Dr. Li has been a bit troubled lately. It's not because of the hospital's performance evaluations or the endless overtime, but because of the anesthesia he's been using.
It started about half a month ago. He anesthetized a patient with appendicitis, using the same dosage and procedure as always, but the patient actually woke up during the surgery, screaming in pain. Dr. Li was shocked and quickly increased the dosage, managing to barely complete the surgery.
Old Wang Tou ran a small shop for recycling old items. The shop wasn't big, but it had a lot of things. He liked to put a rocking chair by the door, where he would bask in the sun and observe the passersby each day. Today, a little girl came, clutching a small cloth bag in her hand, standing timidly at the door.
"Little one, what do you want to sell?" Old Wang Tou squinted his eyes and asked with a smile.
"Heizi!" Trainer Lao Wang's voice echoed across the empty training ground, carrying a hint of undeniable authority.
Heizi, a German Shepherd with a glossy black coat, immediately pricked up his ears, though his tail unconsciously drooped. He stood there alongside three other police dogs, Xiaobai, Dahhuang, and Huahua, awaiting today's routine training session. The sun beat down from directly overhead, and the ground of the training field was hot enough to burn their paws.
Li Ming never expected that his casual wish on Taobao would actually come true.
That day after work, he was, as usual, squeezed into the subway, like a sardine in a can. The crowding, the noise, the smell of sweat, and the endless fatigue tormented him day after day. He suddenly had a thought, an absurd thought, but perhaps in this kind of life, absurdity was the only true solace. He opened Taobao and wrote in the wishing pool: I want a bus.
After retiring, Old Wang's only joy was setting off fireworks during the New Year. This year, the policy loosened, with "many places changing from bans to limits," allowing the lighting of fireworks. Old Wang was as happy as a child, and he asked someone to bring him several boxes of "sky rockets" from the countryside. He neatly stacked the fireworks in the living room, touching them several times a day, as if caressing his precious treasures.
On New Year's Eve, Old Wang put on a brand-new Tang suit and excitedly rushed downstairs, ready to put on a show. In the open space downstairs, some people were already setting off fireworks here and there. Some lit "star clusters," and some lit "little bees," the crackling sounds sporadic, but it always felt like something was missing. Old Wang took out a "sky rocket," carefully placed it on the ground, and lit the fuse. With a "whoosh," the firework shot straight into the sky, exploding with a "bang," the colorful light illuminating the night sky and the wrinkles on Old Wang's face.
Old Wang was about to go downstairs to buy groceries when he received the letter. The envelope was a cheap white one, with a blurred red heart printed in the middle, along with some crooked cartoon words: "Thank you for your charitable donation!" He suspiciously opened the letter. Inside was a printed piece of paper with graceful Song typeface, which read: "Dear Mr. Wang, thank you for your generosity in donating a valuable ten yuan to the underprivileged students of our school. Your kindness is like a beacon, illuminating the path we tread. All teachers and students of our school hereby express our sincerest gratitude! To reciprocate your kindness, we are awarding you the following 'exclusive' honorary title: 'The Magnanimous, Yet Miserly Great Philanthropist'!"
Old Wang's hand trembled, and he almost dropped the letter. What was this? Subtle sarcasm? He stared at the bolded words "Magnanimous, Yet Miserly Great Philanthropist," feeling like his chest was constricted. He donated ten yuan to show his support for his daughter's school's "charity donation" event; he didn't actually intend to be a philanthropist. How did donating a small amount become a sin?
Old Chen sat in the monitoring room, staring at the scene of "The Brain" competition through the screen. The contestants were wearing special electroencephalogram monitors, expressionlessly solving a series of complex logic puzzles. The time on the LED screen ticked away, one second at a time, already at 198 minutes.
He took a deep breath and looked at the tablet in his hand, which displayed the real-time data of the contestants: heart rate, brainwave intensity, body temperature, and sweat secretion volume, all precisely recorded. These numbers determined who was the final winner. This competition, rather than being a contest of brainpower, was more like an extreme test of human endurance.
After retiring, Old Li's greatest pleasure was to play a couple of games at the park's chess stall every afternoon. He called himself a "chess fanatic" with fifty years of experience, proficient in various chess principles, and boasted that he could play chess with "flowing moves, containing profound mysteries." Old Li often said: Go is like life, basic moves, brilliant moves, and common moves are all choices.
There was a young chess player in the park, whom everyone called "Little Ma". Little Ma had a strange style of play, not following conventions, often making seemingly "common moves," but often winning unexpectedly. Old Li disliked Little Ma's style, feeling he was defiling the "elegance" of Go.
Secretary-General Wang of the Chinese Weiqi Association had been very irritable lately. The controversy surrounding the LG Cup final was raging, and the matter between Ke Jie and Byun Sang-il was dominating the headlines of major media outlets every day.
His superiors were urging him to make a statement, the public was waiting for an explanation, and his phone was ringing off the hook every day. But the problem was, how should this statement be written? Who should be said to be right or wrong? Would writing it offend anyone?
老王是小区的"集福"达人。今年支付宝的集福活动，他比往年更卖力。每天早上，他会在小区群里发"福卡互换"的接龙，然后像个勤劳的蜜蜂一样，挨家挨户上门，笑眯眯地收走别人多余的"爱国福"、"和谐福"，又把自己的"富强福"、"友善福"慷慨送出。
他的目标很明确：集齐五福，兑换传说中的"锦鲤卡"。据说，拥有这张卡，就能得到一次"开运"的机会。当然，具体怎么"开运"，支付宝没说，大家也都不清楚，但老王觉得，总比啥也没有强。