Zhang Xiaoya slowly approached Old Lady Li. Upon seeing that wrinkled, gaunt face, she grew even more incensed. She held the bowl and said, "Time to eat."
"You lie in bed all day waiting for people to feed you. Why don't you just die already? My mom said that old people who don't die are just old bags of bones waiting to rot."
Old Lady Li stared at the bowl in her granddaughter’s hand, turning a deaf ear to her words. She had heard such things thousands of times; she was long since used to it. She simply waited for the food to be placed in her mouth. In truth, had she been fed well every day, she would have recovered long ago. She was not bedridden; she had merely broken a leg and had no other serious ailments. Her current state was entirely due to the deliberate neglect and torment she suffered at the hands of her younger son's family. They felt that since her leg was broken, she was useless, and they didn't want to waste food on her. But she refused to die; she was determined to live just to spite them.
Seeing that she didn't speak, her granddaughter set the bowl of porridge on a nearby table, slapped her face a few times, and said, "You old bag of bones, I'm talking to you! Why aren't you answering me?"
"Didn't you hear me? My brother and the others don't want to come over because your room stinks!"
Old Lady Li felt the blows. Coming from such a young child, they didn't hurt much, but the humiliation was immense. Suddenly, she didn't want to hold on anymore.
Outside the room, the younger daughter-in-law was talking to her husband. She said, "The old woman still won't die even like this. If it doesn't work, we should just move her to the west room alone. Don't let her stench foul us up."
"That won't work. The west room is for storing clutter and farm tools. The neighbors will talk."
"Then what do you propose? Look at the state of this room. Call your sister and tell her to come more often."
"I called. She said she’s busy at home taking care of her husband and children."
"Then find your brother and make him take her in."
"That... that's hard to ask. We agreed on it in the beginning: each of us takes one. They took the old man, and now..."
"This won't work, that won't work! What do you want to do then!"
The younger daughter-in-law threw the bowl in anger. After thinking for a while, the younger son said, "How about we only feed her once a day?"
Old Lady Li heard every word, and her last shred of hope for life vanished. Her second son was already caring for the old man—a man simple of mind and body—just as they had agreed. He would be the one to see the old man through to his end. He didn't know her circumstances, and even if he did, he probably wouldn't say anything. After all, she had always favored her younger son, ignoring the struggles of the second son’s family. The second son and his wife were honest folk; whatever she said went. Even when she gave all the property to the younger son during the division of the family estate and drove them out, they hadn't held a grudge. But did they really have no resentment? Her daughter had been neglected and married into a very poor family, slaving away for her in-laws and raising children, while her husband did nothing but drink and gamble. If she had shown any concern back then, her daughter wouldn't have married such a good-for-nothing. That she could come by occasionally to clean and wash for her was already more than she deserved. In this life, she had failed her second son and her youngest daughter; she had been far too partial.
*Fine,* she thought. *Death is my retribution.*
"You old bag of bones, eat! Why aren't you eating? I'm telling you, if you don't eat, I'm leaving. No food for you today, you can just starve!" The granddaughter said this arrogantly, dumped the food all over her face, and stormed out with the bowl.
"Mom, Dad, Grandma won't eat. She's too lazy to even open her mouth. I'm done with it. Don't ask me to feed her today."
The younger son and his wife exchanged glances but said nothing. The family ate in silence.
By nightfall, Old Lady Li had not opened her mouth, even though she could have licked the dried food crusts from her lips. The next morning, Zhang Jinlin's family ate, the children left for school, and the couple went out for a stroll. Neither of them spared a glance for the room where Old Lady Li lay. Zhang Jinlin went to check the furniture at the village shop and ran into his second brother, Zhang Jinhe, but he didn't even lift his eyelids as he walked past. Zhang Jinhe wanted to ask about their mother and check on her, but seeing his younger brother's attitude, he turned and left. If his brother didn't look for him, the old lady was likely fine. Fine was good.
At noon, the children returned home to eat. There was no sound from the back room.
Zhang Jinlin said, "Ziyun, go take half a bowl of rice to Mother."
His wife, Song Ziyun, glared at him and said, "I'm not going. That’s your mother, you go!"
"She's your mother-in-law, at least. She was always good to you, you..."
"She's your mother. I gave birth to your children; what have you done?"
Song Ziyun had never been a pleasant woman. She only ever took from others, and no one could ever get a penny out of her. When the old woman was healthy, she had sucked up to her to get her to work, but now that she was like this, she wouldn't dream of getting close enough to smell her.
Zhang Jinlin looked at his wife’s still-alluring figure and fell silent. After the meal, he scraped the leftover noodles from the pot into a bowl, added some broth, and managed a small half-bowl. If Old Lady Li had seen it, she would have been moved to tears; she hadn't tasted salt in ages, let alone noodles. And these were egg noodles, though the eggs had all been eaten by the ungrateful children and grandchildren. That didn't change the flavor, however.
Zhang Jinlin carried the bowl in to perform his filial duty, but he was driven back by the stench the moment he entered. *Eating in this smell, what does it matter what you're eating?* he thought. He looked at the sky; it was indeed hot, thirty degrees outside. The back room was stuffy and the windows were shut. It was no place for a human to stay.
"What's wrong? Why aren't you going in? Your mother is waiting for you to feed her!" his wife said, batting her eyes at him with a smirk.
Zhang Jinlin didn't want to go, but thinking that his mother hadn't eaten for a whole day, he felt he had to. One meal a day would mean less waste, but an entire day without food... he still couldn't bring himself to do it. She was his mother! He gritted his teeth and walked in. The room had only one small window, and the light was blocked by the west room; even with the window open, the air didn't circulate. He opened the window and approached his mother.
"Mom, time to eat!"
Song Ziyun was in the living room, cracking melon seeds and watching TV, when she heard a thunderous cry from the back room: "Ziyun, come quick! Mom is gone!"
A smile crept across her face. She turned off the TV and hurried over, saying, "What? What! What’s wrong with her..."
Li Baoying had died during the night. Because of her deep despair, she hadn't felt much at the end—it was just like falling asleep. She had starved to death.
Zhang Jinlin hurriedly called his sister, Zhang Hua, back to clean and dress their mother. Only after she was cleaned up did they notify the relatives and friends that Old Lady Li had died—supposedly of an illness following her broken leg. When Old Lady Li passed, both sons and her daughter attended, and the funeral was lavish. The old man watched the person in the coffin with a blank expression, cast a complicated look at his younger son, and walked away.