Chapter 18
A series of hurried footsteps echoed in the corridor outside the emergency observation room of the Fifth People's Hospital of the city. Li Muxue's intuition told her that her mother, Qiao Kexin, had arrived. However, she hadn't yet figured out how to explain to her mother why she had suddenly fainted, so she decided to continue pretending to be unconscious and listen to how Liu Yuling would explain it to her.
Qiao Kexin pushed open the door and saw Li Muxue still lying on the hospital bed, her eyes closed quietly. Thinking that she really hadn't woken up, she whispered to Liu Yuling, who was sitting by the window, "Lingzi, what's going on? She's still not awake?"
"Aunt Qiao, don't worry, Xuejie is fine. She might have been a bit too active in PE class two hours ago, and she also had a low-grade fever from a cold, so she was already weak and fainted. However, the doctor said that Xuejie is slightly malnourished, perhaps because she has been eating vegetarian food for many years and doesn't eat much meat. After resting for a couple of days and eating some nutritious food, she will recover."
Liu Yuling's reply was also very soft.
"Oh dear, I was so scared just now. The factory's gatekeeper sent someone to the workshop to find me, telling me that the school called to say that Xiaoxue had gone to the hospital. I was so worried, so I asked my team leader for leave and rushed over. Lingzi, thank you for taking care of her. You've worked hard. Now that you're all settled, you should go back to school. Aunt Qiao is here. If you don't go back to school soon, it'll be time for you to pack your bag."
"Alright, I'll head back now, Aunt Qiao. Oh, by the way, there's a soda and some 'immortality pills' I bought for Sister Xue on the windowsill. Remember to give them to her when she wakes up!"
Hearing Liu Yuling's last sentence, Li Muxue, who was pretending to be asleep in bed, almost burst out laughing. She thought to herself, "This little girl doesn't even blush when she lies, impressive! But there's nothing I can do about it; if my mom finds out Xu Chen bought it, she'll definitely throw it in the trash."
Mentioning the familiar name "Immortal Forest," Li Muxue was once again lost in memories.
Like Bawangsi soda, Bulaolin is also a local specialty of this city. Locals are used to calling it "sports candy" because it is said to provide energy to the human body.
In Li Muxue's memory, the candies from Immortal Forest were wrapped in colorful red, blue, and white paper. The diamond-shaped paper refracted tiny sparkles of light under the sun, like some kind of ancient gemstone. The sweet aroma, a blend of crushed peanuts, chocolate, and maltose, was an irresistible temptation for almost every child.
She remembered it was when she was in second grade, on a summer evening, the setting sun painting the clouds on the horizon red. Li Muxue, with her hair in crooked pigtails, squatted under the old locust tree at the entrance of the Huaxing Machinery Factory's residential compound, watching the little ants laboriously carrying a tiny crumb of biscuit that some child had accidentally dropped. She was wearing a pink dress, and fine tears glistened at the corners of her eyes, her eyes red-rimmed; clearly, she had just been crying.
"Xiaoxue! What are you doing squatting here?"
A clear, childlike voice rang out beside me; it was Xu Chen.
"Brother Chen, my little goldfish just died..."
After saying this, Li Muxue began to sob softly again.
Li Muxue's tearful eyes startled Xu Chen: "Xiaoxue, don't cry! Don't you remember? My family also keeps several goldfish. Come on, let's go to my house. I'll give you whichever one you like! Also, I have some candy. Here, have a few pieces. My aunt is a doctor, and she says that when people feel unwell, they should eat something sweet! In the future, whenever you encounter something unhappy, eat one. It's quite effective!"
Xu Chen took something out of his pants pocket. Because his hands were small at the time, what he called a handful was just three or four candies. He gently put them into Li Muxue's hand.
The candy wrapper rustled softly in Li Muxue's hand. She unwrapped it and popped the "Immortal Fruit" into her mouth. In an instant, a rich, sweet aroma melted on her tongue, spreading from the back of her tongue all the way to her heart. She couldn't help but squint her eyes, and the sadness in her heart vanished. Li Muxue felt this was the best candy she had ever eaten, because it was a gift from her Chen-ge…
(To be continued)
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