他两腿猛踏自行车，游蛇似的在人群中左钻右突，似乎心里有啥事等着要办。

    下午在车间阅报，无意中看到一则消息：香港著名歌星今晚在省艺术剧院演出，稍有余票出售。此刻，他内心狂喜，莫过于哥伦布发现新大陆。他提前一小时溜出厂门，直奔省艺术剧院，恨不得马上买到票，好叫邻居王嫂给蓉蓉送一张，第二次见面谈谈。

    说来也怪，他已三十出头，恋爱对象不下于三，相识却一一告吹。前不久，王嫂给他介绍一位叫蓉蓉的姑娘，她长得俊俏，白晰细嫩的皮肤，柳眉下一双水汪汪的眼睛，显得挺有神。一见面，他就试图取得第一印象。闲聊时，从天讲到地，从南说到北，滔滔不绝。姑娘只是报以默默一笑。话不投机，这使他有些犯难，不知道姑娘的深浅。

    他大汗淋漓地来到售票处，糟了，排队的人很多，看来按秩序站队难以买到，得想想“窍门”。眼看快轮到一位老人，他灵机一动，大步流星奔向窗口，嚷到：“售票员，钱算错了……”人群中被这突如其来的吼声懵住。不等老人回首，一只粗手已伸进了窗口。售票员不慌不忙，仿佛一切都看在眼里，她没有及时收钱递票，嗔道：“同志，买票排队，你看看身后那位老人。”一席话使老从恍然大悟，原来前面的这位小青年没排队，耍滑头，老人气愤地扯住他的衣服，直往外拉，说：“请到后面排队！”“谁没有排队？”他还在故作镇静，头又伸进了窗口。人群中出现了一阵骚动。这时，一只手搭在他肩上，他浑身一颤，回头一望，面前站着两位胸佩城管员证章的同志，定神一看，其中一位不正是蓉蓉吗？他脑子里“嗡”地一声，颓然走出了队伍，她没有理他，径直向门外走去。

居祖纯 编著：

Jumping the Queue for Concert Tickets

Zhu Zhijun

He pedaled his bicycle hard, threading his way through the crowd, as if he had some urgent business to attend to.

While scanning newspapers in the workshop in the afternoon, his eyes accidentally fell on these lines: Concert by Famous Singers from Hongkong in the Provincial Theatre of Art. Spare Tickets still available. This advertisement at once threw him into ecstacies, making him feel like Columbus who had just discovered America. He sneaked out of factory an hour ahead of time and raced for the theatre. He wished that he could get two tickets, one for himself and the other for Rongrong through Mrs. Wang, so that he could date her again.

He had already turned thirty and had had more than three girl-friends. But, strange to say, one after another, they left him. Not long ago, Mrs. Wang introduced him to another girl, called Rongrong. She was pretty and fair, with long and crescent eyebrows and clear and bright eyes. She looked the very picture of youth. The moment he saw her, he tried to impress her, bragging about everything under the sun, and holding forth on and on. The girl reciprocated with only a faint smile. Finding that the girl did not respond warmly, he was a little perplexed, not knowing what the girl thought of him.

He had now reached the Ticket Office, perspiring all over. A long queue, too bad! He wouldn’t be able to get the tickets by honestly waiting for his turn in the queue. He had to use “tricks”. When he saw it would soon be an old man’s turn, he dashed over to the ticket window in a few big steps, and bellowed at the top of his voice, “Hey, clerk, the change is not right.” Before the people in the queue knew what it was all about and before the oldster could turn to look, he had already thrust his big hand into the window.

The clerk, however, was in no such big hurry. Seeming to have seen through the trick, she did not take the money for the tickets. She said, instead, not without reproach, “Comrade, please queue up for your tickets like the elderly gentleman behind you.”

These words made the old timer suddenly realize what the young man had been up to. In anger, he tried to pull the queue jumper out of the line, telling him the while to “go back to the end of queue and wait for your tickets.”

“Who hasn’t?” bluffed the young man. Still pretending to look innocent and calm, he thrust his head into the window.

A commotion started down the queue.

A hand was laid on his shoulder, which sent a fit of shiver down his spine. He turned about, only to see standing before him two badge-wearing officials responsible for the maintenance of city order. When he was sufficiently recovered for another look, he found that one of them was none other than Rongrong.

A din suddenly rising in his ears, he reeled out of the place crest-fallen.

Without giving him another look, she marched out of the ticket office.