七楼 · 第八天
The Seventh Floor, Episode 8: Paid From the South
Name: ________________ Date: ________
昨天晚上十二点，邹爷爷用一把旧钥匙开了快递站的门，拿走了七楼的快递。他只说了一句：“她一直都给我留着。”
今天早上七点，罗师傅的车刚到门口，乔安就出去了。
“您帮我看了吗？”
“看了。”他拿出手机，“你自己看。”
手机上有很多快递，他找到了七楼的那些。今年每个月都有一个，只有这个月有两个。它们都是从一个地方寄来的：广州。
“广州？”她看着他，“那么远！”
“对，离我们这儿很远很远，在南方。”
“钱呢？钱是谁付的？”
“也是在广州付的。”他又说：“我做快递十几年了，没见过这样的。每个月从那么远的地方寄来，可是上面不写名字，也不写电话。”
她想了想：“邹爷爷说‘她一直都给我留着’。那个‘她’，会不会就在广州？”
他没回答。
七点半，宁宁来了。“我说过，你得第一个告诉我！”
她笑了：“对不起，罗师傅比你早到了。”
昨天晚上的事，她都告诉了宁宁。他的眼睛越来越亮：“是邹爷爷！我就知道！里面是种子吗？”
“不知道，他没打开。”
“那我的面包呢？”
“等我们知道了再说。”
宁宁想了想，又问：“可是，邹爷爷为什么有这儿的钥匙？”
罗师傅已经走到了门口。他停下来，说：“因为这儿以前不是快递站。”
“那是什么？”
这时候，他的手机响了。他看了看手机：“我得走了。你回家问问你妈妈吧，她在这个小区住得比我久。”
那天晚上，乔安一回家就问：“妈妈，快递站那儿，以前是做什么的？”
妈妈拿着碗的手一下子不动了。
她看着女儿，过了一会儿才说：“你还记得邹奶奶吗？”
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 站 | zhàn | station; stop |
| 门 | mén | door; gate |
| 楼 | lóu | building (with more than one story) |
| 门口 | ménkǒu | doorway; entrance; gate |
| 帮 | bāng | to help; to assist |
| 远 | yuǎn | far; distant |
| 离 | lí | to leave; to part from |
| 过 | guò | (particle) marks a past experience: have ever |
| 上面 | shàngmiàn | above; on top of; on the surface of |
| 告诉 | gàosù | to tell; to inform |
| 笑 | xiào | to laugh; to smile |
| 眼睛 | yǎnjing | eye |
English (for the teacher)
Last night at midnight, Zou Yeye opened the parcel station door with an old key and took the seventh-floor parcel. He said only one thing: "She always kept them for me."
At seven this morning, Mr Luo's van had only just reached the door when Qiao An went out.
"Did you check for me?"
"I did." He took out his phone. "See for yourself."
There were lots of parcels on the phone, and he found the seventh-floor ones. This year there had been one every month, and only this month were there two. They were all sent from the same place: Guangzhou.
"Guangzhou?" She looked at him. "That's so far!"
"Yes, it's very, very far from here, down in the south."
"And the money? Who paid for them?"
"They were paid for in Guangzhou too." He went on, "I've been a courier for over ten years, and I've never seen anything like this. Every month they come all that way, but there's no name on them and no phone number."
She thought for a moment. "Zou Yeye said 'she always kept them for me.' Could that 'she' be in Guangzhou?"
He didn't answer.
At half past seven, Ningning arrived. "I told you, you had to tell me first!"
She laughed. "Sorry, Mr Luo got here before you."
She told Ningning everything about last night. His eyes grew brighter and brighter. "It was Zou Yeye! I knew it! Were there seeds inside?"
"I don't know, he didn't open it."
"Then what about my bread?"
"We'll talk about that once we know."
Ningning thought about it, then asked, "But why does Zou Yeye have a key to this place?"
Mr Luo had already reached the door. He stopped and said, "Because this place wasn't always a parcel station."
"Then what was it?"
Just then, his phone rang. He glanced at it. "I have to go. Go home and ask your mum, she's lived in this compound longer than I have."
That evening, as soon as Qiao An got home, she asked, "Mum, what used to be there, where the parcel station is?"
Her mother's hand, holding a bowl, suddenly went still.
She looked at her daughter, and after a moment she said, "Do you remember Zou Nainai?"