Chapter 18: The Vanished Afternoon

After working three jobs in a row for two weeks straight, my body had developed a kind of numb inertia. Every day, I worked at the courier station from 4 a.m. to 8 a.m., at the construction site from 9 a.m. to 5 a.m., and at the internet cafe from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. The breaks in between were going home to eat, checking Su Qingqing’s math homework, and sleeping for three to four hours. Life was like a product on an assembly line, one after another, all looking the same.

The construction site closed early today; the foreman…