C12 (1/2)

Her voice was too husky to tell a man from a woman, but she spoke in a rather high-pitched tone. Word by word, with a strange accent, popped up in his throat.

I calmed down a little.

This old lady should be the sequela of cerebral stroke, regardless of the Chinese and foreign elderly will have a higher chance of sudden stroke after a certain age, but the United States medical care is relatively advanced, the probability of rescue is more. Survivors will have different degrees of dyskinesia and dysphagia after recovery. The old lady had a serious problem with swallowing her words, which was why her tone was so sharp.

Seeing that I didn't say anything, the old lady slowly handed me the cardboard box.

”My grandson said that he has already met all of you. This is my new baked biscuit.”

Alpha timidly stuck his head out from behind the old lady.

”Hello.” I opened the door.

It took the old woman nearly two minutes to move to the only two chairs in the living room. It was as if this action of hers had cost her half of her life.

”Call me Madam Maria. I am Alpha's grandmother. ” the old lady said.

”I'm Shin. This is my wife, Olina.” I said.

Lina poured the cookies onto her plate and carried them over. ”I'm really sorry, we've just moved in a few days ago and our house has not been cleaned up yet.

Unlike Chinese customs, the first thing a new family has to do in the United States is to visit its neighbors. The neighbors who used to live in Philadelphia when they were in school knew each other, and they usually had help.

At that time, we also had an old neighbor who was the same age as Maria. She often gave us celery carrots he grew.

Maybe it was because of this period of experience that Lina had an especially good impression of Maria.

The old lady called herself Maria. Adel, a German immigrant, had lived in this building since the 1950s. Right now, other than us, the only other guests on the sixth floor are her and Alpha.

After chatting for a while, the old lady's dullness piqued my interest and I used the name of reading to accompany the both of them.

Vaguely, I heard Maria say something in her strange voice from outside:

”... In the beginning, many newlyweds didn't like children... In our country, a wife will take her sisters' children home for a while... ”Once a husband gets used to having a child by his side, he will naturally want to have one himself …”

A burst of boredom rose up in her heart, Lina must be complaining to Maria about me not wanting a child. Why talk to an outsider for the first time?

I suddenly felt that Lina might have never understood me.

”Olina, why don't we go check on the miaow?” When the grandfather and grandson left, I heard Alpha's voice.

February 15, 1988

Lina and Alpha are still taking care of Little Cat everyday, I can't tell if Lina likes that child with all her heart, or if she is deliberately giving me pressure.

After work today, he called Li Haoming, the university's senior, to work as a doctor in a private clinic in Los Angeles.

When he opened the door, he saw Lina sitting on the floor barefooted. There were four or five pieces of furniture in the house, and on the floor was a piece of new Bohemian carpet that was scattered with drawing paper and crayons.

”Hey, where did you go?” Lina looked to be in a good mood.

”Oh, do you still remember Senior Hao Min? I went out to have a meal with him in the afternoon.” I said, ”Where did this carpet come from?”

”I met Maria again today, the old lady suddenly mentioned 610's tenant to me. It turned out that an American had lived there before and had emigrated to Australia decades ago. He left in such a hurry that he didn't even have time to clean the furniture. He only asked Maria to help him sell it. But then there was no more news from the American. Maria said that she's old and didn't have the strength to sell these furniture. Seeing that we don't even have a sofa, he insisted on giving it to us. ” Lina said excitedly: ”I had to move here by myself for a long time in the afternoon before I could finally move into this place … I love this carpet so much that it's almost exactly the same as the one I dreamt of! ”

I carefully looked at every piece of furniture that Lina brought back. Although it looked old, it had been well maintained.

The corners of the dining table were carved out of gold, the sofa was made of calf hide, and the Bohemian carpet was made of silk. There wasn't even the slightest trace of moth on it …

Although the furniture was simple in style, it was definitely worth a lot of money.

I always felt that something was wrong, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was.

”You … Are you sure you don't have to pay for all of these? ” I looked at Lina in disbelief.

”This grandma is really a good person. 608 to 612 is her business. She originally wanted us both to move in, but I feel too much trouble for her.”

After saying that, Lina waved her arm, and a bronze key appeared. ”Isn't this, she gave me the key to number 610, and told me to take whatever I need.

I looked like a bedroom. The mattress I'd bought at the secondhand market was still on the floor.

”If you have nothing to offer, you are either a thief or a thief,” I said. ”How can there be such a good thing in the world? Are you sure Maria didn't ask you to exchange anything? ”

”I was also frightened at the beginning,” Lina said as she spread out her hands.

”But let me think about it. What could she possibly have lied to us about? We don't have any money or power, so we shouldn't lie to you. Maria was actually a very lonely old lady. She said that she had always hoped to be able to talk to a neighbor. I said I could help her sell the furniture, but she said it was worth less than helping us. ”