Winter Solstice Yang Sheng
On the eve of the winter solstice, a sudden cold snap struck the city. The wind howled all night, shaking the tall buildings like invisible hands, causing the windowpanes to vibrate softly from time to time. In the morning, the wind subsided slightly, but the temperature had dropped below freezing. The sky was a dull, leaden white with a tinge of iron gray, suggesting the possibility of snow.
When Ye Shu awoke, the room temperature was noticeably lower than usual. He didn't turn on the air conditioner, simply wrapping the thin blanket tighter around him and getting up as usual. His bare feet felt icy cold against the floor, but he seemed oblivious to it as he walked steadily towards the kitchen to boil some water.
The sound of boiling water seemed sharper than usual. As the scalding tea poured into the plain ceramic cup, the heat cooled, condensing into a thicker white mist that swirled upwards before dissipating into the icy air. Holding the teacup, he didn't go to the window—undoubtedly the coldest spot in the room—but leaned against the relatively warm kitchen wall, sipping it slowly, trying to absorb some warmth.
As expected, there was a quick knock on the door and a familiar muttering. However, today the voice was nasal and clearly listless: "Ye Shu... open the door... I'm freezing to death..."
Ye Shu walked over to open the door. Chen Xu was wrapped in a bulky down jacket, his hat and scarf tightly covering him, revealing only a pair of eyes, red from the cold wind and now watery. He wasn't carrying food as usual, but a huge insulated bag. As soon as he entered, he squeezed into the house, trembling.
"Oh my God...it's a terrible place to be out here...A-choo!" He didn't finish his words before he sneezed so hard that his head shook. He sniffed, his voice buzzing. "I feel like I'm...A-choo!...I feel like I've been infected..."
He placed the thermal bag on the table, untying his scarf while looking at Ye Shu pitifully: "My mother insisted that I bring this to you. She said it's the winter solstice and you must eat mutton soup to keep warm... Ouch, I feel dizzy..."
He took off his down jacket, revealing the wrinkled sweater underneath. He looked really listless, with an abnormal blush on his cheeks and a vacant look in his eyes.
Ye Shu's gaze lingered on his face for a moment, unlike usual when he would immediately look away.
"Viral cold. Accompanied by a low-grade fever." He gave the diagnosis calmly, his tone as if describing the weather. "You need to rest, drink water, and take antipyretics and analgesics if necessary."
Chen Xu collapsed on the sofa and waved his hands weakly, "I know, I know... Doctor Ye... Can you say something useful? Like, pour me a glass of hot water?"
Ye Shu went to the kitchen, poured a cup of warm water, and handed it to him. Chen Xu took it, holding it in both hands, greedily absorbing the warmth from the cup wall and drinking it in small sips.
"Why is it colder in here than outside?" Chen Xu took a few sips of water, recovered a little, and began to complain, "Is your air conditioner broken? Or are you turning it off to save electricity again? This won't work, brother, it'll kill you!"
"It's not cold." Ye Shu replied, walked to the wall, and turned on the air conditioner. Warm air began to hum, stirring the cold air in the room.
Chen Xu glanced at him with some surprise. This was almost unprecedented for Ye Shu to actively adjust the ambient temperature to suit others.
"The sun is rising from the west..." He muttered softly, and turned his attention back to the thermos bag. "Hurry up, eat it while it's hot. My mom made it all morning and put it in a thermos bucket."
He opened the thermos bag, pulled out a heavy silver bucket, and unscrewed the lid. Instantly, a rich, fresh aroma, thick with pepper and the aroma of angelica, burst forth, instantly overpowering the delicate aroma of tea leaves and overwhelming the room. In the milky white broth, the lamb was stewed to a crisp, tender tenderness, and a few red goji berries and dates could be seen.
The smell was too strong and "human", and it was out of place in Ye Shu's apartment.
Chen Xu took out his own small bowl and spoon, filled a bowl for Ye Shu, and handed it to him: "Come on, try it! It's my mother's secret recipe. Drinking a bowl in winter is worth even a god!"
Ye Shu looked at the bowl of thick, white, steaming hot soup and didn't take it immediately. His eyes moved from the soup to Chen Xu's expectant yet listless face.
"You need it more," he said.
"I've had it! I drank a big bowl at home before I came out!" Chen Xu held the bowl forward again, "This is your portion! Take it quickly, it's hot!"
Ye Shu hesitated for a moment, then finally took the bowl. The bowl's walls were scorching hot, the heat burning his fingertips through the ceramic. He held the bowl, not drinking, but simply watching the steam rising.
Chen Xu had already filled a small bowl for himself. He blew on it and impatiently took a sip, letting out a satisfied sigh: "Ah... I'm alive again... It tastes so good..."
He drank quickly, and it was so hot that he stuck out his tongue, but he looked very happy.
Ye Shu looked at him, then very carefully scooped up a little bit of soup with a spoon, blew on it, and put it into his mouth.
The taste is extremely rich, with the mellowness of mutton, the spiciness of pepper, and the bitterness and sweetness of medicinal herbs blending perfectly, forming a powerful warm current that rushes all the way down from the mouth, instantly activating the cold stomach and abdomen, and even the limbs seem to warm up.
He paused for a moment, as if trying to distinguish the complex and intense flavors, then he took another spoonful, this time a small piece of tender, stewed lamb.
Chen Xu looked at him nervously: "How is it? Is it to your taste? Is it a bit smelly? My mom said the mutton this time is particularly good..."
"Very good," Ye Shu interrupted, offering a comment far exceeding Chen Xu's expectations. He continued to eat slowly, but mouthful after mouthful without pause, clearly not rejecting this overly "homely" food.
Chen Xu breathed a sigh of relief, feeling happy, and he too buried his head in his soup. There was silence between them for a moment, the only sound being the hum of the air conditioner and the gentle sounds of slurping.
After downing a bowl of hot soup, Chen Xu's face became noticeably rosier, and a thin layer of sweat even broke out on the tip of his nose. He leaned back on the sofa contentedly and burped, "Comfortable... I feel like most of the virus has been killed..."
Ye Shu also finished his bowl. He put the empty bowl down, looked out the window at the still gloomy sky, and suddenly said, "Winter Solstice. The first yang begins to rise."
"Ah? What sheep?" Chen Xu didn't hear clearly, or didn't understand.
"The winter solstice is the solar term when yin energy reaches its peak and yang energy begins to emerge." Ye Shu explained, although his words were still concise. "Drinking hot soup will help the yang energy rise."
Chen Xu nodded, seeming to understand. "Anyway, drinking it is good for your health! That's the wisdom of our ancestors!" He rubbed his still dizzy head. "It's just that my Yang Qi... doesn't seem to be rising smoothly..."
His voice grew quieter, and his eyelids began to twitch. The warmth of the room, the full stomach, and the exhaustion from his illness all washed over him.
Ye Shu watched him leaning on the sofa, his head nodding like a sleepy little animal. He didn't say anything, nor did he interrupt.
After a few minutes, Chen Xu's breathing became even and long, and he actually fell asleep.
Ye Shu stood up, walked over, and very gently closed the huge thermos bucket and put it back into the insulation bag. Then, he walked into the bedroom and picked up his thin quilt from the floor - it was his only quilt.
He walked back to the living room, spread out the quilt, and gently covered the sleeping Chen Xu with it.
Chen Xu smacked his lips unconsciously in his sleep, wrapped himself tightly in the slightly thin quilt that smelled of sparse leaves, curled up, and slept even more deeply.
Ye Shu stood beside the sofa, looking down at him for a moment. The blush on Chen Xu's face had faded somewhat, and although his breathing was still a little heavy, he seemed much calmer.
The air conditioner continued to blast warm air, raising the temperature inside the room, no longer freezing cold. The rich, warm aroma of mutton soup lingered in the air, strangely intertwined with the cool scent of tea.
Ye Shu did not return to his original seat. Instead, he pulled over the only single chair, placed it not too far from the sofa, and sat down. He did not read, nor did he look out the window. He just sat there quietly, as if guarding something, or as if he was just engaged in a silent meditation.
Time passed quietly. The sky outside the window was still gloomy, but a little light seemed to be shining through the clouds.
Chen Xu slept for a long time. When he woke up, he didn't know where he was. He blinked, saw the thin gray quilt covering him, and smelled the familiar, cool, leafy scent on the quilt, and suddenly woke up.
He sat up suddenly, the thin blanket slipping off. He looked at Ye Shu in disbelief, who was sitting in the chair, his posture seemingly unchanged.
"You...you gave me the quilt?" Chen Xu's voice was hoarse from having just woken up, filled with shock and helplessness. "Then what are you going to do? You're just going to sit here? It's so cold!"
Ye Shu turned his gaze and looked at him: "I'm not cold." His face was still pale, and his lips were bloodless, but his eyes were clear and calm, and he didn't look like he was freezing.
"How can you not be cold!" Chen Xu was anxious and hurriedly wanted to return the quilt to him, "Put it on quickly! I feel much better after a good sleep, really! I'm so hot now!" He really felt much warmer and his head was not so dizzy anymore.
Ye Shu didn't take the quilt. He just stood up, walked to the kitchen, poured another cup of warm water, and handed it to Chen Xu: "Drink some water."
Chen Xu took the cup of water, feeling a mixture of emotions. He looked at Ye Shu's calm face and suddenly felt that the cup of water in his hand weighed more than a thousand pounds.
"Ye Shu..." He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, words of thanks, or words of apology, but he felt that every word seemed light and could not accurately express the hot and sour emotions in his heart at the moment.
Ye Shu didn't seem to need his thanks or apology. He glanced out the window and said, "It's finally snowing."
Chen Xu was startled and followed his gaze. Sure enough, tiny snowflakes began to fall outside the window, silently, like scattered grains of salt.
"It's really snowing..." Chen Xu murmured, holding a warm cup of water, watching the first snow falling outside the window, his body covered with a thin blanket that smelled of his friends, and the warmth of his mother's soup still lingering in his stomach.
The discomfort brought by the disease seemed to have really faded away, and an indescribable, heavy warmth enveloped him.
Ye Shu sat back in his chair and watched the falling snow outside the window. The air conditioner in the room hummed, and it was warm like spring.
"Yang is born at the winter solstice." Ye Shu said it again softly, this time as if he was talking to Chen Xu, but also as if he was talking to himself.
This time, Chen Xu seemed to understand a little. It wasn't the solar terms, or the yang energy. Rather, it was the fact that in this bitterly cold weather, in this apartment that had once been icy cold, certain things, like a bowl of soup, a thin quilt, and silent companionship, were like the quietly rising yang energy, weak but real, resisting the external cold and the internal loneliness.
He lowered his head and took a sip of the warm water in the cup. The water was just the right temperature, neither too hot nor too cold.
The snow is falling quietly.
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