Half a plate of cold spinach

I noticed the old woman who had just walked into the restaurant with a sickly look on her face. She seemed to have just walked in from another world, with a look of uncertainty and helplessness.

The girl, who was already a bit frazzled by the lack of staff, came over and asked her what she wanted to order, and she looked at the girl blankly and said, "Simple is fine. I'll have some greens." The girl patiently answered several dishes like a machine, and she ordered spinach. Then the two discussed for a long time, the old woman ordered another bowl of shinigami soup, the girl sighed with relief, turned to the kitchen and read twice, and quickly ran to another table.

The city is becoming more and more intolerant of old people who are too slow-paced, especially in places where there are young people as waiters, like fast food restaurants or supermarkets. Younger shoppers usually order clearly, pay, and leave the counter quickly and neatly. The elderly always ask questions and are uncertain, the action of the money and very slow, and the other side of the change will not be able to grasp the ground if a small sticker will be given to the elderly half-life. When an old man walks into a supermarket or fast food restaurant and he hears the waiter mumbling something like a robot, he thinks he has stepped on Mars.

When the shinigami soup and spinach are served, the old woman is still bewildered, and she is quite troubled by the fact that she has too much spinach to finish. So she asked the middle-aged man next door for help: "Can I share half of the spinach with you? Look, I haven't even touched my chopsticks yet." The middle-aged man laughed and shook his head, saying he had ordered bok choy too. After being rejected, the old woman turned to the young people at the other table, and the four middle school students who had just left class also smiled and said no, as if they were afraid of being tainted by the old man.

I thought of Wu Nianzhen's "Eight Years Old, Going on a Trip Alone". In the story, eight-year-old Ah Chin meets a strange old woman on the bus who is going home after selling vegetables. Chin did not dare to look at the granny with white powder on her face, but when the granny passed out, Chin thought she was dead and was so scared that he shouted for help. After waking up, the whole car thought Chin was the granny's grandson, and Chin played the granny's grandson. One of my friends said that he cried every time he watched.

I looked at my table full of dishes thinking that if the granny came to beg me, I would gladly accept. Sure enough, she stood up and walked toward me, and I said, "Yes, it just so happens I didn't order any greens. Thank you." She gave me half a plate of spinach as a relief, bowed to me, and said, "Thank you." The old woman finally returned to her seat in peace and slowly drank the probably cold shikigami soup.

I ate the half-dish of spinach given to me by the old woman and thought about her appreciation and kindness, something that is rather incomprehensible to modern people. The old woman seemed to have gained some appetite with the soup and spinach, so she ordered an additional bowl of lo mein rice. When she went to the checkout counter, the girl asked her to touch a lottery, and she pulled out a food redemption coupon, which was a marinated egg. They had another long discussion over the halibut egg, and the old woman looked at me in thought.

"Is she trying to ask me again if she can share half an egg with her?" I thought with a little concern as I rubbed my already distended stomach.