Chapter 5 Mother's Thoughts
Su Nian forced herself to swallow a few mouthfuls of rice. Her favorite pork rib soup now felt like a pot of boiling lead water, weighing heavily on her stomach.
"Mom, I might have a little heatstroke." Su Nian put down his chopsticks and said.
Ms. Su Hong looked at her daughter worriedly, "Would you like to drink some Huoxiang Zhengqi water?"
"No, just take a rest." Su Nian stood up, "I'll go to the balcony to get some fresh air."
The night breeze on the balcony was slightly cool. Su Nian took a deep breath and looked up at the night sky. The city lights were too bright, and the stars were almost invisible. Only a blurry moon hung in the sky.
"Niannian, come in and have some fruit." Mother's voice came from the living room.
The plums on the coffee table shone with an alluring sheen. Su Nian ate several in a row, the sweet and sour juice bursting in her mouth, temporarily calming the restlessness in her stomach. But the next second, the fruits suddenly turned into balls of fire, burning all the way from her stomach to her throat.
"vomit--"
Suddenly, the acid in her stomach rushed up her throat, and Su Nian quickly ran to the toilet and retched uncontrollably. Ms. Su Hong anxiously followed in and patted her on the back.
"What's wrong? Did you eat something bad?" Mother's voice was full of worry.
"I ate a few extra plums just now and my stomach is upset. I might have gastroenteritis. I haven't been eating well at school lately."
Su Nian and Qiuyan returned to their room. After taking a shower and chatting with Qiuyan, Su Nian drifted off to sleep exhausted.
She had a dream. In it, she stood in a vast Chinese medicine pharmacy, surrounded by countless medicine cabinets. A man, whose face could not be seen, ground herbs in the distance, and the scent of cedar filled the air. She tried to escape, but found that all the doors had disappeared...
"Niannian, get up and have breakfast." In the early morning, the mother's voice was like a pair of scissors, cutting off this absurd dream.
Zhang Qiuyan had already finished washing up and was applying lipstick in front of the mirror. Seeing Su Nian coming out of the bedroom, she casually said, "Good morning, Nian Nian, you talked in your sleep last night."
"I guess I've been too tired lately." Su Nian was a little confused. Huh? Could recent events have had such a profound impact on me? Why did I even talk in my sleep?
She made up her mind to adjust her condition.
On the table, Ms. Su Hong prepared some light porridge and side dishes. Su Nian forced herself to eat a few mouthfuls. Fortunately, she didn't feel nauseous this time.
After dinner, Qiuyan went to work at the milk tea shop where she worked on weekends.
Su Nian curled up on the sofa in the tailor shop, her fingertips casually swiping the screen of her mobile phone.
I happened to stop at a guide called "How to Avoid Your Ex Elegantly". Before I could read the twists and turns between the lines, my phone suddenly rang and the three words "Lin Fei'er" jumped on the screen.
"Niannian! My summer internship is confirmed!" The voice on the other end of the phone was as excited as a little rabbit.
"I was able to get in through some connections in my family. Guess where it is? It's Jishidiang! It's that famous Chinese medicine clinic, Jishidiang!"
Su Nian unconsciously sat up straighter. She smiled sincerely, the sunshine spreading on her lips. "Great, Fei'er! You are one step closer to becoming 'Divine Doctor Lin'!"
She knew too well her best friend's passion for Chinese medicine—those well-read copies of the Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine, those densely packed academic notes, those nights spent memorizing prescriptions until the early hours of the morning.
Lin Feier has always wanted to be a Chinese medicine practitioner since she was a child. Now that she can get an internship at a place like Jishidiang, she is really running forward towards her dream.
The two little sisters decided to go shopping to celebrate.
Lin Feier's chattering voice still echoed through the receiver: "There's a new dessert shop that opened on Pedestrian Street. I heard their mango pudding is incredible! Let's meet there."
After hanging up the phone, Su Nian took a deep breath, trying to suppress the inexplicable irritation in his heart.
Su Nian had just hung up on Lin Fei'er, the warmth of the receiver still lingering on her fingertips when she was locked in with the gaze of her mother, Ms. Su Hong. That gaze was like a hospital X-ray machine, penetrating enough to see right into her internal organs. Su Nian subconsciously clutched the corner of her clothes, terrified.
"Niannian, you've been feeling down lately, haven't you?" Ms. Su Hong stopped what she was doing and lowered her voice. "Qiuyan told me that you broke up with that kid Li Yuan?"
Su Nian's fingers pulled a small ball of hair from the seam of her jeans. Just as she was trying to think of an excuse to get away with it, her mother continued on. "We should have broken up a long time ago. I never thought he was a good guy. He was too fake. His smile was like a promotional poster in a shopping mall. His face said 'get fooled!'"
She slapped the silk fabric in her hand on the chopping board. "It's like an unironed shirt, all wrinkled inside. It's embarrassing to wear it outside."
Su Nian was almost amused by her mother's metaphor and laughed out loud. As soon as the corners of her mouth rose, her mother's next words hooked her heart.
"Relationships are like making clothes. If the pattern doesn't fit, change it as soon as possible. If you force yourself to wear it, you'll be the one who suffers. If you don't cut some threads in time, they'll become tangled and eventually even the material will be wasted."
The sewing machine began to hum again. Ms. Su Hong's voice, soft but powerful, mingled with the hum of the machine. "Go ahead, go out and have a good time shopping with Fei'er. Don't let yourself become a wrinkled old piece of cloth at such a young age. Do you want me to transfer some money to you?"
Su Nian nodded and said "no need".
As she grabbed her bag and went out, she heard her mother shouting behind her: "Remember, good materials are not afraid of no one understanding them. Those who understand will naturally cherish them as treasures!"
Su Hong stood at the doorway, watching her daughter's retreating figure. A mother knows a daughter best, and she keenly sensed her daughter's recent preoccupation—her eyes dim, her smile forced, her appetite diminished—she must be weighed down by something. A young person's worries are like unhemmed fabric; there are always loose threads sticking out, and a mother can easily spot them.
Su Hong asked her daughter to bring her classmate Zhang Qiuyan to her home for dinner. In fact, this was a mother's delicate thought. She asked Qiuyan about her daughter's recent situation at school, and only then did she know about her broken heart.
Su Hong was also trying to finalize a summer job offer. The tailor shop had been doing good business lately and needed an assistant. Qiuyan had worked there before and was quite skilled, so it would be great if she could come. It would also save her from having to look for another job, making it a perfect arrangement for both parties.
Qiuyan herself understood that she also studied fashion design, but compared with Su Nian, she was far behind in both design talent and practical basic skills. She was eager to hone her skills in a tailor shop.
Su Nian and Lin Feier made an appointment to meet at a dessert shop on the pedestrian street.
As soon as she reached the door of the dessert shop, Lin Fei'er rushed over and took her arm: "Finally, you're here! Let me tell you..."
Lin Feier's words suddenly got stuck in her throat, her eyes widened and she stared straight behind Su Nian.
Su Nian's heart skipped a beat, and when she turned around, her fingers unconsciously tightened around the backpack strap.
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