Chapter 1 — Midnight Doorbell

At one o'clock in the morning, I was woken up by the doorbell ringing repeatedly. No need to think to know who it is. On a rainy night three months ago, I conveniently opened the door of the building to help the old lady who lived opposite. From then on, she never rang her doorbell again. When I come home from a walk at midnight, I ring my doorbell. When I come back from the market in the morning, I ring my doorbell. I tried to endure the morning sickness, got up and pressed the call button: "Mrs. Truong, I told you that I'm having sex. Being woken up in the middle of the night, I really can't stand it..." The other end impatiently shouted: "Oh, isn't your husband at home? Just wake him up." I turned my head to look towards the bed. My husband has worked overtime day and night continuously, and is now sleeping very soundly. I tried to suppress my anger and said through the walkie-talkie: "It's not just your family who needs to rest. I have no obligation to open the door to help you." "From now on, please ring your doorbell, don't bother us anymore!" After disconnecting, I opened my eyes and lay in bed until it was almost dawn. Just after sleeping for a while, the doorbell rang again. At one o'clock in the morning, I was woken up by the doorbell ringing repeatedly. No need to think to know who it is. On a rainy night three months ago, I conveniently opened the door of the building to help the old lady who lived opposite. From then on, she never rang her doorbell again. When I come home from a walk at midnight, I ring my doorbell. When I come back from the market in the morning, I ring my doorbell. I tried to endure the morning sickness, got up and pressed the call button: "Mrs. Truong, I told you that I'm having sex. Being woken up in the middle of the night, I really can't stand it..." The other end impatiently shouted: "Oh, isn't your husband at home? Just wake him up." I turned my head to look towards the bed. My husband has worked overtime day and night continuously, and is now sleeping very soundly. I tried to suppress my anger and said through the walkie-talkie: "It's not just your family who needs to rest. I have no obligation to open the door to help you." "From now on, please ring your doorbell, don't bother us anymore!" After disconnecting, I opened my eyes and lay in bed until it was almost dawn. Just after sleeping for a while, the doorbell rang again. …… My heart suddenly tightened, I woke up with a start and looked at the time. Five thirty in the morning. It was definitely Mrs. Truong again. Every day before dawn, she goes to the market to buy cheap things. I was so angry that my temples twitched continuously, so I decided to cover my ears with the blanket. I thought if no one answered, maybe she would remember and ring her doorbell. As a result, for five minutes, the doorbell kept ringing "ding dong, ding doong" continuously. My stomach started to cramp, I held my stomach, and had difficulty getting out of bed. Walking to the doorbell, seeing that face, I immediately pulled out the power cord. The world is finally quiet. But I couldn't sleep anymore. The more I thought about it, the angrier I became. I decided to pick up the phone and intend to complain to the residents' group. The sound of "banging" on the door came. I opened the door and saw the old woman carrying a basket of vegetables, her face angry. Without waiting for me to speak, she rolled her eyes and said: "What's wrong with you today? I've been standing downstairs waiting all day!" "If the patrolling security hadn't come in time, I would have been dead tired!" "Everyone is a neighbor, telling you to open the door a little bit, but why don't you volunteer?" I tried to suppress my anger and asked back: "Doesn't your house also have a doorbell? Why do you always ring my house?" Mrs. Truong was eloquent. replied: "My eldest grandson is in his development stage and can't stand the noise." "You kids stay up late every day without sleeping. How about opening the door for me?" I was so angry that my lips trembled: "But I'm pregnant, I can't stand the noise either!" "Isn't that your house?"

Are there still people? How can a young girl have no compassion for people like that? "The more she spoke, the louder she spoke. My lower back ached, thinking about having to go to work during the day. If I didn't sleep to make up for it, I could only ask for a day off today. "Okay, we just don't have compassion for people!" "From now on, don't ring my doorbell anymore!" Having finished speaking, I interrupted her and slammed the door. I blocked out her noise from outside. I returned to the bedroom and started to catch up on sleep. In a fit of rage, I interrupted her. Drowsily, I felt like I was about to fall asleep. Suddenly, the phone rang. "Hello, Miss Vuong?" The baby stroller she bought was delivered downstairs, but after ringing the bell, no one answered. "Thinking that there were still a lot of orders that had been delivered recently, I had to reconnect the wire to the doorbell. When I lay down again, the sky was bright. All day long at work, I felt dizzy and heavy. At eleven o'clock at night, I finished showering and walked out. My body felt as heavy as lead. I had just turned off the light and went to bed when: "Ding." doong~” “Ding doong!” The doorbell rang again. I pushed my husband who was lying next to me. “Go open the door, it's the old woman opposite.” My husband rubbed his eyes and got up, went to the door to look at the video doorbell screen. He did not open the door of the building but turned around to open the door of his house. He went directly to the house opposite, knocking on their door. A man lowered his voice and angrily opened the door: “Who is there, in the middle of the night!” “My mother is ringing the bell!” My doorbell rings, please go down and open the door for her. From now on, don't let her ring my doorbell again." The man's voice suddenly rose: "If she rings your doorbell, you can open it." "What are you doing knocking on my door? My baby is only a few months old, do you know how difficult it is to comfort him? You knocked like this and woke it up, who is responsible? "I lifted the blanket and got out of bed. Going to the door, I pointed at the doorbell and said to the man: "Your mother has been ringing my doorbell for three months." "At least twice a day, we have opened the door for her more than a hundred times. Don't we need to rest in the middle of the night?” “Can't you make her an access card? It's just a matter of a card." The man pouted, the corners of his mouth drooped: "For old people, it's normal for old people to often forget to bring them." "Everyone is a neighbor, you can easily press one and it won't take much effort." He said it so gently. Three months, more than ninety days, every day at dawn someone pulled me out of my dream just to open the door for a strange old woman. I was so angry that my lips almost trembled: "I told your mother many times that I'm pregnant, but she just pretends not to understand." "At night she wants to go for a walk, in the morning she wants to go to the market, and every time she comes back she just rings my doorbell." "Your child is only a few months old so he's afraid of noise, isn't the child in my belly afraid? If something really happened, would you be able to make up for it?" Seeing that I was getting more and more agitated, my husband quickly reached out to support my waist. The man opposite's eyes suddenly avoided, but his mouth remained firm: "Then you guys go negotiate with her yourself, why are you looking for me?" Looking at his shameless appearance, my lower abdomen suddenly cramped. "Okay, I don't care, right? Then I will complain to the management." "Also, my house absolutely will not open the door to your mother anymore. If you're good, just let her wait outside." He rolled his eyes and let out a sneer through his nose: "You can complain wherever you like." Having said that, he dragged his slippers down the stairs, muttering something as he walked. I went back into the house, took out my phone and opened the residents group. When I poked my finger at the screen, my hand was still shaking. "@Building manager, the old lady from the opposite house has been ringing my doorbell day and night for three days.

month. Every day at four or five o'clock in the morning, it seriously affects the rest of pregnant women. Can you manage this?" The group was silent for a few seconds, then the manager replied: "Hello Ms. Vuong, we ask you to discuss carefully with the owner of the apartment opposite. Management can't decide on things like this." The manager's indifferent, bland tone made people angry. "So why don't you install a facial recognition system?" "The residential gates and building doors both use facial recognition, so why bother with such troublesome things?" The manager also responded very quickly: "The equipment is very expensive. If it is completely replaced, the management fee for each household must increase by fifty yuan per month. This requires the consent of the homeowners." Before I could say anything, a new message appeared in the group. It was a man from the opposite house. His profile picture was a picture of him holding a child. "My family will definitely not pay this amount. @Ms. Vuong, how about you pay in full? Anyway, she's the only one who complains about the noise." Other people also spoke up one after another, saying that it couldn't be just because of my problem that I had to change the device. Looking at the people in the group who always maintained the "it's not about me" attitude, I angrily threw the phone on the bed. My husband put his hand on my back and advised me: "Don't confront them anymore. My body is heavy, it's not worth being so angry that it's not worth it." "If it really doesn't work, we'll move to another house, but this one is for rent." I gritted my teeth and said: "This is not up to them to decide." "I will follow the process of the owner's representative board." My husband looked at my clenched hand, then swallowed what he was about to say and went back in. On the weekend morning, I took the printed opinion sheets out of the house. I started typing. One door at a time. After hearing what I said, someone immediately closed the door. There were also people who stared at the form for a long time, asking, "Do I have to pay?", then shook their head. The person on the first floor was the most decisive. After hearing my purpose, they didn't even look closely at the signed form. "That old lady..." "Last time you didn't open the door for her, she stood at the door for a long time, making my son not sleep." "On the second floor is an old man who lives alone. Before I could finish speaking, he waved his hand impatiently and slammed the door. No one answered on the third and fourth floors. The fifth floor was the house opposite us. I looked through the cat's eyes and saw a light inside, but knocked three times and still no one opened the door. After going from house to house, my legs were so tired that they were shaking. I sat in the stairs, counting the number of people who agreed, still far short. Totally not enough ratio. The owner's representative requested. That night, I sat in the house thinking for a long time. It started to rain outside the window, raindrops pounding on the metal layer of the air conditioner. At 5:30 a.m., I still hadn't slept. Suddenly, the "ding dong" sound rang out again. I got up and turned on the phone, then I sent the video to the group and mentioned the name of apartment 502, building number 3 I rang the bell again, go down and open the door." Less than ten seconds after the message was sent, he replied: "Are you sick?" "You're obviously not asleep yet, just open the door, why do you have to make so much noise that everyone won't be able to rest in peace?" The group was silent for half a minute, then one after another someone spoke up. An aunt whose profile picture was a peony said: "Someone has a newborn baby at home, making noise to the baby is not good. How about opening the door for a little while?" Another account continued: "That's right, everyone is neighbors, what good is it for you to be so tense?"