On April 30, I had an unlucky experience, but I ended up feeling much luckier than I was.

After three afternoon lessons, I left the campus hurriedly to catch the bus for Yunxian. It was the holiday season, and all the buses were jam-packed with passengers so that I could not find a place on one in the beginning. It would be an understatement to say it was a fight to finally squeeze myself onto a bus.

After arriving at Yunxian, I took a taxi to the coach station, hoping that I would not miss the last shuttle to my hometown Nanhua. I hurried there only to find that the last one had gone 10 minutes before. Then I had no alternative but to head for my aunt’s, where I would have to stay the night. First thing the next morning, I could get up early and start for home.

Something unexpected greeted my eye: my aunt’s home was locked. A neighbour next door told me that they had left earlier in the afternoon. I had no idea what to do. And I did not have a phone to give them a call. Then I asked the woman if I could use her phone. She was kind enough to let me use it. This way I learned that they were actually in Shiyan at the time. I decided to return to my school, but my aunt reassured me, “We will be back in a couple of hours. Just stay put so that I can find you when I am back.”

After the call, I stood there waiting for them. However, they still did not return after what seemed like several hours. By 9.30 darkness had closed in, and street lights were on. Tired, I decided to abort the trip home and return to my school. But there was no way I could tell them that I had changed my mind.

In the nick of time, I happened upon a good friend of mine, Feng, who had had exactly the same experience as I. His relative had not been home when he got there. After comparing notes, we came back to the school together. On the bus back to town, I called my aunt on Feng’s phone and let her know it.

It was a rotten experience as far as my trip home was concerned. I failed to go back to Nanhua during the May Day holidays. It turned out much better otherwise than I could have imagined. Without the woman’s help, I would not have known where my aunt was. Had I not encountered my friend at the last minute, I would have had to come back to the school alone and miserable.