The Rent Collector: Chapter Twenty-Four Summary & Analysis

As Sang Ly, Ki, and Nisay ride the bus back to Stung Meanchey, Sang Ly watches the people walking the streets. Sang Ly is reflecting that each individual person has their own story to tell when she spots Maly walking with an older woman, both chatting animatedly and laughing. Sang Ly is ecstatic, and begins to pull down the window to yell to her when she suddenly realizes that Maly seems happy now, and might not know about her brother’s death or the anxiety Lucky Fat has when he wonders if she is okay. She decides to leave Maly be, and simply be happy to have seen her happy and safe from a distance. When Ki awakes, Sang Ly is crying.

Sang Ly and Ki arrive in Stung Meanchey late in the night, but there is enough moonlight for them to navigate to their hut. However, when they reach their hut, they discover that everything they’d once owned has been stolen. There is nothing to do about it in the middle of the night, so they decide to sleep in Lena’s house instead. When Sang Ly wakes the next morning, she finds that Nisay is already awake, playing on the floor and grabbing her hair. He is healthy and hungry, and Sang Ly decides that although they have nothing, if Nisay is cured, “we have everything.” Sang Ly weeps with gratitude. Lena announces that the villagers have already begun collecting tools and items to replace what was stolen, and Sang Ly decides in that moment that Stung Meanchey truly is home.

Over the course of the day, neighbors arrive with extra food, sleeping mats, cookware and pleasantries to help rebuild Sang Ly’s home. “Love abounds, even at Stung Meanchey.” Sang Ly hopes most of all to see Sopeap again, but when she checks the old woman’s house, no one is there. However, Lucky Fat arrives in the afternoon with Sopeap’s bag, containing only a notebook, and tells her that Sopeap came three days before and asked Lucky Fat to deliver the bag. The boy says that Sopeap did not look healthy, and told him she was leaving.

Inside the notebook is a short letter from Sopeap, explaining that she is sorry to not have been able to see Sang Ly again, and that she is thankful for her friendship. In lieu of actual lessons, Sopeap wrote down lessons in the notebook and left some books at her house for Sang Ly, noting where the key to her locked door is hidden. While Ki works and Lena looks after Nisay, Sang Ly thumbs through the notebook full of handwritten essays by Sopeap Sin. The final story catches her eye, since it is titled “The Epilogue,” which Sang Ly learned from Sopeap is when the author closes their narration and explains the main character’s final fate. Although she hesitates, since Sopeap was adamant that she never skip to the end of a story, Sang Ly cannot help herself and begins reading.