Writing takes subway cop on a new journey

First story

However, a turning point came one day in 2016, when he discovered that some netizens were writing on Zhihu, a popular experience-sharing platform, about unforgettable people they had met. He realized that he was eager to try his hand, too.

"I thought I could write better than some other netizens because I meet so many different people in the subway," Ma said, adding that his original motive for writing was a desire for acclaim or maybe just a touch of vanity.

So, he posted a story online about an old woman who sold goods at an exit of Longze Station.

He called the 60-year-old peddler "Zhi Yun", noting her square face, small eyes and suntanned skin. Wearing a pink woolen hat and dressed in a cotton jacket that was too dirty to tell the color, she usually pushed a cart bearing a bubbling pot to sell boiled corn at the station.

To attract more business, she always blocked the exit, which was illegal and a security risk for passengers. "But considering she was old and it wasn't easy to make a living, we tolerated her most of the time instead of issuing fines," Ma said. "However, we gave her an inch, and she sometimes took a yard."

Recalling a "fight" with Zhi Yun, he wrote in the post: "One night, when I again asked her not to block the exit, she looked resentful, not finding excuses like before. She ignored me while I shouted at her. When I was trying to take her to the police station, she suddenly jumped up on the cart like an acrobat, spilling the pot. I was angry, but I couldn't do anything about her, because her pot didn't hurt anyone. I didn't want to talk to her anymore."

A short time later, the station was renovated, which forced many vendors, including Zhi Yun, to move to other places, Ma said. The next time he saw her was two years later.

"I got off a train at Xi'erqi Station one day. I was surprised to see a familiar figure on an overpass. It was Zhi Yun, running the same business and pushing the same cart and pot," Ma wrote in the post.

"She was looking at me. Then she quickly ran through the stream of passengers toward me. I was a little nervous, because I didn't get along with her. God knows what she might do. I walked faster and faster, but she caught up with me via a shortcut I didn't know," he wrote. "Suddenly, she took out a stick of corn, smiled at me like a child and asked me to eat it. I was little tearful at that moment."

That first subway story gained Ma huge attention online. Some netizens showed understanding for the peddler who made her own living, commenting "Life is sweet, even if it is bitter sometimes," while some gave a thumbs-up to Ma's vivid descriptions of the woman, displaying the curiosity he used in his work. The comments cheered Ma up, and started a journey of sharing the interesting things that happened to him at work via the internet.