Chapter 19-019 They're finally here!
Upon arriving at Dahe Commune, Hu's mother, worried about her son, was also looking out the door. When she saw a familiar bicycle returning, she hurriedly went to greet it, only to find that she had greeted the wrong person.
"It's Dian Chen, how come..."
"Hey, Auntie, Lixin and my sister are behind us. My wife and I are too fat to ride my sister's bike," Song Dianchen explained with a smile. Then he and his wife got off the bike and rested for a bit. "Dianchen said he'd come with us to town again."
It was a little embarrassing. For the first time, Song Dianchen felt that being too tall was not a good thing, even with his head down, he could still see her directly.
However, Mrs. Hu was not dissatisfied with this matter. On the contrary, she was quite happy. "When we lived in the military dependents' area, everyone helped each other out. Since we moved here, my daughter and I have hardly anyone to talk to. Li Xin has also become more silent. It's a good thing that he is willing to help you. I haven't seen him so enthusiastic in a long time."
The main reason Hu Lixin became less inclined to interact with people was because of his parents' relatives from the older generation. After learning of his father's sacrifice, they initially offered words of comfort, but later constantly demanded money and gifts from his family, eroding Hu Lixin's goodwill. Last year, he and his mother visited Song Mingyi, ostensibly to maintain their comradeship, but in reality, Hu's mother wanted to leverage Song Mingyi's connections in the town to help them deal with those unreasonable relatives.
This was discussed in private, and none of the younger generation knew about it. Hu Lixin was unaware that the Song family had done them such a huge favor, and Song Dianchen was also unaware that his own father possessed such abilities. They were all completely clueless.
But her words contained a lot of information, and Hu's mother didn't know how to respond for a moment. "Oh..."
The mother and son had not yet fully integrated into this new environment. Other people in the commune saw them as an orphan and a widow, and if they got too close, they were afraid of being accused of taking advantage of them. If they stayed too distant, they were afraid of being accused of bullying the family of a martyr. In any case, they were in a rather awkward situation. Hu's mother was unaware of the news that Song's youngest daughter had recently gotten divorced.
However, Mrs. Hu was a respectable person. After pausing for a moment without asking any questions, she said, "Your brother came over first and told me everything. Li Xin is going to town with you again, right?"
“Yes,” Hu Lixin replied to his mother this time, “I’ll go back and get the light from the battery so I can tie it to Song T’s car handle; it’s too dark now.”
"Wait a moment, I'll go look for it right away." Mrs. Hu said, inviting them in. "Come in and have some hot water to rest for a while. I forgot where I put the light bulb, it'll probably take a while to find it."
They had no choice but to go inside and sit down. Hu Lixin poured them some hot water, saying, "The night breeze is quite cool. Even if you're not thirsty, hold hands to warm them up."
"Thank you." Song Wanxia was actually a little thirsty. She was the most tired of the four people. She took the water glass, blew on it, and drank it.
After Hu Lixin returned, he had never entertained so many people of his generation, including a pretty girl. His ears turned red, and he couldn't sit still. But his mother wouldn't let him help find the light bulb, so he wandered around the house. When he saw the food his mother had left for him in the kitchen, he suddenly remembered something and exclaimed "Oh dear!" in annoyance.
"What happened?" Song Wanxia thought someone had fallen and rushed to check, but the person came out of the kitchen by themselves.
Hu Lixin looked worried. "Did you forget to bring the children dinner?"
Everyone was stunned.
Upon learning that the two children were still in town and the older one was sick, they hurriedly packed their things to go to town. They didn't even think about bringing food, even though the food on the table was all cold and sitting there.
"This..." Song Wanxia regretfully patted her head, "If I had known, I should at least have boiled some eggs to bring with me."
"Wait a minute, we have eggs at home," Hu Lixin remembered that he could also get some food from his house to take over. He hurriedly called to his mother, "Mom, we forgot to bring food for the three children. Besides some boiled eggs, is there anything else that's easy for them to bring? They only have some biscuits over there."
Just as Hu's mother found the large battery-powered light bulb wrapped in cloth, she came out upon hearing this, glared at the young men, and said, "Why didn't you even bring food for the child? You try this light first to see if it works. I'll go to the kitchen to get some food."
Since Mrs. Hu wanted to prepare food, Hu Lixin simply said that the Song family members had left without eating. Mrs. Hu persuaded them to stay and eat dinner before giving them ten hot boiled eggs and five mixed flour steamed buns in a cloth bag.
The Song family members, having received help from Hu Lixin, were so embarrassed by the fact that they had been treated to food and gifts at Hu's house that they didn't know what to say. However, Hu's mother said she didn't mind, saying that the Song family had done them a greater favor, and urged them to hurry to town.
With both bikes now equipped with headlights, they could ride faster with peace of mind. The women's bike at the back was now ridden by Hu Lixin with Song Wanxia. It took the four of them about twenty minutes to reach the town hospital from Dahe Commune.
Hu Lixin still remembered the location of Song Shijia's ward, but when he led the Song family there, he saw that the room was dark and couldn't help but mutter, "They must all be asleep already, right?"
After saying that, all four of them slowed down their movements.
Hu Lixin was at the front, holding the blanket for Song Wanxia with one hand and gently pushing open the ward door with the other, bringing a cool breeze.
Song Xiaoli, who was dozing off in her chair, was startled awake by the gust of wind. She looked up and, forgetting about the noise, hurriedly called out, "Mom, Uncle Hu, Uncle, Aunt!"
She shouted as she rushed into her mother's arms.
Song Wanxia sniffed, and hot tears fell onto her daughter's head. "My darling Xiaoli, were you scared?"
"No, Xiaoli didn't cry at all today. I'm a good girl. I listened to my brother, the doctor and the nurse, and Uncle Hu. I thought you wouldn't be able to come tonight, so I arranged with my brother to take turns keeping watch. He's sleeping now."
Hearing what Song Xiaoli said, Song Dianchen, the eldest uncle, fumbled to turn on the light. He first saw his sleeping eldest son and didn't say anything. Then he saw his youngest son, who was sleeping soundly wrapped in a blanket, and he was furious.
He threw the blanket into his wife's arms, walked over to his youngest son, found the spot on his bottom, and slapped him hard across the backside. "You sleep here by yourself, and let your sister sit there?"
Song Shiyi groggily woke up, saw his father's face, didn't hear what had just been said, and didn't realize his father was angry. Instead, because he had finally found an elder he could rely on, he threw himself into his father's arms and burst into tears, "Dad, why did you take so long to come? I was so scared, waaaaah..."
Now, Song Dianchen could no longer continue to discipline his audacious youngest son.
"Never mind, Shiyi and Xiaoli were both frightened and tired today. Let's talk about it tomorrow. Let them eat something first." Aunt quickly put the quilt on the empty bed, took her youngest son, and hugged and comforted him.
Song Shijia also woke up, rubbed his eyes, and saw so many people crowded in the small ward. He quickly got out of bed and asked, "Uncle Hu, Dad, Mom, Aunt, why are you all here?"
As he spoke, he glanced out the window; it was still dark. "You came in the dark?"
"Your Uncle Hu has a big electric light, so we rode our bikes here," Song Wanxia said to her nephew, then hugged Song Xiaoli and thanked Hu Lixin profusely. "Thank you so much for today. Your aunt is still waiting for you at home, so why don't you not stay here any longer?"
"Hey, then you all should talk nicely and not scold the kids. They've had a tough day, running around everywhere." Hu Lixin put the blanket he was carrying on the bed. "Then I'll be going now. I'll come see you again tomorrow at noon."
"Be careful riding your bike alone." Song Wanxia carried Song Xiaoli out, representing the Song family, to see Hu Lixin off at the hospital entrance. She waited until the headlights of Hu Lixin's car were out of sight before carrying Song Xiaoli back to the ward.
Song Xiaoli hugged her mother's neck, "Mom, did you come because you were worried about Xiaoli?"
“Yes, our little carp has suffered today,” Song Wanxia said, patting her daughter’s head with a touch of heartache and kissing her forehead repeatedly. “You didn’t eat anything tonight, did you? We brought some boiled eggs and multigrain buns. Go and have some with your brothers.”
Song Xiaoli hadn't eaten dinner yet. She had originally planned to eat together with her younger cousin after he woke up, because the nurse on duty only had two bottles of hot water, which couldn't be used to reheat the boxed lunches they brought in two separate meals. However, her younger cousin fell asleep and didn't wake up. Song Xiaoli was sitting there in a daze after dark, and she couldn't keep track of the time, so she just kept waiting.
"We haven't eaten the food we brought from home this morning, and it's cold. I was planning to wait for my brother to wake up so we could go to the nurse to get hot water to soak the rice together."
"It's alright, we don't need to make rice porridge now. That rice is too oily, and it's so late. If it's not heated up properly, it will give you diarrhea. How about you just have boiled eggs and steamed buns?" Song Wanxia said as she entered the ward.
At this moment, Auntie had already occupied both empty beds in the small ward. One bed was covered with Song Shijia's small blanket and their large blanket, while the other bed was covered with Song Wanxia's large blanket.
Seeing Song Wanxia return, she looked up and said, "I didn't expect the two kids to be so clever, knowing to bring a blanket from Shijia School. Your brother and I are strong, and we also have to take care of Shiyi, so one blanket is too crowded, so we'll use two."
"Yes, Xiaoli and I will use the one I brought." Song Wanxia knew that her sister-in-law wasn't deliberately treating her differently; it was just that the combined size of the couple was no match for her taking care of a three-year-old. Moreover, to prevent the older child from infecting the younger one, they planned to have Song Shijia sleep alone, while the couple and their youngest son would squeeze into one bed, needing to use a row of chairs to widen the space, otherwise there simply wouldn't be enough room to sleep.
"Auntie, Uncle, have you eaten dinner yet?" Song Xiaoli greeted them.
Auntie came over with a smile and patted Song Xiaoli's head. "We've all eaten. You go and have some eggs with your brothers."
Initially, Auntie didn't quite consider Song Xiaoli, whom she had taken in, as family. It was only after Xiaoli helped the family find wild duck eggs and made her younger son less mischievous that Auntie tacitly accepted her niece. But after today's events, she was truly grateful to Song Xiaoli. She knew her own son well; she knew that if it had been just her younger son alone today, he definitely wouldn't have been able to get his brother to the hospital smoothly, and she even knew to send someone to notify the family.
Song Xiaoli didn't notice this change in her aunt, but she felt that her aunt smiled at her more gently than usual, which made her feel better.
Meanwhile, her older and younger cousins sat on their respective beds, looking at Song Xiaoli and smiling as they called her over, "Xiaoli, we've been waiting for you to come and eat with us! The steamed buns and eggs are still warm!"
"Okay, I'm coming!"
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