened the back door, quickly got in the car, reported the last digits of my phone number, and glanced at the silhouette of the driver sitting in the front driver's seat. In the dim taxi, I could only see the outline of a middle-aged woman.
Instead of immediately starting the car, she muttered "wait, wait" and held up her right index finger, waiting for something on her phone. I looked at the old Android phone screen mounted in front of her, which displayed a loading screen that only old Android phones would show.
After a moment of silence, the loading finally finished. She asked for the last digits of my phone number again, entered it to confirm, and then there was another long wait.
"Do you know the way?" she asked me 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. That passenger just now... 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 confused 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 age don't bother with that. We don't even know the way, luckily we have navigation..."
I realized that she was a new driver who had just arrived in Beijing from another city, and 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 that she should indeed get a new card, and then confirmed, "You just arrived in Beijing, right?"
After that, she casually and eagerly 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, "What's the point of visiting? He has his studies and life, and I can't interfere too much, right? He studies, and I make money. It's good... He's not easy either. You look young, about the same age as my son, you should understand. It's not easy, right?" As she spoke, she glanced at me a few times through 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 on her phone interrupted our conversation, reminding the driver and passenger not to discuss personal privacy.
A moment of silence filled the car as we continued to drive on the night road.
I stared at the relatively still back of the front seat in the swaying car, and suddenly felt a sense of tranquility and warmth. When I came back to my senses, I spoke, "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 mentioned that he also wanted to become a programmer. After that, she asked what my parents did.
Once again, I hesitated for a moment and said that I came from a small city and an average family. My parents divorced when I was very young...
Upon hearing this, she raised her voice and said, "It's okay! It's okay, child! It's nothing when parents divorce. 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 you 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 also in my fifties, 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, my nose tingled, and I couldn't speak.
"And you're doing well now. 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 college. 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. A rich father is not as good as a poor mother (a rhyme, I forgot the original phrase). I often tell my child..."
For some reason, the image of her overlapped with my mother's figure. The bitterness and silent endurance she had endured over the years, and the pressure and grievances I had experienced over the years, erupted in this small car. I started to choke up in the back seat. Tears silently blurred my vision, then accumulated into crystal-clear and heavy tears, falling straight 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 steady my throat and emotions. I quickly changed the topic and asked, "When will 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 there are bonuses from the platform. I'll work until a little past midnight, then go home and rest for an hour or two before coming out again. I have to take someone to the airport at three in the morning. After that, there's another airport trip. Once I'm done with those, I'll finish work."
As she spoke, we happened to reach a road junction near the Capital Airport. She looked at the sign for the airport expressway next to us, confirmed it for a moment, and happily told me, "Oh, we're near the airport now. My home is nearby. It'll be easier to drive from here. I didn't even know the way before."
Then she sent a voice message in the local drivers' WeChat group on her phone, saying that she had arrived near the airport, and listened to several voice messages with accents from their local area.
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 just at that moment, and she stepped on the gas pedal, continuing to complain, "Ah! They are such good kids. How can these parents be so irresponsible..."
I stared out of the window, already on the familiar street near my home. One by one, the streetlights guided me gently like the tenderness of time, casting a soft yellow light in an orderly manner, silently accompanying us in this slowly moving car, and then gradually fading away in the dust of time.
"Is this it?" The car had arrived, and she asked me.
I said yes, opened the car door, and was about to leave. After thinking for a moment, I turned around 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! If it's along this road, I can find it myself. I won't trouble you!!" Then she hurriedly ran towards the door while still on the phone, asking me if I knew where the X building was...
She made me anxious, and I couldn't help but feel worried. Because I really had no knowledge of the surroundings of the residential area and couldn't help him. On the other hand, the customer on the phone kept urging.
I could only frown and shrug, saying I didn't know. But I still opened the navigation on my phone to help him find the way.
He quickly thanked me and followed the instructions on the phone, walking towards the residential area in a hurry.
I was worried that he might get lost, so I followed behind him. Eventually, I found the location of the X building and called him to stop, saying that this was it.
He continued to thank me, and I said it was nothing. He even bowed to me a few times, afraid of delaying me.
I said it was fine and then led him to the direction of the entrance of the building.
He continued to walk with me, nervously asking me, "Do you also live in the X building?"
I said, "No, I just wanted to help you."
He thanked me again and politely said, "Thank you, thank you! If I can find it by following this road, I can manage on my own. I won't trouble you anymore!" Then he quickened his pace, afraid of delaying me.
I said it was okay and continued to walk with him until we reached a point where we could see the entrance of the building.
He thanked me again, and I said it was no problem. He even bowed to me a few times, and then ran towards the door.
Finally, I turned around and walked towards my own building. On the way, I felt a sense of sadness. I really wanted to hug him and tell him not to be so anxious and flustered, not to be so panicked and submissive...
Life is really not easy for many people.
[The End]