September 2, the night before she left home.
Li Suhua barely slept that night.
Her back injury had been healing well, but the doctor had told her not to stand for too long or lift anything heavy. Now, though, she seemed to have forgotten those instructions. She kept going in and out of Pu Yu's cramped room, reopening the suitcase she had already packed and checking it over and over.
"You need to take this thick coat. It gets windy in Dongzhou in autumn, and the cold can come out of nowhere."
"I put your usual medicines in this little bag. Cold medicine, fever medicine, bandages... Keep them somewhere handy when you get to school."
"Take two towels, one for your face and one for bathing. Pack a few extra toothbrushes, too. They're bound to cost more in the big city."
Pu Yu sat on the edge of the bed, watching her grandmother bend her stooped back and tuck all those odds and ends into the suitcase one by one.
"Grandma, that's enough," she said softly. "I can buy anything in Dongzhou. I don't need to take so much."
"And buying things doesn't cost money?" Li Suhua did not even look up. "You're a student. Save wherever you can. If you run short, call home. I still have some savings..."
"Grandma," Pu Yu interrupted her, "I have financial aid. It's enough."
"That's someone else's money. You can't spend it carelessly." Li Suhua took a bundle wrapped in a handkerchief from her pocket and pressed it into Pu Yu's hand. "This is from your grandma. It's different."
Pu Yu unfolded the handkerchief. Inside was a little stack of assorted banknotes.
There were fives, tens, and twenties.
Altogether, they came to a little over three hundred yuan.
"Grandma... Keep this money. I