When the phone notified her that the transaction had been successful, Cheng Qingchong removed the bank card and the house keys from her purse. She placed them on the bedside table, stood up, picked up her luggage, and left Qin Yinan’s house.

  Before closing the door, Cheng Qingchong still turned back to glance at Qin Yinan’s room. The lights in the room weren’t one, and it was getting dark. The place was shrouded in shadows, but Cheng Qingchong could easily recognize the shadowy shapes in the darkness—the European style table lamp, the running machine, the badminton racket……

  Cheng Qingchong’s eyes started to mist. As if afraid, she quickly pulled the door closed and ran to the elevator. She was alone in the elevator, staring at the ticking red number. The mist gathering at the bottom of her eyes started to pool before falling down her face as tears……

  Qin Yinan purposely waited until midnight before returning home. When the door fell open, the darkened interior made him frown.

  When he was in hospital for eight months, his original company fired him. Thankfully, when he was working for the company, he had become friends with an investor who had been trying to pull him into a joint business. Since the opportunity had presented itself, Qin Yinan jumped at the chance to start a small company.

  The starting of a new company took most of his time, so he would often return late from all the business and social meetings. However, no matter how late he was, there would always be a single lamp open in the living room when he returned. When the dim light washed over him, no matter how tired he was, his heart and body would start to relax.

  Qin Yinan stood at the door for a long time until the voice-operated light in the corridor dimmed. He stood there frozen for a long time before he coughed twice to switch on the light once more. He stepped into the house and pulled on the fluorescent light switch, and the room lit up instantly.

  He bent down to pull the shoe rack open. When he grabbed his slippers, his eyes wandered over to the side, and the empty space reminded him of the fact that the pair of female slippers with a cute kitten decoration had already disappeared.

  Qin Yinan had no idea what came over him, but his heart felt strangely congested. He slammed the slippers down on the floor and stuck his feet harshly into them before stepping into the living room.

  Qin Yinan threw the keys habitually toward the coffee table, and when he bent over to grab the pot to pour himself a glass of water, he realized that the surface of the coffee table had been cleared away. The exquisite tea set with a pink floral pattern had disappeared. That tea set was a purchase made by Cheng Qingchong on Taobao during the early days of their marriage. She would make sure the pot would always be filled with water so that the occupants of the house would be able to enjoy a cool glass of water whenever they wanted.

  Initially, she had been the only one who drank from it, but from an unknown period onward, this also became his habit. The man who used to directly drink from the filtered water tap would use the tea set to quench his thirst.

  Qin Yinan shook his head with agitation, and he pulled his hand back from the coffee table. He walked into the kitchen to grab himself a glass of water. Plain water should taste the same no matter the source, but for some reason, he found himself unable to finish that one glass.

  In the end, he poured it down the sink. He opened the fridge and realized that there was bottle of RIO sitting within. As he chugged it down his throat, he walked toward his bedroom. In those twenty meters across the living room, he noticed many little things that had been changed or gone missing.