Hong's Future Life

There is a saying in Chinese culture: ten years east of the river, ten years west of the river. How many decades does a person get in life? Generally speaking, the crucial ones number just three: three decades, or one lifetime, around the ages of thirty, forty, and fifty. The summer of the year I turned forty-four was about to end, and autumn was drawing near. At three fifteen in the afternoon on July 20, 2009, I set off north for Beijing. In the blink of an eye, nearly ten years have passed.

At that age, I was middle-aged in a third-tier city back home, but young in Beijing. A friend once asked: How can age differ between a hometown and Beijing? What's the difference between drifting north and heading north? We'll get to that in the story.