ETH Was Still Falling

night. Pei Yanzhou sat down on the floor. He finally heard something in his chest snap. Not money. The string that had been holding him together for days. He thought of the emergency cash he had moved in, the rent, his parents, the line “I’m just trying it,” every warning from Lin Zhaoye, Heliandao’s polite smile, Song Yanbei’s “last flush.” Everyone had watched him dream through a sheet of glass, and he had been the one who took it all most seriously and fell the hardest. He did not go home. He threw up in the office bathroom. Afterward, he stood by the sink for a long time, looking at his reflection. His face was frighteningly pale. The shadows under his eyes were dark enough to look continuous.