One of My Former Departments

When I was transferred back to the city where my hometown is located, the department I was about to join was in a rural area roughly five kilometers south of the city.

Before the transfer, I knew the city-based department I would work for was a bit far from the urban center, but I had no idea how far exactly. I had assumed it would be in a suburb, just one or two kilometers from the city.

On the first day I arrived, I checked into a hotel in the city center. After spending a few days handling some reporting procedures, it was time to head to my new department.

I had a bike, which I used as my main transport. I set off from the hotel toward the south gate of the city—usually, once you passed through that gate, you were considered outside the city limits.

When I rode to a place called Liulipeng, I thought I might be close to the department, so I asked some locals, but they told me I hadn’t reached it yet and needed to keep going.

I continued riding until I reached Qilibei, a place with a bridge. I asked a few local residents if my new department was there, but they said no. Instead, they told me to keep riding until I reached a T-junction, then turn east.

When I arrived at that intersection and turned east, all I saw was a village and farmland—pure countryside.

After riding through two villages (about one kilometer total), I spotted an area that looked different from the surrounding countryside. To the north of the road was a primary school with several bungalows; to the south was a large yard surrounded by a brick wall.

Locals informed me that the department I was looking for was the one south of the road, but its entrance was in the middle of the west wall.

So, I pushed my bike south along a narrow path outside the west wall until I finally saw the gate of my new department.

I felt disappointed—I hadn’t expected it to be that far. Later, I learned the place where my new department was located was called Jiuligou.

However, the department was demolished in 2020, and the former site of my old department is now almost in the center of the city where I live.