Chapter 208 Illness
At one o'clock in the morning, there was a knock on Lin Qi's door.
"You sleep, I'll go take a look." Xu Hexiao got up, put on cotton boots and thick clothes.
"Bring money with you." Lin Qi reminded.
Xu Hexiao was puzzled.
“If someone knocks on the door in the middle of the night, it’s probably because they want a favor. They either want people or money. Just bring it with you.” Lin Qi said in a daze.
Xu Hexiao nodded, "Okay, I'll take it with me."
Outside the door, Cao Zheng was extremely anxious.
He didn't want to come here, but he had nowhere else to go. For Han Shuang's sake, he shamelessly came.
The door creaked open, and the moment Cao Zheng saw Xu Hexiao, his eyes became moist.
Seeing him like this, Xu Hexiao felt upset, "What happened?"
"Your sister-in-law has a high fever and the doctor said she needs to be hospitalized, but I don't have enough money." It was he who knelt in the snow at the hospital entrance, and the doctor couldn't bear it, so he let Han Shuang go to the hospital for treatment. But the doctor couldn't decide on the medical expenses.
Qiqi guessed it right.
Without saying anything, Xu Hexiao took out ten big unity notes from his pocket and handed them over, "Take them and use them. No need to return them in a hurry."
"I won't say any polite words. From now on, you and your wife are my adopted parents, Cao Zheng. I will treat you as my own parents." Cao Zheng said with a choked voice.
Xu Hexiao's forehead was covered with black lines, and he was too lazy to correct him. "You should go to the hospital quickly. It's important to arrange for your sister-in-law to be admitted to the hospital."
"Okay, I'll be there right away." Cao Zheng clutched the ten big unity notes and ran into the darkness.
The snow is falling again.
Xu Hexiao closed the door and hurried back to his room.
He felt cold all over and was not in a hurry to go to bed. Instead, he put two coal balls into the stove first.
"Is it Brother Cao?" Lin Qi asked.
Xu Hexiao nodded, "My sister-in-law has a high fever and the doctor said she needs to be hospitalized. Today I drove to haul snow and saw her sweeping snow all day, her trouser legs and shoes were wet. In fact, it's not just her, many people are like this."
Lin Qi was not surprised at all. "In this kind of weather, many people should be sick. When you go out by yourself, don't get in the crowd."
Xu Hexiao naturally agreed, but Lin Qi was still worried. The next morning, she made a thick ginger and sugar water for Xu Hexiao, put it in a thermos, and asked him to take it to work.
Xu Hexiao smelled the strong ginger flavor and couldn't help but frowning on his handsome face, "How much ginger did you put in?"
"Half a pound or a pound?"
".......You might as well fill me a jug of wine."
"Is it okay? I can drink alcohol while working?"
"cannot."
It rained all night last night, but the snow was not deep, just above the ankles, so the street office did not force everyone to go to the streets to sweep the snow.
Xu Hexiao was wearing plastic waders with a circle of rabbit fur inside the shoes. It was a bit crowded, but very warm.
It didn't snow when he went out today, but he brought an umbrella with him.
Fully armed with a hat, coat, shoes and gloves, Xu Hexiao still felt a little hot when he arrived at the machinery factory. He arrived not too late, but not too early either. Before he understood the content of his job, he was called over by the warehouse to count the goods.
Xu Hexiao secretly observed the expressions of the people around him. Seeing that no one seemed unusual, he knew that the driver probably did this job on weekdays when he was not driving.
It took Xu Hexiao a whole morning to count the goods in a warehouse.
When Xu Hexiao went to the cafeteria at noon, he used the newly received meal ticket.
Two taels of rice?
Xu Hexiao had a hunch that he wasn't full.
But it’s not a big problem. If two taels is not enough, then four taels can be used. When the factory’s meal tickets are used up, I can also use food coupons and money.
There were no vegetables in winter, either radish or cabbage, or various pickled vegetables. Pickled vegetables were okay, at least they had salt, but other vegetables were light and tasteless with little oil and salt. Xu Hexiao's taste was spoiled by Lin Qi, and he thought this was not delicious and that was not delicious. His handsome face was filled with bitterness and hatred.
"Eating a meal is like destroying an enemy. If you don't know, you might think someone forced you." Chu Congjun sat down in front of Xu Hexiao with the lunch box.
Xu Hexiao took a bite of the radish and swallowed it expressionlessly. "The food in the cafeteria is very good. It retains the taste of the food itself."
Chu Congjun felt that this was not a good thing to say, but it was obviously unwise to discuss this issue in the cafeteria, so he changed the subject, "Zhao Shu hasn't been seen for two days, and he didn't ask for leave. After dinner, go to his house and take a look."
Xu Hexiao paused and his expression became heavy.
"He didn't ask for leave and hasn't been seen, and he's alone at home. The factory is worried that something has happened to him, so they want to send someone to check on him, and this task falls on you." Chu Congjun felt complicated. Zhao Shu had been in the factory for more than ten years, and now he was suspected to be sick, but no one was willing to visit him. In the end, they had to send Xu Hexiao, a newcomer who had just joined the factory a few days ago.
I don’t know whether Xu Hexiao is willing to go.
Chu Congjun saw Xu Hexiao's face darken, and thought to himself that he probably didn't want to do it either. He sighed in his heart, "If you don't have time, I can go by myself."
"It's not that I'm unwilling. I'm just a little worried. The day before yesterday we came back in the snow, and the car broke down after entering the city. He went down to repair it, and his shoes and clothes got wet. I didn't see him yesterday, so I should have thought about whether he was sick, instead of delaying it until today." Xu Hexiao was a little annoyed.
After listening to Xu Hexiao's explanation, Chu Congjun had a higher opinion of Xu Hexiao. "Zhao Shu has always been in good health. Even if he is sick, it shouldn't be a big problem."
"I hope so." Xu Hexiao quickened his eating speed, and after finishing, he did not forget to pour himself a cup of thick ginger sugar water.
"This ginger and sugar water is so choking." Chu Congjun covered his nose and suppressed the urge to sneeze.
"Qiqi was worried, so she made it specially for me." Xu Hexiao said as he drank a bowl of ginger and sugar water in one gulp. Seeing Chu Congjun's big reaction, he thought he didn't want to eat it, so he didn't ask.
But Chu Congjun said, "Pour me a bowl too."
Xu Hexiao left the cafeteria in a hurry. As soon as he left, an auntie came to his seat.
"Director, is Xu Hexiao really married?" the aunt asked as she sat down.
"Okay, look, this is the ginger sugar water his wife made for him." Chu Congjun said, took a sip, and then his face wrinkled, "It's so spicy!"
"Spicy ginger and sugar water is better." The aunt said nonchalantly. How spicy can ginger be? The director is being too pretentious!
Chu Congjun didn't know what the aunt was complaining about him. He thought of Xu Hexiao's wife, "Xu Hexiao's wife is a great beauty. No matter who you want to help as a matchmaker, it's impossible."
"A beautiful lady? How beautiful?" The auntie didn't believe it. "The person who asked me to introduce her to you is known as the most beautiful girl in our machinery factory."
"No matter how many flowers there are, they are not enough. I have lived for so many years, but I have never seen anyone prettier than Xu Hexiao's wife. The ones in our factory are far inferior to Xu Hexiao's wife." Chu Congjun said, and took another sip of the ginger and sugar water. Although the ginger and sugar water was spicy, the effect was immediate. After drinking it, the whole person felt warm.
"You're not exaggerating?" The auntie expressed her doubt. "Every beauty is different. The girls in our factory are among the best in the whole capital."
"It won't work even if I'm the best. If you don't believe me, go ask my daughter-in-law. She has also come to work these two days. Go ask Xu Hexiao's wife, she will give the same answer. Besides, he already has a wife and children. Don't introduce him to anyone randomly and destroy his family." Chu Congjun said seriously.
"I'm here to confirm with you. Now that he's married, I certainly won't introduce him to anyone else. Otherwise, what kind of person would I be?" said the aunt angrily.
The aunt left Chu Congjun and went to the corner.
"Xu Hexiao is already married and has children. You should find someone else," said the aunt.
The woman frowned, "You actually got married."
"Of course it's true, otherwise all those crazy lovers would have flocked to him a long time ago. Oh my god, when I saw him fighting that day, not to mention you young girls, even an old lady like me was moved." The auntie said sincerely. With Xu Hexiao's strength, physique, and face, if she was 30 years younger, she would have been mesmerized. "But he is really married. According to Director Chu, his wife is very beautiful. He said that no one in our entire machinery factory can compare to her."
"Really?" The woman was not convinced. She thought she was unparalleled in beauty and everyone who had seen her praised her. She didn't believe that she was worse than Xu Hexiao's wife.
"It's absolutely true! Director Chu even told me that if I didn't believe it, I could ask his daughter-in-law."
On this day, Mrs. Chu received several waves of people, all of whom were women, and they all asked the same question: "Is Xu Hexiao's wife beautiful?"
Although Mrs. Chu didn't know why everyone was paying so much attention to this issue, she still said honestly, "It's very beautiful, so beautiful that it makes people feel ashamed of themselves!"
Zhao Shu lived not far from the machinery factory. It took an average person twenty minutes to walk there, but Xu Hexiao's long legs only took him fifteen minutes to get there.
He silently recited Zhao Shu's house number and finally stopped in front of a small courtyard.
It is a small courtyard with one entrance.
Boom boom boom…
Xu Hexiao waited for two minutes, but no one came to open the door.
"Uncle Zhao--"
Xu Hexiao called a few times, but still no response.
He looked up at the wall, took a few steps back, ran up, jumped, put his hands on the wall, and flipped over.
Xu Hexiao landed steadily in snow that was one meter thick.
Xu Hexiao's face turned a little dark, and snow got into his shoes.
However, this also shows that either no one has lived in this yard for the past two days, or the owner has not left the house. Xu Hexiao heard heavy breathing coming from a room, and he confirmed that the answer was the latter.
The snow blocked the door, and if Xu Hexiao wanted to get in, he had to sweep the snow away first.
Xu Hexiao found a broom and dustpan under the eaves.
He shoveled away the snow with a dustpan and then pushed the door. At first, he used only 30% of his strength but the door didn't open.
"Zhao Shu, open the door, or I'll bang on it!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
