As the noise from neighbors went into room through the windows and corridors, the "buzzing" vibrations of the window air conditioner next door became more pronounced, Donnan Bei moved down, pulled the thin quilt off his body and covered his eyes with his T-shirt to continue his slumber. It wasn't until noon that he got up, squinted and fumbled his way to the bathroom, came out and put the last few drops of water from the empty mineral water bottles on the floor into his mouth and flopped back down on the bed, tossing and turning a few times，and sit up.
Going downstairs, Donnan Bei gave all the empty bottles to the scrap collector Lao Tong and walked towards the food street.The lunchtime have passed already, workers of small restaurants were sitting in the front of the door,eating and chatting, while salons had just opened.After eating a bowl of Kweilin rice noodles, Donnan Bei carried a few bottles of beer and mineral water back back.
The owner of the billiard stall was sitting on an old rattan chair under a broken umbrella drinking kung fu tea, he warmly invited Donnan Bei to drink a cup of tea, poured out the tea from a small cup, washed it with boiling water and put it tea. After sitting down, Donnan Bei did not pick up the tea cup, but opened a bottle of beer and drank it, following the figures of wage earners who passed by.
There were people crowded around several billiard tables under the tin roof, and Donnan Bei said, "Business is good."As he spoke, there was a minor stir around one table, and the owner waved his hand at Donnan Bei and stood up to walk over. Through the crowd, Donnan Bei saw Dash arguing with a young man. The man was short, with long hair tied only at the ends, bare-chested.There was no response from the long-haired man, he leaning on his pool cue and looking at the next table. .
Donnan Bei went over to ask Dash: "Even if you don't gamble, did you two agree on who would pay for the table before you played together?"
"It's always whoever wins who pays!" Dash said loudly, and someone next to him laughed out loud.
"That's still a gamble, isn't it? Why would someone else invite you to play billiards?" Donnan Bei said.
Dash stammered, "The key is ...... Brother Cat, you know? I saw him standing next to me, so I asked him if he would play for ten yuans a game. He didn't say anything before he started playing, who knows if he agreed?"
Dongbei asked Dash: "How many games did you lose?"
"Two games." Dash said.
"Twenty yuan, right?" Donnan Bei said and took out a note and waved it twice at Dash, "Lend you! Listen carefully, everyone is witness!" He said and shoved the note into the owner's hand.
"It's not money." Fei said as he turned his head to look at the owner.
"It is no money."Donnan Bei said.
The owner gave fourteen yuan to the long-haired man, he took the money and threw the pool cue on the table and turned to leave, when Donnan Bei said, "Two out of three? just pay the bill." The long-haired man didn't say anything and started to pull the balls out of the bag. The owner set up the ball and just lifted the triangle, the long-haired man fired with great force.
Soon,the eight ball was only left on the table in the third game, but the long-haired man lost his accuracy a little and hit too much, the eight bobbed on the edge of the hole then stop. The long-haired man dropped his pool cue and gave the owner six yuan, then sat at the tea table drinking in silence.
"You're artistic?" Donnan Bei asked the long-haired man.
"Music." The long-haired man said, looking at the pedestrians on the road.
"Instrumental or vocal music?" Donnan Bei said, "I used to be in a band too, playing the Franch horn."
"Guitar, band." The long-haired man turned his head to look at Donnan Bei and said, "What do you do now?"
