By Lin Yuchun

Read the M ap First

By Lin Yuchun

L iu Qiang is the chauffeur for the CEO of a big company. His duty is to drive the CEO to places and keep him on time.All his effort goes to making no mistakes.

One day,the CEO had to go to a meeting in another city.Liu Qiang drove for half a day to take him there.

Before going into the building,the CEO looked at his watch and said:“My meeting with our partners should last around 2 hours.It’s 2:20 p.m.right now.Please wait for me downstairs before 4:20 p.m.”

Liu Qiang nodded firmly.After the CEO left,Liu Qiang began to think:It was his first time in the city and he had two hours to spend.Why not drive around and check out the city?

Liu Qiang took his car and wandered aimlessly in the city before weariness hit him.He decided to take a nap in the car.He pulled over to the side of the road,rolled up the car windows,turned on the AC, lowered his seat,and contentedly closed his eyes.

Liu Qiang quickly sank into a slumber.When he opened his eyes, he was startled wide-awake;there were only 20 minutes until the end of the CEO’s meeting.

Liu Qiang adjusted his seat in a hurry and hit the gas.The one thing on his mind was returning to the building as soon as possible,so he floored the gas pedal.After a few minutes of driving,he realized he was lost.In his rush,he had forgotten to orient himself,and his nervous mind was leading him down a random road.He was like a chicken with its head cut off,as they say.

When he finally made it back to the building,it was 4:40 p.m.The CEO and their partners had been waiting for him outside of the building for 20 minutes.

The CEO was furious and scolded him repeatedly.

Liu Qiang didn’t even dare to breathe.After a long while,the CEO finally calmed himself and asked,“So what happened?Why did it take you so long to come back?”

Liu Qiang stuttered,“I got lost.”

The CEO frowned,“Didn’t I ask you to buy a city map?Why didn’t you just read the map?”

Liu Qiang sighed:“When I realized I only had 20 minutes,I had no time to check the map.The map was in my backpack,which was in the trunk.All I cared about was getting back quickly.In the end,I’d been going in circles and completely lost my way.”

The CEO was silent for a moment and finally spoke slowly,“You know,the more pressing time is,the more important it is for you to read the map first.You have to know the directions to work out the fastest route.You didn’t care enough to spend a small amount of time to read the map,and ended up wasting much more time.”

After they got out of the car,Liu Qiang checked the map and found out that where he was lost was only a five minutes drive to the meeting building.He certainly regretted his decision not to check the map.

(FromRoot Down and Flower Up, Jilin Publishing Group.Translation: Zhang Lei.)