七楼 · 第十八天

English (for the teacher)

Today, the seventh floor got a new chair. In the evening, the wind outside was strong, and then heavy rain began to fall. Ningning messaged Qiao An: "What about the flowers on the seventh floor?"

She called Zou Yeye straight away; she called twice, but nobody answered. She grabbed her umbrella and went out.

The wind was so strong that even walking was hard. Her umbrella was blown apart in a second, so she had to run through the rain.

When she got to the bottom of Building Six, she saw two people waiting for her. One was Ningning, and the other was Mr Luo.

She asked, "You came too?"

Mr Luo said, "Ningning phoned me. He said that if he went on his own, his mum wouldn't let him out."

Ningning grinned. "So I found myself a grown-up."

The three of them ran up to the sixth floor together. Zou Yeye's door was shut, and though they called out several times, nobody opened it. But the iron door beside it was open, and a light was on upstairs.

On the seventh floor, the rain was even heavier. Zou Yeye was standing alone in the rain, moving a flower pot. His hair and clothes were soaked, and that old pair of shoes was covered in mud too.

She shouted to him, "Grandpa!"

He saw them. "What are you doing here? Go back, quick!"

Ningning had already run over. "We've come to help you!"

There were dozens of flower pots out there, but the five pots with little green leaves mattered most. She took one, Ningning carefully took the smallest, Zou Yeye took one, and Mr Luo carried two at once. Both chairs had been blown over by the wind, so Mr Luo ran back out and carried them into the little room too.

She shut the door, and suddenly the room was quiet. Everyone looked at the five flower pots. The little green leaves were all still there, not a single one lost.

Ningning said loudly, "I thought the wind had wrecked them all!"

Zou Yeye looked at the three of them, and after a moment he said quietly, "Thank you."

She remembered him saying that he couldn't say thank you. But today, for the first time, she heard him say those two words.

Just then, Mr Luo said, "Why is there water in here too?"

The floor under the window was covered in water. He pushed the old table aside, and behind it sat an old tin box, covered in mud and water.

She picked up the box. It was light, and there seemed to be a lot of paper inside.

She asked, "Grandpa, is this yours?"

Zou Yeye looked at the box and said nothing for a long time. At last he said, "I come up here every night, but I've never seen it before."