The Unsettling Letter

After an exhausting day at the hospital, Zhi Miao returned home, famished and weary. She carried the frozen meat from her doorstep into her house, absentmindedly kicking off her shoes. Her foot brushed against a piece of paper, and she bent down to pick it up. It was an unaddressed letter that had been slipped through the door crack.

While she carried groceries into the kitchen and started thawing the frozen meat, she carefully opened the envelope. As she began to read, she realized it was a letter that raised numerous questions. "Dear Miss Zhi Miao," it began, "you might be wondering who I am and why I'm writing to you. All your questions will be answered if you keep reading."

The letter continued, delving into the theme of inequality in life, where some people are born with silver spoons while others struggle from the very beginning. The writer went on to explain his own hardships, being forced to quit school to support his family, which had left him with a job delivering packages at the age of thirty.

The letter revealed that the writer was the same person who had confessed his feelings to Zhi Miao in front of her home the previous week. He recounted the tragic loss of his mother just after the funeral, and how he had been overwhelmed with a sudden urge to confess his love to her, which he did despite the odds.

Zhi Miao was now realizing that the letter was from that same courier. His words described the awkwardness of their encounter, Zhi Miao's initial shock and rejection, and the appearance of her dog, Snowflake, which the courier mentioned by name. He remembered her reaction to Snowflake, pulling the dog into the apartment like a concerned mother shielding her child from a beggar.

The letter explained the man's understanding of her rejection and contained harsh words about the lack of empathy shown by people who have had an easy life. He accused her and others like her of discarding people in need as soon as their use was exhausted, and he mentioned a heartless doctor who had treated his mother the same way.

With bitterness, the letter told Zhi Miao that the author's mother had not died of natural causes but had been sent home to die after the family's financial resources were drained. He accused her of contributing to his mother's death by neglecting her when she needed care.

The writer continued to express his anger, suggesting that Zhi Miao and her kind had no understanding of the pain he was experiencing. The letter implied that her well-preserved life had made her blind to the suffering of others.

The letter ended with a chilling revelation. As Zhi Miao finished reading and looked down at the frozen meat, she noticed her dog's name tag floating in a basin of blood.