My girlfriend isn't as cute as me.

Lin Jiu changed her clothes and left the convenience store.

He took a deep look at the place where he had worked for almost a year, and waved gently.

When Uncle Yang saw this, he wanted to wave, but a customer happened to come by, so he could only smile apologetically.

Lin Jiu shook her head, adjusted the backpack on her shoulder, opened her umbrella, and turned to leave.

And so they walked step by step into the dimly lit street.

The warm lights of the convenience store gradually faded away.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Lin Jiu, supporting his backpack, walked through the rain-soaked alley. A damp and chilly atmosphere permeated the air, and the muddy pavement stained his Hongxing Erke shoes, which he had worn for years without wearing out, a dark color. Unfortunately, he hadn't grown taller since middle school. When he bought the shoes, he thought he'd buy a size up so they would last longer, but thankfully he gritted his teeth and bought a pair that fit perfectly.

On his way home, he made a point of avoiding massage parlors with pink and purple neon lights; it had become a conditioned reflex.

When Lin Jiu was still a junior high school student, he was invited to sit in the lobby by some older girls in their pajamas. They said that if he spent an afternoon playing with them, they would give him a case of nutritional drinks.

After careful consideration, Lin Jiu chose to leave, firmly believing that there's no such thing as a free lunch. If he had gone, he might have paid a price more in sweat than a whole case of nutritional drinks combined.

Ok.

Sweat.

In the complex, maze-like urban village, Lin Jiu climbed to the top of a dilapidated building. There was no elevator, no gas, high-powered appliances were prohibited as they were prone to tripping the circuit breaker, the sewers were frequently clogged, and fire hazards were also a concern... Even so, for Lin Jiu, this was home.

As long as a person has a home, a place to return to, then even if the sky falls, they can stand up and persevere.

Lin Jiu's home is on the fourth floor, room 404. This isn't a lucky number, so many superstitious people are unwilling to live here. Fortunately, the rent here is cheaper than elsewhere.

Arriving at his front door, Lin Jiu tried stomping his foot. The malfunctioning motion-sensor light struggled for a moment before flickering and then giving up. He sighed inwardly, took out his keys, and, relying on his memory, accurately located the keyhole of his front door.

"Click".

The rusty key slid in with difficulty, but made an unexpected sound.

Lin Jiu's expression instantly turned serious, as if a sour feeling crept up his back, and an inexplicable sense of panic welled up in his heart. He suddenly had a bad feeling.

"Click—click—"

It won't turn.

This is Lin Jiu's home.

It's not Lin Jiu's house.

Did I go to the wrong place?

Did you accidentally wander into another building?

Or rather, is this the third floor... or the fifth floor?

This was the first time Lin Jiu had ever doubted her memory since birth.

Lin Jiu's breathing gradually became heavy, and he was trapped in a state of anxiety from which he could not extricate himself. He tried to twist the key with all his might, but he still could not open the door until the rusty key broke.

"It's so noisy! What's all the noise about!"

The heavy, thick door was ripped open, and through the iron gate, a shirtless, obese man yelled at Lin Jiu, "Who are you? What are you doing messing with my door!"

"...I'd like to ask you, who are you?"

The dimly lit corridor was half-illuminated by the lights inside the house.

Lin Jiu's face was half-submerged in darkness, the remaining faint light reflecting his utterly indifferent eyes.

"Uh."

The shirtless man's fat body jiggled. When he realized he had been frightened by a little boy in a school uniform, he became furious and embarrassed, and his fleshy face quickly turned purplish-red.

"This is my house! What's it to you!" the fat man shouted, then seemed to remember something and sneered, "I've already bought this house and paid for it! If you have any connection with the previous tenants, go find the landlord, don't cause trouble here!"

"Mr. Chen, are you done yet?"

A woman's voice came from inside the room, her breath ragged and carrying a hint of provocation.

"Coming, baby, I'm coming right now." The fat man's tone changed instantly. When he turned around, his face was once again menacing. "Get lost! Don't interfere with my good deed!"

After saying that, he slammed the door shut with a loud bang.

Lin Jiu remained silent for a while.

He knocked on the door.

"Get out of here!!"

Just as the obese man shouted, Lin Jiu precisely threw something through the gap in the iron gate, where it landed on the ground with a crisp, loud sound.

What is this?

The obese man glanced down, but his view was obstructed by his large belly, so he couldn't make out what it was. He looked up and realized that the thief who had broken into his house in the middle of the night had already fled.

"Humph."

The obese man slammed the door shut again. He turned around, rubbing his hands together as he walked into the room, when suddenly he felt a sharp pain in the sole of his foot. He quickly crouched down, and with great difficulty, managed to get around his large belly and find what he had stepped on.

—That was a key that was broken in half.

Chapter Three: Filial Piety and Fatherly Love

Lin Jiu took out his phone, opened his contacts, and scrolled to the very end to find Lin Shanzong's name.

He didn't add any notes; instead, he simply recorded the other person's name.

Lin Jiu tilted his head back and took a deep breath, adjusting his mindset and calming himself down. He could vaguely hear the angry shouts of a fat man coming from upstairs, a pleasant sound that lifted his spirits.

The call was answered after a long pause. Lin Jiu instinctively held the phone away from his ear, and it turned out to be the right decision. Loud noises came from the other end: people playing cards and mahjong, with occasional swear words.

"Hey, Dad..."

"I'm busy! Go ask your mother if you need anything!"

Before Lin Jiu could finish speaking, he was interrupted on the other end of the phone.

Lin Jiu did not remain silent. He knew that if he shut up now, there would be no chance to continue the conversation.

"Why sell the house? I've been paying for all the utilities and management fees; you haven't contributed a single penny. Have you even considered what I'll do after you sell the house? Where will I live? Are you even human?"

Lin Jiu didn't ask Lin Shanzong why he went to his workplace to cause trouble, but instead emphasized this point.

The other party owed him gambling debts and asked him for money more than once or twice, and he accepted it and tolerated it.

The only thing he couldn't tolerate was selling the house.

"..."

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone.

Lin Shanzong had never seen his son so angry, and was speechless for a moment.

In his memory, this was the first time the kid had ever rebelled.

The man said impatiently, "I can sell my house whenever I want, what's it to you? Stop nagging your mother, all you do is cause trouble. If you have nowhere to live, go stay with your mother, and don't come back to bother me again! I can't understand it, when I divorced your mother, were you out of your mind to insist on staying with me? I'm so fed up with you!"

"So you're not planning to fulfill your custody obligations?" Lin Jiu's tone remained calm.

"Laughable! Who do you think you're talking to about the law? I used to be a lawyer, why would I be afraid of you? You're an adult now! That right expires when your children reach adulthood!"

Even over a phone call, across a great distance, Lin Jiu could imagine the other person's animated expression. That's just how people are; when they drink, they love to boast about how amazing they were in the past.

The more useless a man is, the more he will dwell on his past glories, never able to move on. He will remain immersed in the thrill of alcohol and gambling, rotting away indefinitely.

"...Oh, so today is my birthday."

Lin Jiu chuckled self-deprecatingly: "Is this your birthday present to me?"

Lin Shanzong paused for a moment, his emotions in turmoil causing him to lose the game. He immediately vented all his anger on Lin Jiu, cursing, "Stop bothering me! Your mother's got money now, living in a mansion with someone! If you don't want to go, then find a park or a bridge underpass to hide in, I don't have time for you right now!"

"Let's sell the house then. Anyway, I haven't had a home for a long time, and from now on, we will have no father-son relationship."

After Lin Jiu finished speaking, she hung up the phone and got up to go upstairs.

With each step taken, past memories flood back.

It has bittersweet moments, warm feelings, and everything in between.

Now there's nothing left.

The old motion-sensor lights went out completely, and in the pitch-black space, one could only hear their own footsteps.

Lin Jiu didn't believe in ghosts; it was natural that spirits were forbidden after the founding of the People's Republic of China. But now, he felt like he was hallucinating, as if invisible hands were everywhere in the corridor, trying to drag him down into the deep darkness. His steps became heavy, each step so tiring, so exhausting.

Lin Jiu returned to the fourth-floor corridor.

He looked at the familiar yet unfamiliar front door, and his eyes, adjusted to the darkness, found the power switch hanging on the wall.

The cover of the electrical control box had long since fallen off, but neither he nor the man wanted to spend the money to replace it, so they just left it there. Because the house didn't allow the use of high-power electricity, the circuit breaker would trip frequently due to excessive simultaneous power consumption. Whenever that happened, the man would voluntarily go out and put the switch back on, because Lin Jiu wasn't tall enough.

However, such a thing will never happen again.

Lin Jiu stood quietly in the hallway, mentally flipping through the book hidden deepest on the bookshelf, which contained the few happy memories he shared with his family.

When I was five years old, my family was having a picnic in the children's park.

When I was seven years old, my family took a family photo at Window of the World.

When I was ten years old, my family went back to the countryside for a reunion dinner. My grandmother was still alive at that time.

……

Lin Jiu recalled everything from the past, and then moved the book off the bookshelf.

He doesn't need it anymore.

"—"

Because it was so quiet, Lin Jiu could still hear rhythmic sounds coming from inside the poorly soundproofed room.

Even when faced with the predicament of a key breaking off the lock, the obese man in the house was quite shrewd. After a fit of impotent rage, he gave up struggling and planned to call the landlord to fix it tomorrow, while still plotting how to settle accounts with the landlord.

"It's so noisy."

Lin Jiu said calmly.

He put his backpack and folding umbrella on the ground and started doing radio calisthenics in the hallway; the times were calling.