Fiction: Group 3
It drove on past and made each peasant think about the wonder of this special day and Li, who also stood
and stared felt something strange as he traced with his eyes the movement of this foreign object coming
closer to his piece of land. Indeed, the black and shiny car was heading his way.
Time seemed to slow for Li and then it seemed to stop. The dust blown up in clouds by crunching tires on
the gravel filled his eyes, but did not make him blink in awe. Out stepped in elegance a businessman in
leather shoes, sweet scented and with style unfamiliar to the eyes of men like Li.
“Ni Hao” he said, in eyebrow-raising fluency for just a foreigner.
“N-Ni Hao, h-how can w-we help you?” Li struggled to speak English, unused to it as a tool. He was a
farmer, but also an educated young Chinese.
The seeming twenty-something businessman was pleased to hear his language and continued, “Sorry for
intruding at a busy time, but would you mind if I made plain the purpose of my visit?
Li agreed with nonchalant expression, hiding my suspicion.
“We’re here to happily suggest a project good for both our parties. Will you hear us out?”
“
Ah...
” Li thought. “
He has a proposal
”. He cautiously nodded, slowly taking in the information. The bad
feeling in my stomach increased to a warning and, ignoring the unfinished work, I stepped over to the side
and shouted for my parents at the other end to go have a rest, leaving just us to talk in private, but of course
inviting him to sit upon the bench beside the farm.
“Welcome, to our humble home. I deeply apologize for not being able to get you a cup of Chinese tea”, Li
responded.
“Thank You, going back to where I started, I would like to propose a plan whereby you and your family
can enjoy your whole life without farming. Would you sell us your part of the land within
this
neighborhood?” He spoke with so much confidence that he was sure he would obtain the piece of land.
“
He wants to what? He wants to buy our piece of land?”
Li’s mind was blank for just a while, then he
spoke with pride and confidence, “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can do that.”
“What?” he shouted just a bit too loudly for my liking, the dumbfounded look upon his face breaking my
professional facade as I tried to maintain my poker-face.
“And why is that” he voiced in an hysteric tone.
“Because this is what I enjoy. Look around you, this greenery, the aroma of the wild spices that bathe you,
can you say you do not enjoy this?” he continued with confidence in English.
The fun and the joy of a farmer is what business man would never understand, to learn how to be grateful
and appreciate environment is what is most important, not money. Not only that, can you imagine a society
without greenery and animals, only an urban city with no natural beauty in it? Can we live in grey and
black, where all we do is destroy habitats, dominate the earth and snatch materials?
My pride and conscience won’t allow me to do so and, by that, we’re destroying ourselves, pushing
humankind right to the brim of darkness and destruction. As Li finished, his heart swelled with joy and
fulfillment, finally able to truly voice his passion and opinion. The businessman, too, moved by his brilliant
speech, saw within him, not only a chance to help save society, but also opportunity to explore new
horizons.
From there, they spend days, to weeks, months, years, even a decade stuck at their office planning,
designing, surveys or even going out asking random people on the streets for their opinions and finally ,
execute and introduce their idea to the society. From the first step, they were meant to be stars, legend itself,
as they bring a revolution to the human kind. They never felt that they wasted a day on doing this project,
from that they feel proud of themselves, as people start to recognize and applause for them.
Are you curious? Curious of what they did? Let me tell you, they, my friend introduced a city where nature
and human live together, where earthy materials are being used as construction, houses and buildings where
animals and humans can be found in, and lastly, of course a place where greenery and rural can be found
within this professional, urban city. Imagine being able to see spacious, yet short houses made out of wood
of different shades with flower weaving through the holes as the bee’s buzz, along with the beautiful chirps
