"Tian Jun, take me straight home."
It was only a little past one in the afternoon when he left Elder Shen's place, and he really didn't want to go back to the hospital.
There must be a lot going on over there these next few days, and he doesn't want to be surrounded by those hospital leaders asking him all sorts of questions.
"Hey, what brings you back?"
Just as Li Qin got off the bus and saw Tian Jun off, she was pushing her bicycle out of her house.
"Sis, I'm back now, nothing's wrong. Where did you go?"
"I'm going to buy some flour and rice; we're almost out." Li Qin waved the ration book she was holding.
"Then wait a moment, I'll go with you. You can wait for Jiadong to come back and have him buy it."
"Sigh, I don't know what he's been busy with these past few days, leaving early and coming home late. I don't have anything to do, so I'll just push the cart and take my time."
Only after she said that did Li Chu realize that he hadn't seen his nephew for several days.
"I'll go inside and change my clothes, don't rush off."
"Okay, I'll wait for you."
Accompanying her sister to the grain and oil store, Li Chu looked at the standard flour, enriched flour, whole bags of Northeast rice, and imported fragrant rice that was said to be edible without any side dishes. She suddenly realized that she didn't know how long it had been since she had been to a grain and oil store.
Their family ate military rations, which could only be purchased from designated supply points. Previously, it was either him or Ding Qiunan who would go to buy them whenever they were free.
Later, after they got a private car, the driver helped them buy rice, flour, and oil, and even changed the gas cylinder at home.
Vegetables that can be stored for a long time, such as Chinese cabbage, radishes, and green onions, which need to be bought in advance for winter, as well as lump coal and honeycomb briquettes for burning in the boiler at home, are usually brought back by my sister and brother-in-law. They rarely worry about these things.
Thinking about this, he realized that he seemed to have been detached from this ordinary life for a long time.
"Xiao Chu, move this rice and flour out."
"Okay, sis."
Because he came along, Li Qin bought 100 jin of flour, 50 jin of rice, and 10 jin of rapeseed oil. She forgot to take the oil can when she came out, so she used the oil can from the shop. Since they were all acquaintances, she could just have it delivered later.
Although you still need a ration coupon to buy grain, it is no longer a rationed supply.
Unlike before, when I had to come here every month to buy food for my family, according to the approved standards.
Now you can buy more at once and then come back every few months.
They bought a few more pounds of melon seeds and peanuts at the store, and then the siblings, one pushing the cart and the other carrying the oil can, slowly walked home.
In the past two years, as supplies have become more abundant, many things no longer require coupons.
In other words, there are more and more unplanned supplies.
No one needed coupons anymore for buying household items like kettles, thermos flasks, spittoons, bicycles, and groceries.
Only large items like televisions and fans, as well as fabric and cotton, still required coupons, but ready-made clothes did not.
In any case, these past few years have been a transitional period because the authorities have not officially announced the cancellation, so things have been quite chaotic. However, having a ticket is still a little cheaper than not having one.
"Xiao Chu, has something happened at home these past few days?"
As the two were walking back, Li Qin suddenly asked.
"Huh? Sis, why do you ask that?"
“The night before last, you and Qiu Nan stayed up late, and I don’t know what time it was, but we got a call from home. I thought you had to go out on a mission again, but when I saw you were still there in the morning, you came back every afternoon yesterday and today. I started to wonder if something was wrong.”
"Hehe," Li Chu didn't expect his sister to be so thoughtful. He smiled and said, "There is something, but it's not at home, it's work-related. It's alright, it's almost taken care of."
"If you handle it well, then remember to tell me and your brother-in-law if you encounter any difficulties. Although we are old and can't help you much with your work, we can still take good care of the family."
"Sister, please don't say that. If it weren't for you and brother-in-law helping us all these years, our family would be in complete chaos."
"That's all your brother-in-law and I are capable of."
"Sis, just put the oil drum on the seat and hold it, don't lift it, it's too heavy."
"OK"
Looking at her sister's hair, which was already half gray, Li Chu suddenly felt a pang of sadness in her heart.
Li Qin is over sixty years old. Although she seems to be in good health now, no one can avoid the cycle of birth, aging, illness, and death.
Although he was a highly skilled doctor, he was not capable of turning the tide of life and death. As his sister grew older day by day, all he could do was watch her grow. The only thing he could do was to make her health better.
"Sis, have you been feeling alright lately?"
"No, I'm fine. Don't you know how well you've taken care of my health?"
"Sometimes I really don't realize the slightest changes in my body, such as feeling tired easily, or suddenly feeling like I'm sleeping more lately."
"No, I don't feel any change," Li Qin said, shaking her head after thinking for a moment.
Where is my brother-in-law?
"Your brother-in-law, ha, what changes could he have? He sleeps like a log every night. But there is one small change. After he took the medicine you prescribed, he seems to have smoked less lately."
Honestly, I've been using Yeguo Reading to read and follow my favorite books lately. It has easy source switching, multiple reading voice options, and is compatible with both Android and Apple devices.
I remember he used to smoke two packs of cigarettes a day, but this morning when I was cleaning the house, I found that he still had five packs left from a carton he opened last week. Also, he seemed to be coughing less and had less phlegm last night.
"As long as there's a change, that's good. I'm planning to see if it's effective in the next couple of days."
The medicine prescribed for Wang Ziwen was a formula that Li Chu had come up with himself, which combined the effects of quitting smoking, relieving cough, and clearing phlegm.
If it really works, it would be a major breakthrough for him in the use of traditional Chinese medicine.
No matter how amazing he was before, the prescriptions he used were still influenced by the ancients; they were simply additions and subtractions based on those prescriptions.
If this method is successful, it will be considered his contribution to the cause of smoking cessation.
I wonder if that small tobacco company, which generates trillions in profits and taxes every year, will hate him in the future.
Who cares? They printed the "smoking is harmful to your health" warning on the boxes themselves, even though there isn't one on cigarette packs now.
The siblings, one pushing the cart and the other holding it, weaved through the alleys, occasionally stopping to chat with acquaintances passing by.
Li Chu was also surprised to discover that the crosstalk performance that someone was going to tell in the future was real, and that the yellow van was actually driving into the alley.
Should we say they were incredibly helpful or just plain stupid? This driver really dared to drive in such a narrow alley.
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