A night market at eight in the evening. Cash only, because your phone is dead.
夜市的五十块
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晚上八点，夜市刚刚热闹起来。
Eight in the evening, and the night market is just getting going.
空气里全是烤肉和辣椒的味道。
The air is all grilled meat and chilli.
我的手机没电了，扫不了码，口袋里只有五十块现金。
My phone is dead so I can't scan to pay, and I have fifty kuai in cash.
今天晚上，我要用这五十块吃饱。
Tonight, these fifty kuai have to fill me up.
那家门口排着二十几个人，队伍一直排到路口。
There are twenty-odd people at that stall, the queue running back to the corner.
我排了二十分钟，前面还有五个人。
I queue for twenty minutes. Five people still ahead of me.
老板一边烤一边喊：“最后两串，三十块！”
The owner shouts while he grills: "Last two skewers — thirty kuai!"
我从街头走到街尾，一共有四家卖臭豆腐的。
I walk from one end of the street to the other. Four stalls selling stinky tofu.
一样的东西，这家二十五块，那家十五块。
Same thing: twenty-five at this one, fifteen at that one.
便宜的那家一个客人也没有，老板娘正在低头看手机。
The cheap one has no customers at all, and the owner is looking down at her phone.
老人正在下棋，头也没抬。
The old man is playing chess. He doesn't look up.
他说：“年轻人，跟着味道走，别跟着人走。”
He says: "Young man — follow the smell, not the crowd."
然后他用手指了指街最里面，那边连灯都没有几盏。
Then he points to the far end of the street, where there are barely any lights.
最里面只有一个小摊，一个老板娘一个人在忙。
At the far end there's a single small stall, one woman running it alone.
她给我一碗面，说：“不好吃不要钱。”
She hands me a bowl of noodles: "If it isn't good, don't pay."
面很烫，汤是白色的，香味一下子就上来了。一碗只要十二块。
The noodles are scalding, the broth white, the smell hits at once. Twelve kuai a bowl.
我说：“太贵了，便宜一点吧。”
I say: "That's too expensive — a bit cheaper?"
老板抬起头看了我一眼，没有说话。
The owner looks up at me and says nothing.
旁边等着的人也在看我。空气突然安静了两秒。
The people waiting are looking too. For two seconds the air goes completely quiet.
🏆
Best ending
Two bowls
（两碗面）
我吃完了两碗，一共二十四块。
I finish two bowls. Twenty-four kuai the pair.
老板娘笑着说：“你是今天第一个吃两碗的外国人。”
The owner laughs: "You're the first foreigner today to eat two."
她多给了我一个鸡蛋，还告诉我明天几点来人最少。
She throws in an egg and tells me what time to come tomorrow to miss the crowd.
五十块，我花了二十四块，认识了一个人。
Of my fifty kuai I spent twenty-four — and I know somebody now.
What that branch was about: The stall at the dark end is usually the one locals walk past everything else to reach. 不好吃不要钱 — "if it isn't good, don't pay" — is a promise only made by people who mean it.
His mother comes over from behind the stall, thanking me and trying to give me the money.
老板娘看见了，我那一碗，一分钱也没收。
The owner sees it, and won't take a single fen for mine.
我一共花了十二块，可是这碗面我会记很久。
Twelve kuai all evening — and I'll remember that bowl for a long time.
What that branch was about: 请客 — treating someone — is not a grand gesture in China. It is how ordinary relationships start, and here it cost twelve kuai.
I eat well. But the whole way back I think about those five kuai:
他今天要卖多少串，才能挣回来？
how many skewers does he have to sell to earn them back?
What that branch was about: Haggling at a market is normal and expected — and so is the thought that follows it. The line most people settle on: bargain over things, not over somebody's dinner.
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There are 14 decisions in the story and 5 endings across
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