Tenant Troubles

Hearing I was looking for a flatmate, Meisong put me in touch with a recently-graduated friend of a friend from University, telling me that 庞宝明 (Pang Baoming) was 'quite conservative' and 'a good guy'.

One of the first things Baoming said was that he would only be staying a couple of months as as he'd be going to Hong Kong in June.

"That's no problem - I'll be gone in July".

"太好了 (that's perfect)".

I gave him a tour of the flat, and asked him if he wanted to go for a bite to eat to see if we would be good flatmates. He declined.

"You seem like a really nice guy, but the flat's too far from University" he replied.

"Really? It's not even ten minutes to the Foreign Students' Centre. Please, I'd appreciate it if you were candid."

He shook his head and said that that was the real reason.

"It's a good flat, and the price is very reasonable too" he said.

"Well, thanks for your time anyway, I'll show you out".

When we got out, he suggested we eat anyway.

"It's nothing special, but how about this barbecue restaurant?" I suggested, gesturing to the barbecue shop below the flat.

We ate and chatted - he was from the dirt-poor factory town of 鹤岗 in Heilongjiang Province and counted himself lucky to have gone to middle-school, let alone University. He seemed impressed with the level of my interest in China's social and economic condition.

"You know, it would be great if you could come to 鹤岗. You could really see a different side to China."

I laughed off his offer.

"I'm busy with studying, but thanks. How far is it anyway?"

"Around twelve hours by train."

"What? That far?"

"Sure. Heilongjiang Province is bigger than Britain, you know?

He'd recently got a job in Beijing at Western Union, but wanted to go to Hong Kong to seek his fortune, despite claiming he preferred peace and quiet.

"I want to give it a go while I'm young".

After a couple of beers each, Baoming interrupted me mid-sentence to ask

"When's the earliest I can move in?"

"You've changed your mind?"

"This has been fun, I think we could learn a lot from each other".

I agreed, but asked him to consider carefully.

"Make sure it's not the beer talking, ok?"

He resolved to give me a call the following morning.

After seeing Baoming off, and back home, I was struck by uncertainty. I had this inexplicable uneasiness, and something struck me as not-quite right. Warnings from friends and family to consider my flatmates carefully plagued me well into the night. First thing in the morning, I texted Baoming and lied:

"I've found a flatmate that wants to stay until July. Sorry, but I think I'd better pick him instead".

Baoming texted back simply:

"No problem".

My search for a flatmate drags on.