nostalgia-and-loss

This chapter follows Hock Seng, a displaced yellow card refugee living in a slum, as he carefully retrieves hidden cash from a secret bamboo cache while reflecting on the insecurity of banks, the impermanence of wealth, and his lost past as a prosperous sea trader. The narrative explores his cautious survival tactics amid poverty and danger, his philosophical acceptance of suffering and impermanence influenced by Buddhist thought, and his nostalgic longing for a vanished life of prosperity and family. The chapter closes with a memory of escape and hope under a starry sky, contrasting the harsh present with distant dreams.