The Labyrinth of Garbage Bags

Mrs. Wang was a shrewd woman, shrewd almost to the point of being harsh. She could argue fiercely with a vendor in the market over a price difference of two cents, and she could accurately find the best value-for-money goods in the supermarket's discount section. In the digital age, she took this shrewdness to the extreme – online shopping.

Recently, Mrs. Wang ordered a batch of garbage bags online, 100 pieces, and the store solemnly promised that the quantity was sufficient. But when she received the goods, on a whim, she counted them and found that there were only 38. This instantly tightened Mrs. Wang's shrewd nerves, as if someone had stolen her beloved gold coins.

"Thirty-eight?" She stared at the pile of crumpled plastic bags, her voice so sharp it seemed to pierce the air. "They dare to deceive me, Mrs. Wang?!"

She immediately contacted the store, who first apologized and then stated that it might have been a warehouse shipping error and was willing to resend the missing bags. But Mrs. Wang was relentless. She insisted on a refund and threatened to file a complaint, citing "mental distress." She said, "It's not about the money, it's about integrity!"

The matter spread among the neighbors and became a laughing stock after tea. Some said Mrs. Wang was making a mountain out of a molehill, while others said the store was unscrupulous. But Mrs. Wang didn't care. She firmly believed that she was defending some sacred principle.

Days passed, and Mrs. Wang's "garbage bag incident" gradually faded from people's view. But Mrs. Wang herself seemed to have fallen into an invisible labyrinth. She began to doubt everything, doubting the prices in the supermarket, the weight of takeout food, and even her husband's salary. She felt that the whole world was deceiving her, and everyone was scheming against her.

One day, Mrs. Wang received another batch of garbage bags, this time 62. She sat blankly on the sofa, looking at the extra plastic bags, and suddenly felt a strange sense of emptiness. She didn't know if these extra bags were compensation from the store or the beginning of another mistake.

She began to think, why was she so obsessed with the accuracy of numbers? Was it to save those few dollars, or to prove her shrewdness? Or was it to find a sense of illusory control in this absurd world?

Mrs. Wang picked up a garbage bag and put it on the trash can. The bag was very thin, seeming to tear at the slightest touch. She looked at the empty bag and suddenly felt that it was like her life, seemingly full, but terrifyingly empty.

She thought of Borges' labyrinths, those infinitely looping corridors with no exit. She wondered if she had also walked into such a labyrinth? A labyrinth made up of numbers, calculations, and suspicions.

And at the end of this labyrinth, waiting for her, was not an exit, but a huge, black garbage bag, filled with all her anxiety, paranoia, and deep disappointment in the world.

Mrs. Wang's "garbage bag incident" is like a black humor, satirizing the consumerism trap of modern society and the crisis of trust between people. And this may be the most thought-provoking "O. Henry twist" behind this incident. After the laughter, it makes us ask: Are we also living in a huge garbage bag made of numbers and lies?