He had just returned to the house with the basket on his back when the middle-aged man next door brought him a bowl of hot water.
"I don't have anything else here. This is freshly boiled water. Please feed some to Auntie."
"Destiny, this is all our destiny."
Old Master Jiang thanked the middle-aged man and waited until he left before touching Zhang Meiling's forehead, which was still hot.
The medicine prescribed by the barefoot doctor had no effect at all.
Old Master Jiang took out the pills Qi Mengmeng gave him. They were white pills with no words on them.
He didn't know where Qi Mengmeng got the Western medicine, but he believed that this medicine could save his wife.
He put the pill into Zhang Meiling's mouth and gave her two sips of warm water.
Fortunately, Zhang Meiling took the medicine. Mr. Jiang sat next to her and touched Zhang Meiling's forehead from time to time.
After an unknown amount of time, he felt that the temperature of Zhang Meiling's forehead seemed to have dropped a little. A flash of surprise appeared in his eyes, and he gently called Zhang Meiling's name over and over again.
Zhang Meiling slowly opened her eyes. She was confused at first, then focused: "What's wrong with me?"
"Meiling, your fever has gone down, that's great, your fever has gone down." Old Master Jiang excitedly pulled Zhang Meiling's hand and kept repeating the same words over and over again.
Zhang Meiling stood up slowly, and Mr. Jiang quickly helped her up: "Would you like some water? That girl gave us a lot of things. I'll make you a cup of brown sugar water and some eggs."
Mr. Jiang took out brown sugar, eggs, and buns, but quickly put them down again.
"It's a little cold. Wait a minute, I'll go get some hot water."
He took a piece of biscuit and let Zhang Meiling eat it first, then ran outside to boil water.
They didn't have an iron pot, but the village chief was kind and gave them a clay pot, which was enough to boil water and cook porridge.
The middle-aged man saw him start to boil water, so he helped him light the fire and looked inside the house again: "Uncle, is Auntie awake?"
Mr. Jiang nodded hurriedly: "Awake, awake."
The middle-aged man also showed joy on his face and nodded: "As long as he wakes up, it's fine."
Old Master Jiang didn't say anything else. He just anxiously boiled a pot of hot water, put a cloth on it, poured it into a bowl, and brought it into the house.
He peeled the egg and put it in hot water, then added two spoonfuls of hot water. After hesitating for a moment, he took out a boiled egg and walked out.
"Xiao Hao, this egg is for you to eat. Thank you for helping me find a doctor and boiling water for me."
Xiao Hao shook his head and did not take the egg from his hand.
"Uncle Jiang, let Auntie eat the egg. Eating the egg will help me get better faster. For someone like me, it doesn't matter whether I eat it or not."
Xiao Hao is different from Mr. and Mrs. Jiang.
He was a high school teacher. He was exposed by his own wife and his children disowned him. He was criticized many times in the city. It was only after he came to the village that he had a few days of peace.
But he had seen through life and death, and didn't care about eating or drinking at all, and he became very thin.
"We still have some. This is for you, Xiao Hao. You have to cheer up too. Maybe one day, we can put down the rebellion."
Old Master Jiang looked at Xiao Hao's lifeless eyes and couldn't help but give him a few words of advice.
Xiao Hao smiled bitterly, took the egg, said nothing, and walked back to his own thatched hut.
Mr. Jiang sighed and walked back.
He didn't know when he would see the light, but people must have hope in order to live.
Zhang Meiling leaned on the bed and saw Mr. Jiang come into the room and invited him to drink brown sugar water.
Mr. Jiang shook his head: "I'm in good health, you drink it."
Zhang Meiling insisted that Mr. Jiang drink half a bowl of brown sugar water and eat an egg before she ate.
Grandpa Jiang then used his lunch box to collect some hot water and placed the buns on top, only then could he eat the buns which were half hot.
After finishing the meal, Zhang Meiling was sweating all over. Grandpa Jiang changed her clothes and let her lie down to sleep for a while. He hid all the things that Qi Mengmeng had brought her.
Although the village chief was nice to them, they felt a little strange about suddenly having so many things, so these things must not be displayed in public.
Old Master Jiang took out some millet and a few dates and put them in a ceramic pot, simmering them over low heat. When Zhang Meiling woke up, he added a spoonful of brown sugar.
Qi Mengmeng brought a lot of food, enough for the old couple to eat for a while. After they finish eating, I believe Zhang Meiling’s illness will be cured.
After a while, the aroma of millet and red date porridge came from the pottery jar. Xiao Hao smelled it but didn't ask anything.
Fortunately, they lived far away from the village and the villagers were unwilling to pay attention to them, otherwise the fact that Grandpa Jiang cooked millet and red date porridge would have been known long ago.
After the porridge was cooked, Grandpa Jiang gave half a bowl of the millet porridge to Xiao Hao, who took it in silence.
Old Master Jiang brought the rest into the house, gave most of it to Zhang Meiling, and peeled two eggs. He also ate millet porridge with buns.
He was old and had a small appetite, but he didn't dare to give the buns to Xiao Hao.
The eggs and millet could be explained as being privately kept, but the buns were obviously steamed at home, so he couldn't explain it even if he wanted to.
Zhang Meiling ate something and slept for half the afternoon. She was obviously feeling much better. Although she had a fever again at night, it was not as severe as before. She took antipyretics and the fever went down quickly. Mr. Jiang felt a lot more relieved.
The village chief knew that Zhang Meiling had been ill, so he did not insist on letting her go to work. He only allowed Grandpa Jiang and Xiao Hao to go to work.
The night Qi Mengmeng came back, she told Gu Guizhi what she had seen Mr. Jiang and also mentioned some of the gifts she had given him.
Gu Guizhi rubbed his forehead and said, "I asked someone about Mr. Jiang. He was demoted just because he wrote two books, some of which did not fit the current situation."
"It's okay to send them something occasionally, but you have to be careful not to be seen by others."
Qi Mengmeng nodded. Of course she wouldn’t go there often, but she would just find a reason every time she went.
They have just moved here and their household items are not yet fully purchased, so it is normal for them to go to the village to exchange for anything they need.
Occasionally, I would go to the village to exchange some eggs, vegetables, etc. Even if others knew about it, it didn’t matter. Quite a lot of people in the entire family compound would go to the village to exchange eggs.
The food Qi Mengmeng brought to them today will last them about half a month. Qi Mengmeng plans to go back and check after half a month.
She will have to sort out the books she brought back from the capital in the next few days, especially the self-study series of mathematics, physics and chemistry. It will take her time to learn from so many books.
When Gu Guizhi saw Qi Mengmeng reading a book, he was a little surprised: "Why did you think of reading a book?"
Qi Mengmeng pulled the corners of her mouth and smiled weakly: "I have nothing to do at home now, so I can study."
But she didn't expect that physics was so difficult!
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