Philosophy in the Laundry Room

At six o'clock in the morning, the sun has not yet completely dispelled the fog on the edge of the city. In the "Starlight Hotel" near the university town, the laundry room on the first floor is already bustling. There are no business people in suits and ties, nor are there tired travelers, just a group of plainly dressed college students. They skillfully operate the coin-operated washing machines, stuffing bags of dirty clothes inside.

Li Ming is one of them. His movements are smooth, obviously not his first time here. He wears black-rimmed glasses, and his eyes show a tiredness that doesn't match his age. He expertly operates his phone, paying for the laundry, his actions carrying a sense of mechanical repetition. Today, he's wearing a light blue T-shirt with a small line of text printed on the front: "Reject Internal Competition, Starting with Me." This line seems particularly ironic in this setting.

"Here again?" A girl in pink pajamas, with half a fried dough stick still in her mouth, walks over, her tone carrying a familiar jest. She is Liu Fang, Li Ming's classmate and a "regular customer" here.

Li Ming smiles and nods, taking it as a response. "Yeah, the washing machines in the dorm are broken, and... things just feel cleaner when they're washed here."

"Cleaner?" Liu Fang laughs exaggeratedly, pointing to an A4 piece of paper posted on the wall, with the words written in red: "This laundry room is only for hotel guests. Violators will bear the consequences." She lowers her voice, "Are we 'getting freebies'?"

Li Ming shrugs, "Who knows? Anyway, I'm just doing laundry, not affecting anyone."

This "Starlight Hotel" is not a real hotel. It's actually a cheap inn under the guise of a "short-term rental apartment," offering simple rooms and public facilities, including this laundry room. It attracts many cash-strapped college students with its low prices and location near the university town. However, the right to use the laundry room is restricted to "hotel guests."

To avoid the crowded dormitory washing machines and the high laundry fees, the university students came up with a "clever trick": They book a short-term hourly room at the lowest price, usually only costing about ten yuan. And this ten yuan, for them, means having the right to use the laundry room all day. They come here not to sleep, but to do laundry.

The laundry room is filled with the noisy buzzing of machines and the scent of laundry detergent. Students chat while skillfully sorting their clothes and putting them into the washing machines, as if this is their second "home." They discuss recent courses, complain about the school cafeteria, share gossip, and exchange tips on "getting freebies."

Li Ming looks at the busy students in front of him, and a sense of indescribable absurdity arises in his heart. They are willing to go to such a "ridiculous" extent just to do laundry. Isn't this a kind of sorrow? They are all following the rules, but also challenging them in their own unique ways. Within this, there seems to be a sense of helplessness, a resistance, and a longing for a better life.

Suddenly, the laundry room door is pushed open with a "bang," and a middle-aged man in a hotel uniform walks in, a trace of impatience on his face.

"What are you doing? What are you doing?" He shouts loudly, "I said, the laundry room is only for hotel guests! You people are here again to take advantage!"

The students in the laundry room suddenly fall silent, looking at each other, somewhat at a loss.

The middle-aged man walks over to a washing machine and points to the unfinished program, saying, "I'm going to catch a few of you today as an example to see if you still dare to come here!"

At this moment, a voice suddenly comes from the crowd, it’s Li Ming. He calmly says, "Uncle, you're right, we didn't stay here. But, we bought 'laundry room usage tickets' here."

"Usage tickets? What usage tickets?" The middle-aged man frowns, looking puzzled.

Li Ming points to the A4 paper on the wall and slowly says, "It says that the laundry room is only for hotel guests, but it doesn't say that hotel guests can't use the laundry room's laundry tickets."

The middle-aged man looks at him with suspicion, then looks at the paper on the wall, and finally discovers that at the very bottom of the paper, there is a line of text printed in extremely small font: "This hotel has launched laundry room tickets, 10 yuan each, allowing the holder to use the laundry room on the day of purchase, without time limit."

The students around them burst out laughing. The middle-aged man then realizes that he has been outsmarted by these college students.

Li Ming takes off his glasses, rubs his sore eyes, his eyes showing a hint of exhaustion, but his lips curving into a meaningful smile. He walks to the washing machine, takes out his washed clothes, the sunlight shining through the window onto his face, seeming to coat his face with a layer of light.

He says softly, "Maybe, rules are meant to be broken. At least, we found a loophole in them in our own way, and got our clothes clean."

He turns and walks out of the laundry room, leaving behind a group of confused students and the stunned middle-aged man. What they have cleaned is more than just their clothes.