Because guests were coming, Lu Xin's family ate more slowly than usual that day.
They sat quietly around the dining table. Father drank noticeably more slowly than usual, while Mom picked at the dishes absentmindedly. Lu Xin ate the grains of rice one by one, and Sister's attention was clearly not on the television today. She crouched on her chair, scattering rice everywhere as she kept turning her head to listen for movement outside the window.
Lu Xin gradually felt the atmosphere growing oppressive and silently sighed.
The guests were too rude, arriving so late that the family was becoming impatient.
"Are you really going?"
On a lively street in Satellite City No. 4, several diners of all sorts sat at a street stall selling small wontons and grilled skewers.
Some were young girls, some were aunties in their fifties, some were workers with unkempt beards and dust covering their clothes, and some were students with schoolbags on their backs.
A bowl of wontons sat before each person, while the stainless-steel plates held skewers grilled until slightly charred.
"Why would you ask such a question?"
Hearing the auntie's question, everyone at the stall turned to look at her.
The high school student with a schoolbag began to grow agitated. Suppressing the anger in his eyes, he said to the auntie, "You're already one of us. We're the people who have seen the truth of this world. Why would you still ask such a question?"
"Those people... Those people are idiots..."
His agitated face held an unsettling look. He gestured forcefully with both hands in the air. "You don't realize how stupid they are until you meet them... They like being this way, like walking corpses, following those hypocritical rules. They're perfectly willing to become slaves to hypocrisy. Even