"Later, I stayed on at the university and became a professor... Uncle had always supported me. He told me that studying was the most important thing. Only by studying could I understand this world and avoid being blinded by all the noise."
"He told me I wasn't some bringer of misfortune. I had merely endured a little more suffering than others."
"This world is random. Suffering always falls randomly upon everyone. It just happened to fall on me a few more times..."
"Before Uncle passed away, he called me to his bedside and asked me a question. He asked whether, after reading so many books and learning so much, I had figured out how his sister and brother-in-law—my parents—had died."
"I couldn't answer him. All I could do was watch him leave this world in disappointment."
"I've come back many times over the years. Whenever I came to the lake, I thought of Uncle's disappointment when he left, and of my parents... I've even forgotten what they looked like. I can't remember what their voices sounded like, either."
"The mine pit became a lake, and my memories were drowned as well..."
The middle-aged man reached up to wipe the tears from the corners of his eyes, then looked at Lu Youqi.
"Boring, isn't it? You came here to travel, so you probably don't want to hear such a trite, rambling story."
"It's fine." Lu Youqi replied flatly. He had wanted to say that the story was "interesting," but that did not seem appropriate. He could hardly find someone else's suffering interesting, could he?
"I rarely see outsiders come here. You get tired of looking at this lake after a while, and the park is full of old, worn-out things. What made you think of coming here?"
"We came to find