Early next morning, in my haste to pack up and get to my third accommodation, I scraped my right hand on the uneven surface of a crudely finished wall in my room and got a bad cut. Quite amazingly, I had brought along not just band-aids but also antiseptic alcohol swipes. Those were left over from a school camp god-zillion years back and seeing them lying around, I actually have the foresight to put them in my backpack.
After taking a cab to my new stay for the night and getting lose in the myriad of hutongs for a while, I managed to find the lovely courtyard inn and checked in without much trouble. My room was fabulously beautiful, the courtyard was fabulously beautiful, so I spent the better part of the morning taking numerous shots in varying angles. Finally, I decided it's time to go out there for more exploration.
The thickness of my research notes suggested that I had far too many places to visit, it was mission impossible to complete even a fraction of that list. I was feeling lazy and didn't attempt to do any of them, deciding that leisurely soaking in the Beijing-ness of it all was a more agreeable option.
You guessed it, I went back to the cafe. Since I had decided not to go by the to-do list, I had nowhere to go, really. I wanted to go back to that historical cafe and take more photos. However, I stupidly did not make a mental note of the location of the cafe, which is quite usually the case for a person as bad with directions as I am. Hence I had to take a cab to the Lama Temple and try my very best to find my way there by backtracking.
As luck would have it, I found Nanluoguxiang pretty soon, but I was disoriented and mistook one direction for the other. I couldn't find the cafe where I thought it was, and so I gave up and thought I'd be better off just window shopping and taking more pictures of that pretty alley. Well, I did just that and even stopped for a leisurely lunch at a Korean restaurant before popping into a cute little notebook store.
When I exited the store and looked across the alley, there he was, standing in the doorway of the cafe that was just barely five metres away in that same blue shirt! He was walking out and stretching himself. (He later told me that he was indoors all along but seeing it was such a nice day, he suddenly felt like looking at the sun and so walked out.) In a split second, he saw me and looking a little surprised, waved me over. I was more surprised than he was, for I could hardly believe that I found the cafe by accident again!
Inside the cafe, I sat down in the same spot. This time, I didn't have to ask for the menu, he suggested that I try their latte and proceeded to make me one. As I was sipping at the coffee, he noticed the band-aid on my right forefinger. Then, he lifted his right forefinger up to show me a deep gash on the very same spot! He was watering the flowers in the doorway that morning when a pot tipped over. Instinctively, he tried to catch hold of the pot but cut himself on its chipped rim. It was creepy that we both had cuts on the same section of the same finger at the same time. What's more, I actually had not just band-aid, but alcohol swipes with me too! It was a never-ever-before moment.
While I was cleaning his wound, it occurred to me how unlikely, in normal circumstance, that I would help a grown person with that. I mean, I could have just given him the plaster and alcohol swipe, but there I was, being nice at such close range to this person whom I have no particularly strong affection for. Very strange.
Oh by the way, there was one point when I was slightly attracted to him. I was tearing open the alcohol swipe and before I used it on his finger, I pre-empted him that it could sting. To that, he nonchalantly replied, "I'm not afraid of pain." (Manly, but I later found out that it wasn't always true :P)
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