Once she returned from shopping with her friend, Edith went home and immediately slumped on her bed. After going out for the whole day, she was dead tired. Although she went shopping with Lily, mostly, it was her friend who was buying a few clothes for her husband and son, while Edith spent her time accompanying Alex.
Initially, Edith has no plan on shopping for clothes, but in the end, she bought a blouse and a cute dress after Lily convinced her that the clothes look good on her. Anyway, the prices were reasonable and Edith had thought that there might be a day when she needed to wear such clothes.
Edith had lived in A City, a neighboring city from L City where she had worked. The apartment she had rented was small, but it was big enough for her to live alone. She was used to living alone in the apartment, however, at this night, Edith was suddenly feeling alone. She did not have any other family, but her grandfather who lives in Z Town.
Her plan years ago was to continue living in a small town while looking after her grandfather, but later, her grandfather had objected to her idea. According to him, she would not have a bright future in a small town and thus, had encouraged her to find a job in a big city. With Lily Zhao's help, she finally got a job as a kindergarten teacher.
Because it was an elite school, naturally her salary was big enough for her to send to her grandfather monthly.
Though she was happy that she could provide for her grandfather, Edith would sometimes hope that she can leave everything and stay in the small town. At least, when she came back home, there would still be voices of someone concerned about her.
Edith heaved a sigh and closed her eyes to rest for a while. Just as she was about to fall asleep, her phone rang. Edith rummaged through her bag, took out her phone and slid her finger on the screen when she saw the name on the phone.
"Hello. Grandpa?" she greeted. There was an unmistakable joy in her voice. Earlier, she was feeling a bit sleepy. But after receiving the phone call, Edith found that the sleepiness had gone.
"Edith, how are you?" Edith's grandfather, Mike Qian's voice could be heard on the other line.
Edith stretched her arms to get rid of her tiredness. "I'm fine, grandpa. How about you? When did you return from your fishing trip?"
"I just come back this afternoon," Mike answered. "I saw your text as soon as I reached home, but I keep forgetting whether you would have class or not. I did not want to interrupt and waited to call back just now."
"Oh," Edith said. "Did you catch a lot of fishes?"
Hearing the question from his granddaughter, Mike began to talk about his fishing trip with his friends, while Edith would hum once in a while as she continued to listen to him.
"Right," Mike cleared his throat and hesitated. "Edith, I need to tell you that I will be going on another fishing trip in two days."
"You're going again? Grandpa, you just returned from a fishing trip and you're going again?"
Edith was well aware of her grandfather's addiction to fishing. This was a hobby that he had taken after he had retired from the police.
Usually, her grandfather would go out on the sea for weeks with his best friend, Grandpa George, and sometimes, his junior, Uncle James would accompany them.
Although her grandfather loved going to the sea, Edith had always known that the trio had not caught a lot of fish whenever they go out. Among the three of them, only Uncle James was quite good at fishing. Most of the time, Uncle James would give some of his catch to her grandfather so that she would not nag him whenever he came back empty-handed.
How did Edith know all this?
It was Uncle James's son, Aaron Li, who had told her.
"George asked me to come with him and I can't say no," Mike said. "Don't nag me too much. I was bored to stay home alone anyway and I like going fishing. It's good that I'm enjoying life at my age."
Edith Qian bit her lips. "How long are you going this time?"
"Probably two weeks. We met a few people the other day and they told us about this good spot," Mike said before he continued to ramble about this new fishing spot.
"Don't go with Grandpa George this time," Edith said. "Grandpa, I'm planning to come home and visit you next weekend, okay."
Mike paused upon hearing his granddaughter's suggestion. "Why would you come home? Just stay in the city and study well to make a lot of money."
"Why can't I come home?" Edith asked. "Grandpa, you always forbid me to come back. What is it? What are you trying to hide from me?" A thought crossed her mind and Edith smiled. "Grandpa, did you get yourself a girlfriend?"
"You!" He wanted to curse, but then he remembered that he was on the phone with his granddaughter. The words he wanted to say stuck in his throat. "What girlfriend? I'm already this old, why would I find myself a girlfriend?"
"What's wrong? My grandpa is still young and handsome? Why can't you find a girlfriend?" Edith continued to tease. "Anyway, I heard that Auntie Mel who sold steamed bun at the station had fancied you for years."
"Stop talking nonsense. I'm very loyal to your grandmother, alright." Mike took a deep breath and decided to change his tactic. "It's not that you can't come home. Aren't you busy with your work? Didn't you have classes every weekend? Since you're busy, you don't have to worry so much about me. Just live well and I'll be happy."
Edith giggled upon hearing her grandfather's words. "Don't worry about my classes. I will still come back next weekend."
"Edith—"
"Grandpa, have you forgotten?" Edith spoke before her grandfather could come out with another excuse to stop her from coming back home. "It will be my mother's death anniversary this weekend, of course, I have to come home." Her voice gradually turned soft as she spoke. "We promised that we will visit her every year, right?"
Mike went silent for a while when he realized that his daughter's death anniversary will be next month. As he turned towards the calendar on the wall and there was a trace of both anger and sadness in his eyes. Mike heaved a small sigh and speak again. "Then, I won't make any plans when you come back. You come back. I'll catch a few fish and cook for you later, is that alright?"
Edith Qian felt the corner of her mouth twitched. "Grandpa! You're still planning to go fishing!"