Pushing her way through the crowd, Xu Su hurried over to the middle-aged man wailing in the middle of the street. Not at all repulsed by his filthy appearance, she took his arm and asked anxiously, "Uncle, what's wrong?"
Her uncle, Xu Jianbang, was mute and hard of hearing. He normally earned a small income by collecting scraps from the streets and alleys. In this life, Xu Su had only seen him once, on her grandfather's sixtieth birthday.
At the time, her mute uncle had even given her a red envelope with fifty yuan inside. Though Chen Shulan later took it, that was still the hard-earned money of a childless, single, disabled man, saved up bit by bit from the bottles and cans he had collected.
Across two lifetimes, Xu Su had received far too little familial affection. She cherished every little bit she was given.
This was a kindness Xu Su had to honor.
