The Vanishing Fried Chicken and the Illusion of the Middle Class

In 2046, I stood in front of what used to be a Dicos restaurant. Now, it's an unmanned convenience store selling pre-made meals. The cold, robotic arms waved under the dim lights, resembling the opening scene of some apocalyptic movie.

"You know? This place used to have long queues 20 years ago," I said to the air, as if Lao Wang were still standing beside me, the man who used to bring his son here every week for a "Crispy Pistol Drumstick."

Lao Wang, a typical member of the post-80s generation, caught the tail end of China's economic boom. He considered himself middle class and firmly believed that "consumption upgrading" was the only path to happiness. His favorite story to tell me was: "You know, Lao Yang, this fried chicken, you have to eat it while it's hot. When it's cold, it's not the same. It's like our lives, we have to seize the opportunity and move up. When it's cold, it's nothing."

At that time, Dicos' "Crispy Pistol Drumstick" was a kind of symbol, an affordable "luxury," Lao Wang's little indulgence in the midst of 996 work, and also a prop for him to show his child a "good life."

"Look, this fried chicken, golden and crispy, take a bite, and you hear a crack, the juice overflows... This is quality! Son, in the future, our family will live this kind of quality life!" Lao Wang said, skillfully tearing off a piece of chicken leg meat and handing it to his son.

I remember that scene clearly, because Lao Wang said it every time, with the same tone. I thought at the time, this Lao Wang is probably poisoned by consumerism, and quite deeply. But I didn't say anything. After all, who doesn't have their own obsessions?

However, this "crack" dream soon shattered. First, the economic growth slowed down, then there were various "black swan" events, and then... Lao Wang lost his job.

The IT company he worked for started with layoffs, then salary cuts, and finally, even "old oxen" like Lao Wang couldn't hold on. He began to worry, to lose sleep, to doubt all his past choices.

"Lao Yang, tell me, was I wrong? I worked hard, earned hard, just to give my family a better life. But now? I can't even keep a stable job, what 'quality life' are we talking about?"

He stopped going to Dicos, and even similar fast food restaurants. He said: "Now that I think about it, that fried chicken, other than being oily, is nothing special. It's better to make it at home, clean and healthy."

I understood him. During an economic downturn, the first things people cut are those "non-essentials," those "symbols" that were once given too much meaning. Fried chicken, coffee, travel, even children's extracurricular classes, had to be carefully budgeted.

Is this a "consumption downgrade"? Perhaps. But at a deeper level, it is a reshaping of values. People begin to reflect, what is a truly "quality life"? Is it the "crack" of fried chicken, or the healthy bodies of family members? Is it a brand-name bag, or inner peace?

Lao Wang later found a new job, with a lower salary than before, but he seemed happier. He said: "Now, I can go home for dinner every day, help my children with their homework, and even take them to the park on weekends. This is real life."

I looked at him and remembered Kant's words: "Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the oftener and the more steadily we reflect on them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me."

Perhaps, for Lao Wang, the "crack" of fried chicken was once his "starry sky," his goal. But now, he has found his inner "moral law," found a more real, more simple happiness.

And that Dicos, and the era it represented, is like a forgotten chicken bone, washed away by the torrent of time, leaving only this empty street and cold robotic arms.

The world is changing too fast, as Derrida said, all that is solid melts into air. I turned and left, disappearing into the endless night. That once golden and crispy fried chicken is ultimately just a speck of dust in the torrent of time, carrying the confusion and awakening of a generation, floating uncertainly.