Chapter 15: Peace and Health
As dusk drifted into the pharmacy, Xu Yao was using a cotton swab dipped in warm water to moisten her father's lips.
The bruise on the old man's wrist faded to light yellow, like thin ice melting in spring. She suddenly remembered the scabbed scar on the back of Xue Han's neck - the mark left by the hemp rope when he carried logs, and it still had the scent of pine wood.
"Yao..."
Father Xu suddenly grabbed his daughter's fingers and drew a crooked five-pointed star on her palm.
The aroma of medicine was mixed with the smell of paste from when I was fourteen years old. The Red Star brand fountain pen left ink marks on the application form for joining the Communist Youth League, and my father's hands were shaking in the same way.
The lotus leaves on the windowsill rustled. Xu's mother tapped the southwest corner with the tip of her cane: "Yesterday, the young swallows were fighting for food, and their wings fluttered like little windmills."
Before leaving, Xue Han added a piece of wooden board to block the wind. At this moment, the newly planed wood was still shining with a moist light.
The young nurse who was making rounds late at night cried out "Ah!" The barefoot doctor's manual was lying in the moonlight, with a piece of dried tangerine peel sandwiched between the page on tangerine peel.
Xu Yao rubbed half of the fingerprint with her fingertips, and suddenly heard the muffled sound of an axe chopping firewood outside, the sound made her heart feel hot.
Before the morning dew dried, the village chief knocked on the door frame of the drugstore, holding his pipe and asking, "Can Old Xu sit up now?"
He looked at Xu's father who was drinking porridge, his pipe making sparks on the door frame, "Okay! Let's set up a feast in the ancestral hall at noon, and do a healing ceremony like the people in the city!"
The old ancestral hall was filled with the smell of fresh paste. Next to the faded slogan "Agriculture Learns from Dazhai", someone had cut the words "Peace and Health" out of red paper.
The eight-immortals table was filled with food from various families: the shepherd's purse cakes baked by Aunt Wang were still warm from the stove, the cloth shoes with thousand-layer soles made by Accountant Li's wife were tied with a red string, and in the middle was a bowl of glutinous rice balls with tender yellow osmanthus flowers floating in them - they were brought by Grandma Liu from the village who walked three miles on crutches.
"Girl Yao is a filial daughter in our village!"
The accountant's wife stuffed a handful of pumpkin seeds into the pocket of Xu Yao's Dacron shirt and said, "The residue of the Chinese medicine your father drank can be piled up into a small hill." Xu Yao lowered her head to smooth out the folds of her clothes. Suddenly, she caught a glimpse of a piece of dark blue clothes flashing by the door, and her heart skipped a beat.
As the shadow of the old locust tree slanted across the green brick ground, the village chief held up the enamel pot and shouted, "Fill them all up!"
The rice wine rippled in the coarse porcelain bowl. Xu Yao was pushed to the center of the crowd, and a wild rose was pinned to her hair without her noticing.
She looked at her father's flushed cheeks, and suddenly remembered that snowy night - Xue Han kicked open the door of the clinic carrying an old man with a high fever on his back, his military coat was covered with ice, and the white breath he exhaled condensed on his eyelashes.
As dusk deepens, swallows return to their nests on the beams of the ancestral hall.
Xu Yao helped to clean up the dishes when suddenly a gust of night wind blew across the back of her neck, carrying the scent of cedar.
The wild flowers in her hair trembled gently, as if someone was walking through the yard full of locust flower fragrance, and his eyes fell on the light powder on her temples.
As the dusk dyed the eaves of the ancestral hall red, Xue Han stood by the door frame with his back to the light.
The sleeves of his dark blue work clothes were rolled up to his elbows, revealing his sturdy, tanned arms.
Xu Yao turned around and met his gaze. The enamel cup that was knocked over by her fingertips rolled three times on the blue brick floor. The trace of rice wine spilling out looked like a trembling plum blossom.
"Comrade Xue has arrived just in time!"
The accountant's wife quickly stuffed a bowl of rice dumplings into his arms and said, "It must be you who carried the grain bags for the Xu family yesterday. Your trouser legs are still stained with wheat awns from the drying yard."
She winked at Xu Yao mischievously, and the red pompom hanging from the silver hairpin on her temple swayed.
Xue Han's Adam's apple moved, and his bony fingers held the celadon bowl. The sweet scent of osmanthus honey entwined with the pine wood smell on his cuffs.
When Xu Yao squatted down to pick up the cup, she caught a glimpse of his military rubber shoes sticking out from under his trouser legs. The uppers of his shoes were still stained with freshly turned wet mud from the back hill - that was the path for picking herbs.
"I heard the clinic got a new medicine cabinet?"
Sun Zhiqiang's sinister voice suddenly interrupted. The third sister followed behind him, her bright red dacron shirt particularly eye-catching in the twilight. "Our comrade Xue is really a good man. He even rushed to do the carpentry work."
Xue Han tilted his head back and drank the sweet wine in the bowl. His Adam's apple rolled, pulling the scab on the back of his neck.
Xu Yao recalled the night when he carried the medicine cabinet and pushed aside the rain curtain. The rain flowed into streams along his army green raincoat. The bitter aroma of the wood mixed with the scent of cedar on his body, forming small puddles on the floor of the duty room.
"That's what Brother Zhiqiang said."
Xu Yao suddenly stood up, the wild rose in her hair brushing against Xue Han's shoulder, "Last time when Third Sister broke the enamel basin, wasn't it Big Brother Xue who helped to solder it?"
She deliberately emphasized the word "Third Sister" and watched Sun Zhiqiang's face turn from red to blue.
The village chief tapped his pipe on the altar: "Everyone, be quiet! It's a great joy that Old Xu can walk."
He pointed his pipe toward the door and said, "Zhiqiang, take this female comrade and go collect the baskets in the drying yard."
The third sister was about to say something while twisting her handkerchief, but Aunt Wang suddenly raised the greasy spatula and asked, "Where did this wild cat come from?"
The black and yellow tabby cat was stealing dried fish from the third sister's net bag, which frightened her so much that she screamed and ran into Sun Zhiqiang's arms.
The whole ancestral hall suddenly burst into laughter. Someone shouted, "What a good couple, they return home together." The two were so embarrassed that they ran away.
The evening breeze blew through the carved window lattices, blowing away the loose hair on Xu Yao's cheeks.
Xue Han stood behind her without her noticing, his warm breath swept across her ear: "Your father's cough medicine..."
He opened his palm, and the loquat leaves wrapped in oil paper were still covered with dew. "I picked them in the morning dew."
When Xu Yao took it, her fingertips brushed against the calluses on his palm. The rough touch made her heart skip a beat with gratitude.
The kerosene lamp on the altar suddenly burst into flames, casting the two people's shadows on the red paper with the words "Peace and Health" written on it, and the overlapping part looked like ten fingers interlocked.
"Comrade Xue!" A nurse's voice suddenly came from outside, "The health center has an urgent telegram for you!" When Xue Han turned around, a gust of wind blew up, and the wild flowers in Xu Yao's hair fell, and he subconsciously reached out to catch them.
The rough fingertips brushed against the soft petals, and both of them were startled.
Xu Yao looked at his back as he disappeared into the night, and suddenly noticed that the telegram cover was a military green color - exactly the same as the envelope that came when the armed forces department came last month.
The swallows on the beams of the ancestral hall fluttered back to their nests, and the copper bells on the eaves jingled, as if foreshadowing something.
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