Chapter 20

Soon the other party got the medicine, but the money transferred to him was a red envelope of two hundred yuan. Mu Nan felt embarrassed to accept two hundred yuan directly. Although he knew that if he waited for a while, he might not be able to buy even one pill for two thousand yuan, let alone a box. But now is not the time yet. After a while, the haze will dissipate and the outside will return to normal. During that time, he can replenish the stock of medicines. So if he took too much money now, he would feel like he was taking advantage of him.

"Brother, how about we give him another bottle of loquat paste? I bought several boxes of loquat paste. You can buy loquat paste online, so I bought a lot. Otherwise, I would be embarrassed to charge people so much money."

Qin Huai said, "I'll make some stewed food tomorrow and give them some. Right now, every household has their doors and windows closed and there's no ventilation. They live close to us, so if we make something with a strong smell, it will definitely have some impact. They haven't said anything, so just consider it a thank you."

Mu Nan smiled and said, "This is to make them feel guilty about their mistakes, right?"

Qin Huai folded all the clothes that had been dried under the air conditioner neatly and put them into the closet, saying, "You are the only one who knows how to summarize. Take out all the spices. I will make the marinade today, and we can put them in the pot tomorrow when the chicken wings arrive. What else do you want to eat besides chicken wings? Do you want braised beef?"

Mu Nan shook his head: "No beef, the beef stew is too dry, do you want to add some lotus root and kelp?"

Qin Huai nodded: "Okay, take them all out first. Today we can braise the vegetarian food first, and then take some eggs and braise them."

Mu Nan said okay, and then happily took out the ingredients one by one from the space. It was indeed good to have a brother, he could eat whatever he wanted.

When Jian Chu saw Yu Zibai coming back with medicine from outside, he guessed that he must have bought it from his neighbor. If he asked the community for it, he would probably be taken away for quarantine. Seeing Yu Zibai opening the medicine box and reading the instructions, Jian Chu sighed helplessly: "I will be fine in two days if I drink more hot water. It's so troublesome to buy cold medicine now. How much did it cost?"

Yu Zibai handed him the medicine box with the price tag still on it: "Look for yourself."

A box of cold medicine only costs more than 20 yuan, which is cheaper than a pound of radish. He didn't know that Yu Zibai directly gave him a red envelope to express his gratitude. He couldn't help but sigh: "They are still willing to sell cold medicine to others at this time. They are quite nice people."

Yu Zibai picked out two pills and handed them to him: "It says take one pill at a time, three times a day. Your cough is quite severe, so take two first."

The medicine was already bought, so of course he had to take it. Jian Chu took the medicine and swallowed it with water. Because he was not feeling well from the cough, he went to bed without even eating dinner. Until midnight, Yu Zibai did not hear Jian Chu coughing again, and the worry he had been holding for the past two days finally eased a little.

Probably because he took double the amount of medicine, so it worked well. The next day, Jian Chu felt much better. When he smelled the aroma of stewed food coming from next door, his appetite, which had been gone for several days, began to feel stronger. But with the conditions at home, he didn't even dare to express his feelings casually, for fear that Yu Zibai would take it seriously, or even want to buy him some good supplements when he saw that he was sick.

Unexpectedly, their lovely neighbor sent them a bag of braised food and a bottle of loquat paste in the evening.

This gift made Jian Chu a little confused, so he looked at Yu Zibai and asked, "Did you exchange something from your home with someone else again?"

Yu Zibai smiled and said, "If there is anything else at home that can be exchanged with others, then it is better for the neighbor to be kind and give some homemade braised food to the patient at home, so as to keep in touch with him. After all, we are all young people, and it is easier to deal with them than some older people."

Jian Chu sighed lightly, "Who are you trying to fool? Tell me, what's going on? If it's just a stewed dish, then it could be that the neighbor is kind and enthusiastic. There's also a bottle of loquat paste. It's impossible that he gave you cold medicine yesterday, and today he found loquat paste at home, so he sent you the stewed dish together. Besides, why would he suddenly send food for no reason? Not to mention being enthusiastic, he's been a neighbor for three years and he hasn't even said hello."

Yu Zibai calmly replied, "If the younger brother is not enthusiastic, then it is not appropriate for the older brother to be enthusiastic."

Although he was wearing a mask when he was in contact, he could still feel the aura of a person even if he covered his face. Jian Chu felt that Yu Zibai was underestimating his intelligence when he said that the neighbor's brother was a warm person. Seeing that Yu Zibai didn't say anything, he didn't ask any more questions. The most important thing was to get well soon and find a way to share the pressure of life with Yu Zibai.

At this time, Mu Nan was quite surprised about his next-door neighbor. He put the domestic garbage outside the iron gate so that Qin Huai could take it downstairs when he went downstairs to get something tomorrow. It happened that the next-door neighbor came out to get the braised food and loquat paste that Qin Huai put under the fire hydrant in the corridor, so they met each other from both ends. Probably he was worried that they would mind, after all, there was a patient in his family, so when he saw him putting out the garbage, the other party stood at the door and did not come out. He also said thank you to him, and waited until he closed the door before the other party came out to get the things.

What surprised Mu Nan was that he had met this neighbor once in his previous life, and for him, it was a very profound encounter.

At that time, the weather was extremely hot, there were power outages and water shortages, but there had not yet been an earthquake that almost disrupted the entire order. In addition, the epidemic had just passed, and people had been locked up at home for several months. Many people even went bankrupt and went into debt. There were many people who could not make ends meet, and faced such extreme weather. Many people could not bear the pressure of survival and committed suicide. Because the commotion was too serious, the government also knew that it was not easy for the people, so they began to distribute supplies. Three bottles of one liter of mineral water plus a bag of five small packets of instant noodles were three days of food rations for each person. They were collected every three days with an ID card and could not be collected on behalf of others.

Although Mu Nan was not so short of food at that time, the environmental conditions at that time were already panic-stricken, so he would certainly not refuse the free supplies. Even if he didn't eat them now, he would not take up space if he stored them in the space. Because the sun was too strong during the day, it was impossible for people to go out because of the heat, so he collected supplies at night after the sun went down. The place to collect them was the supermarket, not the neighborhood committee in the community, which was at least five minutes away from their community.

Even though the journey was only five minutes, it was late at night, with food in his bag, and he was completely unable to go out due to the extreme heat during the day when the ban had just been lifted. It might not be safe for him to be alone.

At that time, he noticed the two people in front of him. They were both tall and good-looking, which inevitably attracted a second look. But what really caught his attention was the interaction between the two. The tall one kept asking the slightly shorter boy next to him to put the water in his bag and let the shorter one carry the two packets of instant noodles. The short one seemed to be in poor health. Even in the dark, one could see that his face was a little pale, so his companion did not let him carry heavy objects. He also paid attention to the people in the queue next to him and protected him with one hand.

Looking at the two of them, he was thinking at that time that if Qin Huai was there, he would also be the one being protected.

When he saw the moment when the two of them were together, he couldn't help but burst out with envy of having someone to rely on, accompanied by longing and worry, confusion about the future, and the grievance of being alone. After Qin Huai left, he had never cried no matter how difficult his life was, but at that moment, he couldn't even hold back his tears.

Later on the way back, he felt someone following him. When he turned around, he saw two people wearing shorts because they were too hot and dirty, like homeless people, looking at him. Just when he was hesitating whether to run home, the two people he saw before came up to him. The tall one took the initiative to say to him, "You are also from Jinglin Community, right? Let's go together."

Seeing that there were two more people on his side, the two homeless people naturally stopped following him. He thanked the two people, but he seldom took the initiative to make friends with people in recent years and was not good at talking to strangers. He didn't know what to say except thank you, so he went back to the community in silence. After returning to the community, the two people seemed to have other things to do, so they took a different path from him. He never met them again after that. He didn't even know that they lived next door to him.

Because of the sudden emotions that came to him at that time, he had a deep impression of them. Even though he was wearing a mask and only his eyes were visible, he could recognize that this neighbor was the tall man who had helped him in his previous life. In other words, the sick person in their family now was probably the slightly shorter boy he saw in his previous life. It seemed that he was not in good health, but he was still alive until then, which proved that he was not infected, which was also quite lucky.

Qin Huai saw Mu Nan coming back after putting out the garbage, and his expression was a little strange, so he stopped the blender in his hand and asked: "What's wrong?"

Mu Nan looked at Qin Huai, who was wearing an apron and beating eggs with a whisk in his hand, and couldn't help but reach out to him: "Brother, come and hug me."

Qin Huai put down the blender in his hand and walked over with a smile, opened his arms and hugged Mu Nan in his arms: "What's wrong? What did you see? You're suddenly acting like a spoiled child." Qin Huai was even a little flattered by Mu Nan's sudden closeness. Of course, the closer Mu Nan was to him, the better.

Mu Nan took a deep breath, smiled and sighed: "I just suddenly felt that it's great to have a brother."

Qin Huai rubbed his hair: "You are so sweet and good at talking."

Mu Nan asked, "Can I have an extra plate of chicken wings later?"

Qin Huai mercilessly let go of him and rejected him coldly: "No."

Mu Nan looked at him with an indescribable expression. Sometimes, having a brother is not that good.