Chapter 509: 508: Observation (2)

She also looked out the window, gazed for a long time, “Director Sun and the others aren’t here either, who are you waiting for?”

And if one is waiting for someone, why not let Wei Jingjing and the others come along, it’s just her and Bo Yan in one car. In case of any trouble, it wouldn’t even be convenient to run away.

Bo Yan shook his head, “I’m not waiting for someone. I’m observing people.”

Xia Siyu was even more puzzled, “Who are you watching? Let me have a look.”

This town only had a few streets. Because of the strong northwest wind and sands, and being on the Loess Plateau, the whole road would be engulfed in dust when a car drove by.

Now that people’s lives have improved, there are quite a few cars in such remote areas. But while the cars have gotten better, the road remains a narrow strip with only four lanes and no greenery. And the road was more than half occupied by various vendors.

Local dialects were heard all around, and few people spoke Mandarin. Vendors selling vegetables, various foods, and trinkets were shouting back and forth, but it was hard to see who he was observing. It couldn’t be a beautiful girl more attractive than her. Or perhaps a handsome man, far better looking than him, making him feel ashamed.

But looking around, there were few people who appeared neat and tidy. Today was a workday, most young people and students had gone to work or school, and those who were out were mostly women with children or elderly people.

Where could there be an acquaintance? And hardly anyone looked good.

Xia Siyu looked at Bo Yan with a puzzled expression, he lifted his teacup, took a sip, then smiled and said, “That woman down there, she’s a fish vendor with a five-year-old son and a daughter in school. Her daughter’s grades are good, and her husband is a supermarket promoter. The elderly are unwell, probably at the hospital, she’s rushing to go back to cook, to bring lunch to her mother-in-law.”

Xia Siyu turned her head, “How do you know that?”

“She has fish scales on her head, and not just one. The clothes she’s wearing feature the logo of a brand from the nearby supermarket on her vest. She’s buying chicken, to make soup for the patient at midday. She’s holding a thermos, used for delivering meals. She mentioned having to care for two children, and her husband is at work, so obviously the sick person is the elderly who helps her with the kids. She’s carrying a backpack, her younger son has one more year before starting school, and her daughter did very well on her test last week.”

Xia Siyu frowned, “So what?”

Bo Yan continued, “The writer Gorky and his friends Andreyev and Bunin were in a restaurant in the city, observing a person who had just come in for 3 minutes, to see who could make the most accurate observations. Andreyev and Bunin had their opinions, but Gorky observed the most carefully, ‘The man is about thirty-five years old, slim, wearing a dark gray double-breasted wool suit, a lilac shirt, and a tie dotted with small yellow flowers. There is something abnormal about the nail on his little finger, and he has a black mole on his neck.’ He concluded: the man is a swindler. Later, they inquired with the restaurant worker, and the man indeed turned out to be a swindler.”

Bo Yan looked up, “In literary history, there are quite a few writers who experimented with this observational approach. An American writer, to experience the life of slums, disguised himself as a vagrant and entered the slums. He ate and slept with them, blended in, and made many friends. Three months later, he wrote a book called ‘People in the Abyss’, that man was Jack London. Although literature and acting cannot be equated, many details of life cannot be imagined out of thin air, you need to learn to observe.”