The Lamp in the Empty House

You An had rung the night watch bell in Qingshi Town for twelve years. Next month, the position would be abolished, and his wages would only be paid through the end of the month. His grandmother was still two doses short of her medicine. At the worst possible moment, he rang the wrong hour: one extra chime, and another house in town lit up. That house had been empty for three years.

A mistaken chime had to be made up, and making it up meant walking the route alone in the middle of the night. The echo lagged one beat behind his own ringing. The counting of the lights stopped outside his door, and the register showed an entry from last month for the owner of a household that had been missing for three years. The chimes, the lights, and the register didn't match. You An could only keep counting, night after night.