Her steady gaze was eventually cluttered with the sudden cry of a baby. Mei began to hear and see things. The washroom at the head of their coach was packed; the fl ushes of two face-to-face toilets were off and on; the doors banged once in a while; the continual noises echoed from between the two carriages; a number of passengers spread there with bags, suitcases or stools, and buzzed with their phones. But quite a few sitting in the seats near her were either napping or staring at nowhere. Those were people in all shapes and forms, fl esh and blood, wearing all expressions or none.