Teacher Wu walked quickly to the last row of the classroom. She helped Lin Zhixia up, put her hand on Lin Zhixia's forehead, and sighed, "You really have a fever."
"I feel so dizzy..." Lin Zhixia described.
Teacher Wu took a deep breath and said loudly, "Dong Sunqi, Tang Leqin, you two should maintain class discipline. I'm taking Lin Zhixia to the school clinic. Is there anyone else in the class with a fever? Is anyone feeling unwell?"
The whole class was silent and no one responded.
As it turned out, only Lin Zhixia had a fever.
Teacher Wu didn't dare to delay even a minute. She rushed Lin Zhixia to the school clinic and called Lin Zhixia's mother.
Near noon, Lin Zhixia's mother hurried to the school.
The nurse in the school clinic had taken Lin Zhixia's temperature twice, and each time it was 38.1 degrees. After taking the antipyretic medicine, Lin Zhixia felt weak and wanted to go home to sleep. When she saw her mother, she felt safe and took her mother's hand and said, "Mom, I want to go home."
Her mother was especially gentle to her.
Lin Zhixia didn't say a word, and leaned obediently on her mother's sleeve, like a young animal lost in a rainstorm, seeking the protection of her mother. Her cheeks were slightly red, and her eyes were watery, which made her mother feel very distressed.
Mom said quickly, "Xia Xia, let's go. Mom will take you home now."
Mom came by bike. She let Lin Zhixia sit on the back seat and held her waist with both hands. She rode her bike with her daughter in the cold wind at the end of December. The winter in this city was not warm. The leaves of the trees on the roadside had fallen off, leaving only bare branches. The cold wind blew into Lin Zhixia's collar, freezing her and making her shiver.
Her nose and ears were frozen. She took a breath and the cold spread along her trachea.
"Xia Xia?" Mom called her.
"Are we almost home?" Lin Zhixia asked back.
Mom parked her bike on the side of the road. She took off her down jacket and covered Lin Zhixia's head with it. The jacket was very warm, like the spring sunshine and the lingering body temperature.
The air Lin Zhixia exhaled condensed into white mist and drifted away with the wind. She returned the clothes to her mother: "It's very cold today, Mom, give me your coat, Mom will catch a cold."
"It's okay, we're almost home. I'll make you chicken soup noodles for lunch, okay? It's cold, drink more hot soup." Mom continued riding her bike, wearing a sweater.
"Okay." Lin Zhixia answered softly. She vaguely remembered that the sweater her mother was wearing was knitted by her grandmother. Her grandmother certainly didn't want her mother to get cold in the winter.
Lin Zhixia held up her down jacket with both hands and hung it on her mother's shoulders. The jacket covered Lin Zhixia's head, forming a semi-enclosed space.
She dozed off, the car slowed down, and her mother took her back to the Ancheng neighborhood.
Her mother said to her, "Xia Xia, have lunch and take a nap. If you still have a fever in the afternoon, we will go to the hospital."
Lin Zhixia hated going to the hospital the most. She was afraid of even getting an injection, let alone an IV drip. She nodded obediently, but in her heart she was thinking, she didn't want to go to the hospital.
At around noon, Lin Zeqiu came back from school.
Lin Zeqiu stepped into the house and noticed the depressing atmosphere. He had a bad feeling in his heart and ran to his mother and asked, "Is there something wrong in our family?"
"It's okay," Mom told Lin Zeqiu, "It's your sister. She got a fever today after getting the hepatitis B vaccine. Her temperature is 38 degrees. She took antipyretic medicine and is sleeping in the bedroom now."
Today the outdoor temperature is minus one degree, frost hits the fallen leaves, the winter wind is biting, and it hurts people's faces. Lin Zeqiu's home only has one electric heater, and that heater is naturally placed in Lin Zhixia's room.
Mom turned the electric heater to the highest setting, and Lin Zhixia's room quickly became warm and became the most comfortable place for the whole family.
There was an iron stove in the living room, with beehive coal burning in the stove. Lin Zeqiu brought a stool and sat beside the stove to warm himself.
The flames were scorching hot and burning vigorously. Lin Zeqiu used an iron rod to poke the honeycomb eye of the coal ball. The red sparks suddenly flew out and almost burned his clothes.
He sat on the chair, and moved his waist backwards, the soles of his shoes rubbing against the floor tiles, making a harsh sound.
"Lin Zeqiu!" Mother scolded him harshly, "Just stay still and don't cause any more trouble for me."
Lin Zeqiu sat up awkwardly: "I didn't do anything."
Mom was busy in the kitchen. While cooking, she said, "Lin Zeqiu, if you have nothing to do, go see your sister."
Lin Zeqiu walked to the door of Lin Zhixia's bedroom without complaint.
He stood there for ten seconds and heard no sound. He gently pushed open Lin Zhixia's door and immediately felt the warmth from the electric heater.
He saw Lin Zhixia lying on her side on the bed, covered with a soft quilt, holding a small plush penguin toy in her arms. The penguin had half its head exposed. Lin Zhixia closed her eyes, her eyelashes were thick, her cheeks were white and tender, and her breathing was even and steady, as if she had fallen asleep.
Lin Zeqiu was relieved.
After a while, lunch was ready. The house was filled with the aroma of food. Mom woke Lin Zhixia up and brought a bowl of steaming chicken soup noodles into her room, coaxing her to eat it in small bites.
Lin Zhixia was dazed and started talking nonsense: "Mom, do you think I'm smart?"
In order to get her to eat more, her mother answered without hesitation: "Of course, our Xia Xia is the smartest child in the world."
"No way." Lin Zeqiu replied indifferently from behind.
Mom turned around and glared at him: "Stop talking, your sister is sick today."
Lin Zeqiu walked to the bedside, raised one hand, and covered his sister's forehead. His calm expression gradually broke. He frowned, lowered his head, and looked at Lin Zhixia: "The burn is serious."
Lin Zhixia also looked up at him: "I want to sleep."
Mom negotiated with her: "Xia Xia, can you have another bite?"
Lin Zhixia shook her head like a rattle. She lay on the bed, covering herself tightly with the quilt: "I have no appetite. I just had a dream."
"What dream?" her mother and brother asked her in unison.
Lin Zhixia narrated in a daze: "I dreamed that my brain was burned... I forgot all the knowledge I learned, just like an ordinary person. I suddenly understood my brother. Brother, have you had a hard time over the years? You have to spend time memorizing, and exams make you nervous. Brother, it's not easy for you and your brain..."
Under normal circumstances, Lin Zhixia's dangerous remarks would make Lin Zeqiu furious on the spot.
But today, Lin Zeqiu, contrary to his usual behavior, tolerated Lin Zhixia. He said calmly and frankly: "It's not easy to be your brother."
Lin Zhixia asked him, "Brother, are you sad? Would you feel sad because you have a relative like me?"
Lin Zeqiu whispered, "No."
Lin Zhixia turned her head and met his eyes: "No?"
Lin Zeqiu smiled. His birthday is in January. In less than half a month, he will be thirteen years old. He is in the period of adolescence when he is growing vigorously. His Adam's apple has become more prominent, and his voice has changed, sounding a little deeper: "When you were a child... I don't mean you now, but before you went to school at the age of six, you often drove me crazy. No matter what, you are mine... mine..."
He rarely said anything sentimental. He always addressed Lin Zhixia by her first name. And now, he stammered, "She's my sister."
"Really?" Lin Zhixia grabbed the corner of the quilt with both hands, "Brother, your temper today is much better than usual."
Lin Zeqiu took the rice bowl from his mother. He grasped the spoon handle, scooped up a spoonful of noodle soup, and moved the spoon forward stiffly and slowly.
He had never fed Lin Zhixia before. He thought Lin Zhixia would give him a favor.
However, Lin Zhixia turned her head and looked at the wall: "I don't want to eat."
"You only took two bites of rice. Aren't you feeling hungry?" Lin Zeqiu criticized her seriously and reproachfully.
"I feel dizzy," Lin Zhixia huddled under the quilt aggrieved, "I don't want to eat anything, and I also have some potential symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux. Please let me rest... I'm so sleepy, Mom, I want to sleep."
The mother soaked the towel in water, wrung it dry, and put it on Lin Zhixia's forehead. She and Lin Zeqiu left Lin Zhixia's bedroom, and the room suddenly became much quieter.
The curtains were drawn tightly and the electric heater made a soft hum.
Lin Zhixia was in a state of half-sleep and half-wakefulness, confused and misty. She didn't know how long she had slept, she only heard her mother say in her ear: "Xia Xia's fever hasn't subsided yet, we have to go to the hospital."
It was already night in the sky, and the moonlight was as bright as a silk thread.
In December, the dead of winter, the cold wind blew in gusts, and the lights of thousands of houses were blurred.
Dad carried Lin Zhixia out of the house, and Mom closed the store. Lin Zeqiu locked the security door, ran out wearing his coat, and said, "Take me with you, I'm going to the hospital too."
"Why are you going to the hospital?" His mother told him, "Stay at home and don't make trouble."
Lin Zhixia was still making her final struggle: "Dad, I don't want to go to the hospital, I want to stay at home..."
Dad's tone became serious: "Xia Xia, your fever has reached 39 degrees. I just took your temperature. You took antipyretics at noon, but your temperature didn't go down. Instead, it got worse. This is not good, Xia Xia, we have to go to the hospital."
Dad is the best talker in the family.
Lin Zhixia couldn't persuade her father. She knew that some troubles could not be avoided.
Mom stopped a taxi at the gate of Ancheng Community. Dad held Lin Zhixia in his arms and sat in the back seat. My brother followed. Mom didn’t take my brother away. She said to the driver, “Master, let’s go to the Provincial People’s Hospital.”
How far is the Provincial People's Hospital from here?
Lin Zhixia looked out the car window. The street lights were shining, the whole city was colorful, and the busy roads were connected in all directions. She saw skyscrapers rising from the ground, and the buildings in the distance were connected to each other, forming a continuous landscape line.
"Architecture," she said suddenly. "I haven't studied architecture yet."
Lin Zeqiu, who was sitting next to her, said, "Can you just stay still? Don't think too much."
Lin Zhixia yawned: "Brother?"
Lin Zeqiu replied: "What?"
Lin Zhixia put a hand on his shoulder: "I have a fever of 39.4 degrees now. My mind is blank, my thoughts are blocked, and I am restless..."
After a pause, Lin Zhixia held her brother's shoulders and said groggily, "I used to doubt that we were not siblings. You were always unwilling to discuss problems with me, and you were always fierce to me. Now, I don't doubt it anymore. I have a fever of 39.4 degrees, and I am so similar to you."
"Lin Zhixia." Lin Zeqiu touched her head gently.
He even smiled a little, but his words were rude and aggressive: "Can't you shut up? Are you the only one who can talk in this car?"
"Lin Zeqiu, don't quarrel with your sister." Dad's tone was sleepy and tired.
Lin Zeqiu shrank back to his original position. He folded his arms and took a defensive stance.
Not long after, they arrived at the Provincial People's Hospital.
This taxi ride cost a total of 14 yuan. Lin Zhixia was a little reluctant, but her parents didn't say anything. She was taken to the emergency room of the Provincial People's Hospital by her parents, and went through a series of procedures such as registration, queuing, and seeing a doctor. The doctor also asked her to have a blood test for examination.
Lin Zhixia was stunned. She asked, "Draw blood?"
The doctor asked her, "Haven't you ever had your blood drawn?"
Lin Zhixia opened her eyes wide and stared at the doctor blankly. Her eyes were moist, as if a layer of mist had appeared in them, filled with tears, ready to burst out.
The young doctor, out of kindness, described it gently: "The nurse put a tourniquet on you, punctured your blood vessels, and drew your blood right away..."
When Lin Zhixia heard the words "puncture a blood vessel", she burst into tears. Tears fell on her clothes, and she couldn't help sobbing softly: "Mom, Mom, I don't want to have blood drawn, I'm so scared..."
Mom quickly coaxed her: "Xia Xia, don't be afraid. Mom will make you shrimp dumplings, braised pork ribs, and tomato egg soup tomorrow, okay? And I'll buy you half a pound of strawberries."
Shrimp dumplings and strawberries are Lin Zhixia's lifelong favorites.
Even though she had a high fever, was confused, and was full of resistance and rejection of the "blood test", she still couldn't help but be attracted to the shrimp dumplings and strawberries.
She looked up at her mother, tears welling up in her eyelashes, and nodded, "Okay."
She suppressed her emotions and looked very well-behaved and quiet.
The mother held her in her arms and murmured to herself: "Even if Xia Xia knows a lot, she is still a nine-year-old child."
Lin Zhixia followed the nurse to have her blood drawn obediently. For shrimp dumplings, braised pork ribs and half a pound of strawberries, Lin Zhixia showed great willpower and endurance.
Even when she heard that she had to be put on IV drip, she just frowned and said, "I had a premonition."
At 9:30 at night, Lin Zhixia was lying on the hospital bed, calmly accepting the arrangement of fate.
The infusion bottle was hanging on the rack beside the bed, and the liquid dripped down drop by drop and injected into Lin Zhixia's vein.
Lin Zhixia's left hand was pierced with a needle. She didn't dare look at her hand and lay there in silence for a few minutes, unable to fall asleep and bored when awake. She called out, "Brother."
"The two aunts in the beds opposite are reading books," Lin Zeqiu reminded her, "If you want to say something, speak softly."
Lin Zhixia suggested: "Brother, I'm so bored. Let's play flying flowers."
The so-called "Flying Flower Order" refers to an ancient Chinese drinking game that tests a person's poetry skills. Participating players recite a poem in turn, and the sentence must contain a certain specified word.
The hardest part is that the word must be shifted back bit by bit.
Lin Zeqiu hated this game very much. He had played it many times since he was a child, and he had lost many times. His memory was not comparable to Lin Zhixia's.
"Brother! Let me start. I'll choose the word 'flower'!" Lin Zhixia said excitedly, "A Tang Dynasty poet wrote in his poem 'Teacher's Advice': 'Flowers bloom again in season, water flows eastward and never returns'. Brother, it's your turn."
Lin Zeqiu pondered for a moment and continued, "The peach blossoms still smile in the spring breeze."
Lin Zhixia quickly replied: "Luo Qihua flew to Baiyutang."
Lin Zeqiu spread his legs and put his hands on his knees: "I can't do it anymore. I can't remember. I give up."
"Brother, let's continue playing," Lin Zhixia begged him, "All poems and songs with the word 'flower' in them are fine."
Lin Zeqiu was finally willing to speak: "When will the spring flowers and autumn moons end? How much do we know about the past?"
Lin Zhixia recited a famous line from a poem called "Bodhisattva" by Tang Dynasty poet Sun Guangxian: "Flowers have fallen in the small courtyard but no one has swept them; the sparse fragrance fills the ground as the east wind blows."
Lin Zeqiu propped his chin with one hand: "I don't know where the person has gone, but the peach blossoms are still smiling in the spring breeze."
"You just mentioned this poem," Lin Zhixia pointed out mercilessly, "You can't mention it again."
Lin Zeqiu sat up straight in his seat: "Where do all these troublesome rules come from? Can you play some ordinary people's games with me?"
"Then let's play... a game of listing the names of the heroes from The Water Margin. My classmates at school all like to play this game. I have never participated because I know no one can beat me." Lin Zhixia confided to her brother honestly.
My brother said with a cold face, "The Flower Monk, Lu Zhishen."
Lin Zhixia continued: "Black Whirlwind, Li Kui."
My brother said casually, "Mother Yasha, Sun Erniang."
Lin Zhixia's eyes lit up: "Brother, do you know the origin of the word 'mother Yaksha'? Yaksha is the name of a monster. There is an article called "Yaksha Country" in the Qing Dynasty novel "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio". It is said that! In the country of Yaksha, the more beautiful people are, the lower their social status, and the uglier people are, the better their life! Hahahaha, isn't it interesting..."
Lin Zhixia suddenly felt sleepy and yawned: "Brother, if you look like this, you will be hated by everyone in the Yaksha Kingdom."
Lin Zeqiu couldn't tell for a moment whether Lin Zhixia was complimenting him on his good looks or scolding him for going to the Yaksha Kingdom and getting beaten up - he tended to choose the latter explanation.
Dad went downstairs to pay for the medicine and hospital fees, while Mom was still staying in the ward.
While Lin Zeqiu was chatting with his sister, his mother sat beside him peeling apples. As she used a knife to peel the apples one after another, Lin Zhixia said, "Mom, I don't eat apples."
"This is for your brother," said Mom.
Lin Zhixia loves strawberries, while Lin Zeqiu loves apples. Perhaps it’s because Lin Zeqiu’s name contains the word “autumn”, and apples are always available in autumn.
After peeling the apple, the mother handed it to Lin Zeqiu.
Lin Zeqiu took a bite of the apple. Lin Zhixia had already fallen asleep.
The mother reached out a hand and gently tucked Lin Zhixia's quilt. She looked at her daughter and said to her son, "Lin Zeqiu, you will go home with your father later. I will stay here with Xia Xia overnight. She will have to stay in the hospital for observation for another day. You still have to go to school tomorrow. At four o'clock tomorrow morning, your father will come to the hospital to take over my shift. I will ride a tricycle to the wholesale market to buy goods... Your father is too soft-hearted, so he never negotiated the price with anyone. I have to do the buying."
The cold wind of late December blew against the windows of the hospital, and a light drizzle began to fall outside. As the cars passed over the puddles on the road, the rolling wheels made a sound of water droplets flying.
Lin Zeqiu glanced out the window and asked for no reason: "Mom, do you think... life is hard?"
The mother hesitated for two seconds before saying, "It's not hard." She lowered her head slightly, still taking care of her daughter, and her slightly messy hair blocked her vision.
Lin Zeqiu didn't know what to say. He straightened his back awkwardly: "In a few years, Lin Zhixia and I will grow up."
"Okay." His mother answered him. Maybe it was the dim light in the ward, but he seemed to see tears in his mother's eyes.
The rain outside the window had been falling all night long. The sound of the rain was chaotic, and water splashed all over the sky and the ground.
The next evening, the rain finally stopped.
Lin Zhixia felt refreshed and was almost fully recovered. She followed her mother out of the hospital, and her mother asked her to follow the doctor's instructions, so she rested at home for another day.
Mom is indeed a mom who keeps her promise. When Lin Zhixia was recuperating at home, her mother rushed to the market to buy live shrimps, peeled the shrimp shells, blanched them, chopped them, and made a plate of shrimp dumplings.
At lunch, Mom and Dad both said they didn't like shrimp. Mom picked up the plate of shrimp dumplings and put some into Lin Zhixia and Lin Zeqiu's bowls.
"You really don't want to eat?" Lin Zhixia asked.
"This is sea shrimp," her mother told her. "Your father and I don't eat seafood. We grew up in the mountains and prefer mountain products. I'm not lying to you. Your grandparents know that I've been used to eating mountain products since I was a child."
Lin Zhixia was skeptical.
There were six dumplings in her bowl. She thought carefully, picked up two dumplings and put them in her father's bowl, and picked up the other two and put them in her mother's bowl.
Lin Zhixia picked up the porcelain bowl and said softly, "I still want to eat with my parents."
Mom didn't answer. Dad sighed. He picked up his lunch box and went back to the store to take care of business.
Lin Zhixia saw her father's tall figure disappear at the door of the living room. She held the chopsticks and took a bite of the shrimp dumplings. They were really delicious. Why is there such a delicious shrimp dumpling in the world?
She couldn't bear to wolf it down. She decided to savor it.
Lin Zeqiu and Lin Zhixia had completely different eating habits. Lin Zeqiu finished the food in the bowl like a whirlwind, and his appetite was twice that of Lin Zhixia. He also asked his sister, "Are you still feeling bad today?"
"It's okay," Lin Zhixia said, dipping a dumpling in vinegar. "I'm completely cured of the fever. I feel healthy and refreshed."
Lin Zeqiu reminded her: "You have to go to school tomorrow."
"Okay." Lin Zhixia replied.
After dinner, Lin Zhixia packed up her things in her bedroom.
On her bed was a pile of stuffed toys, in a jumbled, disorganized mess. She had only kept the kitten and the penguin. The rest were stuffed into the closet or placed on the desk.
There is also a business card on her desk.
That is Professor Shen Zhaohua’s business card.
More than two months ago, Lin Zhixia met Professor Shen Zhaohua and her team of doctoral students at the Oceanarium.
At that time, the doctoral student told Lin Zhixia that she was welcome to call Professor Shen and visit the university campus at any time.
Logically, Lin Zhixia got Professor Shen's contact information in October this year, and should have called Professor Shen immediately. But she was busy reading the 2004 new physics research paper "The Strange Properties of Neutron-Rich Nuclei", so she put Professor Shen's business card aside for the time being.
This afternoon, Lin Zhixia somehow picked up the receiver of the landline phone and dialed a phone number that she knew by heart.
Lin Zhixia felt that she had grown a little. The short hospitalization experience made her more courageous.
She waited by the phone for two seconds before she heard a young lady's voice: "Hello, who are you looking for?"
"Hello, I'm looking for Teacher Shen Zhaohua," Lin Zhixia briefly described. "In mid-October, I met Teacher Shen and her students at the Oceanarium."
The older sister was surprised and said, "Ah? It's you! Hello, little sister." She immediately introduced herself: "I remember you, I am Teacher Shen's student. I was there that day too."
Lin Zhixia thought for a moment and asked her, "Sister, is your name Zhu Chan? Professor Shen currently has only one female doctoral student, named Zhu Chan. I found relevant information on the university's official website."
When Zhu Chan heard her say "sister", she felt that she pronounced the word "sister" too sweetly.
Zhu Chan told her without hiding anything: "Are you looking for Teacher Shen? Teacher Shen went to Beijing for a meeting and will not be home until this Saturday."
Lin Zhixia asked again: "Can I visit your laboratory?"
"Of course you can," Zhu Chan said, "Teacher Shen has already informed us. It's best if you come with your parents. You are too young and still need a guardian to accompany you."
Lin Zhixia was a little hesitant: "Excuse me, in addition to the guardian, can I also bring my classmates?"
Zhu Chan hesitated: "Is he your classmate? Is he also a nine-year-old kid?"
"Yes," Lin Zhixia told her, "You also saw him at the aquarium that day. He helped me accept Teacher Shen's business card."
Zhu Chan agreed cheerfully, "That's fine. You two can come to our school this Sunday. Teacher Shen will come to school on Sunday to sort out the materials. Teacher Shen really wants to meet you and talk to you about the academic issues that interest you."
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