The Incident of Kowtowing

Old Li set up his chess stall under the gazebo in the community park, relying on the small earnings to pass the time after retirement. The sun was nice today, and he had just set up when he saw a young woman pointing her phone at him, taking a barrage of photos.

"Grandpa, your chess stall is so creative!" the woman said with a giggle, revealing a row of even teeth.

Old Li was a bit baffled. His chess stall was just an ordinary wooden table with a chessboard drawn on it; how could it be creative? He squinted, trying to find the answer in the woman’s phone screen, but all he saw was his slightly hunched back and a few sun-faded chess pieces.

Without waiting for him to speak, the woman took a few more photos and then asked, "Do you accept Alipay?"

Old Li was taken aback. He was even more confused now. Playing chess and using Alipay? He waved his hand, pointing to an old iron box on the table, saying, "I only have this here. If you have change, put it in there."

The woman seemed disappointed and sighed, "Who uses cash these days? Oh well, what a pity." With that, she turned and left, leaving Old Li alone, staring blankly at the empty chessboard.

He didn't take it to heart. After all, young people always liked to do things he didn't understand. In the afternoon, a man with gold-rimmed glasses, dressed in a suit and tie, came to his stall. The man was polite. He first asked about the price and then took out his phone, skillfully scanning the payment QR code Old Li had placed on the table.

Old Li was truly astonished. When did he get a payment QR code?

After scanning, the man smiled and said, "Old gentleman, we are in a cashless society now, you have to keep up with the times!"

Old Li was completely lost, but since the man was a customer, he didn’t ask much. The man set up the chess pieces, and they began to play. The man was an average chess player and was quickly defeated by Old Li.

Although he lost, the man seemed happy. He scanned the QR code again and, pointing at his phone, said, “Old gentleman, look, this is my tip.”

Old Li leaned closer to look at the phone screen, where a string of numbers was displayed, totaling more than what he earned in a day.

The man explained that there was a recent “New Experience of Traditional Culture” event, where participants needed to experience the lives of the older generation and then support traditional artisans by giving tips.

Old Li suddenly understood. It turned out that his chess stall had also become a part of “traditional culture.”

In the following days, people came to his chess stall in a constant stream. Most were young people who didn't play much chess but enjoyed scanning the QR code to tip. Old Li's iron box slowly filled with loose change, but he still felt a bit empty inside.

One day, a girl dressed in Hanfu came to his stall, holding a bronze incense burner in her hands. She first bowed deeply to Old Li, then said, "Old gentleman, how do you like my outfit today?"

Old Li looked her over carefully, thinking her clothes were indeed beautiful, and nodded.

"Today, I am going to perform a traditional ritual for you; you need to watch carefully." After speaking, the girl placed the incense burner down and "thud," knelt in front of Old Li.

Old Li was startled and quickly stood up to help her, "Young lady, what are you doing? Get up quickly!"

But the girl refused to get up. She kowtowed to Old Li once, and then again, a total of 888 times, kicking up dust from the ground. Old Li watched in horror, continuously urging her to get up, but the girl wouldn't listen.

After kowtowing, the girl finally stood up. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and said with a smile, "Old gentleman, this was specially prepared for you. How was my performance?"

Old Li was completely dumbfounded. He looked at the girl, then at his chess stall that was almost knocked over, and couldn't understand what young people were doing nowadays.

The girl took out her phone, scanned the payment QR code on the table, and said, "Old gentleman, I've given you a tip of 1000 yuan. How do you think the value of this ritual is?"

Old Li looked at the string of numbers on the screen and suddenly felt like he had become some kind of performance tool. He wanted to laugh, yet he wanted to cry. In the end, he just sighed and said, "The world nowadays is truly incomprehensible."

Just then, a gust of wind blew a flyer from Old Li’s chess stall to the ground. He bent down and picked it up. The flyer had several striking characters: “Traditional Culture Extravaganza, If you can think it, we can do it!” There was also a small line underneath: “The final interpretation of this event is owned by XX Company.”

Old Li looked at the paper and suddenly understood something. He crumpled the flyer and threw it into the nearby trash can. Then, he turned and silently began to pack up his chess stall. The sun was still warm, but Old Li felt a chill. He decided that tomorrow, he would find a different place to set up his stall, not continuing his "performance" on this "traditional" stage.