Zuo Xiaoduo came to the shabby little courtyard again. Grandma Shi was cooking just then.
Cooking smoke rose slowly.
Grandma Shi sat in the kitchen, withered and silent, her expression wooden.
Who knew how many years she had spent like this, in such cold solitude.
The door opened, but Grandma Shi did not rise.
Perhaps it was a courier making a delivery.
Over the years, these were the people who came most often. Even then, it amounted to no more than a routine check of her name, and nothing else.
"Grandma Shi! I've come to see you."
Zuo Xiaoduo's voice rang out from outside just then.
At last, Grandma Shi's expression suddenly shifted, and she opened her eyes. Zuo Xiaoduo?
Turning to look, she saw Zuo Xiaoduo standing in the living room with a broad smile, carrying food in a meal carrier in one hand and two bottles of liquor in the other. He was busily setting everything on the coffee table.
"Teacher Wen gave me the day off today. I was bored with nothing to do, so I came to keep you company and share a meal, Grandma Shi. You don't mind me showing up unannounced, do you?"
Zuo Xiaoduo chuckled, making himself thoroughly at home as he swiftly set the dishes from the meal carrier on the table, then took a plate of Star Beast Meat out of his Ring.
Even with that plate of Star Beast Meat, it was still an ordinary home-style meal, the sort ordinary people could afford. Zuo Xiaoduo had not deliberately brought anything fancy or extravagant.
"Oh, you child."
Grandma Shi finally came out of the kitchen. "Why did you come here all by yourself?"
"I really have nothing to do today."
Zuo Xiaoduo chuckled. "The chopsticks and wine cups are in