After the Christmas Eve dinner, Tang En left for home. At first, he had thought that he would have to spend this Christmas "all alone." However, not only had he managed to eat a sumptuous "reunion dinner" at Wood's house, he had even received a present. With the white scarf around his neck, Tang En was no longer afraid of the cold.
The next morning, Tang En discovered that the streets were extremely quiet. The bustling sight of families going out to play, which he had expected to see, did not appear. This caused him to think that he had woken up too early. As a result, he went back to sleep and woke up several times, until he felt something was amiss. He then checked his watch, only to discover that it was already 10am.
As part of his daily routine, Tang En went to the mailbox outside his door to collect the newspaper, and discovered that there were two other letters that had dropped out of the mailbox alongside the newspaper.
