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墨書 Inktalez
"Hey! Wake up! You can't sleep here!"
A baton jabbed roughly into Lin Xiaofan's side. He jolted awake, the blinding sunlight streaming in from the subway entrance making his vision swim. Dried saliva crusted at the corner of his mouth, and the back of his neck felt stiff against the cold tile.
"Show me your ID," the security guard said impatiently, tapping the baton against his palm.
Flustered, Lin Xiaofan fumbled through his pockets and pulled out his wallet, dropping his ID on the ground. As the guard bent down to pick it up, he wrinkled his nose—Lin Xiaofan still carried the musty smell from under the overpass and the cheap cake scent from the convenience store.
"Oh, look at you, a white-collar worker," the guard sneered, glancing at Lin Xiaofan's wrinkled shirt. "How did you end up like this?"
Lin Xiaofan didn’t respond; he mechanically took back his ID. He glanced at his phone—7:30 AM, time to clock in at work. Even though Supervisor Zhang had fired him yesterday, he needed to go back to collect his things, at least to retrieve his mother’s photo from his drawer.
The morning rush hour in the subway was like a can of sardines. Lin Xiaofan found himself wedged in a corner, his forehead pressed against the cold glass of the window. The reflection showed his bloodshot eyes and dark circles, making him look like a homeless person. His phone vibrated; it was a final notice from his landlord: "If rent isn’t paid by noon today, I’ll change the locks."
The revolving door of the company building still gleamed brightly. Lin Xiaofan tugged at his shirt hem, trying to appear presentable. But as soon as the receptionist saw him, she immediately pressed the security alert button.
"I... I’m here to collect my things," Lin Xiaofan's voice came out dry as sandpaper.
"Supervisor Zhang has instructed that your belongings have been packed," the receptionist said, pulling out a cardboard box filled with a few notebooks and a picture frame. "Please sign here."
Inside the frame was a photo of him and his mother taken last Spring Festival. The glass was shattered, with spiderweb-like cracks crossing over her smiling face.
The elevator doors opened, and Supervisor Zhang stepped out with several colleagues from sales. They paused upon seeing Lin Xiaofan before erupting into a deliberately subdued laughter.
"Oh look, it’s our 'philanthropist'!" Supervisor Zhang raised his voice intentionally. "I heard you registered with some Cancer Foundation yesterday? Planning to steal business from the Red Cross?"
His colleagues chimed in with mocking laughter. Lin Xiaofan’s fingers turned white as they gripped the box; his throat felt stuffed with cotton.
"By the way," Supervisor Zhang suddenly remembered something as he turned to leave and pulled an envelope from his briefcase. "Here’s your termination letter. It states 'terminated for prolonged absenteeism,' so don’t say I wronged you."
The envelope hit Lin Xiaofan’s chest and fluttered down to the floor. As he bent down to pick it up, he overheard someone whispering, "I heard he’s deep in debt and that his girlfriend left him..."
Stepping out of the company building, May's sunlight was so bright that Lin Xiaofan could barely open his eyes. He sat on the curb, trembling as he opened his mobile banking app. The frozen funds would take another 60 hours to unlock, while his available balance only included last night’s unexpected reward—5,000 yuan.
"Ding dong—"
A message arrived from an unfamiliar number: [Is this Mr. Lin Xiaofan? We are from West City Rescue Station; the elderly person you helped yesterday has found their family...]
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