Freezing rain drizzled down like old men with prostate conditions. Echo Wang yawned as he looked at the road. He pulled out a rag and vigorously wiped the windshield, just as he noticed a series of lightning flashes in the distant sky.

He held his breath and waited, feeling a bit surprised. "What? No thunder?"

Echo didn't care about this distant and unusual episode. In recent years, he no longer cared about many things and, surprisingly, he was happy about it.

Not far from home, he turned on the radio: "...Affected by the strong cold air moving eastward, temperatures in the northern region will drop by 6 to 10 degrees Celsius. Today, rain will continue to cover northeast and north China. " Yeah, you don't say... He changed the channel: "..... for a dream, travel a thousand miles; meet in Beijing." Echo liked this song, so he hummed along.

The car was moving smoothly in the rain, like a bright green snail. Echo turned into District 1 and discovered that the spot where he usually parked was taken by a unfamiliar small van. But he felt no anger. "Well then, I'll have to park somewhere else. No sweat."

He shut off the engine, pulled out the key, engaged the hand brake, carefully placed the car coat, and then picked up the soy milk and deep-fried dough sticks from the passenger seat, holding them with his arms. He took a few steps to enter the building and then proceeded to the second floor.

Echo rubbed his shoes on the doormat several times, then opened the door, and finally, he was home. After washing his hands, he brought out plates and bowls, along with the leftover pickles from yesterday. He placed the soy milk and dough sticks in separate dishes and set out chopsticks. Then, he went to knock on his son, Bart Wang's door, .

"Bart? Bart? Get up and eat. Fresh deep-fried dough sticks, yum yum."

There was no movement. Echo waited for a while. He heard his son's confused voice just as he raised his hand and asked, "What are you doing? It's Saturday."

"Deep-fried dough sticks and soy milk with plenty of sugar, just the way you like them. Again, the early bird gets the worm. You can practice painting after breakfast."

“Yeah. Yeah.” He sounded impatient.

Echo set a small stool in front of a tea table and waited for the boy to come out in his pajamas, barefoot.

His son was in fourth grade this year. The boy's doing quite well at school. Echo didn't have to worry about it. Bart was interested in drawing, too. Not long ago, he started wearing glasses. Bart was a quiet boy. This year, he had grown a lot, like a big boy, and sometimes they argued. Looking at the bright yellow, slightly saggy dough sticks on the dish, Echo reminisced about his eldest son, Sunny Wang, who was such a well-behaved boy in fourth grade. Every time Echo took a night shift and brought dough sticks home in the morning, Sunny would sit by the table, waiting.

Was it... 18 years ago, already?

Bart slurped his soy milk, grabbed a stick and stuffed it into his mouth. "Come on and eat, Dad, it'll get cold before you know it." Echo stared at the boy's disheveled hair and emaciated face, suddenly dazed. "......Ah, don't bother. I'm not hungry now."

The boy took another bite of his stick and looked up. "Yesterday at school, a classmate brought a novel called 'World War' written by a foreign author." The Martians are amazing! Just one shot can melt a person. Dad, do you think aliens exist?"

Echo had just taken a sip of soy milk and had not yet swallowed it. He was almost choked by this question. "Tell you what, this classmate is bad news. Why can't he focus on studying at school? He should not be obsessed with this nonsense. You'd better stay away from this one." He regretted saying that even before finishing the sentence; it was really not a big deal. Apparently, it was hard to change one's parenting habits.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Bart opened his mouth, said nothing, put down his bowl and chopsticks, and went back to his room. Mr. Wang thought to himself, "That boy was surely stubborn for his age. Where did he get that?" He was still chewing on it while his son walked out of the room, put on a raincoat and boots, and pushed the door to go outside.

"Hey, Bart, where are you going? It's raining outside!"

"Just walk around. It's kind of stuffy here."

"Don't go far; it's cold!" Echo held a dough stick in his hand and watched the iron door open and close. A gust of cold wind blew on his face and the smaller man disappeared into the darkness.

This scene seemed somewhat familiar.

Mr. Wang's right eyelid began to twitch. Something felt off today.

* * *

"The weather forecast predicted rain all day today, so it's better to take a break at home. Don't forget to tell your brother-in-law."

"......um."

"I'll go to work later. Don't worry, I've made your favorite soy sauce pot noodles for you. What do you want for dinner?"

"Anything will be fine."

Byron Gong leaned against his bed and carefully flipped through a book in his hands. It's Saturday, and it's still raining. If that big idiot of a brother-in-law wants to go, fine. Byron won't.

"What are you studying?" Lila Huang approached and bent down to him. "Wow, potherb mustard? Are you studying recipes?"

"Nope, this is not a vegetable.(author's comment: you'll have to know Chinese characters to understand the punchline) This is Shelley, the poet,' Winter is here, will spring be far away?' That one.”

Lila took a closer look and realized she had mistaken the Chinese characters. She was a little embarrassed and pretended to playfully hit her husband. Then she said with a hint of shyness, "You can go live with him if you are so fond of this guy."

Byron leaned forward and hugged his wife.

"There, there, honey bunny, my bad. His poems were exceptional, but tragically, his life was cut short. He drowned in his late twenties. Speaking of dinner, how about a potherb mustard and tofu stew? The way you've done it, it's perfect."

The two of them made out for a while. Then, Lila broke free and straightened her hair and clothes.

Byron closed the book. "Lila," his voice suddenly serious, "you know, I have been doing research recently. We can try having a test tube baby."

She fell silent. After the steel factory went bankrupt, Lila suffered from derogatory...words from people. A few years ago, she finally found employment at a small hospital, working in cosmetology. She was planning to gain more experience and then start her own business. When you were the boss, you no longer had to worry about other people's opinions. As a matter of fact, Lila had also heard that test-tube baby technology was already quite advanced, but it would cost tens of thousands of RMB. Now, the two of them were struggling just to pay the bills while living in her parents' old apartment, which had not been renovated in a long, long time. She was sad and angry.

"I was thinking, ah, I'm handsome, you're gorgeous. It would be a pity for the two of us not to have a child. We have enough money in our bank account. Why not give it a try?"

When he put it that way, Lila seemed to find some hope, and the corners of her mouth couldn't help but rise. "OK. We'll figure it out when I come back from work tonight."

* * *

There was a hole somewhere in the roof of the old van, and the rain fell on the pile of sacks in the back row, making a clattering sound. Erised Song paid no heed to the annoyance. He simply tightened his clothes, wiped his face, and continued to stare out of the window, his eyes red.

Half an hour ago, Echo Wang ran upstairs. Erised had a feeling that today was the day he would get his revenge.

Once THE general manager of Steel City factory, now cursed with white hair and a drooping back, he looked like an old man in his sixties despite the fact that he was actually fifty-one.

Karma was a bitch.

Ten years ago, that scumbag businessman Lu absconded with Erised's money, leading to his capture. He served eight years in prison. The wife had already taken their daughter to the other side of the Pacific. Rumor had it that she had already hooked up with a younger man. As if that was not enough, his parents passed away one after another within one year of his confinement. No one paid Erised any attention anymore when he was released, and he had to work part-time as a miner in a godforsaken shit-hole for the past two years.

"A bunch of assholes," Erised spat.

Today, he was going to seek justice from Echo Wang, who had reported him to the authorities and ruined his life. The trap had been set up at the factory and was waiting for that old scumbag to take the bait. It would be better to take Byron Gong with him so that they can be companions until the end. The child? Just be more careful in your next life.

As he contemplated, a boy in a raincoat came out of the building and busied himself by jumping in a puddle. Erised squinted for a long while. "God help me!" He had been here quite a few times. Finally, today he hit the jackpot!

He turned to grab the sack.

It's pouring outside.