Perhaps shopping was truly the best stress reliever for women, because when Song Qingchun hauled the many different bags upstairs to her room, she was even humming a tune; the depression from the morning had disappeared without a trace.
It was still too early to prepare for dinner, so she sat with her legs crossed on her bed and unboxed her purchases one by one. She then arranged them nicely and snapped a picture to post in her WhatsApp friend group before putting them away.
It was 6.30 pm when she was finished with all that. Song Qingchun washed up and went to the kitchen to prepare dinner.
After Song Qingchun finished cooking and walked out of the kitchen, she looked out the window at the darkening sky, and the sense of loss that she had held back for the whole day through shopping and cooking slowly returned to her.
The room was quiet so quiet that it heightened her sense of loneliness.
