72-Year-old Grandma Pu guards an old home, a pomegranate tree planted with her husband, and an orange cat that has been with her for eight years.
After my wife left, life slowed down. She knitted sweaters under the tree and embroidered pomegranate flower patterns for her little granddaughter in the city; she cooked small fish porridge for Ah Ju, listened to the cat's purr, and recounted old memories to the pomegranate tree. As spring passed and autumn came, pomegranates bloomed and bore fruit. The shadows of the trees swayed across the bamboo chair, and also passed over her thoughts hidden in the wrinkles.
The son's family is busy in the city, and there are always few days of reunion. But there is no shortage of fireworks in the small courtyard: the pomegranate tree that protects its broken branches on rainy nights, the sweet pomegranate sugar water that fills the courtyard during the Mid-Autumn Festival, the small cotton pad sewn for Ah Ju during the snowy winter solstice, and the bowls of hot porridge and small talk handed over by neighbors.
This is a story without ups and downs, just an old courtyard, an old cat, an old pomegranate tree, and a time that embraces the years gently. It turns out that loneliness never needs to be driven away. With cats accompanying you, trees looking at you, and memories warming you, ordinary days can be lived happily.
