In the shabby old apartment he rented as a migrant in Shanghai, Lin Feng was pounded on the door by the agent demanding rent. He was three days overdue and had to pay double the penalty. With only 500 yuan left on him, he pleaded for leniency, but the agent was unyielding and gave him just two days. A message from his mother popped up on his phone: they still hadn't scraped together the money for her kidney disease follow-up. Lin Feng forced himself to reply, "The money's coming soon." After hanging up, he squatted in the hallway and smoked. For the first time, he felt that "Shanghai is so vast, yet there's nowhere in it for me."
