Li Ming spent ages plotting the perfect bank robbery, but on the big day, fate had a different plan in store.
李明想抢这家银行，想了很多年。
他每天都来看。他知道银行几点开门，知道什么时候人多，知道警察多久能到。
今天，他准备好了。他写了一张纸：”把钱都给我。这是抢劫。”
十点钟，他走进银行，站在队里。他的手里拿着那张纸。
再有两个人，就到他了。
就在这个时候，门开了。一个男人跑了进来，戴着面具，手里有枪。
“不要动！这是抢劫！把钱放进包里！”
大家都举起了手。李明也举起了手。
他站在那里，看着那个男人。他等了这么多年，今天……今天来了别人？
窗口的女人把钱放进包里。很多钱。
拿枪的男人抓过包，跑向门口。
但是已经晚了。外面，警车到了。红色和蓝色的灯照进银行里。
“把枪放下！”
男人站住了。他看了看外面，慢慢地把枪放在地上。包也掉在了地上，就在李明的脚旁边。
警察进来，抓住了那个男人，把他带了出去。
银行里的人都在看外面。有人在哭，有人在打电话。没有人看李明。
李明看了看那个包。
他把手里的纸放进口袋，拿起包，慢慢地走出了银行。
没有人看他。
他走在路上，想：我想了很多年，都没有想到这个办法。
Hover a word for its pinyin & meaning; click to pin it.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 抢劫 | qiǎng jié | to rob; robbery |
| 银行 | yín háng | bank |
| 警察 | jǐng chá | police |
| 准备 | zhǔn bèi | to prepare; ready |
| 面具 | miàn jù | mask |
| 举起 | jǔ qǐ | to raise (up) |
| 慢慢地 | màn màn de | slowly |
| 口袋 | kǒu dài | |
| 办法 | bàn fǎ | method; way; solution |
| 幸运 | xìng yùn | lucky; fortunate |
| 李 | lí | plum; surname Li |
| 明 | Míng | Ming Dynasty (1368–1644); surname Ming; Ming (c. 2000 BC), fourth of the legendary Flame Emperors, 炎帝[Yan2 di4] descended from Shennong 神農|神农[Shen2 nong2] Farmer God |
| 想 | xiǎng | to think (about); to think of; to devise; to think (that); to believe (that); to desire; to want (to); to miss (feel wistful about the absence of) |
| 抢 | qiáng | (literary) to knock against (esp. to knock one's head on the ground in grief or rage) |
| 这 | zhè | (pronoun) this; these; (bound form) this; the (followed by a noun); (bound form) this; these (followed by a classifier) (in this sense, commonly pr. [zhei4], esp. in Beijing) |
| 家 | jiā | used in 傢伙|家伙[jia1 huo5] and 傢俱|家俱[jia1 ju4]; home; family; (polite) my (sister, uncle etc); classifier for families or businesses; refers to the philosophical schools of pre-Han China; noun suffix for a specialist in some act… |
| 了 | le | (completed action marker); (modal particle indicating change of state, situation now); (modal particle intensifying preceding clause); (bound form) clear in one's mind; to understand clearly |
| 很 | hěn | very; quite; (also, often used before an adjective without intensifying its meaning, i.e. as a meaningless syntactic element) |
| 多年 | duō nián | many years; for many years; longstanding |
| 他 | tā | (third-person singular) (since the early 20th century, usu. male) he; him; his; (bound form) other; another; some other (as in 他日[ta1 ri4] and 他人[ta1 ren2]) |
| 每天 | měi tiān | every day |
| 都 | Dū | surname Du |
| 来 | lái | to come; (used as a substitute for a more specific verb); hither (directional complement for motion toward the speaker, as in 回來|回来[hui2 lai5]); ever since (as in 自古以來|自古以来[zi4 gu3… |
| 看 | kān | to look after; to take care of; to watch; to guard |
| 知道 | zhī dào | to know; to become aware of; also pr. [zhi1dao5] |
| 几点 | jǐ diǎn | what time?; when? |
| 开门 | kāi mén | (lit. and fig.) to open a door; to open for business |
| 什 | shén | what |
| 么 | má | exclamatory final particle; variant of 麼|么[me5] |
| 时 | shí | old variant of 時|时[shi2]; surname Shi |
| 候 | hòu | to wait; to inquire after; to watch; season; climate; (old) period of five days |
| 人 | rén | person; people; CL:個|个[ge4],位[wei4],名[ming2] |
| 多 | duō | many; much; more; a lot of; too many; in excess; (after a numeral) ... odd; how (to what extent) (Taiwan pr. [duo2]); (bound form) multi-; poly- |
| 多久 | duō jǐu | (of time) how long?; (not) a long time |
| 能 | Néng | surname Neng |
| 到 | dào | to reach; to arrive; to leave for; to go to; to (a place); until (a time); up to (a point); (verb complement indicating arriving at a place or reaching a point); considerate; thoug… |
| 今天 | jīn tiān | today; the present time; now |
| 好 | hǎo | good; appropriate; proper; all right!; (before a verb) easy to; (before a verb) good to; (before an adjective for exclamatory effect) so; (verb complement indicating completion); (… |
| 写 | xiě | to write |
| 一 | yī | one; single; a (article); as soon as; entire; whole; all; throughout; "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1); also pr. [yao1] for greater clarity when spelling out … |
| 张 | Zhāng | surname Zhang |
| 纸 | zhǐ | variant of 紙|纸[zhi3]; paper (CL:張|张[zhang1],沓[da2]); classifier for documents, letters etc |
| 把 | bǎ | to hold; to grasp; to hold a baby in position to help it urinate or defecate; handlebar; classifier: handful, bundle, bunch; classifier for things with handles; (used to put the ob… |
| 钱 | Qián | surname Qian |
| 给 | gěi | to; for; for the benefit of; to give; to allow; to do sth (for sb); (grammatical equivalent of 被); (grammatical equivalent of 把); (sentence intensifier) |
| 我 | wǒ | I; me; my |
| 是 | shì | to be (followed by substantives only); correct; right; true; (respectful acknowledgement of a command) very well; (adverb for emphatic assertion); variant of 是[shi4] |
| 十 | shí | ten; 10 |
| 点钟 | diǎn zhōng | (indicating time of day) o'clock |
| 走进 | zǒu jìn | to enter; to step into |
| 站 | zhàn | station; to stand; to halt; to stop; branch of a company or organization; website |
| 在 | zài | to exist; to be alive; (of sb or sth) to be (located) at; (used before a verb to indicate an action in progress) |
| 队 | duì | squadron; team; group; CL:個|个[ge4] |
| 里 | lǐ | variant of 裡|里[li3]; lining; interior; inside; internal; also written 裏|里[li3]; surname Li |
| 的 | de | of; ~'s (possessive particle); (used after an attribute when it modifies a noun); (used at the end of a declarative sentence for emphasis); (used after a noun, verb or adjective to… |
| 手里 | shǒu lǐ | in hand; (a situation is) in sb's hands |
| 拿 | ná | old variant of 拿[na2]; variant of 拿[na2]; to hold; to seize; to catch; to apprehend; to take; (used in the same way as 把[ba3]: to mark the following noun as a direct object) |
| 着 | zhāo | variant of 著|着[zhao1]; a move in chess (Taiwan pr. [zhuo2]); trick; tactic; (dialect) okay; all right; (dialect) to put in; to add |
| 那 | Nā | surname Na |
| 再 | zài | again; once more; re-; further; beyond this point of time; (before an adjective) more; then (after sth, and not until then); no matter how ... (followed by an adjective or verb, an… |
| 有 | yǒu | to have; there is; (bound form) having; with; -ful; -ed; -al (as in 有意[you3 yi4] intentional) |
| 两 | liǎng | two; both; some; a few; tael, unit of weight equal to 50 grams (modern) or 1⁄16 of a catty 斤[jin1] (old) |
| 个人 | gè rén | an individual; oneself; (attributive) personal; one's own |
| 就 | jìu | (after a suppositional clause) in that case; then; (after a clause of action) as soon as; immediately after; (same as 就是[jiu4 shi4]) merely; nothing else but; simply; just; precise… |
| 这个 | zhè ge | (pronoun) this; (adjective) this |
| 门 | Mén | surname Men |
| 开 | kāi | to open (transitive or intransitive); (of ships, vehicles, troops etc) to start; to turn on; to put in operation; to operate; to run; to boil; to write out (a prescription, check, … |
| 一个 | yī ge | a; an; one; the whole (afternoon, summer vacation etc) |
| 男人 | nán rén | a man; a male; men; CL:個|个[ge4] |
| 跑 | páo | (of an animal) to paw (the ground) |
| 进 | jìn | to go forward; to advance; to go in; to enter; to put in; to submit; to take in; to admit; (math.) base of a number system; classifier for sections in a building or residential com… |
| 戴 | Dài | surname Dai |
| 枪 | qiāng | gun; spear |
| 不要 | bù yào | don't!; must not |
| 动 | dòng | (of sth) to move; to set in movement; to displace; to touch; to make use of; to stir (emotions); to alter; abbr. for 動詞|动词[dong4 ci2], verb |
| 放进 | fàng jìn | to put into |
| 包 | Bāo | surname Bao |
| 大家 | dà jiā | everyone; influential family; great expert |
| 手 | shǒu | hand; (formal) to hold; person engaged in certain types of work; person skilled in certain types of work; personal(ly); convenient; classifier for skill; CL:雙|双[shuang1],隻|只[zhi1] |
| 也 | Yě | surname Ye |
| 那里 | nà li | there; that place |
| 那个 | nà ge | that one; that thing; that (as opposed to this); (used before a verb or adjective for emphasis); (used to humorously or indirectly refer to sth embarrassing, funny etc, or when one… |
| 等 | děng | to wait for; to await; by the time; when; till; and so on; etc.; et al.; (bound form) class; rank; grade; (bound form) equal to; same as; (used to end an enumeration); (literary) (… |
| 这么 | zhè me | so much; this much; how much?; this way; like this |
| 别人 | bié ren | other people; others; other person |
| 窗口 | chuāng kǒu | window; opening providing restricted access (e.g. customer service window); computer operating system window; fig. medium; intermediary; showpiece; testing ground |
| 女人 | nu:3 rén | woman |
| 抓 | zhua | to grab; to arrest; to scratch |
| 过 | Guō | surname Guo |
| 向 | Xiàng | surname Xiang; to tend toward; to guide; variant of 向[xiang4]; variant of 向[xiang4]; direction; orientation; to face; to turn toward; to; towards; shortly before; formerly |
| 门口 | mén kǒu | doorway; gate; CL:個|个[ge4] |
| 但 | dàn | but; yet; however; still; merely; only; just |
| 已经 | yǐ jīng | already |
| 晚 | wǎn | evening; night; late |
| 外面 | wài miàn | outside (also pr. [wai4 mian5] for this sense); surface; exterior; external appearance |
| 警 | jíng | to alert; police |
| 车 | Chē | surname Che |
| 到了 | dào liǎo | at last; finally; in the end |
| 红色 | hóng sè | red (color); revolutionary |
| 和 | hé | old variant of 和[he2]; surname He; (literary) harmonious (variant of 和[he2]) |
| 蓝色 | lán sè | blue (color) |
| 灯 | dēng | lamp; light; lantern; CL:盞|盏[zhan3] |
| 照 | zhào | variant of 照[zhao4]; to shine; to illuminate; according to; in accordance with; to shine; to illuminate; to reflect; to look at (one's reflection); to take (a photo); photo; as requested; as before |
| 放下 | fàng xià | to lay down; to put down; to let go of; to relinquish; to set aside; to lower (the blinds etc) |
| 住 | zhù | to live; to reside; to stay; to stop; to cease; (result complement indicating firmness or a stable achieved state) |
| 放 | fàng | to put; to place; to release; to free; to let go; to let out; to set off (fireworks) |
| 地上 | dì shang | on the ground; on the floor |
| 掉 | diào | to fall; to drop; to lag behind; to lose; to go missing; to reduce; fall (in prices); to lose (value, weight etc); to wag; to swing; to turn; to change; to exchange; to swap; to sh… |
| 脚 | jiǎo | foot; leg (of an animal or an object); base (of an object); CL:雙|双[shuang1],隻|只[zhi1]; classifier for kicks |
| 旁边 | páng biān | side; adjacent place |
| 带 | dài | band; belt; girdle; ribbon; tire; area; zone; region; CL:條|条[tiao2]; to wear; to carry; to take along; to bear (i.e. to have); to lead; to bring; to look after; to raise |
| 出去 | chū qù | to go out |
| 有人 | yǒu rén | someone; people; anyone; there is someone there; occupied (as in restroom) |
| 哭 | kū | to cry; to weep |
| 打 | dá | (loanword) dozen; Taiwan pr. [da3] |
| 电 | diàn | lightning; electricity; electric (bound form); to get (or give) an electric shock; phone call or telegram etc; to send via telephone or telegram etc |
| 话 | huà | dialect; language; spoken words; speech; talk; words; conversation; what sb said; CL:種|种[zhong3],席[xi2],句[ju4],口[kou3],番[fan1]; old variant of 話|话[hua4] |
| 没有 | méi yǒu | haven't; hasn't; doesn't exist; to not have; to not be |
| 把手 | bǎ shǒu | to shake hands |
| 拿起 | ná qǐ | to pick up |
| 走出 | zǒu chū | to leave (a room etc); to go out through (a door etc) |
| 走 | zǒu | to walk; to go; to run; to move (of vehicle); to visit; to leave; to go away; to die (euph.); from; through; away (in compound verbs, such as 撤走[che4 zou3]); to change (shape, form… |
| 路上 | lù shang | on the road; on the way; en route |
| 想到 | xiǎng dào | to think of; to call to mind; to anticipate |
Li Ming had wanted to rob this bank for many years.
He came to look every day. He knew what time the bank opened, he knew when it was crowded, and he knew how long it took the police to arrive.
Today, he was ready. He had written a note: “Give me all the money. This is a robbery.”
At ten o’clock, he walked into the bank and stood in line. In his hand he held that note.
Two more people, and it would be his turn.
Just at that moment, the door opened. A man ran in, wearing a mask, with a gun in his hand.
“Don’t move! This is a robbery! Put the money in the bag!”
Everyone raised their hands. Li Ming raised his hands too.
He stood there, watching that man. He had waited so many years, and today… today someone else had come?
The woman at the counter put the money into the bag. A lot of money.
The man with the gun grabbed the bag and ran toward the door.
But it was already too late. Outside, the police cars had arrived. Red and blue lights shone into the bank.
“Put the gun down!”
The man stopped. He looked outside, and slowly put the gun on the ground. The bag also fell to the ground, right next to Li Ming’s foot.
The police came in, grabbed that man, and took him out.
Everyone in the bank was looking outside. Some people were crying, some were making phone calls. No one was looking at Li Ming.
Li Ming looked at that bag.
He put the note in his hand into his pocket, picked up the bag, and slowly walked out of the bank.
No one looked at him.
He walked down the road, thinking: I planned for so many years, but I never thought of this method.