Stains on the Wall

Li Cheng, an ordinary clerk in the city of Beiping, squeezed onto the clanging trams every day, traveling from the pigeon coop in the south of the city to the concrete buildings in the north, earning just enough money to get by. Life was like a donkey pulling a millstone, going around in circles, with no end in sight.

On this day, Li Cheng returned home from work, as usual, exhausted, like a toad that had been drained of its strength. He entered the house, turned on the light, and the bright white bulb illuminated the four white walls, empty and desolate, revealing a sense of shabbiness. He took off his shoes, plopped down on the hard wooden bed, and stared blankly at the wall.

On the wall, a stain had appeared at some point, yellowish-brown, like the mark left by a child who wet the bed. Li Cheng frowned, thinking: Where did this come from? I didn't see it yesterday. He leaned closer to look, and the stain seemed to have grown hair, fine and dense, making one's heart feel creepy.

"This is strange!" Li Cheng muttered, got up, went to the kitchen to get a rag, dampened it with water, and vigorously wiped the stain. But strangely, the more he wiped, the clearer the stain became, and the color became darker, like a piece of dog-skin plaster, firmly stuck to the wall.

Li Cheng felt a little flustered; this stain seemed to have an evil aura. He didn't dare to wipe it anymore, sat blankly on the bed, staring at the stain, and the more he looked, the more it seemed like an eye, a dark hole, staring right at him.

That night, Li Cheng had a dream. He dreamt that he had turned into a fly, flying around the stain, unable to fly out. He desperately flapped his wings, but felt his body getting heavier and heavier, and finally, with a "pop," he fell into the stain and disappeared into darkness.

Li Cheng woke up in a cold sweat. He looked up at the wall, and the stain was still there, only darker, like a bottomless black hole, about to suck people in.

In the following days, Li Cheng's life was completely messed up. He was absent-minded at work, constantly making mistakes, and was scolded by the shopkeeper; he had no appetite, and the sight of food reminded him of the stain, making him feel nauseous; at night, he couldn't sleep, and when he closed his eyes, he saw that nightmare.

Li Cheng felt that he couldn't go on like this, and he had to find a way to get rid of the stain. He found a painter and wanted to repaint the wall. But the painter looked at the stain, shook his head, and said, "This won't do, this stain is evil, I'm afraid it won't be useful no matter how many times you paint it."

Li Cheng then went to a fortune teller to ask if he had been cursed. The fortune teller made some calculations and said, "You've encountered 'Tai Sui', you must move immediately, otherwise disaster will befall you!"

Li Cheng was scared out of his wits when he heard this. But how could he afford to move? This pigeon coop was left by his parents and was his only foothold in this world.

Li Cheng was completely desperate. He felt like the stain on the wall, trapped in this city, with nowhere to escape. He began to become numb, losing interest in everything. Every day, except for going to work and returning home, he stared blankly at the stain on the wall, like a wooden man without a soul.

One day, Li Cheng returned home from work and found that the stain on the wall was gone. He rubbed his eyes and confirmed that he wasn't mistaken. That stain had really disappeared, as if it had never existed.

Li Cheng was stunned, he didn't know if this was a good thing or a bad thing. He stood there blankly, looking at the white wall, and suddenly felt empty inside, like something was missing. What else did he have in this world? This Beiping, these people, this… himself?

The wall was still the same wall, but without the stain, Li Cheng felt that he had also disappeared with the stain. He didn't know who he was or where he should go. He was like a lost soul, wandering in this bustling city, unable to find his home, like a residue crushed by the giant wheel of the times, insignificant, yet with a trace of unwilling struggle.

Finally, he walked to the moat, and slowly stepped inside.