Chapter Thirty-Nine

The next day, everyone in the office were talking about how someone had died at the nursing home the day before.

“It’s Grandpa Liu from apartment 316.” Zuo Xutong looked up from the screen and sighed softly. “Oh, he was so pitiful. He didn’t have a single relative by his bedside when he passed away.”

However, no one showed the slightest surprise. Dong Jue casually typed on the keyboard and said in a nonchalant tone, "None of the elderly people here have any relatives."

"Why?"

"Because only elderly people who have no relatives, no savings, and no pension can move into Changchun Nursing Home," Dong Jue said.

Zuo Xutong was even more confused: "Then how do they pay their fees? How does the nursing home make a profit?"

Dong Jue looked at her strangely: "Profit? Don't you know? The elderly here don't have to pay a single penny. All their expenses here, including food, clothing, housing, transportation, medical care, and funerals, are free. This is a non-profit nursing home."

Zuo Xutong was so shocked she couldn't speak. She had originally thought that Peng Kun had invested in the nursing home because he saw the market potential of the industry, but she hadn't expected that he was doing it purely for charity and had no intention of making a profit.

Around 7 p.m., she arrived at the canteen alone. By then, most of the elderly people had finished eating; some were chatting in the courtyard, while others had already returned to their rooms.

There was only her and an old woman in the cafeteria. The old woman, with her gray hair, sat at the table looking around. When she saw Zuo Xutong sit down with her tray, she slowly stood up, walked over shakily, and asked cautiously, "Young lady, do you know how to play checkers?"

Upon hearing the word "checkers," Zuo Xutong paused for a moment, then nodded.

The old woman pleaded in a humble tone, almost begging, "Then can you teach me?"

Looking at her deeply lined face, Zuo Xutong hesitated and asked, "Are you...Grandma Zou?"

"You recognize me?" Zou Guiqin was a little surprised, but before Zuo Xutong could speak, she explained in a trembling voice, "My eyesight isn't very good, I have some cataracts, I can't see the clock on the wall clearly, and I always miss mealtimes. I want to win a watch."

"No problem, I'll teach you, it's super easy." Zuo Xutong readily agreed.

"Thank you. I asked two young people, and they both said they didn't have time." Zou Guiqin smiled happily, her wrinkles smoothing out with her smile.

After that, every day after dinner, Zuo Xutong would go to the chess and card room on the first floor to teach Zou Guiqin a game of checkers before returning to the office to work overtime.

Checkers is the easiest of all board games to learn. Although Zou Guiqin wasn't particularly quick to grasp the concepts, she got the hang of it after a few days. The two gradually became acquainted while playing checkers, and Zuo Xutong learned that before entering the nursing home, Zou Guiqin had been making a living by collecting recyclables.

With the widespread adoption of digital payments, beggars on the streets have gradually disappeared, while the number of scavengers has increased, making the competition more intense than before. Zou Guiqin is getting old, and her physical strength is declining day by day. She often works from morning till night but can't find anything to exchange for money, and even buying a steamed bun has become a luxury.

During that period, every night she would quietly go to the vegetable market, collect some rotten vegetable leaves scattered around the stalls, and cook them with an alcohol stove she had picked up. She wouldn't even put in too much salt, which cost only eight cents a bag.

Zou Guiqin had two marriages. Her first husband was a bricklayer in the village. Less than two months into their marriage, he fell to his death from a wall while building a house. Her second husband was a tricycle driver in town. He was divorced once and had a child. He had a violent temper and was a heavy drinker. Only six months into their marriage, one night, while drunk, he was carrying two passengers when the tricycle overturned into a deep ditch. Both passengers died instantly. Zou Guiqin used all her savings to compensate the deceased's family, but it wasn't enough. Her child was taken away by his biological mother. Zou Guiqin returned to her parents' home penniless, forever branded as a jinx and subjected to lifelong scorn in the village. After her parents passed away, her younger brother's family seized the house left by her parents and evicted her from the countryside.

From then on, 54-year-old Zou Guiqin became a scavenger in Longjin City. During the day, she collected scraps in the streets and alleys, and at night she slept with stray cats in abandoned unfinished buildings. She didn't know why she was still alive. Why didn't someone like her die and be reborn sooner?

Two years ago, while picking up a can from the roadside, she was knocked down by a motorcycle and couldn't get up. She was found by volunteers from Changchun Nursing Home and brought here.

Even now, she still feels like she's in a dream. She can't believe that her nightmarish life is over and that she'll never have to worry about food and drink again.

“Life here is so good, I want to live a few more years.” Every time Zou Guiqin talks about her past, she ends with this sentence. Zuo Xutong couldn’t help but feel a lump in her throat when she heard it. Influenced by traditional ideas, many elderly people are unwilling to move into nursing homes, but every elderly person in Changchun Nursing Home feels that the days here are the happiest time of their lives.

The nursing home's annual expenses, amounting to several million yuan, are entirely borne by Peng Kun. Qin Zhenzhen used to complain to others that Peng Kun was the stingiest rich person she had ever met, a statement that now seems truly ironic.

The competition was on a Sunday, and no one at the company was working overtime. Peng Kun was also inspecting factory buildings at the hydrogen energy industrial park. Zuo Xutong, who rarely took half a day off, went downstairs to watch the checkers competition. This year, seven people from the nursing home signed up for the competition, and three awards were set up, meaning that three out of the seven people would win awards, a winning ratio of nearly half.

Zuo Xutong watched the entire competition with great anxiety, even more so than if she were on the field herself. In the end, Zou Guiqin only came in third place, and the prize was a scarf.

Zou Guiqin's hands trembled slightly as she held the prize, and a smile unconsciously crept onto her lips, like a child who had received an unexpected gift. She carefully stroked the soft scarf with her rough, calloused palms, as if afraid of damaging it.

"Thank you, young lady. If you hadn't taught me chess, I wouldn't have gotten such a wonderful thing," Zou Guiqin said contentedly. Zuo Xutong, however, was somewhat disappointed. She needed a watch, not a scarf.

In the afternoon, Peng Kun returned and saw Zuo Xutong in the office. He tossed her a hard drive and said, "Print out an equipment purchase list for me."

Zuo Xutong absentmindedly took the hard drive, opened the document, and connected the printer. The paper tray was empty, but she didn't notice at all. Peng Kun walked over with a stack of A4 paper, put it in the paper tray, and looked up at her: "What are you thinking about?"

"N-nothing," Zuo Xutong then realized that the printer had been running idle. She was worried about how to bring up Zou Guiqin's matter with Peng Kun, but she was afraid of causing him trouble. She had already caused him enough trouble. Xiao Ping had been discharged from the hospital long ago, but the caregiver sent to the hospital last time had not returned yet.

She hesitated for a long time, wanting to speak but swallowing back several times. Finally, she made up her mind, took a deep breath, and whispered, "The nursing home held a checkers competition today, and Grandma Zou participated too..."

Peng Kun stared at the documents ejected from the printer, seemingly ignoring her words, as the printed paper gently fell onto the output tray.

She continued, "It's a pity that she wanted to win a watch, but she only won third prize."

"What did you say?" Peng Kun finally raised his head and looked over across the desk.

Zuo Xutong repeated what she had just said, and Peng Kun suddenly slapped his forehead after listening: "That's right, you reminded me."

As he spoke, he got up and left the office. When he returned, he was carrying a box.

"I bought it two weeks ago, but I was so busy I forgot." Peng Kun handed the box to Zuo Xutong. "Could you give it to her for me?"

When Zuo Xutong opened it, she saw that it was a digital watch, exactly the same as the one Grandpa Liu had, only the color was different.

Peng Kun hadn't given her a raise, and once again she hesitated about whether to stay or leave.