Outside the apartment building, a fierce gale raged, and sheets of torrential rain seemed to swallow the whole city.
Xiao Die held back her sobs. She finished the congee, then sank into a deep, heavy sleep. In the midnight hours, the sky was shrouded in a thin mist, forming a dense, concentrated sorrow. From next door, it sounded as if a fierce argument had erupted, disturbing Xiao Die's rest. There was the sharp, piercing voice of a woman, the low sound of a man weeping, and the chaos of various objects being smashed around the room.
Xiao Die had not wanted to pay it any mind, but the noise from next door grew worse and worse, waking Auntie Li, who was particularly fond of meddling in other people's business. Auntie Li's greatest hobby was gossiping behind people's backs. Her even greater hobby was sticking her nose where it didn't belong. Sadly, no one ever appreciated her efforts, and her only daughter had been abandoned by a son-in-law who had risen in the world and cast her aside.
"Are we supposed to just not sleep?! The whole building can't get any peace!"
"It's got to be that blind man. There's been nothing but trouble since he got here. He's an absolute curse."
"Aunt Zhang, don't you think that blind man is weirdly good-looking? Maybe some woman is keeping him and came to make trouble for him?"
Xiao Die couldn't bear the noise from next door—she still had to go to school the next day. But what she truly couldn't stand was the way these women slandered the older neighbor again and again. She had warned them several times already, but the aunties paid no mind to a young girl like her.
"Auntie Li, the noise of you gossiping and stirring up trouble is even louder than the racket from next door. I have class tomorrow."
"Little Die, we're not talking about you. It's all that blind kept man's fault. Your studies are what matter most. Just ignore that blind man."
"A kept man? Can I ask, Auntie Li—are you the one keeping him? Or do you secretly have a crush on him, and now that you can't have him, you want to destroy him?!"
"How can a young girl speak like that? If it weren't for the fact that you're so pitiful..."
"I don't need your pity, you gossips. I don't need anyone's pity."
Just as Xiao Die was in the middle of her dispute with Auntie Li, the elegantly dressed woman emerged from the older neighbor's apartment.
Xiao Die had seen this middle-aged woman before, in a financial magazine. She was Su Yue, the chairwoman of BR Group—a powerful and formidable woman who dominated the business world.
"Xiao Sheng, have you thought about the deal I offered you, between mother and son? If you agree, you're welcome to come home anytime."
"No need. Life as it is now is perfectly fine."
Su Yue was tall and gracefully slender. She looked like an exquisite, noble dream, a sun that belonged to the world of fame and fortune—and also an illusion of that world. Downstairs, Su Yue's Rolls-Royce Phantom was parked, a car that suited her aura perfectly.
"See, I told you that blind man must be kept by a rich woman."
"And that rich woman even said she wants to take him home. How shameless."
Xiao Die didn't believe the older neighbor was the kept man the gossips made him out to be, but she still felt a deep sadness. She was afraid the older neighbor came from a world different from her own, because she was just a poor girl who had only just lost her family.
The night was sorrowful, lost and bewildered, so profound it seemed to seep into a young girl's very marrow. The gossiping women mocked and speculated for a while longer, then each went home to rest. But at this moment, Xiao Die had no home left to return to.
She dried her tears. She went home and, facing the mirror, forced a strong, brave smile. She comforted herself: at least the older neighbor had family waiting for him to come home. And she could work hard in her studies and get into a top university. Besides wanting the older neighbor to be happy, she still had so many dreams she had yet to fulfill.
No matter what, she was grateful for every encounter and every farewell in her life—whether it was her mom and dad who had passed away, or the older neighbor who, on this night, had once given her hope.