Late October in Boston turns cold quickly. After a week of drizzling rain, the blue sky and white clouds felt especially precious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As soon as Friday\u2019s class ended, Wang and I decided to have a good meal \u2014 a quiet, unspoken ritual we\u2019d built week after week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOne meal a day, and make it count,\u201d Wang said with a grin, wiping his hands. That was his food philosophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before long, two bowls of noodles and a few side dishes became the centerpiece of our dinner. I rubbed my bamboo chopsticks together, carefully mixed the noodles, and began to eat heartily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just as I was savoring the aroma of garlic and noodles, Wang suddenly asked, \u201cYou don\u2019t seem to post about your girlfriend much \u2014 but I\u2019ve seen you taking photos and sharing with her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I paused, swallowed the garlic. \u201cYeah, I\u2019ve never posted,\u201d I said. The garlic was spicy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a moment, I added, \u201cI feel like that\u2019s all about appearances. Love is about how you feel. We don\u2019t really care for those formalities. I share photos with her because I want her to feel part of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wang nodded. \u201cWhat do you think about marriage? And that idea of being a \u2018good match\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was a touch of academic curiosity in his gossip. \u201cI actually read a bit about that recently,\u201d I said. \u201cMarriage is the basic unit of society \u2014 it keeps the social structure stable. As for being \u2018well matched,\u2019 Foucault once said that every person is shaped by society. Maybe people from similar family backgrounds just find it easier to connect \u2014 shared upbringing, education, or worldview makes mutual understanding simpler. But social shaping isn\u2019t just about wealth. After all, there are those who, as the saying goes, \u2018cannot be seduced by riches, swayed by poverty, or bent by power.\u2019 They keep their dignity and grace in their own way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After saying that, I fell silent for a moment and sped up eating my noodles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wang sighed. \u201cFeels like people today are so materialistic.\u201d He picked up his steaming roujiamo(Chinese burger).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I nodded. \u201cYeah. Marx wrote Das Kapital to explain how capital dissolves the genuine bonds between people, leaving only relations of exchange. Maybe that\u2019s the side effect of modern civilization.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then I added, \u201cBut Marx never gave a timeline for when communism would arrive \u2014 he left that hope to later generations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTrue. The world\u2019s changed,\u201d I said. We fell silent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Outside, the sunlight gleamed. The wind swept in a hint of chill, and I shivered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I looked down at the bowl of noodles. Some think it\u2019s overpriced, some find it delicious, and some taste a bit of home in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So what is love, really?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps that, too, is something for later generations to answer.<\/p>\n\n\n