Zero | Croatia Zagreb

Zero does not mean nothing, but a new beginning.

Having too much money on me after the theft in Stockholm made me anxious.

I gave half of my cash to my friend Minhui, who was studying in Munich, and asked her to swipe her card to help me buy a plane ticket back to Taiwan in half a year. After buying the ticket back to Taiwan, the whole person became more relaxed.

When Minhui was free, I would go to the English garden with her friends to play in the water, eat orthodox German pig’s feet, cut my hair for 17 euros, go sightseeing in the famous King’s Lake, and drink in Irish pubs. I've spent a whole week as a tourist, spending as little money as I can. Finally, when I got on the night bus from Munich to go to Croatia, I didn't have a dime on me.

I used my credit card in advance, and after swiping the accommodation fee for the next four days, I made up my mind secretly that I would never use the card again until death was imminent. I want to earn everything I need to live from scratch by selling songs alone.

Farewell to Minhui, it was seven in the morning when the bus arrived in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. I got out of the car and walked straight to the inn. After I successfully put my luggage and settled down, I went to the city center to find a place to sell music.

I strolled around the central square for a long time, and finally stopped at a small square outside a hotel, looked around for a while, and decided to try singing. When I sang the third song and finally saw someone offering a reward, I felt sincere gratitude in my heart after a long absence.

An hour later, I earned more than 200 Taiwan dollars. Today's meal money has fallen.

After a short rest, I decided to sing for another hour, but this time the business was surprisingly poor. I didn't get enough sleep, and my stamina quickly exhausted. I decided to set out on my way home, but I was trapped under the roof of an open-air restaurant due to heavy rain on the way.

In order to prevent the guitar from getting wet, I waited for half an hour in the rain before I hurried to the inn while the rain turned lighter. But the rain was very naughty, and in a few minutes, he became angry again, so I had to hide under another roof. After a few tossing like this, he finally returned to the inn, took a shower and fell into a deep sleep.

After cooking my own pasta at the inn, I met a young Japanese couple in the lobby. The girls are younger than me and the boys are a little older. I forgot their names, but I was very impressed that they were colleagues in the workplace, but the girls chased the boys. After being pursued for a year, the boy felt that the woman was indeed trustworthy and entrusted for life, so he directly married the girl.

Getting married on the first day of dating is faster than Lei Yishan.

After trying to understand it, I found that "zero-day marriage" has become popular in Japan in recent years. The reason is that the new generation of Japanese young people feel that dating is too troublesome, but because of their age, "in order to conform to universal values, hurry up. Find someone to marry." It is really hard for me to understand why some people do this in order to cooperate with the social system.

However, the couple in front of them are simply convinced that the person who gets along with each other in the morning and evening is a partner who can be trusted for life. The whole year before getting married is enough to prove everything. I was imagining it in my head.

Although the couple are also heavy travelers, girls love traveling more than boys. When we talk about India, the conversation is completely opened. Boys have trouble liking Southeast Asian or South Asian countries because of their bad stomach. They just listen to us with a calm expression, and occasionally join in to exchange a few words.

After a rainy summer night, the air is calm and fresh. I pulled out my guitar and brought them the late-night cafeteria episode. Quiet and stable rhythm, no worries and emotions. We all came from afar, and with the music, went further afield.

When the music ended, I saw the girl's eyes light up. We thank each other for meeting each other tonight and say good night to each other.

The next day, the couple checked out and was about to leave, and I was just about to go downtown to sell a song, so we walked together for a while. Along the way, the traffic and the city's sounds were covered up, and we just said a few words, like a dull movie cutscene.

When it was finally time to part ways, I looked at the back of the couple and walked away slowly. When I looked at the two of them carrying heavy backpacks and walking steadily holding each other's hands, somehow, my heart was overflowing with indescribable moving.

I turned around and walked away. With the courage to start from scratch.