Childhood memories are probably hard to erase, and the memories of my hometown are unique and indelible. Recently, I returned to my hometown after five years, and my thoughts came rushing back. The hometown I refer to is the place where I grew up; it's not that I haven't been back in five years, but most of the houses in my hometown have been rented out. Every corner inside holds unique memories. Recently, a tenant was moving out, so I went back for a visit. The moment I entered the house, it felt as if I had returned to five years ago.

My home consists of three floors. The first floor is where my grandparents live, and there is a small shop front outside, rented to someone who runs a convenience store nearby. Initially, it was a bone soup hot pot shop. I still remember that every time I went to buy hot pot, the owner wouldn't take my money. I offered it, but he refused. I didn't go there often; I only bought something occasionally when my parents were out and there was nothing to eat at home. But later, the business didn't do well and closed down. However, the current tenant is a relative of the previous owner, so they took over the lease and opened a store for some wine brands, which was decorated quite lavishly.

I used to live on the third floor, and the second floor was rented by a sister who ran a tea business. Although I lived on the third floor, I didn't see her much. Sometimes, when I passed by the second floor on my way to the third floor, I noticed that it was nicely decorated, giving off a classical vibe. My dad used to invite some colleagues over for dinner, and after eating, they would go down to the second floor to drink tea together. Besides selling tea, she also sold red wine, and sometimes I would see her bringing clients over to enjoy tea.

When we moved to our current place, the third floor became vacant. At that time, the rent for the second floor was about fifteen hundred, while the third floor was fourteen hundred. So, the sister from the second floor moved to the third floor, perhaps because she didn't want the tenants on the third floor to pass by her door every time. After moving to the third floor, the second floor became vacant. The second floor is a pretty good location because it has a large balcony, and there is a room outside for storing miscellaneous items. Inside, there are two rooms, warm in winter and cool in summer, making it ideal for a family to live in.

I still remember that a long time ago, when my parents were still living there, they raised bamboo rats in one of the rooms. At that time, bamboo rats were not only bought for food but also used for medicine. I don't know why my parents decided to raise them, but I remember getting bitten while playing with them and bleeding a lot. Fortunately, these rats didn't have droppings as ugly as regular rats. They would lay a layer of straw underneath, and they were quite lazy, not as active as regular rats that run fast. Perhaps as their numbers dwindled and they became endangered, they stopped raising them.

The third floor is not made of cement. Everyone knows that the roof is the hottest part. Using cement would make it very hot, so my parents found a hardware worker to buy some insulated sandwich panels to build a "shelter." The benefit is that it can block some of the heat. However, you know that summers in Guangzhou are extremely hot. Although it blocks some heat, there is still too much heat to handle. So the whole shelter feels like a cage. My room is also part of the shelter. The downside is that while it blocks heat, it also makes it hard to dissipate heat, so I have to run the air conditioner all day and still feel hot.

Because the tenant on the third floor, the sister who sold tea and red wine, decided not to renew her lease, even though she had just renewed it a few months ago, the current economic environment is really tough. After all, tea and red wine are not necessities; they are just for enjoyment. Many people's consumption levels are not as high as before, especially after the pandemic, when many people's savings have significantly decreased. Spending money on tea and red wine has become quite luxurious. Later, when my dad settled the accounts, he realized that she had actually rented for eight years, which is hard to imagine.

Originally, if she didn't renew the lease before the term ended, the landlord had the right not to return the deposit. However, my dad said that since she had rented for eight years, he understood the tough situation and processed the lease termination according to the procedures. Normally, to complete the lease termination, the place needs to be cleaned up, but this sister kept making excuses not to clean, saying she felt unwell and that she would find a few people to help clean. But in the end, she just took her things and left, leaving us with a mess to clean up.

To rent the house out quickly, we needed to clean up as soon as possible so that someone would want to rent it. So, on the last day of August, after dinner, I went home to clean. Since our stairs are outside and made of stainless steel, I hadn't walked on them for over five years. As I walked up, memories slowly flooded back. At the end of the stairs is the balcony of the third floor, where you can see Guangzhou South Station at a glance, and there are no buildings blocking the view, which is a good thing because the wind can blow through without obstruction, making it cooler at night.

When I opened the door, I was shocked. The floor was covered with all kinds of garbage and cardboard. The walls were filled with different empty wine bottles, some of which were from quite expensive brands, such as Martell and Hennessy, along with their packaging boxes. The kitchen was also covered in grease. I knew it was going to be a big project, so without further ado, I got started. My dad was responsible for cleaning outside, while my mom and I took care of the inside clutter. We needed to clean the inside before we could sweep and mop the floor.

My dad tasked me with throwing away all the unwanted items, and I thought: that’s easy enough. So, I went downstairs to get a few "snake skin bags" from my grandpa. They were strong and big enough to hold a lot of things. First, I packed all the empty bottles, tossing them into the bags. The sound of glass shattering was quite relieving. In fact, some of the bottles from the big brands I mentioned can be recycled. Although they don't fetch a high price, they are worth more than regular bottles because these bottles can be filled with fake wine by some unscrupulous people and then reintroduced into the market.

In the next article, I will talk about the memories that came to mind during the cleaning process.