“No, I will eat.” Sophia replied without even looking up.

“Is Arthur your boyfriend?”

“What’s wrong?” Sophia retorted.

After being harshly ridiculed by Sophia, Andrew was left speechless.

But starting from that day, Andrew underwent another obvious change. When he was whistling and pushing a small cart to help his grandmother pick pumpkins, he encountered an uncle pushing a large cart coming from the opposite direction. This time, after hesitating for a moment, he took the initiative to make way.

But the key scenes continued. After the grandmother picked the pumpkins, she went to the market to sell them and exchanged them for a meager amount of cash. Andrew was deeply moved. He refused to buy batteries and went straight to the car. The driver told the grandmother, “The old lady across the street asked about you. She hurt her leg and can’t come to see you. Do you want to visit her?”

The grandmother let Andrew get in the car and went alone to visit her old friend at the grocery store across the street. The two elderly women sat face to face—one unable to speak, the other talking nonstop—yet their communication was smooth. One gave the other snacks for children, the other gave her homegrown produce. It looked like bartering, but in reality, it was mutual giving. Before leaving, the grocery store lady told the grandmother in a trembling voice, “Come again, let’s see each other one more time before I die.”

The grandmother returned to the car, but Andrew insisted that she walk home by herself while he left with Arthur and Sophia. The reason was that he saw a pretty little girl next to the car and was afraid that his grandmother would embarrass him if she rode with him. So he repeatedly pushed away the heavy package his grandmother handed him, and even stole a bag of snacks from it. The grandmother, unable to speak and not as strong as her tall grandson, could only hunch her back, lean on her cane, and carry the heavy package home alone.

Back at home, Andrew grew increasingly worried about his grandmother. Ashamed of his ridiculous behavior, he became restless and even used rock-paper-scissors against himself to decide whether to go pick her up.

In the end, Andrew took the initiative to run outside the village, took the package from his grandmother, and put the snacks back where they belonged. The two of them returned home together.

After that, Andrew seemed like a completely different person. He repaired the play-dish of Sophia that he had broken earlier; apologized to Arthur and the others and played with them; and even accepted the bowl-cut his grandmother gave him. Similarly, he wore a scarf to cover his bowl-cut, played with his two friends, taught his grandmother to write letters, and drew pictures for her.

However, amid all these wonderful things, summer vacation came to an end.

His mother came from Seoul to take Andrew back.

Everyone at the scene lowered their voices, quietly watching the ending.

The three of them stood in front of the bus stop. The mother, who seemed to have found a job, kept fussing over the grandmother, reminding her to wear more clothes and promising to visit before the New Year.

The grandmother kept trying to communicate with Andrew, but strangely, Andrew kept his head down and said nothing, giving no response to her concern.

Andrew’s mother had to awkwardly explain to the grandmother, “Mom, I think he’s just shy. Thank you for taking care of him.”

The grandmother, unable to speak, could only nod.

The bus arrived. Before getting on, Andrew gave his most treasured Transformers picture book to his grandmother, then boarded the bus. Outside the window, the grandmother stepped forward and raised her hand high, wanting to touch Andrew’s hand, but Andrew never responded.

The bus started, music played, and Andrew suddenly stood up, ran to the back of the bus, pressed himself against the rear seat, looked at his grandmother, and tried hard to wave goodbye. The grandmother watched her grandson on the back seat of the bus as he went farther and farther away, left the mountain pass, and disappeared from view. The farewell music faded, leaving only the sound of the mute grandmother’s rapid breathing.

The whole place was silent; in the entire cinema, only the grandmother’s breathing could be heard.

The screen darkened, music played, the rhythm became lively, and a new scene appeared: the grandmother, leaning on her cane, was slowly walking along the gravel road in the mountains toward the village. Several shots followed, all showing the grandmother on her way home.

Suddenly, the scene flashed—a pair of aged hands was holding the picture book Andrew had given her. As the book was turned, a letter written by Andrew for his grandmother appeared. In the middle of the letter, a little figure was quietly sleeping. Looking at the hairpin, it became clear that this was the grandmother. Page after page of the picture book flashed by, all filled with slightly childish drawings of the grandmother, drawn by Andrew himself.

The scene cut back. After climbing a rugged slope, the grandmother had safely arrived home.

With that, the movie ended.

Chapter 8: A Double Explosion of Reputation and Box Office

Thunderous applause erupted throughout the theater, as continuous as a summer downpour. When the lights came on, many women in the audience were already sobbing uncontrollably.

Everyone understood that this movie was a huge success.

After the premiere ended, and after watching Emily Thompson see off all the guests, Mark King found her: “Aunt Thompson, this is my phone number. I hope you’ll remember it.”

Emily Thompson chuckled, “Wood, I already have your number.”

Mark King replied very seriously, “Auntie, it’s not the same. That’s the number I gave to my parents’ senior. This one is for my director. I hope I can participate in more movies like this as an actor in the future.”