Forty and Unconfused 69

Old Zhao and I had known each other for twenty years. We'd slept on the same kang and carried rifles side by side. Everyone thought we were brothers who'd die for each other. Until one day, when he got drunk and pinned me against the wall. "When the hell are you going to admit it?"

I pushed him away. "Your wife and kid are in the next room."

His eyes were red as he laughed. "So what?"

Later, when we really got together, I discovered that the greatest distance in the world is loving you but only being able to call you... "Old Zhao."

The thing Zhou Mingyuan regretted most in his life was glancing at Zhao Guoqiang one extra time at the train station twenty years ago. Back then, he'd just been discharged from the military,