Chapter 20 020 How to handle the exam?
Song Xiaoli only ate two boiled eggs and a mixed flour steamed bun before she didn't feel like eating anymore, feeling a bit greasy. Fortunately, her mother made her some malted milk powder to drink.
"Mom, I don't want to eat eggs anymore. This steamed bun is sticky, I don't want to eat it either, I'm full." Song Xiaoli said uncomfortably as she drank malted milk powder and used her tongue like a toothbrush to remove the steamed bun crumbs stuck to her teeth.
Song Wanxia chuckled and ruffled her daughter's hair. "This was specially made by Uncle Hu's mother. She used 72% starch, mixed with some bean flour and corn flour. You still find it sticky?"
"This is a good steamed bun. If you were to eat noodles made from 85 flour, you probably wouldn't even be able to chew them," Auntie joined in the conversation.
The terms "72% flour" and "85% flour" were used to differentiate flour in that era. 72% flour meant that 100 parts wheat yielded 72 parts flour, while 85% flour yielded 85 parts. The higher the number, the worse the quality of the flour. To exaggerate a bit, if a child had loose teeth and ate noodles made with 85% flour, it might actually dislodge their teeth.
Song Xiaoli has been away from this era for too long and has long forgotten that it wasn't a time when people could eat refined flour so easily. The steamed buns Uncle Hu bought for her at noon were actually made with 70% flour, but because those buns had thin skins and lots of filling, the difference wasn't very noticeable. However, the steamed buns she ate that evening, even with the addition of other flours, were still very sticky.
Song Xiaoli wasn't used to eating this kind of flour, but her two older cousins ate it with gusto. The younger cousin ate two eggs and two steamed buns, while the older cousin ate three eggs and two steamed buns. Finally, they drank half a cup of malted milk powder and were full.
After the children finished eating, the aunt looked at the sponge cake and cookies that she had put on the table and said, "Since Xiaoli doesn't like these, let her eat this cake tomorrow morning. It looks soft and should be suitable for children."
“No,” Song Xiaoli hurriedly refused, “Auntie, these are hard to buy, and the supply and marketing cooperative doesn’t have them every day. My older brother doesn’t have a good appetite, but he likes to eat these, so all these sponge cakes are for him.”
Auntie paused, glancing at Song Xiaoli and then at her eldest son, unsure what to say. Seeing her sister-in-law's hesitation, Song Wanxia quickly squeezed her daughter's hand, half-praising, "Our Xiaoli is so thoughtful, knowing to give the cake to her sick brother. When your brother gets better, Mom will buy another sponge cake, and all three of you can eat it, okay?"
"Okay!" Song Xiaoli didn't care whether she could eat the chicken cake or not. She just liked her mother coaxing her and happily kept kissing her mother's face.
Song Wanxia's initial unease was instantly soothed. "Oh dear, Xiao Li is going to swell up Mommy's face with all those kisses! Please, stop kissing Mommy, okay?"
"No, Mom's face won't be swollen. Mom is the most beautiful and adorable mom in the whole commune, the whole town, and the whole world!" Song Xiaoli praised sincerely, making her mother blush with embarrassment.
Even the eldest uncle couldn't stand it anymore. He whispered to his wife, away from his two sons, "It's a good thing we didn't have a daughter. Tsk tsk, how can they be so clingy?" While saying this, he was thinking about whether he and his wife should have another child. If they could have a daughter as sweet-talking, cute, and good at coaxing people as Xiao Li, that would seem pretty good too.
However, his eldest son's words interrupted his reverie, "Dad, I heard everything, don't say anything bad about my sister..."
"Cough cough, I heard you, so I heard you. Finish your food and go to sleep!" He retorted instinctively, then remembered that his son was still sick, so he quickly added, "Are you feeling unwell anywhere? If not, keep sleeping. When you're sick, eating, drinking, and sleeping more will help you get better faster."
Song Shijia was speechless for a moment, then sat there for a while before sighing, "I haven't washed up yet."
"What's the point of washing? Just go to sleep."
“No way,” Song Xiaoli shook her head at her uncle. “My brother has a fever today and sweated a lot. If he doesn’t wash up, he’ll smell bad tomorrow. Besides, being clean is what makes a good child.”
The eldest uncle awkwardly walked to the side.
Song Wanxia was also a little embarrassed. "Xiao Li, we came in a hurry and only brought two quilts. We didn't bring anything else."
In other words, they didn't have any changes of clothes, toiletries, or anything like that.
"Sigh, you adults are really worrying." Song Xiaoli muttered under her breath, which amused the three adults who had been silently reflecting on their actions.
"Alright, alright, Xiao Li is still the most reliable in our family. We get so forgetful when Xiao Li isn't home," Auntie said with a smile. Then she thought to herself, perhaps Xiao Li really is as lucky as her name suggests. It's alright if the adults forgot some things; they can go back and get them tomorrow. But if something goes wrong with Song Shijia today, it could affect his entire life.
Thinking of this, the eldest aunt pulled her youngest son, who was still savoring the malted milk powder, in front of her and said, half seriously and half jokingly, "Xiao Li is much more sensible than you, and she is also more thoughtful. In the future, whatever you do, listen to your little sister more."
Teaching her son to listen to his sister was the most out of character she had ever said since marrying into the Song family. Even Song Dianchen looked at her in surprise several times.
But Song Shiyi actually listened to him and obediently agreed, which was rare for him. Ever since he saw his older brother was sick today, he had been in a panic and his mind was a mess. If it weren't for Song Xiaoli teaching him what to do at crucial moments, he probably would have just tried to shake his older brother awake and then asked him what to do.
"There are basins in the hospital. Let's borrow a pot of hot water from the nurse. I caught two pheasants in town today and traded them with the lady at the supply and marketing cooperative for this bag of chicken cakes. I also got some scraps of cloth from her. We can use these scraps as towels to wash our clothes without changing them. Wouldn't that make them half clean?"
Originally, Song Xiaoli was worried that her older cousin's fever would recur, so she thought she would keep some scraps of cloth on hand to help lower his temperature. Instead, she received a small bundle, probably because the other party didn't want to open it, so they gave it all to her.
Song Xiaoli's idea to use scraps of cloth came from her older brother in the dormitory, who used to use scraps of cloth as towels. Since no one had toiletries at the moment, washing these scraps of cloth and dividing them among themselves would be fine as towels.
"Xiao Li, you even managed to get scraps of cloth from someone?" Song Wanxia was a little surprised. She used to be able to get scraps of cloth because a very close friend of hers worked at a shopping mall in the county town. As for the woman in town who had been a saleswoman for ten years, she always only kept the good stuff for people who were close to her family.
Song Xiaoli proudly raised her little head, "The pheasant I caught is so fat. That auntie was probably afraid that I would be greedy for meat and then change my mind, so she was very easy to talk to."
Song Wanxia had always thought of pheasants as small and thin, so she had no idea what a fat pheasant her daughter was talking about. So when she saw her daughter take out a bundle of rags as thick as her upper arm, plus a bag of chicken cakes, she thought the deal was pretty good.
She took out the basin from the hospital, unpacked the bundle of scraps of cloth, picked out six different colored cotton cloths, went to the washroom, and washed them clean. "Xiao Li and I will use this white floral and yellow floral cloths. There are four left. Let Sega use a separate towel for wiping his face and body."
"Okay." Aunt took the other four towels, leaving one pure white and one army green for her eldest son, and the remaining two for her, her husband, and their youngest son to share. Fabric was scarce at the moment, and the family wasn't too particular about such things. If it weren't for the fact that their eldest son was sick, the four of them could easily share two towels or even just one. Anyway, it wasn't that cold now, so they could wash their faces without towels.
The group of people used a bottle of hot water sparingly, took turns washing themselves, and then went to bed.
Song Xiaoli had been up for quite a while, and as soon as her mother held her down to lie down, she let out a contented gurgle and drifted off to sleep. Meanwhile, the brothers Song Shijia and Song Shiyi, having slept for a while earlier, weren't actually sleepy and were quietly talking to their parents.
The eldest, Song Shijia, had strong language skills, but he only had memories of what happened after his fever subsided and he woke up. He first told his younger siblings everything he remembered, praising them highly so that they wouldn't be punished when they got back.
Song Shiyi then added details about what happened that morning. He first admitted that he shouldn't have taken his younger sister out to play, and then he couldn't help but keep praising her, saying that she was so smart. When she saw that her brother couldn't be woken up, she knew to touch his forehead to see if he was sick. She would also get a cold towel to put on his forehead to cool him down. When the teacher said that her older brother should be taken to the hospital, she thought of exchanging eggs for money, and so on.
Before going to bed, the family would always praise little Song Xiaoli endlessly, probably even in their dreams.
Around eight o'clock the next day, the group of people, who had been through so much, finally woke up one after another. By the time they had washed their faces, the doctors had already come to work.
The doctor remembered Song Shijia, a rather seriously ill patient, and came to check on him shortly after starting his shift. He was surprised to see such a large family. He wanted to say sternly that occupying all three beds in the ward was a mistake, but Song Dianchen quickly pulled out a pre-prepared red envelope and stuffed it into the doctor's hand, saying, "Thank you so much for yesterday, doctor. My son will be hospitalized for a while longer, so please continue to look after him."
The doctor squeezed the red envelope, feeling that there was quite a bit of money inside, so he changed what he was about to say and reminded her, "If the hospital leaders see you using the ward as a family, it's not a good thing."
"Hey, we don't all live here. We came in a hurry last night, and there are two little ones here, so that's why there are so many of us. After that, it's just my wife and me staying. Can we have one bed?"
"That's no problem. There are very few people in the hospital anyway. You can take it, just don't make a fuss about it."
"Okay, okay, thank you, doctor!" Song Dianchen, a tall and strong man, kept his voice low in front of the old doctor who was only 1.7 meters tall, afraid that he, as a father, would displease the doctor and affect the doctor's treatment of his child.
The doctor examined Song Shijia again, listened to his chest sounds, and said that his recovery was going well, but he needed to continue the IV drip for five days to a week before he could go home to rest. However, he advised that he should avoid drafts and raw, cold, and spicy foods in the near future.
In this way, even if it's a week later, it's not convenient for the family to bring Song Shijia home, otherwise he'll inevitably catch a chill on the way. The adults discussed whether to keep Song Shijia in the hospital or to stay in the hospital first and then let him go back to the dormitory at the town's primary school.
But Song Shijia himself was worried about something else.
He looked at Song Wanxia, who used to be his Chinese teacher, and said with a worried face, "Auntie, what am I going to do about my junior high school entrance exam? The exam is at the end of June, and I can't just keep not going back to school, can I?"
The primary and junior high schools in the town are not in the same system. To enter the town's junior high school, one must first pass the primary school graduation exam and obtain a primary school graduation certificate. Then, one must pass the junior high school entrance exam to be admitted to the town's junior high school.
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