What is a secret?

  A secret is something that only you can enjoy alone.

  It may bring you happiness, or it may bring you pain. Whatever it is, it is yours alone completely.

  If it is painful, you must endure it alone. If it is joyful, you cannot share it with others.

  Not even with your best friend.

  Because if a second person knows the secret, then it is no longer a secret.

  Some secrets are indeed a kind of pleasure.

  When you have just finished a good meal, taken a warm bath, put on a loose, comfortable old robe, and are sitting alone in a cozy chair, gazing out at a sky full of sunset hues, and you suddenly think of your secret—your heart will involuntarily fill with a quiet warmth…

  If your secret is this kind, then you might as well keep it forever. Otherwise, it's better to say it out loud sooner rather than ter.

  Guo Dalu had been sitting there for a long time.

  As long as there was anything else to do, he wouldn't be sitting here.

  Some people would rather wander around aimlessly, watching others walk up and down the street, watching stray dogs fight at the corner of a wall, than stay cooped up inside.

  Guo Dalu was that kind of person.

  But now, the only thing he could do was sit here in a daze.

  Icicles hung beneath the window, some long, some short, their number unknown.

  But Guo Dalu knew—there were exactly sixty-three of them. Twenty-six were longer, and thirty-seven were shorter.

  Because he had counted them. Seventeen times.

  It was unbearably cold. The streets were empty—not a single person in sight. Even the stray dogs had disappeared, hiding who knows where.

  He had lived for over twenty years and endured over twenty winters, but he couldn't remember a time colder than this.

  When a person is truly down on their luck, it seems even the weather conspires against them.

  He had often been unlucky, but never this unlucky.

  Bad luck is like a contagious disease—when one person is down, those around them won't have much luck either.

  So he wasn't sitting here alone.

  Yan Qi, Wang Dong, and Lin Taiping were all sitting there too, all staring bnkly into space.

  Lin Taiping suddenly asked, “Guess how many icicles are hanging there?”

  Yan Qi said, “Sixty-three.”

  Wang Dong added, “Twenty-six long, thirty-seven short.”

  Guo Dalu couldn't help but ugh. “So, you guys counted them too.”

  Yan Qi said, “I've counted them forty times.”

  Wang Dong said, “I only counted three times because I held back from counting further.”

  Guo Dalu asked, “Didn't want to?”

  Wang Dong said, “Because I wanted to save them to count ter, slowly.”

  Guo Dalu wanted to ugh but couldn't.

  The words were ridiculous, yet also incredibly pitiful.

  Suddenly, Guo Dalu stood up, turned around, and looked at the table in the center of the room.

  A purple sandalwood table inid with a solid sb of marble.

  Guo Dalu murmured, “I wonder if I still have the strength to carry this table to my uncle's house?”

  Wang Dong said, “You don't.”

  Guo Dalu blinked. “Want me to try?”

  Wang Dong said, “There's no need.”

  Guo Dalu asked, “Why not?”

  Wang Dong said, “I know you can easily lift an empty table, but if there's something heavy on it, that's different.”

  Guo Dalu said, “But there's nothing on this table.”

  Wang Dong said, “Yes, there is.”

  Guo Dalu said, “What is it?”

  Wang Dong replied, “Dignity. And it′s not just my dignity, it′s all of ours.”

  He continued indifferently, “We not only accepted their rent but also their storage fee. If we pawned their belongings now, how could we still face people?”

  Guo Dalu sighed and gave a bitter smile. “That′s true. I really can’t lift this table.”

  Wang Dong said, “The heaviest thing in the world is dignity, so only one kind of person can lift this table.”

  Guo Dalu asked, “What kind of person?”

  Wang Dong answered, “A shameless person.”

  Lin Taiping sighed and said, “People like that are usually very well-fed.”

  Yan Qi added, “Pigs are usually well-fed too!”

  Lin Taiping ughed and said, “That’s why, if someone wants to protect their dignity, they sometimes have to go hungry. Dignity is far more important than a full stomach.”

  Yan Qi said, “Because humans are not pigs. Only pigs think their stomach is more important than their dignity.”

  Lin Taiping said, “That′s why some people would rather starve to death than do something disgraceful.”

  Wang Dong said, “But we haven't starved to death, have we?”

  Lin Taiping replied, “No.”

  Wang Dong said, “Although we haven't had a full meal in days, we've managed to hold on until now!”

  Guo Dalu pounded his chest and said, “No one can deny that our bones are harder than most people's.”