Chapter 7 — Behind the Ladder is a Life of Atonement

When it rains, he doesn't use an umbrella. The jacket was quickly soaked. He bowed his head and took out the cigarette lighter from his pocket, but no matter what, he couldn't light it. The lighter was pressed more than ten times, only a few cold damp sparks flashed. The security guard went to advise him: "Sir, Director Hua said he wouldn't see me. Go home." He broke his cigarette, his voice was hoarse: "I'll just stand for a moment, won't bother her." The security guard looked at him. "It's not like you don't bother." Luc Can Chau raised his head to look at the window on the seventeenth floor with the lights turned off, his fingers slowly tightening the empty bag left after depositing the key box. lock. The story of Aunt Trinh's family stealing all of his last cash was mentioned by Luc's mother in a later call. I only heard one sentence that interrupted her: "Mrs. Luc, the case is over. There is no need to continue contact between us." Luc's mother cried on the other end of the phone. "Le Le, it is our family's fault for you." I looked at the drawing on the table. "You're late." After hanging up the phone, I continued to adjust the height of the handrail in the hallway of the nursing home. The sound of rain outside the window was very thick. The light in the office is warm. I moved the sensor light position three centimeters toward the bed, making a very clear note: 【The first step when the elderly wake up at night must have light.】 Luc Can Chau waited in the office for three days. On the third night it rained heavily. When I got off work, he overcame the security guards and rushed out to kneel in front of the car. Rainwater ran down his bangs and down his face. The driver stepped on the brake and looked at me nervously. "Director Hua, do you need to call the police?" I covered the car with my umbrella and stood two steps away from him. "Speak." Luc Can Chau took out a home ownership certificate wrapped in many layers of plastic bags from his chest, holding it in front of me with both hands. "This is the last house in the countryside that I had before I got married. I signed the transfer papers and gave it to you." I don't. accepted. "The court's verdict, I have accepted it." He raised his head to look at me, his voice as if it had been sandpapered. "I know it's not enough. Aunt Trinh's family swindled all my money, I was also boycotted by the whole industry. Now I have nothing left." I looked at his struggling appearance, suddenly feeling that this person was extremely strange. The man who once valued face above all else, now knelt in the rain, wanting to use the last bit of his wealth in exchange for peace of mind. I laughed. "Luc Can Chau, you're still selfish until now." His face stiffened. "I just want to make it up to you." "I don't want to make it up to me. I just want to be able to sleep well at night." I lowered the rim of my umbrella and calmly said: "You're suffering not because of how much you love me, nor because you love my mother. It's because you've lost your job and your face, you've lost me, the person who once volunteered to be your stepping stone." we started to tremble. I continued to say: "I discovered that the morality I was always proud of was just a joke, so I couldn't stand it. I'm crying for my stupidity, don't take the love that makes me disgusted." Luc Can Chau knelt in a puddle. The house ownership certificate in a plastic bag has been wrinkled by rainwater. He asked hoarsely: "Is there really no chance left? I am willing to spend the remaining half of my life as a buffalo and a horse for you." I looked into his eyes. "You are not worthy." As soon as those three words fell, his whole body seemed to have been stripped of its bones, his shoulders slowly slumping. I turned around and got in the car. Before the window went up, he suddenly said in a low voice: "I came to visit my mother. I come every month. I bowed my head and apologized to her." I looked straight ahead. "You don't deserve it." The driver started the car, muddy water splashed onto his pants. In

In the rearview mirror, Luc Can Chau was still kneeling there, holding up a house ownership certificate that no one needed. After the car drove away, he finally bowed his head, his forehead pressed against the cold puddle. The security guard stood next to him holding an umbrella and sighed: "Go home, people have left." Luc Can Chau did not move. When I returned to the rented room, it was already midnight. In the room there was only an old bed, a suitcase, and a bent crutch in the corner that he brought out of the new house. He changed into wet clothes, his fingers were so cold that he couldn't button his shirt. On the tea table were several debt collection papers. The loan note that Aunt Trinh's son left behind was torn up a long time ago. The message Luc's mother sent also stopped at one sentence. 【Don't come looking for us anymore. It was you who ruined this family.】 Luc Can Chau sat on the ground, picked up the crutch, and used a dry towel to wipe the mud under the crutch over and over again. Wiping until the fingertips broke the skin, the mud stains were still there. He suddenly burst out laughing, very briefly. The phone screen lights up. It was a text message from an unknown number. 【General Manager Luc, do you remember me? Aunt Trinh said you're both stupid and have a lot of money, so please lend me a hundred thousand yuan to manage it.】 Luc Can Chau stared at that line. After a long while, he turned off the screen. Outside the window, the rain has not stopped.