A Shanghai office at 5:12pm. The train leaves at 5:30pm and the station is two subway stops away.
五点半那班车
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下午五点十二分，会议终于开完了。
5:12pm. The meeting is finally over.
我包里有一张五点半的高铁票，回苏州——今天家里聚餐，一年就这么一次。
There's a 5:30pm train ticket to Suzhou in my bag. The family is eating together tonight, the once a year everyone comes.
从公司到火车站，地铁两站，顺利的话十分钟。可现在是晚高峰，站台上全是人。
The station is two subway stops away — ten minutes if it goes well. But it's the evening rush and the platform is packed.
更麻烦的是，高铁提前五分钟停止检票。我真正能用的时间，只有十三分钟。
Worse, boarding closes five minutes before departure. What I actually have is thirteen minutes.
我冲进车站的时候，大屏幕上写着：五点半，苏州，正在检票。
I get into the station and the board says: 5:30pm, Suzhou, now boarding.
五点二十六分。安检口排着十几个人，谁都不着急。
5:26pm. A dozen people in the security queue, none of them in a hurry.
等我把包放上传送带，广播已经开始念下一班车了。
By the time my bag is on the belt, the announcement has moved on to the next train.
跑到检票口，闸机上的灯已经灭了。工作人员摇摇头：这班停止检票了。
I reach the gate and the lights are already off. The attendant shakes his head: this one's closed.
打车软件转了半天，跳出一行字：预计四十三分钟到达。
The app spins for a while, then: estimated arrival, forty-three minutes.
高峰期加价，车费是平时的三倍，还在往上涨。
Rush-hour surge: three times the normal fare, and still climbing.
我朝窗外看了一眼，高架上的车一辆接一辆，几乎没有动。
I look out of the window. The cars on the elevated road are bumper to bumper and barely moving.
我在手机上点开那张票，把它改签到六点零五分那班，前后不到二十秒。
I open the ticket on my phone and change it to the 6:05pm. It takes under twenty seconds.
系统提示：本次改签不收手续费。
The app says: no change fee for this booking.
心里一下子空了，也一下子轻松了：原来来不及也不是什么大事。
Something empties out and lightens at the same time. So being too late isn't actually a disaster.
自助机前面站着四五个人，每个人都在改签同一趟车。
Four or five people at the machines, every one of them changing to the same train.
轮到我的时候，屏幕上还剩两个选择：五点五十二分，二等座；六点零五分，无座。
My turn: two options left on the screen. 5:52pm with a seat, or 6:05pm standing.
家里的饭定在七点半，人不齐不开桌。
The table is booked for 7:30pm, and nobody starts until everyone is there.
车站里的面馆还开着，热气从后厨一直飘到门口。
The noodle shop inside the station is still open, steam drifting from the kitchen to the door.
老板一边下面一边说：没赶上车的，天天都有，急也没用。
The owner drops noodles into the pot: people miss trains here every day. Rushing doesn't help.
靠墙的位子上坐着几个人，桌上插着充电线，行李箱当椅子用。
A few people along the wall, charging cables on the tables, suitcases used as chairs.
我这才发现，这座车站有一整套给没赶上车的人准备的东西。
It's only now I notice: this station has a whole system quietly set up for people who missed their train.
🏆
Best ending
The 5:52pm
（五点五十二分那班）
改签是免费的，整个过程不到一分钟。
The change costs nothing and the whole thing takes under a minute.
五点五十二分，我坐在靠窗的位子上，太阳还挂在楼和楼之间。
At 5:52pm I'm in a window seat with the sun still hanging between the buildings.
六点四十到苏州，走出站口的时候，天刚开始暗下来。
Suzhou at 6:40pm. Walking out of the station, the light is just starting to go.
七点二十，我推开饭店的门，我妈正跟服务员说：人还没到齐。
At 7:20pm I push open the restaurant door. Mum is telling the waiter: we're still waiting for one.
那天晚上我一句都没提火车站的事。
I never mentioned the station once that evening.
What that branch was about: The thing worth taking away: a Chinese train ticket can usually be changed to another train the same day, at a machine, for nothing — even after the train you booked has already gone, as long as a seat is left. Learners who don't know the word 改签 buy a second ticket instead.
Eighteen kuai for a bowl of beef noodles, and I eat it more slowly than usual.
六点零五分那班只剩无座，我在车厢连接处站了半个多小时。
The only ticket left on the 6:05pm is standing, so I spend half an hour between two carriages.
窗外的天一点一点暗下去，田里还有人在干活。
Outside the sky goes down a shade at a time, and there are still people working in the fields.
八点整走进饭店，他们七点五十才开的桌，中间的位子还空着。
I get in at 8:00pm. They only sat down at 7:50pm, and the middle seat is still empty.
我妈说：菜刚上，你正好。
Mum says: the food's just come, you're right on time.
What that branch was about: On a line with a train every twenty minutes, missing one is an inconvenience, not a crisis — and the station is visibly built for it. This is the cheap ending and, most people would say, the second best.
The driver tries three different routes and every one of them is jammed.
到车站已经六点二十，五点半和六点零五那两班早就开走了。
It's 6:20pm by the time we reach the station. The 5:30pm and the 6:05pm left long ago.
我改签了七点整那班，车费一百八十块，差不多是我半天的工资。
I change to the 7:00pm. The car cost a hundred and eighty kuai — about half a day's pay.
坐在车上我算了一下：这一百八十块，买的其实是晚到一个半小时。
On the train I do the sum: that money bought me arriving an hour and a half later.
What that branch was about: It is what most people do, and it isn't stupid — but at six o'clock a car is competing with the same traffic everyone else is in. The surge price is not a scam either: it is how the app finds a driver willing to take a station run at rush hour.
5:40pm, sitting in the waiting hall, finishing the email at my own pace.
五点五十，广播响了：五点半开往苏州的列车晚点，现在开始检票。
At 5:50pm the announcement comes: the 5:30pm to Suzhou is delayed and is now boarding.
我原来那张票，就是这班车。
That was my ticket. That exact train.
我看着一个一个人走进闸机，手里拿着已经改签过的票，一句话也说不出来。
I watch them file through the gate with my already-changed ticket in my hand and nothing to say.
那班车五点五十八分才开走。我本来完全赶得上。
It pulled out at 5:58pm. I would have made it with time to spare.
What that branch was about: Changing the ticket is so easy that it is tempting to do it too early. 晚点 — running late — is the one variable nobody can plan around, which is why experienced travellers go to the station first and decide at the gate.
The refund costs me nearly thirty kuai in fees and I still think I'm ahead.
汽车站的大巴六点半开，票价只有高铁的一半。
The coach leaves at 6:30pm and costs half what the train did.
上了高速才明白，晚高峰的高速跟停车场没什么区别。
It's only once we're on the expressway that I understand: at this hour it is a car park.
九点四十到苏州，饭吃完了，人也散得差不多了。
Suzhou at 9:40pm. Dinner is over and most of them have already gone home.
我妈给我留了一份菜，说：下次别省这点钱。
Mum had set a dish aside for me. Next time, she said, don't try to save that little.
What that branch was about: 省 and 花 — saving and spending — are the same decision looked at from opposite ends. This is the branch where the cheap option turns out to be the expensive one.
One reading shows you about a third of what is written here. The endings you have
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Province (save - leave out) / Examine oneself (visit)
How this story works
This is a graded reader that goes different ways depending on what you decide. Every few
sentences you are asked what to do next, and the question is written in Chinese — so
choosing is itself the comprehension check, and there is no way to pick without reading.
There are 13 decisions in the story and 5 endings across
978 characters of Chinese, which is why one reading only shows you part of
it. It is written for HSK 5, roughly CEFR B2. Full paragraphs, opinion and consequence. Nobody explains anything to you — the same as reading Chinese written for Chinese readers.
Every word carries its pinyin, and tapping one gives you the reading, the English and a
link to its full dictionary entry — the same dictionary behind the translators on this
site, resolved as the page is built, so a story here can never disagree with a translation
of the same sentence. The play button beside a line reads it aloud in Mandarin.
Making it harder, and reading it again
The two switches at the top of the reader are the difficulty setting. With the English on
you are reading with a safety net; with it off you are reading Chinese. Challenge
mode turns off the pinyin as well, which is the version worth working towards —
and because the story branches, you can re-read it that way without already knowing what
happens, since the branch you take the second time may be one you have never seen.
The endings are the reason to come back. Each one carries a short note about what that
branch was actually about — the cost of the decision, or the thing a Chinese speaker would
have known to do — and those notes are the half a plain story cannot give you. When you
have all 5, try the story at the next level up, or read the
linear graded readers, which cover HSK 1 to HSK 4 with a
comprehension quiz at the end of each.
