“Nowadays, phones are essentially a combination of the old ID cards, bank cards, and other cards. You need to bind it with your ID for payments, browsing information, and contacts. It’s also linked to the home security and adjustment systems. It functions as a personal computer, and many people now use it to handle various tasks,” Jiang Zhonglin explained.

Yu Yao looked at it and said, “I thought the screens would have gotten much bigger.”

Jiang Zhonglin replied, “You can adjust the screen size as you like. I prefer this size.” As he spoke, he demonstrated how the screen could indeed be resized.

Yu Yao finally found something about this future that she liked. She had always hated carrying around tons of IDs and certificates, and she found it inconvenient when phones kept getting bigger.

“Tomorrow, I’ll take you to get your ID and residence permit, and we’ll buy you a phone.”

“Oh,” Yu Yao replied, sitting down on the sofa and picking up the TV control screen, beginning to fiddle with it.

Seeing her slouched over and engrossed in the controls, with no intention of paying him any attention, Jiang Zhonglin was reminded of the past. Yu Yao had always been like this. She loved playing games and would immerse herself in them whenever she wasn’t working—a true adult gaming addict. He stood by for a while, like a helpless father, and gently advised, “You’ve had a long day. Maybe you should rest and get more familiar with this tomorrow.”

Without even looking up, Yu Yao replied, “I can’t sleep.”

Jiang Zhonglin had no choice but to leave her alone and walked away without disturbing her further.

When he returned to his room, the sound of the door closing echoed through the house. Yu Yao paused her actions, lifting her head to look at Jiang Zhonglin’s closed door, remaining still for a long time.

Suddenly, music blared from the TV, snapping Yu Yao’s attention back to the glowing screen. She searched for a large game she used to play frequently, only to discover…

“It’s shut down!” It had been shut down twenty years ago.

Annoyed, she kicked a couch cushion across the room and angrily searched for other games, but logging in required an ID. As someone who didn’t have an ID yet, Yu Yao could only exit the game, kicking another cushion in frustration.

She continued searching for things she was familiar with. Some she could still find, though they had changed, while most were no longer available. The phrase “everything changes” came to mind, and she felt a deep sense of melancholy.

Suddenly, her hand paused, and for the first time, a hint of happiness appeared on her stern face. Her favorite adventure novel, which the author had been writing intermittently for ten years, had kept her waiting from high school until she got married, with no end in sight. She had thought she’d never see the conclusion in her lifetime, but now, after searching, she found that it had finally been completed ten years ago! She could see the end of this massive cliffhanger in her lifetime!

She stayed up most of the night reading the book and finally reached the author’s concluding remarks: “All humans experience partings, and every moment, we are going through a farewell.”

Yu Yao tossed the control screen aside, collapsed on the sofa, and closed her eyes.

Jiang Zhonglin was still there, but she felt that she had already said goodbye forever to the Jiang Zhonglin she once knew.

Yu Yao fell asleep on the sofa. Not long after, Jiang Zhonglin’s door quietly opened. He was still fully dressed in the clothes he had worn during the day, showing no signs of having gone to bed. He quietly walked over to Yu Yao, picked up the two cushions that had fallen on the floor, turned off the TV, and, with some effort, lifted her up.

“Getting old, getting old,” he muttered under his breath, panting slightly.

When Yu Yao woke up in the morning, she found herself lying in the guest room bed, the blanket neatly covering her. Sitting up in bed, she wondered, *Old Mr. Jiang can still carry me?*

She got up to brush her teeth and wash her face. As she walked down the stairs, she heard a voice from the living room—a voice that belonged to an unfamiliar old man.

“Hey, Old Jiang, are you coming fishing with me today? My son’s driving us, and we’ll have lunch at the fish farm. In the afternoon, he’ll pick us up again.”

Jiang Zhonglin’s voice responded, “I’m not going. You go ahead. I’ve got things to do. I’ll be busy for the next few days.”

The unfamiliar old man had a loud, cheerful voice, “Oh, come on! What could you possibly be busy with? Just your research, holed up at home all day with those gadgets. Your brain’s going to get fried, and your body’s worse off than mine, and I’m over seventy!”

Jiang Zhonglin maintained his calm tone, “I really have things to do.”

“What things?” the old man pressed.

Jiang Zhonglin didn’t answer.

The unfamiliar old man continued, “See? You just don’t want to go.”

As Yu Yao descended the stairs, the sound of her footsteps caught the old man’s attention. He turned his head, surprised to see Yu Yao coming down. Since the only clothes in the house belonged to Jiang Zhonglin, after her bath last night, Yu Yao had put on one of Jiang Zhonglin’s shirts and a pair of his oversized shorts. The shirt and shorts, meant for an old scholar, were plain and ill-fitting, and Yu Yao had wrinkled them further by wearing them to bed.

She looked as if she had just woken up, barefoot and disheveled, leaving the old man staring at her in shock. He was taken aback, staring for a good while before turning to his old neighbor, “Old Jiang, why is there a young girl in your house?” Then he suddenly realized, “Oh, she must be a relative’s kid, right? That’s surprising—I’ve never seen any of your relatives stay over.”

Jiang Zhonglin didn’t know what to say. He got up and brought Yu Yao a pair of slippers to wear.

The unfamiliar old man watched with amusement, but his smile froze when the young girl put on the slippers and, taking a step forward, gave Old Jiang a kiss on the cheek.

“Hello, my name is Yu Yao. I’m his wife,” the young girl said.