Chapter 4
Chapter 4
Wang Xixia: Three Days Remaining
When I saw her, she was cooking.
She was stir-frying in an extremely cramped hallway.
She was grumbling and cursing, “All you know is eating. I hope you choke on it.”
I had moved into the unit next door.
I went to see her carrying some fruit just as she was finishing the dish in her hand.
She took the fruit from me, her expression one of surprise. “A young girl like you moved here?”
I said with a grin, “My family is poor, so I came to work nearby.”
“Oh, it’s not very peaceful around here.” She had barely finished her sentence when a man’s voice roared from inside the room, “You damn woman, can’t you be faster? I’m starving to death.”
She didn’t have time to say more to me; she grabbed the plate and hurried into the room.
I caught a glimpse of the house-it was a cluttered mess, with cardboard boxes everywhere.
They were stacked layer upon layer, making it difficult even to find a place to step. It was just like her messy life.
I only peeked from the doorway for a moment before I heard the sound of a plate smashing.
“Green vegetables every single day. I want meat!”
Cursing, the man stormed out of the house.
And then, I heard a woman crying.
I rushed next door.
She was squatting on the floor, picking up the broken plate.
Only her bowl remained on the table, containing half a bowl of plain white rice without even a drop of vegetable broth.
As she cried, she suddenly hissed in pain; she had cut her finger.
“Let me help you.”
She looked to be in her fifties, but I knew that according to the Book of Life and Death, she was only in her early forties.
She wiped her tears. “It’s fine. You should head back.”
“He went downstairs and drove off,” I said, continuing to help her. “Do you want to eat something first?”
She shook her head. “He’s always yelling at me, but where is the money supposed to come from? The moment he gets a little bit of money, he runs off to play cards.”
Heartache is the best description humans use for this kind of situation.
She rummaged through the table, then through a pile of boxes.
She glanced at the pickled tubers in her hand. “Is it expired?”
But she ate it anyway.
“Have you considered divorcing him?”
“Divorce? You’re still young; you think it’s that easy?” She shook her head. “My income alone isn’t enough. Besides, we have a son… You don’t understand. Life is the same no matter who you live it with.”
She shoveled two mouthfuls of rice directly into her mouth.
“Is your son in school?”
“Yes, he’s in university. He just started his break.”
But I hadn’t seen her son the whole time.
She probably guessed what I was thinking and said directly, “He plays outside every day and doesn’t come home. He’s grown up now; I can’t control him anymore.”
Just as she finished speaking, I heard a young man’s voice.
“Mom, give me some money.”
He didn’t see the broken shards in the dustpan, nor did he see his mother’s red-rimmed eyes. He only knew how to demand. “I’m talking to you, didn’t you hear me?”
He even aimlessly kicked at the spot where the broken shards were. “The floor is filthy, clean it up.”
He didn’t care at all that an outsider like me was present.
Wang Xixia quickly complained, “Didn’t I just give you money two days ago?”
“What’s two hundred yuan? Hurry up, I’m going out with friends.”
“Ah Zhan, Mom really has no money left. Your father doesn’t give me any either. I can’t even afford to buy groceries.”
Li Zhan didn’t listen. He went straight to a sewing box in the cabinet and rummaged through it. “How unlucky, only ten yuan.”
Ignoring Wang Xixia’s protests, he snatched away the last ten yuan.
During the scuffle, Wang Xixia was pushed to the ground.
I went to help her up. She clutched her chest for a long time, unable to catch her breath.
She gasped for air for a while before recovering. I knew her body couldn’t hold out much longer.
“Do you need to go to the hospital? You look like you can’t breathe.”
She suddenly grabbed my hand. “I can’t go. It’s an old ailment. I need to save the money.”
Despite her life being like this, she resolutely returned to the same trajectory.
She stood up and continued mopping the floor.
She only murmured under her breath:
“If only Li Mei were still here.”
But there was no mention of a person named Li Mei in the Book of Life and Death.
The soundproofing in these houses was terrible. At night, I heard the man losing his temper again.
“I said I don’t have money! Why do you ask me for money every day?” Then came the sound of a chair being kicked over. “Dead woman, I work hard outside every day while you’re just lazy and gluttonous. Get out! If you want to cry, go cry outside!”
It was that familiar sound of weeping again.
She cried for half the night, and I listened for half the night.
This human world is so full of turmoil; it’s simpler to just be a ghost.