The Seven Tasks of My Final Days

Birth, aging, sickness, and death are a part of life. When they do not affect you personally, they inspire little beyond sighs and sympathy. A little over a year after graduating, Li Meng is diagnosed with late-stage rectal cancer during his company's annual checkup. He visits several hospitals for examinations, but the diagnosis never changes. The doctors tell him frankly that he has at most one year left to live. As he counts down the days, Li Meng goes through confusion and helplessness, anger and doubt, and eventually acceptance. After working through all these emotions, he sets seven goals for the time he has left, which he calls his seven-item bucket list. [This is a short story, approximately 60,000 characters.]