Short, Light, Free

Chapter 174: People and Money III

Granny met me in the middle of the room and proceeded to drag me back outside.

“What is it, Granny?”

“Let’s go talk a walk,” she told me with a smile.

She led me all the way out of the hospital and to a nearby bench.

She sat down and wiped the seat next to hers with her sleeves. “Come, come, join me.”

As soon as I sat down, she grabbed my hand.

“I have something good for you here,” she said, excitement dancing in her eyes.

“Good stuff?” I asked.

“I always have this with me,” she said, reaching into her pants’ pocket.

She produced a small, grey pouch made from a wool sweater.

“What’s that?”

She opened the pouch and searched through what seemed to be quite a number of treasures before pulling out five bank cards.

She stuffed them one by one into my hands and said, “Those doctors are evil. They’re only demanding that I do all those other treatments to earn more money. Over 10,000 dollars for one session with no subsidy? Ha! They’re just trying to cheat me of my money.”

“Wait, cheat you off your money?” I repeated.

“This card has 10,000, this has 40,000, and this one has 20,000. I can’t remember how much does the rest contain, though. These doctors are just trying to extort more money from me, but unfortunately for them, I’m smart. I had Xiaogao tell you that I’m in critical danger so you would come over and take this money. They can’t have it.”

“Doctors don’t scam people,” I told her carefully.

“For a ton of money they do. I know my body well. They can’t give me all that crock about my health when I know they’re just interested in my money.”

“Granny… the doctors have your best interest at heart. They know your body condition the best,” I reasoned.

“Do you remember your birthday?” she asked.

“April 4, 1995, why?”

“Add a 0 in front and you have the password to these cards,” she whispered to me.

“Wait, wait. I’ll be meeting Doctor Gao in the afternoon and I’ll hear what he has to say before we make any decisions.”

“I have another secret,” she continued.

“Alright, what is it?”

“Once there was a priest…”

“Priest? Granny, you can’t trust them. They’re charlatans,” I interrupted.

“They’re just fine, so shush. When I was young, that priest worked his magic and it was so accurate.”

“Fine. I’ll bite.”

“That priest was very reputable, but I don’t remember his name. He said that people watched television then but people in the future would carry their televisions around and not look away, as if it was more important than their lives,” she narrated, pointing at the passersby who were busy staring at their phones.

“Carry televisions? You mean mobile phones?”

“He also said that people would stop bringing money; they would scan their thumbprint or face instead.”

Her story happened about 60 years ago, which would work out to be somewhere in the 1950s. It would’ve definitely been hard to foresee that people would go cashless in the future.

I thought about the fingerprint payment method and the iris and face recognition feature by Samsung and Apple.

“That’s just coincidence. Don’t people in the past provide their fingerprint as evidence when they are in debt? You think too much, Granny,” I said discouragingly.

“He also said that spoiled organs can be exchanged with other people’s. If not, they can also be exchanged with those made of gold, silver, and crystal.”

“Gold, silver and, crystal? That’s too far-fetched.”

Granny opened her pouch again and handed me a piece of paper.

It was a corner of a newspaper cutting, with the city’s logo on it.

It talked about artificial organs and even had a picture of a man-made heart on it. Its outer shell was made of clear plastic and its insides were like white silver with golden tubes.

She pointed at the news cutting and said, “Some people were skeptical back then, but everything he predicted came true.”

“What else did he say?” I asked, a bit interested now.

“Many, many things but I don’t remember all of them now.”

“He seems impressive,” I acknowledged.

“He had a tortoise shell filled with copper coins. He could tell fortunes,” she added.

“Did he tell you yours?”

“Yes. He’s best at predicting lifespans. He said that money is just a number. Some people get to earn millions but die before they could even reach 40. Others could only manage to earn a few hundred thousands or even tens of thousands, but they live long.”

“So you had your fortune read?” I asked again.

“630,000,” she answered.

“630,000? What…”

“I’m about done. I wasn’t meant to earn big bucks, but I think that 630,000 is enough. Actually, that’s more than enough for my old age.”

“Granny…” I began.

“I know my body. I’ve asked him. This is all that I can give you, take it,” she insisted, guiding my hand into my pocket.

I took her pouch and stuff the cards back inside, before returning it to her. “I was a forgetful child, wasn’t I?”

She nodded. “Your teacher called multiple times, reporting that you had lost the yellow cap, red neckerchief, umbrella and rain boots that she gave you. So careless…”

“You don’t misplace things, do you, Granny?”

“I put away everything at home nicely,” she said.

“Can you hold onto these for me first?” I asked.

She nodded and put the pouch back in her back pocket.

“Granny… did you ask him about my future?”