Chapter 10 Ningning also has a hereditary disease from the Xie family.
At this moment, Ningning dropped the wind-up frog in her hand to the ground.
She clutched her chest, her face pale, her body leaning forward uncontrollably, her shoulders heaving violently, each breath producing only a faint "hoarse" sound.
Soon, her little face turned blue and purple from holding her breath.
Ningning's asthma has flared up again.
Although Qiao Xingyue is a doctor, her chest still trembles violently every time she sees Ningning having an asthma attack.
Medical conditions in that era were limited and far inferior to the advanced standards of later generations. Emergency medicines were also scarce, and the special medicine that Ningning had been taking for a long time could only play a routine role in daily treatment.
If the situation is serious, even that special medicine may not be effective.
So Qiao Xingyue's chest was pounding with panic, but she remained calm and gave instructions to An'an beside her.
"An'an, go get your sister's medicine quickly."
Panicked, An'an quickly ran upstairs to the second floor.
Upon hearing that medicine was needed, Huang Guilan quickly grabbed an enamel cup and poured herself a cup of water. Seeing that the water was a bit hot, she quickly used two enamel cups to stir it back and forth, blowing on it to cool it down as she did so.
"Comrade Xiao Qiao, what medicine did An'an go to get for Ningning? Will it be useful? Should I hurry up and call Zhongming back so he can drive Ningning to the hospital?"
"Aunt Lan, don't panic. Observe Ningning for fifteen minutes after she takes the medicine. If there is no improvement, then take her to the hospital."
A short while later, An'an rushed down from the second floor with the medicine in her hand.
Because she was in such a hurry, An'an slipped and fell on the stairs, but she wasn't afraid of the pain at all. She got up and rushed to Qiao Xingyue.
Qiao Xingyue got the medicine and quickly gave it to Ningning.
Only then did Huang Guilan realize that the special medicine Ningning was taking was exactly the same as the asthma medicine that Zhongming's father was taking.
However, Huang Guilan noticed that Ningning was taking half the amount of medicine that Commander Xie was taking.
Seeing Ningning's symptoms, Huang Guilan had wondered if the child might have asthma like Zhongming's father.
The result was exactly as she had guessed.
Huang Guilan couldn't help but feel that it was too much of a coincidence.
She had previously learned that An'an, like her and Zhongming, was allergic to peanuts.
Now Ningning has asthma, just like Zhongming's father.
These two kids are so destined to be part of the Xie family, even inheriting the same hereditary disease from each of them.
However, Huang Guilan doesn't have time to think about anything else right now.
She kept a close eye on Ningning's reaction, hoping that her symptoms would subside quickly.
Qiao Xingyue's attention was also focused on Ningning. Seeing that Ningning's breathing gradually became steady and her fingernails slowly returned to normal from purple to red, Qiao Xingyue finally breathed a sigh of relief.
About twenty minutes later, Ningning took a deep breath and slowly said to Qiao Xingyue, "Mom, I'm fine now, don't worry."
Qiao Xingyue was terrified.
This special medicine was not as effective as the sprays of later generations.
If the treatment hadn't been effective, Ningning would have been in serious danger. Fortunately, she recovered.
Only then did Huang Guilan clear her mind and confirm, "Comrade Xiao Qiao, does Ningning have asthma?"
Qiao Xingyue nodded, "Yes, Ningning has had asthma since birth, it's congenital and hereditary. It's okay when the disease doesn't flare up, but it's very dangerous when it does, and she has to take medication for a long time, which is very expensive. So I'm very grateful to Aunt Lan for giving me this job opportunity, and I will definitely work hard in the future."
Huang Guilan seemed to be deep in thought.
No wonder I heard the two kids say that Ningning needed treatment; it turns out it was for her asthma.
Currently, this disease is incurable, and the medication is indeed very expensive.
Zhongming's father also takes the same special medicine that Ningning takes, which costs 24 yuan per box.
Even a family like theirs finds the medicine very expensive, let alone Qiao Xingyue, a single mother who has lost her husband and has no one to rely on. No wonder the three of them are dressed in tattered and worn clothes. They must have spent all their money on Ningning's treatment. They don't even have a decent set of clothes.
Huang Guilan decided to make a new set of clothes for the mother and her two daughters.
Seeing that she didn't speak, Qiao Xingyue's heart tightened, and she quickly explained:
"Aunt Lan, but don't worry, asthma is not contagious and it won't affect you in any way."
I'm afraid Aunt Lan will misunderstand that the disease is contagious and then find an excuse to stop her from working.
"Look at you, what nonsense are you thinking?" Huang Guilan quickly clarified, "Aunt Lan has no intention of kicking you out."
She added, "These past few days I've seen you work efficiently, and the food you cook suits our tastes. The old lady also likes you, so there's no need for a month-long trial period. I'll just tell you directly that you can stay with us long-term and help me out. Don't worry, I'll pay you your salary on time every month."
Qiao Xingyue's eyes immediately welled up with tears, "Aunt Lan..."
"Don't cry." Huang Guilan's throat tightened. "When you cry, Aunt Lan feels bad too."
I wonder how difficult her life has been all these years raising two children.
Look at the mother and her two daughters, they are all so thin because of malnutrition.
Huang Guilan took Qiao Xingyue's hand and patted it, "Treat Aunt Lan's place like your own home, don't be too formal. It's Aunt Lan's good fortune to have such a capable helper like you."
...
evening.
Smoke rose from the chimneys of every household in the compound.
The entire courtyard was filled with the aroma of food from each household.
Xie Jiang rode his old-fashioned bicycle, passing by the red brick building. He greeted the elderly people sitting on small bamboo stools chatting about everyday life, and then slowly rode into his own courtyard.
Huang Guilan also moved a bamboo stool and sat in front of the bean trellis in her yard, sewing shoe soles.
The soles of those shoes were the perfect size for a four- or five-year-old child; she had made them especially for An An and Ning Ning.
Seeing Xie Jiang get off the bicycle, she quickly waved to him, "Old Xie, come here quickly, I have something to tell you."
Xie Jiang walked over. "What's up?"
"Old Xie, I've already told you about An'an's peanut allergy, just like Zhongming and me, right?"
“I’ve said it before, you know, there’s no such thing as a coincidence in this world.”
"What's even more coincidental is that Ningning also has a hereditary disease in the Xie family. Today, Ningning had an asthma attack, and I found out that the asthma medication she takes is exactly the same one you take. How can these two kids both have a hereditary disease in our family?"
Huang Guilan stopped sewing the shoe soles.
Xie Jiang also stopped unbuttoning his shirt.
A deep sense of doubt crept into his steady, powerful gaze. "Could such a coincidence really happen?"
Would I lie to you?
Sitting on the small stool, craning her neck to look at the tall and burly Xie Jiang, she found it a bit tiring, so she placed the unfinished shoe soles on the small bamboo stool and stood up.
Then, looking at the two children playing marbles in the yard, he said, "Take a closer look. Doesn't An'an's cleverness remind you of Zhongming when he was little? And Ningning's eyes, don't they look like Zhongming's haggard appearance when he had a peanut allergy as a child?"
Xie Jiang looked at the two children and examined them carefully. "These two children look exactly like Comrade Xiao Qiao. How can they look like the fourth one?"
"I told you to look closely, the more you look, the more they look alike... Could these two kids be..."
"Don't get the wrong idea. Our fourth brother is an upright person and would never do anything reckless outside. These two kids are definitely not our fourth brother's."
After Xie Jiang's reminder, Huang Guilan thought about it and realized it made sense.
Even the fourth brother's marriage to Fatty was only possible because Fatty's mother had put a veterinary drug in his sweet potato porridge, which led to him sleeping with Fatty without knowing why.
His fourth son is the most principled and discreet in his relationships with women, and it's impossible for him to be promiscuous outside the marriage.
It's even more impossible for there to be two dolls.
But was she really overthinking it?
"Then why is An'an allergic to peanuts and Ningning has asthma? Both of these are hereditary diseases in our Xie family."
"Perhaps it's just a coincidence. The world is vast and full of wonders. This also shows that these two children have a connection with our Xie family."
"Too.""
Huang Guilan suddenly felt a little lost. If An'an and Ningning were really their granddaughters, how wonderful that would be! They would be so pretty, so well-behaved, so sensible, and such a pitiful child.
"Old Xie, I'm going to take out our family's cloth coupons and buy a few bolts of nice cloth to make new clothes for An'an, Ningning, and Comrade Xiao Qiao."
"I think that's a good idea. The weather is getting warmer soon, so we should buy breathable pure cotton fabric instead of polyester. It looks nice, but it's stuffy in hot weather, and we don't want the kids to get heat rash."
"Okay, I'll buy the more expensive one."
Just then, Qiao Xingyue called out from the kitchen, "An'an, go to Grandma Zhou's house next door and bring the soy sauce back to Mom."
"Okay!" An'an put down the marbles in her hand, stood up, and patted her hands, which were covered in dust.
Upon seeing Xie Jiang, she greeted him politely, "Grandpa Commander, you're back."
"Mmm. Good girl, An'an."
"Grandpa Commander, I'm going to Grandma Zhou's house to get some soy sauce."
That Granny Zhou is such a nuisance. She's always borrowing things like oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, soap, brooms, honeycomb briquettes, and so on... but she never returns them.
When An'an arrived at her grandfather's house, the thing she did most was to go to Grandma Zhou's house to ask for the things she had lent out.
Huang Guilan was also somewhat helpless. "Sigh, Da Hong has been borrowing soy sauce from our family for thirty years, and he has never returned it once."
Xie Jiang advised, "We've been neighbors for so many years, let her borrow it if she wants to. It's not anything valuable."
"But she only borrows and never pays it back."
"Forget it, I won't argue with her."
"No, I have to go check it out. It's okay if we can't get the things back, but we can't let Zhou Dahong bully our An'an."
Although Huang Guilan only spent a few days with An An and Ning Ning, she cherished them as if they were her own granddaughters.
An'an went to Zhou Dahong's house.
She followed closely behind, afraid that An'an would be bullied.
Zhou Dahong was in the main room, feeding her grandson peach shortbread. When she saw An'an enter the room, she glared at her and said, "What are you looking at? You won't get any even if you look."
As he spoke, Zhou Dahong handed another piece of peach shortbread to his chubby grandson, saying, "Xiaobing, you eat this yourself, don't give it to her."
The chubby boy named Xiaobing ate while making various boastful gestures in front of An'an: "Hmph, I won't give you any!"
An'an was holding her breath, but she politely said, "Grandma Zhou, you've misunderstood. I didn't come to your house to beg for food. I came to get some soy sauce."
What kind of soy sauce?
"It's that bottle of soy sauce you borrowed at noon. My mom just bought it this morning."
An'an was really annoyed by Granny Zhou, but her mother had taught her that she shouldn't fall out with people unless her own interests were infringed, and that she should maintain good neighborly relations.
"It's just a bottle of soy sauce!" Granny Zhou said with a sarcastic tone. "It's not like I'm not returning it to you."
An'an spread her little hands, not backing down at all, and said, "Then give it back to me now."
"you……"
"Grandma Zhou, if you borrow and repay, it's easy to borrow again. You understand this principle, right?"
"You little slut born of a widow, who do you think you are, lecturing me?"
"Who are you calling a young widow, and who are you calling a little slut?" At this moment, Huang Guifang stepped into the main room with a sharp expression.
She quickly went to An'an and shielded her to her side.
Zhou Dahong immediately put on a smiling face, "Guilan, you misheard. I just praised An'an for being so pretty, just like her mother."
This week, Da Hong likes to talk badly about people behind their backs, but she won't admit it.
Huang Guilan was both angry and helpless. At this moment, Zhou Dahong said with a smile, "Guilan, I'll go get you some soy sauce right now."
When Zhou Dahong came out, he brought back an empty soy sauce bottle.
An'an noticed something was wrong. "Grandma Zhou, why is everything empty?"
"When I borrowed it at noon, there was only a little left." Grandma Zhou lied. In fact, when she went in, she poured the whole bottle of soy sauce into her enamel mug.
An'an was furious. "You're talking nonsense. My mom just filled a whole bottle with soy sauce this morning."
Grandma Zhou's face darkened. "Why are you lying all the time, child? Could it be that you didn't buy the soy sauce and pocketed the money, but you're accusing me of using up all the soy sauce?"
After saying that, Zhou Dahong looked at Huang Guilan and said, "Guilan, the nanny you hired is really no good. She's embezzling money from a bottle of soy sauce today and a pound of rice tomorrow, and then she always says she lent it to the neighbors. I don't know how much money she's embezzled from your family in a month."
Huang Guilan is a gentle person who can't stand arguing with others, but she gets very angry. "What nonsense are you talking about? Comrade Xiao Qiao is not that kind of person."
She believed in Qiao Xingyue.
It was clearly Zhou Dahong who took advantage of the situation, emptying the entire bottle of soy sauce, and then trying to frame Comrade Xiao Qiao.
Unable to find any evidence, Huang Guilan could only suppress her anger.
I can endure being mistreated, but others cannot slander Comrade Xiao Qiao.
“Da Hong, if I hear you gossiping about Comrade Xiao Qiao behind her back, or saying anything bad about her and An An and Ning Ning, I’ll call Director Chen of the Family Committee to settle this matter.”
Director Chen of the family committee is in charge of mediating various conflicts and disputes within the compound.
People like Zhou Dahong, who arbitrarily label comrades, will be subject to criticism and education once the facts are verified.
In any case, Huang Guilan would absolutely not allow anyone to say a single bad word about Qiao Xingyue and her two daughters.
"Guilan, I kindly advised you to be wary of your widowed nanny, but you went to Director Chen to criticize me. What are you up to?"
"Your nanny looks like a vixen, and she's a widow. She's probably plotting to seduce your sons. Maybe she even wants to seduce an older veteran like Commander Xie. You're not even keeping an eye on her, and you're still protecting her? Are you out of your mind?"
Huang Guilan was so angry that her face turned pale. "What nonsense are you talking about? Comrade Xiao Qiao is raising two children on her own. She doesn't steal or rob. She's hardworking and honest. She's not some kind of vixen."
Huang Guilan has never been in a fight.
But now he wanted to rush up and tear Zhou Dahong's foul mouth to shreds.
Zhou Dahong picked her teeth and said sarcastically, "With her looks, what else could she be but a vixen who seduces men? Don't regret it when your husband and son are both seduced. I'm just giving you a friendly reminder."
These words infuriated Huang Guilan to the point of wanting to explode, but as a professor who had dedicated decades to teaching and nurturing students, she simply didn't know how to swear.
At this moment, another person walked into the main room.
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