Tao Xiaoxi's cold symptoms became more severe this winter. She was shivering with cold even though she was wrapped in a mink coat. Taking a hot bath every night did not help. She was still cold. When she slept at night, she put an electric blanket under her. Li Nanshan held her in his arms to warm her up. But when Li Nanshan got up, she couldn't sleep warmly anymore.
I saw a doctor, and he said that this is a common problem among women. My body, uterus, and feet are cold, and everything is cold.
Li Nanshan thought it was a common problem among women, so he had to take better care of his wife. However, Tao Xiaoxi was a doctor herself, and she knew that if the cause of a disease could not be found, it was either not serious or fatal. She could not tell whether she was suffering from the former or the latter. She had never heard of anyone freezing to death while wrapped in mink, so it should not be the case.
That night, she went to her space and discovered something: the herb seedlings she had pulled out the day before hadn't sprouted. Worried she might have been mistaken, she squatted down and took a closer look, but they still hadn't grown. Her heart skipped a beat.
Next, Tao Xiaoxi put all her efforts into cultivating new seedlings and developing new varieties in the medicine shed. During this period, she entered the space several times, but the place where she pulled out the seedlings was still empty. She knew that some things were disappearing irretrievably.
For the entire spring, she locked herself in the medicine shed and cultivated as much as possible in the space. By summer, she had almost finished the task, but she could not cultivate the life-saving herb in the space. She originally had two, and she gave one to Old Man Li, leaving one left.
She also didn't know who it would be used on.
One day, the weather was extremely hot. The sun was scorching the earth and there was not a breath of wind. Tao Xiaoxi felt comfortable, more comfortable than on a snowy day. She looked at her mother in disbelief, holding a milk cake in her hand and asked her mother if she wanted to eat it.
Tao Xiaoxi shook her head. "I don't really feel like eating milk cake, but I do feel like eating hot pot."
"What is hot pot?" Manman asked, licking the ice cream bit by bit.
"Have you never eaten ice cream? Hasn't your mother taken you to eat hot pot?" Tao Xiaoxi didn't quite believe it. It was impossible.
Manman shook his head firmly, "No, no, never."
Suddenly, Tao Xiaoxi realized that she had indeed spent less time with her children in recent years, so she decided to arrange a hotpot meal for them tonight.
Hotpot is not about the mood, it tastes better when there are many people around, and the guests have to be able to chat. If you eat hotpot with strangers, you will easily suffer from indigestion and get irritated. So Tao Xiaoxi didn't invite many people. She only invited her eldest brother and sister-in-law, Zhao Bin and his wife, and her own family. She didn't count the children, Xiaobao from her eldest brother's family, Yuanyuan from Zhao Bin's family, and her own two girls, which made a full ten people. The eight-immortal table couldn't accommodate them all, so she divided it into two tables, one big and one small, in the garden in the front yard. She likes spicy food, but the children can't, so it's just right.
She called out to Miss Ma Zi, but she'd been trying to stay healthy lately and said she didn't want to eat anything greasy or irritating. Tao Xiaoxi didn't force her. Sometimes, she really admired Miss Ma Zi's willpower. She wouldn't eat ice in the dog days of summer, or anything too hot in the freezing cold, or anything sweet or meaty. But after a year of practicing health preservation, she was still chubby and hadn't lost a single pound. Tao Xiaoxi didn't dare ask what she was doing with her health preservation. But she didn't dare ask because Miss Ma Zi was now the head of the clinic, and sometimes she had to listen to her.
My eldest brother and his wife came over to help as soon as they got off work. The nanny, Aunt Tao Xiaoxi, gave her another day off, so she had to prepare the ingredients, wash the vegetables, and prepare the bowls for the dishes herself.
When Zhao Bin and his wife came, they brought a bottle of red wine. Tao Xiaoxi said that he was very picky. How could you eat hot pot with red wine? It doesn't go together.
Zhao Bin pouted, not daring to speak angrily. "My wife asked me to bring it. She said I should mix it with soda. It tastes awesome."
"I didn't buy any soda." Tao Xiaoxi said.
Zhao Bin’s wife, Shen Ximei, was unhappy, “You guys won’t eat hot pot dry, right?”
"No." Tao Xiaoxi said.
"What to drink?" Shen Ximei asked bluntly.
"Here, white wine, as much as you want." Tao Xiaoxi pointed to a box of white wine in the corner.
"No, I have to drink soda mixed with red wine. I have to drink it chilled, the kind that feels refreshing in your mouth. That's the perfect pairing for hot pot."
"Then go buy it, you and Beibei go."
"Why take Beibei with me? I can go by myself." Shen Ximei felt it was unnecessary.
"Take Beibei to pay. She manages the money at home." Tao Xiaoxi said truthfully.
Shen Ximei was so surprised that she couldn't close her mouth, "Your Beibei manages the money?"
"Yeah." Tao Xiaoxi nodded.
"No, your Beibei manages the money?" Shen Ximei still didn't believe it. If it was an ordinary family, it would be fine, but Tao Xiaoxi's family was wealthy and powerful. How could Beibei, a teenage girl, manage it?
At this time, Li Nanshan came back from buying cold dishes. He gave Beibei the change and said, "I also bought some egg cakes. This is all that's left of the two hundred yuan you gave me."
"I'll come down to settle the bill." Beibei took it and said naturally.
Shen Ximei had to believe it.
"Don't look at Beibei's young age. He is talented in this area. God is fair and will always give people a way to survive." Zhao Bin secretly explained to his wife's ear.
When Shen Ximei looked at Beibei again, there was more admiration in her eyes. It was a pity that her Yuanyuan was a little young, otherwise she could arrange a baby marriage for her, and then she would be relieved.
As night falls, the lights in the yard light up. Above our heads, there are not only twinkling lights, but also a sky full of stars. At this time, the sky is still blue and the water is still clear, so the stars at night are still bright.
Li Nanshan, Zhao Bin, the eldest brother, Tao Xiaoxi and the eldest sister-in-law drank white wine, Chen Ximei drank soda mixed with red wine, and the children drank soda. Everyone got what they needed and was happy.
It was also the first time for my eldest brother and his wife to eat hotpot. At first they were not used to this way of eating, but later they got used to it and put whatever they wanted into the pot without any restraint. When the moon and stars rose, everyone ate with abandon. The children ate and played, and when they were tired they came back to eat. The adults drank one glass after another and were about to get drunk when the summer breeze blew and they became half sober again and continued drinking.
With the scalding hot food and hot wine, everyone was sweating profusely while eating. Everyone had a towel at hand. When the towel got wet, they would squeeze out the water and continue eating.
Zhao Bin insisted on toasting Tao Xiaoxi with a glass of wine, and recounted how Tao Xiaoxi had come into his shop many years ago, carrying medicine on her back, to exchange for money. "I can still remember it vividly, as if it happened yesterday," he said.
"Yes, so many years have passed in a flash, and the years are countless. Fortunately, my old friends are still here." Tao Xiaoxi smiled, and suddenly felt sad.
Raise your glass and drink it all in one gulp.
Let us raise our glasses again to the bright moon, and thank the ancient moon for still shining on us today.
Li Nanshan didn't say anything, and neither did his elder brother and sister-in-law. Everyone had some feelings.
"Mom, Yuanyuan wet his pants!" Manman's loud shout brought everyone back to reality and made everyone laugh.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
