Iodine
They walked very slowly and quietly along the way. At eleven o'clock in the village, some stalls had sold out and had already gone home. There were not as many electric vehicles and people as at eight or nine o'clock. Compared with the usual hustle and bustle, it was inexplicably quiet at this moment.
The two of them walking side by side like this inevitably seemed crowded, so Shao Linyin let go of the child's hand and pushed him in front of him. The child didn't waste any time and just walked quietly in front, only looking back from time to time, as if afraid that he would get lost.
When he passed by the fried rice stall, he paused, thought about it, and decided to buy one. Before he could say anything, the child in front of him came back and pulled him away: "I told you, today I will treat you."
He was pulled by the child, and his shoulder was suddenly pulled. He shrank unconsciously, and his face turned pale with pain.
The child stared at his face, bit his lip, then let go of his hand and grabbed the corner of his clothes instead.
Shao Liyin thought she had scared him, so she forced a laugh and said, "You came here suddenly and scared me."
The child only left the back of his head and said nothing.
He stared at the back of the child's head. The dry and yellow hair was really long. With such hair in the summer, he probably had lice. It happened that he could stay up late tomorrow morning, so he decided to cut his hair.
As he was thinking this, he had already arrived at the door. He swiped open the iron gate and was led up to the fourth floor by the boy.
He lived in the room at the edge of the first floor. Next to that room was a balcony, which was a public space. People would hang their quilts and clothes on the balcony.
At this moment, there was a large woven bag placed in the corner of the balcony. The opening of the bag was carefully tied with a rope, and the extra rope was wrapped around several times and tied to the iron railing of the small window in his room.
Shao Linyin knew that it was the plastic bottle that the child picked up today. He wrapped it so carefully, probably because he was afraid that someone else would take it away.
He shook his head and smiled, then went to open the door, leaving it wide open, letting the child untie the rope himself and slowly drag the bag in.
The first thing he does when he enters the house is to take off his clothes and take a shower.
The simplest, yet also the most tiring, part of installing an elevator is moving the counterweights. Each counterweight weighs 50 kilograms, and today he's moved about 20 of them, up and down the floor.
He pinched his arms, which were a little sore and numb, and looked at the child who was still busy with the bag of bottles. He inexplicably wondered what it felt like to carry this child up and down twenty times, as this child probably weighed less than 50 kilograms.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help laughing. The child looked up, and he immediately stopped laughing and turned his back. Then, in a burst of panting, he took off his clothes. In the black mud mixed with sweat that washed down, there were traces of red blood.
The injury on his shoulder was not serious originally, but it was caused by moving those 50-kilogram weights today. Although he was holding the weights in his hands, the wound would be torn every time. It would be fine if he was shirtless, but he was not used to being naked in public.
From the pulling and tugging, and rubbing, one of the shoulders was covered in blood.
He endured the pain and showered, carefully avoiding the wound with shower gel. When he came out of the shower, he saw the child waiting for him by the bathroom door.
The clothes he had changed out of had already been washed by the child, who was now holding a bottle of iodine and a roll of gauze tape in his watery hands.
He looked at the thing in the child's hand, and his first reaction was that it came from an unknown source. Thinking of this, his face darkened a little, and his tone was cold: "Where did it come from?"
The child didn't expect this reaction and stood there for a while.
He just thought it was a child because he was right, and turned away with a sullen face. "I kept you because I felt sorry for you. If you keep doing this, stealing and robbing, I definitely can't keep you anymore."
He walked to the table and saw a box of egg fried rice on it. He had no appetite. He was always like this. If he worked hard during the day, he would basically have no appetite at night. In addition, he suddenly felt a lump in his heart and could not eat at all.
The child was still standing on the balcony in a daze. He glanced over, but still felt a little reluctant: "It's too late today. You came here to eat. Rest today and leave tomorrow."
After a long period of silence, he turned his head and saw the sparkling tears in the child's eyes, which were almost about to fall. In the end, he swallowed them by tilting his head back slightly.
The child walked into the room, quietly opened the iodine, carefully folded the gauze layer by layer, put medical tape on it and placed it on the table, staring at Shao Linyin's shoulder.
His eyes narrowed suddenly. It was clearly just a small piece yesterday, but how could the shoulder be rotten in just one day? He looked back at the small bottle of iodine on the table, wondering if this small bottle was not enough.
Finally, his gaze shifted to Shao Linyin's face, and he said seriously, "This was not robbed, nor was it stolen."
Then he looked at the egg fried rice on the table: "I didn't steal this either."
Shao Liyin looked at him, not knowing what to say...
The child lowered his head and didn't dare to look at him: "The one who snatched you that day was really the first time, and it must be the last time.
I had been hungry for three days that day. I used to eat one steamed bun and a bottle of water a day. I had my own bottle and would get some tap water.
I can only make a dozen yuan a day, but one yuan a day is enough for me to save some money. I also found a job in a restaurant and handing out flyers before, and I actually saved some money. I just want to save enough for a month's rent, because I don't have a house and I can't keep my bottles.
The recycling station closes after 9 o'clock in the evening. What I pick up after 9 o'clock will always be taken away by someone the next morning. I just want a house... I asked around, and the cheapest rent is 550 yuan. I have saved up 300 yuan.
But, but, I don’t know, I’m just sick, the restaurant doesn’t want me anymore, and I don’t have the energy to hand out flyers.
I’ve been sick before, and it went away after I endured it. This time was no different, and I was almost well.
But that day, I went there every day to check. No one would go there. I put my money there. I had no other place to put it, so I had to put it there. I went there every day, really every day, but that day, it was gone, all gone. I went to look for the money, and then my bottle was lost too..."
The child spoke incoherently, and the tears that he had always managed to swallow back could no longer be swallowed, so they rolled down his cheeks and hit the floor.
"I was so hungry that day that I didn't even have a dollar left... If I could eat something, I would have strength the next day and I could earn money. I will definitely return the cake to you..."
Shao Linyin watched the child's tears falling to the ground one by one, and somehow, he felt as if they were falling into his heart.
These were clearly his past, so why was he instinctively assuming the worst of others? He was furious at his own careless words, so he stood up and went over to hug the child in his arms.
Perhaps because he knew Shao Liyin would not drive him out again, the child cried even more aggrievedly. In the end, he lay directly in Shao Liyin's arms sobbing and unable to utter a complete sentence.
Shao Liyin had already picked him up and placed him on his lap. The child was lying in his arms. It was uncomfortable to hold the skinny boy in his arms. The head was now lying on his chest, and he could see the protruding cervical vertebrae on the back of the child's neck.
She stroked his fingers gently, and whispered softly as if lulling a child to sleep, "It won't happen again. You won't have to eat anymore. You won't have to endure being sick anymore. You'll have a place to live.
I was a bit harsh just now, and I won’t say that to you again.”
As he was speaking, he felt fingers brushing his shoulder gently. Then the child in his arms moved, got off his legs, picked up the iodine and cotton swabs on the table, and started to disinfect his shoulder.
Shao Liyin's pupils trembled and she subconsciously dodged to the side. The voice of the child who had just cried was still nasal: "This is the smallest bottle, two yuan, and the gauze and tape are five yuan in total. These are seven yuan together. I asked the aunt who bought medicine for the cotton swab. She promised to give it to me. I didn't steal it.
Yesterday's bottles, plus some I picked up this morning, brought me eighteen dollars. This fried rice is a small portion, nine dollars. I have one dollar left over."
He put the iodine on the table, rummaged in his bag for a long time, took out a coin and put it on the table.
The child stood up and looked at Shao Linyin seriously: "Can I apply the medicine to you now?"
Shao Linyin didn't know what else to say. He couldn't admit that he was really hiding just because he was scared.
Shao Liyin is a fearless person, but he is afraid of everything related to the hospital...
He was afraid of injections, hated the smell of disinfectant and iodine, was afraid of the feeling of those cold machines sticking to his body, and was even afraid of taking medicine.
This, to say to a child, is a bit embarrassing...
His face was stiff and the smile at the corners of his mouth was forced.
My face was still stiff when I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my shoulder!
This brat took advantage of him when he wasn't paying attention!
"you……!"
"You're not afraid of pain, are you?"
"Are you kidding me? I'm afraid of pain???"
When it comes to dignity, if this isn't a hospital situation and he's just applying medicine, he can still hold his nose and bear it, but especially in front of such a little kid, he has to act like an elder.
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