That night, he lost the whole world.

A young couple, deeply in love for a long time, got married. One day, the man wanted to buy the woman a ring. Entering the shopping mall, seeing the dazzling array of gold and silver jewelry, she hesitated for a long time, then stammered, “I don’t want that, buy me a pager instead!”

Back then, pagers were still a novelty, and their price wasn’t much cheaper than a wedding ring. The man was a little surprised, because he knew his girlfriend wasn’t one to follow trends. Ultimately, however, at her insistence, he used the money meant for the wedding ring to buy a beautiful pager with a Chinese character display.

As soon as they returned to their new home, the woman clipped the pager to the man’s waist. He asked in surprise, “This is for you! Why are you putting it on me?” The woman smiled, a hint of pride in her voice, “This way I can reach you anytime! Promise me, no matter when, no matter how busy you are, if I page you, you absolutely have to call back!” That night, the two of them lay in bed, repeatedly adjusting the pager’s ringtone. They felt that life was like that ringtone—loud, melodious, and full of hope and anticipation.

From that day on, his pager would often receive messages like: “Honey, buy some groceries on your way home from get off work.” “Honey, I miss you, I love you.” “Honey, let’s go to Mom’s for dinner tonight.” Every time he saw these messages, he felt a deep warmth in his heart. Whenever possible, even if he didn’t need to return the call, he would still make a call, just to hear her voice.

One time, the man forgot to change the battery in his pager and happened to be accompanying his boss to a grassroots event. He didn’t return home until midnight. When he opened the door, he found his wife with red, swollen eyes from crying. It turned out that she had been paged him every fifteen minutes since he got off work. The longer he didn’t answer, the more anxious she became, always thinking something terrible had happened. Later, she started paged him every ten minutes until he finally opened the door, at which point she gently put down the phone.

The man was somewhat dismissive of his wife’s overreaction: “I’m not a child, what could possibly happen to me?” But his wife often said she had a premonition that he wouldn’t come back if he didn’t answer her calls. The man patted his wife’s head and laughed: “Silly girl!” But from then on, he never forgot to keep a spare battery in his pocket.

Later, her husband got a promotion and had more money, so he replaced his pager with a cell phone. One day, he suddenly remembered the ring he owed his wife and excitedly dragged her to the shopping mall. But when they got there, seeing the platinum diamond rings advertised on TV every day, she hesitated and said, “Can you buy me a cell phone?” Her husband asked, “We have a phone at home, and you don’t go out often, what do you need a cell phone for?” His wife said, “Platinum diamond rings are so expensive, what’s the use of wearing them on my finger? I’ve had my eye on that phone for a while now! Besides, if I need to call you, I can talk to you even if you’re in the bathroom.” Saying this, she smiled smugly.

That day, their phones activated text messaging. They were in the bedroom and the living room, respectively, texting each other and having a great time. That evening, his smile faded, and he said to her seriously, “Don’t call or text me so casually anymore. I often have meetings and other formal occasions; it’s inconvenient to talk about personal matters with you all the time.” His wife immediately objected: “Then what am I supposed to do if I need to contact you?” “Do whatever you want!” the husband said impatiently. “I’m not a child. Why are you always contacting me?”

One night, shortly after buying his wife a cell phone, the husband went to a friend’s house to play cards with his colleagues. At first, the stakes were only ten or eight yuan, but they gradually increased. While they were engrossed in the game, his wife called: “Where are you? Why aren’t you home yet?” “I’m playing cards at a colleague’s house.” “When are you coming home?” “In a bit!”

He won and lost, won and lost, and his wife called again and again. It started raining heavily outside, and his colleagues suggested they just keep playing. Just then, his wife’s phone rang again: “Where are you? What are you doing? Come back now!” “Didn’t I tell you? I’m at a colleague’s house. How am I supposed to get back in this rain?” “Then tell me where you are, and I’ll come pick you up!” “No need!” The husband hung up. His friends, seeing this, teased him for being “henpecked,” and in a fit of anger, he turned off his phone.

As dawn broke, he was penniless. His friend drove him home, but the door was locked. When he opened it, his wife wasn’t home. Just then, the phone rang. It was his mother-in-law, crying as she said that his wife had braved the rain late at night, riding her bicycle with an umbrella to look for him at his colleagues’ houses, one after another, when she was in a car accident and never woke up again…

Only then did the husband remember to check his phone. There was an unread message: “Have you forgotten? Today is our wedding anniversary! I’m coming to find you, baby. Don’t wander off, I brought an umbrella!” She was on her way to find him, and she would never wake up again. Tears streamed down the husband’s face as he read the message over and over again. He felt like he had lost the whole world that night…