第三章 奇怪的电梯
Chapter 3: The Strange Elevator
Soon, Xiao An discovered something strange again.
That evening, Xiao An came home very late.
He stood in front of the elevator, waiting for it.
He looked at the light above the elevator.
The seventeenth floor.
He had moved in several days ago.
He had never seen the elevator go up to the seventeenth floor.
He thought no one lived on the seventeenth floor.
After a while, the elevator came down.
The elevator reached the fifth floor and waited a moment.
After a while, the elevator came down again.
When it reached the first floor, the doors opened.
No one was inside.
Xiao An thought: The elevator came down from the seventeenth floor.
But there was no one.
He was a little curious about the seventeenth floor.
The next day, he asked Aunt Zhang, "Does anyone live on the seventeenth floor?"
"Someone does," Aunt Zhang said. "But no one has seen her for many years."
"She lives alone and doesn't come out?"
"What does she eat?"
Aunt Zhang didn't know.
"The old people in the building say that at night, the elevator goes up to the seventeenth floor by itself," Aunt Zhang said.
Xiao An didn't quite believe it.
"Who lives on the fifth floor?" he asked.
"Grandpa Chen," Aunt Zhang said. "Every day after dinner, he goes out for a walk."
Xiao An thought: A walk?
He decided to go to the seventeenth floor tonight and take a look.
At eleven o'clock at night, Xiao An did not take the elevator.
He went up from the third floor, one floor at a time, to the seventeenth floor.
The seventeenth floor was very quiet, with only one family living there.
The light was not on.
Xiao An stood in the unlit place and waited.
A little after eleven, the elevator went "ding."
The doors opened.
The person who came out was Grandpa Chen from the fifth floor.
He walked to that door and said softly, "It's me."
The door opened a little.
Grandpa Chen put something inside.
Then he took something back from inside.
From inside the door, a very small voice said, "Thank you."
The door closed.
Grandpa Chen stood for a while, then left.
Xiao An stood there without moving.
But he was too curious.
The elevator doors had not closed yet, so he ran into the elevator.
Grandpa Chen was standing in the elevator, holding a bowl.
He understood: it was Grandpa Chen who came every night to deliver food.