The building where Su Kun lived was located in a somewhat remote area, at the westernmost edge of the complex, right next to the courtyard wall. Walking straight ahead for about fifty meters along the small path near the courtyard wall, you would reach the small south gate of the residential area.

The old man who guarded the gate there would always bring a small stool and sit under the shade of a tree in front of the guard room, playing with his tiny grandson.

In this season, to avoid the high temperatures, office workers were leaving home earlier and earlier, and few people were willing to return home for lunch under the scorching sun.

Su Kun's departure time happened to be at the awkward hours of 9 or 10 o'clock, neither early nor late.

The entire road was devoid of people coming and going. Even outside, just a wall away, the breakfast stalls had already passed their busy time and quieted down, with no sounds of people to be heard. Only occasionally, someone's parked electric scooter would be bumped, emitting a series of wailing alarms, accompanied by the cicada chirps deep in the treetops, making the road Su Kun was walking on seem even more desolate.

It was against this backdrop that the shoebox-sized coffin lay quietly atop the pile of garbage. The dark brown arched coffin lid had a very deep lacquer color, with a matte finish. Scattered around it were shattered thermos flask liners from someone's discarded items. The tiny silver fragments glinted dazzlingly in the sunlight. Su Kun only looked at the coffin for a few seconds before being blinded by the brightness on either side of it, making him a bit dizzy.

Just as he was feeling a bit dazed and about to take a step to leave, the thing inside the coffin - to be precise, the thing inside the coffin - seemed to sense Su Kun's presence and suddenly moved.

"Oh my god!" TAT

Su Kun, who was already quite nervous, let out a startled cry, almost reflexively jumping up and turning to run.

The old man at the gate only felt a gust of wind passing by, and a figure bouncing and flashing past, crying out for his parents. "..."

Su Kun was not very short, about 1.77 meters tall, but because of his thin build, fair skin, and baby face, he looked much younger than his actual age. With a bag slung across his shoulder, no matter how you looked at him, he resembled a boy still in school.

The old man at the gate had seen him quite a few times, but never once had he walked out normally. He patted the bottom of his little grandson, who was learning to walk in a small stroller, and said, "Learn to walk properly. If you don't, you'll be like this naughty kid tomorrow, walking like you have epilepsy."

The "epileptic" Su Kun got on a bus at the entrance of the community. The sudden run just now had made him break out in a sweat, and as soon as he entered the bus door, the ample air conditioning inside gave him goosebumps all over.

This community was the second stop of this bus route's starting point, so there weren't many people, and there were still many empty seats. He sat down in the last single seat in the middle row.

As soon as he sat down, he heard two older women in the double seat behind him chatting intermittently about demolition and relocation. He leaned against the seat back and listened quietly, one hand propped against the bus window, the other resting on his shoulder bag, watching the thick, tall sycamore trees flashing by outside the window one by one.

The two older women seemed to be in the same area as his old house, which was an old district on the eastern outskirts of Li City, located between the countryside and the city. It was an area of gray brick and black tile, with small courtyards and alleys full of moss on the corners of the walls.

From the outside, it looked quite charming, but the facilities in the area were already somewhat lagging behind the times. Even buying vegetables required taking a bus into the city, which was really inconvenient for the people living there, especially the elderly.

There had been rumors a few years ago that the government was going to demolish and redevelop the area to expand the scope of the urban district. Two years ago, people from the relocation office even went door-to-door to distribute survey questionnaires and gather opinions. At that time, Su Kun only hesitated slightly before filling in "agree".

Speaking of that old house, including Su Kun, three generations had lived in it. Apart from the occasional inconvenience in life, the others were all quite used to living there, especially the older generation. If they were faced with a relocation survey, they would definitely write a big "no". But for someone like Su Kun, who couldn't even walk safely at night, that old house was really deadly.

His deepest childhood memory was the ghostly wailing sound of the wind blowing through the alleys every evening at dusk.

And the courtyard across from his house, which no one entered or exited all year round...

Back then, four- or five-year-old Su Kun would stand outside the doorstep, his body not much taller than the high, narrow threshold. His line of sight would cross the small courtyard and he could only see the dim hall inside.

Beside the eight immortals table placed opposite the altar, an old lady of small stature would sit alone, her features always hidden in the shadows and never clearly visible. She would always wave to Su Kun from afar, her voice full of age, circling the courtyard and reaching Su Kun's ears, repeating over and over, "Come in..."

At that time, Su Kun didn't understand much of anything and would instinctively turn and run back to his own home upon hearing that voice, then use all his strength to close the wooden door. Later, when he was older, he learned from his family's conversations that the old lady, whose face was blurry in his memory, had passed away long ago, and the door of the courtyard across from them had almost never been opened since he was born.

From then on, this old lady became a frequent visitor in Su Kun's childhood nightmares, causing him no small psychological shadow. Even now, when he sees an old lady at night, his legs will reflexively go weak.

After his parents passed away unexpectedly, Su Kun no longer dared to live alone in that old district, so he rented the house to a few migrant workers from out of town and moved to a place closer to his company, sharing a rental with Geng Zimo in the current house.

Therefore, Su Kun was happy about the demolition and relocation, even though that old house contained memories of more than half his life. It was just something he couldn't do anything about if he couldn't live there.

However, after the relocation office finished their survey, there was no further progress on the demolition and relocation, and it was inexplicably put on hold, dragging on until now. As the surrounding houses gradually became desolate and households moved into the urban district one after another, the people remaining in the old district were also getting a bit impatient. The discussions and dissatisfaction had grown louder and louder in the past two years, and all kinds of rumors had also increased.

And the theory that Su Kun was inclined to believe was that the government was in no hurry to use that piece of land for the time being, so the area would not be demolished for two or three years.

If it were a couple of years ago, when Su Kun was still actively striving in his first company, he definitely wouldn't have kept the demolition and relocation in mind. After all, he was more than capable of supporting himself, and he could just let the old house matter take its natural course. But now, this matter had a significant impact on him...

Why?

"Damn it, I'm out of money again, ahhhhh!" TAT

Su Kun, who came to the snack street near S University to check it out and also went to the bank to transfer the coffin-buying money to Geng Zimo's card, looked at the balance on his bank card with tears streaming down his face.