Grandpa brought home a palm-sized baby turtle from town. No one knew where it came from. It didn't understand human speech, but it recognized the family's scents and footsteps. It stayed in the old house, watching Niannian grow up, go to school in the county town, and come back on weekends. It watched Grandpa's back grow a little more bent each year. It moved so slowly you could barely tell it was moving, yet it became the one thing in the family that never changed. Grandpa brought home a palm-sized baby turtle from town. No one knew where it came from. It didn't understand human speech, but it recognized the family's scents and footsteps. It stayed in the old house, watching Niannian grow up, go to school in the county town, and come back on weekends. It watched Grandpa's back grow a little more bent each year. It moved so slowly you could barely tell it was moving, yet it became the one thing in the family that never changed.
