Chapter 16-016 Trading a Fat Chicken for Chicken Cake
After Hu Lixin finished eating, he finally patiently inquired about the situation.
First, he inquired about Song Shijia's illness, then he asked how Song Shiyi and Song Xiaoli had deceived their families, how they came to town, and what information they wanted him to convey.
His voice was gentle. Not only did Song Xiaoli and Song Shiyi tell him everything, but even Song Shijia, who was older and always had his own opinions, recounted the entire course of his illness. He had caught a cold last week, but didn't take it seriously, continuing to read outside the dormitory in the cold wind at night, which caused his cold to worsen. He gradually developed symptoms such as coughing and chest pain. Yesterday, he started having diarrhea and didn't want to eat. When he woke up this morning, he felt extremely dizzy and couldn't get out of bed, so he asked another person in the dormitory to help him ask for a day off.
“Big brother doesn’t take his health seriously at all,” Song Xiaoli complained. “The doctor said it was just a minor cold that required some medicine and rest, but you’ve let it get worse and turned it into pneumonia. He’ll need to recover for almost half a month.”
Song Shijia himself was unaware that mild pneumonia would require such a long recovery period. He lowered his head sadly, "Won't a two-week hospital stay cost a lot of money?"
"It's okay, we're rich!" Song Xiaoli felt that she really needed to change her older brother's perception of the family. Why did he always think that their family was so poor that they couldn't even afford to eat? "We exchanged a basket of eggs for eleven yuan, and we have many, many more, super many eggs at home."
She couldn't say that her grandfather had a lot of money, but she could use the fact that he could sell eggs as an example.
Hu Lixin patted the heads of the two children, one big and one small, and said, "If you're sick, just get treatment. The money is something for adults to worry about; you children don't need to worry about it."
As he spoke, Hu Lixin glanced at his watch; there was still half an hour before his afternoon classes. He had two classes that afternoon, and no one could cover for him, so he had to finish his classes before he could leave.
"You guys wait for me at the hospital. I have two classes to teach, and I'll come back to find you after that. If you need anything, you can ask the nurses and doctors for help."
"Uncle, you don't need to come looking for us after get off work. We'll be very good!" Song Xiaoli hoped her parents would come quickly. "Uncle, could you please tell my grandpa to have my uncle come to the town hospital? Thank you, Uncle!"
"Okay." Hu Lixin agreed, but still planned to come and take another look after get off work. There were only three children in this ward, and the oldest one was sick, which made him really worried.
After Hu Lixin left, Song Xiaoli and Song Shiyi gave up the made-up hospital bed. "Big brother, you should continue to sleep. The doctor said you need to rest more."
Song Shijia was a little reluctant to see his younger siblings suffer. "It's okay, I've been sleeping all morning. Aren't you two sleepy? You can continue sleeping for a while. I'll sleep after you've had your rest, okay?"
"No good." Song Xiaoli and Song Shiyi said in unison.
Moreover, Song Xiaoli pointed to the basket placed in the corner, "We brought Big Brother's quilt and shoes. Big Brother, you can sleep on the hospital bed. My younger brother and I are small, so my younger brother can squeeze in with you. I can also sleep wrapped in Big Brother's quilt."
Even so, Song Xiaoli wasn't sleepy at the moment. She saw her older brother pinch another cookie and eat it with difficulty, looking like he was about to vomit. She thought it would be best to give him something soft and not too greasy to eat.
After her older brother ate something and fell asleep, Song Xiaoli whispered to her younger cousin, "Brother, I'm going out for a bit. Could you ask the nurse to take me to the supply and marketing cooperative? If they have any bread, I'd like to buy some for you."
“Okay,” Song Shiyi stuffed the rest of the money into Song Xiaoli’s hand, “Then little sister, you have to listen to the nurse and don’t run around.”
"Um!"
After Song Xiaoli left the ward, no one ran away; she did indeed ask a nurse for help. Although it was during working hours, the hospital wasn't busy. The nurse who had helped with registration that morning, after greeting her friend, took Song Xiaoli to the supply and marketing cooperative.
"Your brother can't eat, and you said you'd buy some salty biscuits? Biscuits are expensive, do you have enough money?"
"That should be enough, right?" Song Xiaoli couldn't recall the exact prices right now. "One of my uncles will notify our parents this afternoon. Even if they don't come tonight, they'll come early tomorrow morning, and they'll definitely bring money. We can use the money left over this morning to buy food for my brother."
She still has seven yuan left; she should be able to buy something suitable.
However, the tickets themselves became a problem.
Song Xiaoli thought about it with a troubled expression, and then, taking advantage of the nurse's inattention, released two silly, fat pheasants from her little world. Then, with a "yah!" she pounced to the side, and as if by sheer luck, she caught two very fat pheasants in the bushes at the intersection of the road from the town to a commune.
"Wow, I caught a pheasant!" Song Xiaoli pretended to be very surprised.
The nurse was also a little surprised. "Although there are pheasants here occasionally, no one has ever caught one in town before. This little girl is really lucky."
"Yeah, I'm really lucky. When I was almost frozen to death, my mom took me home. Everyone in my family loves me."
"Huh?" The nurse was stunned for a moment before she vaguely realized that the child had been picked up. Looking at Song Xiaoli's well-behaved and pretty appearance, the nurse felt a little sorry for her. Instead of continuing the conversation about the pheasant, she helped her carry the pheasant and then led her to the supply and marketing cooperative.
At the supply and marketing cooperative, both biscuits and bread required snack coupons. There was only one type of biscuit, the kind Hu Lixin had just bought and brought over. His older brother couldn't eat much, so there was no need to buy it. Song Xiaoli looked around for a while, then cautiously asked the cooperative employee, "Auntie, I don't have any snack coupons. Can I exchange a pheasant for this chicken cake?"
Chicken is a rare treat for the townspeople. Looking at the plump pheasant that Song Xiaoli was pointing at, which was being lifted by the nurse and flapping its wings, the thirty-year-old woman's mouth watered rapidly.
She wrapped up a large bag of chicken cakes, shoved it into Song Xiaoli's arms, and quickly said, "Hurry up, give me the pheasant." She could take the pheasant back with her and pay for the chicken cakes herself later.
The nurse hadn't expected things to turn out this way. However, since Song Xiaoli had caught the pheasants, she saw Song Xiaoli nod and handed the two pheasants to the woman behind the counter.
The woman excitedly tied up the pheasant, stuffed it into a cloth bag and hid it, then, as if nothing had happened, asked with a smile, "What do you want to buy?"
Song Xiaoli looked around the small supply and marketing cooperative and asked, "Do we need coupons for canned oranges?"
"No need, a can of fruit is two cents." The cans weren't big, and two cents wasn't very expensive, but it wasn't cheap either.
"Give me three cans of mandarin oranges." Song Xiaoli handed over a dollar.
She bought the canned food mainly because she thought it could be used as a drinking cup after the can was finished. Her older brother had a cold and wasn't comfortable sharing a lunchbox with him for drinking water, plus it was inconvenient to use a lunchbox. By buying three cans, they could each have their own water cup.
In addition, taking advantage of the fact that she had just given the aunt two fat pheasants and thus had a good impression of her, she spent two cents to buy several scraps of cloth of different sizes to take back and use as temporary towels. Good cloth required cloth coupons, and even scraps or flawed cloth that didn't require coupons could only be bought by having a good relationship with the supply and marketing cooperative.
On the way back, the nurse helped carry the canned food and the scraps of cloth. Then, seeing Song Xiaoli carrying a big bag of chicken cakes, she couldn't help but say, "You really lost out by exchanging such a fat chicken for this cake."
“It’s okay. My brother can’t eat oily food. He only managed to eat a few biscuits at noon. If he likes chicken cake, I’d be happy to trade chicken for this.”
The nurse patted Song Xiaoli's head and said, "You siblings have such a good relationship."
Normally, if a child gets meat, how could they possibly think of their brothers and trade it for something else? But three-year-old Song Xiaoli did just that. There was also a five-year-old boy who was very kind to his older brother.
"Your family must be very good."
“Yes, my family is super nice!” Song Xiaoli’s eyes shone brightly. In this life, her mother adopted her, her maternal grandparents treated her like their own granddaughter, her uncle was willing to stand up for her, her older and younger cousins were also very good to her, and her aunt hadn’t given her a bad look lately.
She is so happy in this world.
Song Xiaoli looked satisfied.
However, when the nurse took her to her older brother's ward, she was met with a scolding.
"Song Xiaoli!" Song Shijia had already learned Song Xiaoli's name from his younger brother. "You're only three years old. How can you go out by yourself? You've never been to town before. What if you get kidnapped!"
Song Xiaoli lowered her head and silently placed the things she had bought on the empty bed. She said pitifully, "I saw that my older brother couldn't eat anything, so I wanted to buy him bread. I heard that bread is very delicious, so I bought it. Do you want some, brother?"
Originally, Song Shijia had prepared a lot of words to teach his younger sister, who was as bold as her brother, but under the gaze of Song Xiaoli's big, watery eyes and the sincere concern in her words, he felt as if his throat was choked.
If only his younger brother was kind to him, he would be touched, but deep down he would also feel it was somewhat taken for granted, because as the eldest brother, he had always been kinder to his younger brother. But this adopted sister of his aunt, who had never even met him before, was so considerate of him, which truly moved Song Shijia to tears.
He patted Song Xiaoli's head and said, "If you want to do something, you can ask that uncle from lunchtime for help, or ask another adult for help. At the very least, you have to discuss it with me. How old is Song Shiyi? He's usually lawless. You dared to go out with someone on your own after getting his permission. What if something happens? How are we supposed to face your mother?"
"I'm sorry..." Song Xiaoli obediently admitted her mistake.
She admitted her mistake so quickly that Song Shijia had nothing more to say. He could only grab his younger brother, who had already been scolded for a while, and continue to nag him about how he shouldn't have let his sister go out alone.
Song Xiaoli looked at her younger cousin with concern, but when she noticed that he could secretly wink at her when her older cousin wasn't looking, she knew he didn't care about being lectured by his older brother, and she breathed a sigh of relief. However, her older brother was still sick, and it must be tiring for him to keep scolding people, so Song Xiaoli quickly took out the canned food. "Let's open this can first, heat it up, and eat it. Then we can use the can jar to drink water."
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