Since Auntie He arrived, Xiangyu felt much more at ease, but weekends were her time to spend with her grandmother. Now that she was in college and the family's financial situation was quite good, Xiangyu wanted to take her grandmother out to see the world, starting with weekend meals outside to help the elderly woman adjust. She told her grandmother that she had earned some money from her part-time job last weekend and wanted to treat her to a nice meal. Her grandmother, very supportive, agreed and asked Xiangyu to help her choose an outfit. She even applied some osmanthus-scented hair oil, neatly combing her hair.
The two of them went to a pizza restaurant. Her grandmother had never tried pizza before but was delighted and eager to try new things, enjoying it thoroughly and repeatedly saying how exotic it was. They had had some Western meals when they lived downtown, like borscht, fried pork chops, and creamy potato salad, but today's food was something new. Xiangyu thought back to her previous life when she worked hard to support herself and her grandmother. Their life had been tough. Sometimes, when she came home, her grandmother would cook noodles with shredded meat and a fried egg for her, but her grandmother herself would often eat plain noodles with just a bit of soy sauce and sesame oil. Every time, Xiangyu would share her meat with her grandmother, just like when she was younger, sharing the only piece of pork chop with her. However, she could imagine her grandmother being very frugal when she wasn't home. When her grandmother passed away, she left enough money for Xiangyu to finish college. Her grandmother was one of the few people who loved Xiangyu with all her heart. In her previous life, Xiangyu was indeed lucky, for although few people loved her, those who did gave her their unconditional love.
After the meal, Xiangyu took her grandmother back to their old neighborhood. Although it had changed drastically, her grandmother still reminisced about the past, walking on the familiar streets where she had spent most of her life. They then sat outside the concert hall for a while, watching the ginkgo leaves turn yellow. Xiangyu mysteriously pulled out two theater tickets from her pocket and took her grandmother to see a Yue opera performance at the Grand Theater. Her grandmother loved listening to opera tapes at home—Yue opera, Hu opera, Huai opera, and Huangmei opera—but she had never been to a live performance. One of her old friends used to perform Huangmei opera and had a photo of herself in costume hanging in her home. Back then, with their financial constraints, Xiangyu would save up to buy tapes for her grandmother but never thought of taking her to a live performance. Now, things were different. Xiangyu thought, there was so much more she could do now, and it was wonderful.
Her grandmother, sitting in the theater, was excited like a child but also a bit anxious. She asked Xiangyu if the tickets were expensive, if they could talk or cheer during the performance, and worried about disturbing others if she needed to go to the restroom. Xiangyu patiently reassured her. Her grandmother was extremely happy that day. On the way home, she didn't feel tired at all, continuously expressing her joy, saying how fortunate she was to have such a wonderful granddaughter. She wanted to tell her old friends about the pizza so they could try it with their children. She was moved by Xu Yulan and Wang Wenjuan's performance, especially the new opera "The Desert Prince," wondering if the predictions about one's fate in the opera were accurate and what happened next. Lying in bed later, she kept reminiscing, occasionally uttering a sentence. Xiangyu, holding her grandmother's arm, fell asleep, faintly hearing her grandmother calling her "My little girl."