My former colleague Prof. Wang bought a $4,000 Mercedes. It was indeed capable of moving when it was in its better mood, but Prof. Wang made sure never drive it on a high-speed road or to anywhere more than 10 miles from home.

Every Sunday morning, he would wash or polish his Mercedes and drive it into town to meet friends for coffee or just to the Farmers’ market for local produces.

Eventually, I could not resist my curiosity, “Dr. Wang, why did you buy such a junk that moves only when it is in the right mood?”

He paused for a long while, gazing into the distance, as if wandering off into a world far away, but finally turned back to me.

“It had been my dream, from a long time ago, that someday I would be able to drive a Mercedes. Move or not, it is still a Mercedes and it brings a smile to my face whenever it accompanies me into town.”

From that day on, I promised myself that someday I would also realize my dream.

My dream is not a Mercedes, but unlimited supply of fried instant noodles油炸方便麵, anytime, anywhere.

Why?

For the three years I studied in Tsinghua Graduate School, the hall way in our dormitory would often simmer in the steam of 鹽水煮白面 before bedtime, when we the hungry young men returned from a long day’s toil in our lab. Often, the whole building would suddenly plunge into darkness.

“又跳閘了! ”

“不過，可以吃了吧?”

Noodle sucking noise, and then more noodle sucking sound.

“別刮啦！我的鐵鍋底都快讓你刮穿啦”

“你撈的就剩個鍋底，我不刮吃啥？”

In the darkness I fell into a sweet dream of eating my 油炸方便麵.