05/07/25 - They suggested, “Give him some viagra.” Which his mother questioned, “But if he took it, he’d just go even more crazy for men.”
“My girlfriend bought a month of streaming service to watch a show she wanted, but when a month came up, she still had her membership.
At first, we thought it was automatically charged to her card, so I turned it off for her. But the third month rolled around, and she still had her membership. But her account wasn’t linked to her Alipay or Wechat at all.
The records show a fee being charged, but it shows the fee as 0 dollars. At the time, we didn’t get it, and figured we encountered a bug or something.
It was only after half a year that we discovered the platform was deducting from our phone bill! It was 30RMB a month and it went on for half a year! We had to go to the phone service office in person to unbind it!
I can’t even…”
Comments say, “It was definitely Iqiyi.”
“So tell me which platform!”
#Experts speak on concentrated amounts of bad mortgages. “As far as I know, two units in my development are being foreclosed, and no one’s ever lived in them.
And they’re the main culprits in tanking the value of everyone’s units!
They didn’t live in there at all, and it’s being foreclosed at only 60% what they paid for it, so why not try to sell the units themselves? Because the money they’d get from the sale isn’t enough to cover their debts, so the homeowners just laid flat.
Now, even the bank doesn’t want to process the houses that are behind on mortgage payments right away. They’ll give you a forgiveness period. So long as you can still pay a portion of your payments, they’ll extend your loan. Remember, you can always negotiate with the bank.
There are more and more houses with a 30% downpayment, whose value has fallen below the mortgage amount. Even if the bank sold it, they’d still be losing money.
Back in the day, I took out a loan exact as big as my Housing Fund allows [like a 401K but for houses, using Housing Fund money allows you to get a much lower interest rate on your mortgage], and I’ve been withdrawing from the Housing Fund every year to pay back my mortgage early. So I don’t feel any pressure making my mortgage payments now. The whole reason why I even have a mortgage to begin with is just to launder my Housing Fund money out of the fund.
Lower your debts, stay alive, and wait for the business cycle to pass.
When the economy is in a depression, you can’t do anything right. If you couldn’t make any money during a boom, why challenge yourself in a bust?”
Comments say, “60% is just where the auction starts. You won’t get the house for much cheaper and there are a ton of red flags. If you try to sell it yourself, you won’t be able to make a sale unless you’re willing to stab yourself directly in the artery these days.”
“Normally, first foreclosure, you’ll get maybe 80%, second foreclosure you’ll get 60%. In a big, first line city or a second line city that’s a state capital, you can get a house for 60% its original place to live in yourself. There’s no point in trying to make an investment.”
“After I read this, I looked up the foreclosed units in my development, and so far, the price isn’t too different from the actual value. It’s actually going for quite a lot more than a few units that sold recently.”
A compilation of stories about bus drivers:
“The driver got off the bus to buy some oranges and scratch off tickets. We watched him scratch through them and yell, “I won!!” He has no idea that I’m already 30 minutes late for work.”
“Half way through my route, the bus driver went to get a car wash with a bus load full of people.”
“Last year, this guy standing on the Guiyang bus is the driver. While waiting for the red light, he likes to patrol his territory.”
“The driver asked me to drive for a bit for him because he’s sleepy.”
“One of the wheels blew and the driver went to fix it and didn’t have enough money, and asked everyone on the bus to split the bill for him.”
“Got off the bus half way through the ride to pick a flower for a lady.”
“Half way through the ride, he drove to his house to eat lunch. I’m starving to death.”
“The bus driver said it was the end of his shift and my stop wasn’t on his way and dumped me by the side of the road.”
“One time, the bus was totally full, and the driver locked the doors and had everyone scan his Temu code.” [Temu gives you a marginally larger discount for every person you can get to scan a code.]
“Half way through the ride, the driver said the bus was broken and had everyone get off. And once everyone was off the bus, he just drove off without us.”
“I was riding the bus when I was in middle school, and some primary schooler in the back row was being really loud, and the driver suddenly stood up and slapped me across the face because I was in the front row.”
“The day after New Years, I rear-ended a car in front of me. The bus driver saw traffic had completely stopped and he couldn’t get anywhere, so he got out of the car and started clapping and went, “Oh, you’re gonna pay.””
“It was a two hour ride, and the bus driver asked if anyone was in a hurry. After getting our answer, he went behind a bush to poop. Some guy went off the bus to take a look, and the bus driver argued with him while pooping.”
“While waiting on a red light, the bus driver suddenly got up to mop the bus.”
“Half way through the ride, the driver suddenly slammed on the brakes and then started reversing down the road. I thought some kind of emergency had happened ahead, but then noticed the Jizong mushroom [Termitomyces albuminosus] out the window, and the driver happily got off the bus to pick it.”
“I was riding on the bus, and the driver was driving like normal, when a bus came down the other side of the road. The driver knew the other driver, so both busses slowed down and they reached out the window and gave each other a high five.”
#Judge respond to 10-year-old cotton being auctioned for 660K. “Lately, Ali’s online asset auction platform auctioned off a batch of cotton that had been in storage for almost 10 years. Around 1PM on the 3rd of May, the auction ended, and the cotton was sold at 660,000RMB. The items being auctioned this time was evaluated at 13,500RMB, with starting bid at 11,475RMB, and a deposit of 2000RMB. This batch of cotton was formerly auctioned on the 1st of March and the 5th of April, and was sold for 801,975RMB and 802,975RMB respectively.
Assessment report shows that this batch of cotton has been in storage as collateral since February, 2015, 10 years ago from now. It is estimated that there are a total of 4174bags of cotton, each weighing roughly the same. After weighing a random two bags, both were 90kg in weight. Netizens calculate that the cotton weighed 375.66tons in total.
On the 6th of May, Jiupai News contacted the Xiangcheng County People’s Court, and Judge Zhong pointed out that the owner and the finance company who owned the collateral both explained that this batch of cotton was past its expiration date, “which is why it was evaluated at at little over 10K”. He told Jiupai News that this is indeed the third time the cotton has been auctioned, because the last two auction winners never paid. “They all regretted buying it.” As of the time of this posting, 19 people participated in this auction, with 2536 spectators. The previous two auctions had 29 and 14 participants respectively, and 4345 people and 3080 people watching.”
Comments say, “Aside from making clothes, blankets, and sheets, what else can you use cotton for? [doge]”
“I just want to know who bought it so I know what brand of cotton products to never buy again.”
“Went on a road trip for 8 days in Italy and didn’t see hardly any Chinese-made electric cars on the road. There are barely any Asian-made cars in general. There’s the occasional Suzuki and KIA. Everyone’s car is really tiny and old. I remember remarking that Italians don’t seem to care how fancy their car is, so long as it’s useful.
But as soon as I landed in Spain, there are BYDs, Polaris, Hondas, Hyundais, and Nissans everywhere. I watched for a few minutes, and I think all the taxis in Madrid are Hondas, and most of the Ubers are BYD. There’s plenty of fancy cars on the road too.
Maybe it’s because I road tripped through Tuscany and Sardinia, whereas I landed in the capital of Spain, Madrid. But I think overall, Spanish people are much more modern than Italians.”
Comments say, “Do all Italians drive Fiats?”
“There are so many Chinese people in Madrid.”
“It’s not so bad in Turin and Milan. Rome is full of tiny cars though.”
A long article on a rural gay couple:
“In Hebei, Xingtang County, Shangfang Town, Shangfang Village, Yebin leaned against his lover, Anwei, standing in their cornfield which is waiting for a harvest. This pair of same-sex lovers has been living in this tiny village for over three years.
Yebin is a Shangfang local. Anwei is from thousands of kilometres away, from Xinjiang. They opened a small supermarket together and live in the back of the store. Yebin’s parents live right next door.
When Yebin explained to his family that he was a homosexual, his parents couldn’t believe him. They even laughed and asked, “You like men? How are two men supposed to do it even? You’re just being crazy.” They took him to Shijiazhuang ’s metal hospital where he received treatment for a month. Of course, Yebin’s condition didn’t improve. He even got a crush on the boy he shared a hospital room with. After returning from the hospital, his parents took turns keeping watch on him, and even found a couple of 40-year-old shaman who claimed to be some reincarnation of a divine being, who made talismans for him to drink. After being turned down, they suggested, “Give him some viagra.” Which his mother questioned, “But if he took it, he’d just go even more crazy for men.”
He could not relieve his internal frustrations, so Yebin turned to the internet. May of 2007, he met a truck driver from the neighbouring Xinle County, Old Er, and they began dating. In November, Old Er trucked all the way to Shanxi and never returned on the agreed upon time. Yebin got in touch with the wife of a driver that Old Er hired to learn that he had passed away in a car accident. “I was really sad. I cried for the longest time. I just laid in bed, didn’t eat, couldn’t get up for two weeks.” After Old Er passed away, Yebin didn’t get on the internet much. He couldn’t get happy about anything for well over two years. “After that, I started hating gays. I don’t know if I hated gay culture or if I just hated myself. I just felt like it was such a pointless relationship. It’s not like between men and women, where even if it’s short, it’s open and unashamed. What kind of people are we? Always hiding and sneaking around, never daring to say anything or do anything. Even if you want to treasure the relationship, you have nothing left behind to treasure.”
Then in May of 2011, Yebin met Anwei online. After chatting for a month, he travelled to Xinjiang to visit Anwei, and they quickly decided to start living together. A month later, Anwei packed all his things and moved to Hebei before he even had time to quit his job. His workplace mailed his resignation paperwork to his house, and Anwei was forced to confess to his mom about being gay.
Yebin’s parents quickly accepted Anwei. Anwei said that, “Rural villagers don’t want much. It’s fine so long as you’re hard-working and honest.” Yebin’s parents lived next door to them, and whenever she’s free, his mother comes to visit and helps the two of them with chores around the house.
Anwei always gave everything to his work, whether it was chores or field labour. He learned quickly. Yebin said, “Before Anwei came to Hebei, he’s never cleaned a pig pen once, but now, he cleans the pig pen spotless every two days.”
Anwei only figured out at 30-years-old that he was gay. At the time, he already had a girlfriend who he was discussing marriage with. After thinking it through for a long time, he decided to respect his heart. After coming out to his girlfriend, they split up, and Anwei started looking up people with IDs like “man on man love” and “rainbow flag” on QQ [chatroom service], adding them, and chatting with them. This was how he first met Yebin.
Anwei said the first time they met, he thought Yebin was down to earth and devoted to love. That’s why he travelled so far all by himself.
After Anwei got to Hebei, they opened a small supermarket together. Most of their customers were big truck drivers passing through. When business is good, they can earn as much as 1000RMB a day. The roads were re-routed this year, so there are significantly less cars passing through, and they’ve lost a lot of business.
They live right behind the supermarket. They lined their floors with neutral-colour tile and keep many potted plants.
Anwei is a very cleanly person. You can often see him cleaning around the house.
Anwei says, “Gay men care about their appearance a lot.” There’s no exercise equipment in the village, so Anwei installed a hang bar at home to work out with every day.
Due to Anwei’s influence, Yebin began managing his weight too. Yebin said that Anwei had a good figure and was tall and handsome and had a sexy voice. He was very popular in gay circles. But nobody ever paid attention to Yebin growing up, so he often feels insecure.
After a hard day of work, the two of them enjoy singing KTV on their computer.
Or going for a walk together after dinner.
During busy season, Yebin and Anwei will help Yebin’s parents harvest their corn.
They often work hand in hand.
Answer says that he doesn’t care about other people’s opinions, and he wouldn’t tell unrelated people about his sexual orientation. Aside from family and friends in gay circles, they only talk to outsiders when buying and selling stuff, because Yebin buys groceries from the local farmer’s market.
Yebin says no one has the right to criticise how other people choose to live their lives. He’s very happy with his current lifestyle.
After living together for so long, the two of them have developed a silent camaraderie. They’re going out to buy stock today on a rainy day, and Yebin opened and held an umbrella for Anwei.
Yebin cares about Anwei’s feelings a lot. He says that he’s often the one to compromise more when it comes to living together.
Anwei is a thousand kilometres from his home, and Yebin is often worried that he feels lonely in a strange land. “Sometimes I’ll get mad at my family for this. My mom tries to tell me that, “Too much devotion isn’t necessarily a good thing.””
Their relationship hasn’t always been this smooth. The second year after coming to Hebei, Anwei went back to Xinjiang for Chinese New Year. His mother and older brother were strongly against him moving to Hebei. Yebin’s mother brought up using video chat to let his family in Xinjiang see his living environment in Hebei, and even wrote up an agreement: the new house and all other assets of hers belong to Yebin and Anwei jointly. If one of them should pass before the other, the remaining property would belong to whoever was the survivor. No other family may interfere. If Yebin passed first, then his younger brother’s two sons will be responsible for taking care of Anwei in his old age. If Anwei wished to return to Xinjiang, he could sell the house and take the money. And it was only with that that Anwei’s family felt a little more at ease.”
In between drying corn, Anwei and Yebin are taking a rest together on a rooftop. They’ve lost most of their supermarket business, so they plan to turn the supermarket into a Xinjiang restaurant. Around Spring Festival in 2015, Anwei planned to return to Xinjiang to learn how to cook. Yebin wants to go with him. He says that Anwei’s family was his family. He hopes to spend some time with them every year.
Real gay couples aren’t as idealised as the internet might make it seem. They have to live with all kinds of pressure and gossip. They also become frustrated and lost.
We sing the praises of tragic figures like Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai who pursue love in spite of traditional values. We are moved to tears by Romeo and Juliet. But we never give gay couples any credit.”
Comments say, “I know about this. They split up. The hotter one cheated and left.”
“They broke up. The guy in Shijiahuang is working as a waiter at a hotel, and the one from Xinjiang is off the grid now. But their rural life really did sound amazing.”
“I know from the comment section that they broke up, but wow, they are brave to come out of the closet back in 2007-2011 in a rural village.”