In the middle of the night, Xu Qingyan drove home casually to sleep, feeling an unprecedented calm.
A rain fell at midnight, pitter-pattering in a way that lulled people to sleep.
He slept deeply until seven in the morning when the air conditioning chilled him awake.
With cold fronts often following autumn rains, he walked barefoot to the window and pulled back a corner of the curtain. It was still drizzling outside, as if the lights above the clouds had been turned off, casting a faint glow.
The world suddenly seemed bleak, and a few people with umbrellas moved slowly below, their colorful canopies drifting.
He stood at the window for a while, sniffing the rain's fishy smell. He held his breath, thinking he'd win if he could hold it until the black umbrella at the front disappeared from view.
Exhaling, he let the curtain fall and returned to the bed with a pleasant mood, picking up his phone.
