BUYING NECESSITIES WAS ONE OF THE FEW PERMISSIBLE REASONS TO GO OUT, SO PEOPLE LINGERED IN THE SUPERMARKET AISLES, INSPECTING PRODUCTS AS IF THEY WERE PONDERING A MASTERWORK IN A MUSEUM.

wouldn’t achieve much success for a while. But Mingming did her best to take him along with her. He had a few things going for him: He kept his nails clean and trimmed, the lenses of his glasses were always free of fingerprints, there was no dandruff on his collar, his mouth didn’t smell like her father’s mouth, his clothes didn’t smell like her father’s clothes, and even when he acted a bit smug, like after the walk-ins signed up for a tour, it was kind of endearing.

She unlocked the door. Inside the office, there was a faint smell of dust. The dish on the counter still had a few chocolates in it, probably expired or close to it. As she walked across the floor, she heard it creak under her feet. When there were people around, the sound was usually covered up, but it was annoyingly sharp in complete silence.

Mingming sat down and opened the sandwich she had bought at the supermarket. It wasn’t very good, but it was small enough that she was taking her last bite before she realized. Buying necessities was one of the few permissible reasons to go out during the lockdown, so people lingered in the supermarket aisles, inspecting mundane products as if they were pondering a masterwork in a museum. The employees stationed at the door didn’t actually do anything. If you stopped to disinfect your hands or swipe your app, there was no reaction, and charging past them would only inspire a furrowed brow, a shake of the head, or a weak exhortation muffled by a mask. When Mingming first arrived, she told her mother, “Everyone always smiles at each other here.”

“They want you to open your wallet,” her father had grunted. “You international students are nothing but cash cows.”

The neighboring stores opened up one by one. Nobody wanted to wait until nighttime. Each time the lockdown was lifted before, Mingming had rushed through cleaning up the office, getting back in touch with drivers and contacts at scenic spots, updating her price lists, printing new posters—and then they got locked down again. Two times, three times, five days, a hundred days, back in to open up shop again, clean everything, take down the old posters, send out a message about a special offer...

The sixth lockdown had lasted more than two months, but it was supposed to be the last one. Before opening the travel agency, Feng Zhaoting had told her to consider the future, and what it would be like rushing another brigade of tourists to the same old place. There would be tough days, and there