Silent Spring Day

In the corridor on the third floor of the Municipal Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, Lin Guodong leaned against the cold tile wall. He was wearing his five-year-old navy blue jacket, which had some fraying at the collar. He held a half-burned cigarette in his right hand, but the hospital's no-smoking sign was posted on the opposite side, so he just held the cigarette and let it turn into gray embers little by little.