I Delivered a Food Order, and the Customer Was Dead

It was pouring that night when I took a late-night delivery order. The delivery fee was forty-eight yuan.

The address was an abandoned apartment building in the demolition zone south of town. The note said: Leave it at the door. Don't knock.

I delivered it. In the stairwell stood an old man in a blue padded jacket, facing away from me, completely motionless.

I said, "Excuse me," and casually patted him on the shoulder.

My hand went right through him.

The old man had been dead for a long time.

And I touched it. Now it's my turn.