From left to right: Grandpa Xu, Dad Xu, and Mom Xu.
On the left side of the living room, against the wall, stands a heavy, solid wood square table. The red paint on the table is mottled, revealing the original wood color.
On the square table was a dish of pickled vegetables, next to which were two somewhat shriveled apples, covered with a red fly net.
Turn left and you'll find Grandma's room. In the center of the empty room is a simple wooden bed made up of a stool and planks of varying lengths.
Each of the four corners of the wooden bed was tied with a withered bamboo pole, and a slightly yellowed mosquito net was hung there.
In the corner of the room were several dark-colored jars, covered tightly with wooden boards. These were pickle jars that had been passed down in the Xu family for forty or fifty years.
Grandma Xu leaned against the wall, covered with a light navy blue quilt, her silver hair tied back in a slightly messy manner. When she saw Xu An come in, she asked with concern, "Anzi, where did you go so early in the morning?"
Hearing his grandmother's concern, Xu An's nose tingled and tears welled up. It took him a while to suppress his emotions and he said in a normal tone, "A lot of vegetables in the field will get too old if we don't pick them soon. I went to pick them early this morning and took them to the market to sell."
Seeing Xu An's behavior, Grandma Xu knew he wasn't telling the truth. But now that she was unable to walk properly and couldn't even get out of bed, she couldn't do anything if Xu An didn't want to talk to her about it, so she didn't press him further and changed the subject.
"How much did you buy all those vegetables?"
Xu An pulled out a handful of wet banknotes from his pocket, quickly counted them, and found a total of fifty-one yuan and fifty cents. Based on this total, he began to make up a story.
"I picked five jin of green beans, which cost three yuan and fifty cents a jin; I picked four bitter melons, which cost three jin in total, which cost three yuan a jin; I picked nearly ten jin of tomatoes, which cost two yuan and fifty cents a jin; I sold them for a total of fifty-one yuan and fifty cents."
Grandma Xu looked at the wet banknotes in Xu An's hand without saying a word, her silence making Xu An feel a little uneasy.
"My leg will take a long time to fully recover. Please keep this money from selling vegetables and use it whenever you need it."
After saying that, Grandma Xu pulled up the blanket, lay down on her side, and turned her back to Xu An.
Xu An smoothed out the creases on the banknotes, folded them one by one, and put them back in his pocket before looking back out the door.
Only then did Xu An realize that he was soaking wet from head to toe, and that he had left a wet footprint wherever he went.
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