第八章：司机笑了

On Saturday afternoon, the International Department had an assignment. Teacher Chen asked everyone to make a Chinese poster introducing their hometown.

Marco was very happy. He could write about Italian cities, food, and football. But when he opened his backpack, he found he only had one black pen and two pieces of white paper.

"To make a poster, you need colored pens, glue, and larger paper," Lin Hao said.

"Where can I buy them?"

"There is a stationery city outside the school, not far. You can take a taxi there."

Marco looked at him. "I go by myself?"

"Right," Lin Hao said, "You can already wash your own clothes, so buying things should be okay too."

Marco wanted to say that washing clothes was actually mostly done by the auntie. But he didn't say it.

Lin Hao sent a message on WeChat:

"Xingguang Stationery City. Go out from the school's south gate, two kilometers. Show this address to the driver. Send me a message when you arrive, don't get lost."

Marco read it carefully three times. He recognized "stationery" and "south gate", but "two kilometers" sounded very far.

He walked to the school gate and opened the ride-hailing app. The car came quickly. The driver rolled down the window and asked, "Where to?"

Marco got in the car and fastened his seatbelt.

"I'm going to buy colored pens," he said.

The driver glanced at him and smiled.

Marco was a little nervous. "Is that wrong?"

"Buying colored pens is what you want to do, not where I need to go," the driver said. "You have to tell me the address."

Marco immediately took out his phone and showed the driver the WeChat chat history with Lin Hao.

The driver looked at it for two seconds and smiled again.

This time Marco was even more nervous. He thought: Did Lin Hao send the wrong thing? Isn't "Stationery City" a place?

The driver pointed at the phone and said, "Your classmate is very careful. The address is here, Xingguang Stationery City. You don't need to show the driver the part about 'don't get lost'."

Marco looked down and felt his face get hot.

It turned out that what he showed the driver was not just the address, but also everything Lin Hao had written.

"Sorry," Marco said, "I thought it was all important."

"It is also important," the driver said with a smile, "At least I know you can't get lost."

After the car started moving, the driver asked, "Are you an international student?"

"Yes, I'm Italian."

"Your Chinese is pretty good."

Marco immediately sat up a little straighter. "Thank you. But I don't understand very well. Could you speak slower?"

The driver nodded. "Okay. I'll speak slowly."

Marco breathed a sigh of relief. Before, he was shy and didn't dare ask others to speak slower, always nodding. So the more others talked, the less he understood. Today he found that this phrase is very useful.

The driver asked again, "How long have you been in China?"

"About a week."

"That's impressive. You came out to buy things by yourself within a week."

Marco thought for a moment and said, "Actually, I'm a little scared."

"What are you scared of?"

"Afraid of saying it wrong. Also not understanding. Afraid of going to the wrong place."

The driver looked at the road ahead and said, "That's normal. It's the same for us when we go abroad. The fact that you dare to speak is already very good."

Marco understood everything. He looked out the window. The school walls slowly receded, and on the street there were fruit shops, bakeries, pharmacies, and many signs. He could understand half of them.

The car stopped at a red light. The driver said, "There's no traffic jam today, we'll arrive soon."

"Traffic jam?" Marco asked.

"It means there are too many cars and it moves slowly."

"Oh," Marco nodded, "Italy also has traffic jams."

The driver smiled. "It seems the world is the same."

When they arrived at Xingguang Stationery City, the driver parked by the roadside.

"We're here," he said, "You go in from here, and there are colored pens and paper on the first floor."

Marco, while taking out his phone to pay, said, "Thank you, master, I'm off work."

The driver was taken aback for a moment, then laughed even louder.

Marco's hand stopped in mid-air.

"Is it wrong again?"

"It's not 'off work'," the driver said. " 'Off work' means work is over. You are now getting out of the car."

"Oh, I get out of the car," he said. "I don't have a job yet, I can't get off work."

The driver nodded. "Right. Your job now is to study Chinese well."

Marco got out of the car and stood at the entrance of the stationery city. He hadn't bought the colored pens yet, but he had already learned two things: show the address to the driver, and if you don't know, you can ask the driver.

He sent a message to Lin Hao:

"I arrived. Didn't get lost. The driver taught me Chinese."

Lin Hao quickly replied:

"Haha, you have another story?"

Marco looked at his phone and smiled.

Yes, he had another story.

But he was also a little happy. He had gone out by car by himself after just one week, and he was even a little proud.