The meal turned out surprisingly delicious. I glanced at Spring Wu—her face was haggard, and though she was only in her twenties, she looked worn down. I couldn't see anything obviously wrong with her; she wasn't like that young man at the barbecue stall last night, who seemed to have a dark cloud hanging over him.
Miss Wu, are you feeling unwell?
I asked, and Spring Wu shook her head, then sighed.
"I recently broke up with my boyfriend. We were together for over three years. I quit my job and have just been staying at home... sigh."
I smiled awkwardly and nodded. Dean Ding blinked at me.
"Breaking up is nothing. Back in the day, I went through the same thing, with..."
"Shut up."
I turned and glared at Dean Ding. He just chuckled and stopped talking. I'd warned him seriously before: if he kept running his mouth all day, I'd make him wait outside.
Dean Ding always talked about things from the ghost world, blurting them out without any concern for the strange looks from people around us.
After dinner, it was already past six and getting dark. I helped Spring Wu tidy up, and the room felt much fresher. I have a mild obsession with cleanliness; I can't stand a filthy environment.
After dinner, we sat down on the sofa, and Spring Wu began talking again—this time about her grandmother, Wu Xiuhua.
Wu Xiuhua was quite beautiful when she was young, but for reasons no one understood, she simply refused to marry. She claimed she already loved someone, but whenever her parents asked who it was, she wouldn't say. As the years went by, people started to gossip that Wu Xiuhua was mentally unstable, and no one dared propose to her anymore.
And so the years dragged on—by the time she was in her thirties, she still hadn't married. The children of her peers were already in elementary school, but she remained alone.
When Spring Wu was little, her strongest memory was that Wu Xiuhua, even in her forties, still lived alone. Her parents were busy and worried about leaving her unattended, so they often brought Spring Wu over to Wu Xiuhua to look after her.
Spring Wu remembers one time when she played in the yard until dark and came home for dinner. She saw Wu Xiuhua had set out three place settings, even though there were only two of them. Wu Xiuhua insisted an uncle was coming for dinner, but Spring Wu never saw him. That day, Wu Xiuhua even dressed up and bought herself a new, pretty outfit.
Spring Wu was young then and thought an uncle really was visiting. She fell asleep early, but woke up in the middle of the night needing the bathroom, and saw Wu Xiuhua happily sitting at the table. Most of the food was untouched, and even the new place setting hadn't been used.
"I still remember Second Grandma smiling so sweetly, as if she’d seen her lover. Later, I even told my mom and the others. After that, they only brought me to Second Grandma’s house occasionally. Thinking back, my Second Grandma was never really right in the head, all the way until she died."
When Spring Wu grew older and remembered the event, she asked Wu Xiuhua about it, but Wu Xiuhua just shook her head and said it never happened. Spring Wu let it go after that.
Wu Xiuhua lived a quiet life. She retired from a factory, had a modest pension, and her house was decent enough. She rarely spent money, saving most of it. When she died, she left her house and savings to Spring Wu—she had no children of her own.
At this point, Spring Wu sniffled.