My great-grandfather is ninety-eight years old this year, usually agile, and loves to grow onions and flowers.

Now he stands here and I am a little scared, afraid that he will slap my head.

"Qi, Qi." His mouth slowly opens and closes, as if the voice is squeezed out from his throat.

I hesitantly respond, "Um...?"

His two red eyes lock onto me, and we stare at each other for five minutes.

"You...play, I...watch."

It turns out that he opened and closed his mouth just now not to grind his teeth, but to tell me this.

I relax and continue to eat and play, occasionally chatting with him, even though it takes him a few minutes to reply to me.

This goes on until my grandmother comes back and almost grabs a shovel to hit my great-grandfather.

Fortunately, I stopped her in time.

My grandmother came back with two baskets of Chinese cabbage, stacked as high as an Indian motorcycle carrying people.

She was like the living dead, with energy all over her body.

"Dad, do you want something to eat?" my grandmother asked.

My great-grandfather shook his head stiffly and left.

I watched my grandmother place the Chinese cabbage under the eaves, take out a large plastic bag from the bottom of the basket, and then hand it to me.

I took it unclearly, opened it and exclaimed, "Spicy strips! Grandma, you bought me spicy strips!"

A bag full of them, in addition to spicy strips, there are all kinds of biscuits, drinks, and those five cents of soft candy, she bought me a long string of them.

As I marveled while flipping through them, I was so happy that I ran to her, ready to give her a loving hug and kiss.

Before I reached her, she rejected me with a look of disdain.

She nagged, "Are you still a child? You're happy just looking at this junk you bought, and you have to finish eating them all in one breath, not eating proper meals afterward. In a few days you'll complain about constipation and not being able to release, don't argue with me this time, I don't want to hear it!"

I hugged my cherished snacks and completely ignored these words, blowing in one ear and out the other. It's been more than twenty years, and I'm used to it.

We had lunch, and in the afternoon, my grandmother had to go out again. Before leaving, she told me to make more dumplings, the meat was already thawed, and two Chinese cabbages would be enough.

Looking at the large bowl of filling that I just prepared, I had a hunch that this time it would be a big job, at least I had to make two large trays of dumplings.

But I have experience. Last year during Chinese New Year, it was just me and my dad at home. We had to make dumplings together for the third day of the New Year. He sat motionless in the main room, not even touching the dough.

I moved the dough board to the heated brick bed, turned on the TV, ready to watch while making dumplings.

After turning on the TV, I realized that there might not be a signal now.

As the news appeared on the screen, I was a little impressed by the strong signal tower.

There was only a repeated message on TV:

“The world has not yet come to an end, humanity cannot give up yet. The biggest weakness of the infected is their brain. Intense attacks on their brains will cause them to lose the ability to move. Please take up weapons around you, protect yourself and those around you. The rescue team has also set out, and those who can hear this message can call the following num—"

I casually turned off the TV, no fun, better to watch variety shows.

My grandmother came back in the afternoon, just when I finished making the dumplings.

She rummaged in the side room for half a day, bringing out the stove and chimney.

After packing up, I went to the main room and found her setting up the stove.

"Grandma, it's only November, and I don't think the temperature has dropped below ten degrees recently." I stood beside her, watching as she placed two bricks under the small stove.

My grandmother didn't respond to me and directed me without lifting her head, "Attach those four chimneys."

"Oh." I quickly attached the chimneys.

Once the stove was set up, she brought in the coal left over from last year and placed them in the corner of the wall.

I watched her busy around, several times I wanted to say something, but ultimately gave up.

After dinner, I settled into bed with my tablet as usual, and my grandmother went out again with a hoe.

This time I slept soundly, not knowing what time she came back.