Quick Wear: Cousin, Come to the Bowl Quickly

Chapter 444: The Educated Youth Cousin in the Historical Literature (4)

The morning light was fading, and the sky was still dark. A thin mist shrouded the educated youth site like a veil, and the air was filled with the moist scent of earth and grass.

As usual, Song Guanwen quietly got up amid the deafening snoring of the male educated youth, put on his coat quietly, picked up the book with curled edges under his pillow, and pushed the door open to leave.

The yard was so quiet that even the most noisy sparrows were still sleeping. He walked on the dew-soaked grass and headed towards the small hill outside the yard - that was his secret base for daily morning reading.

Although the weather in April is not cold, the morning breeze still brings a refreshing coolness when it blows across your cheeks.

As he passed the familiar crooked willow tree, Song Guanwen suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. Standing on the usually deserted hillside was a thin, slender figure.

In the mist, the figure looked like a water-soaked sketch, with a hazy outline. Tiny dewdrops dotted her furry hair, reflecting tiny light in the morning light, as if she was wearing a crystal crown.

"Who?" As if hearing footsteps, the person suddenly turned his head, and a pale face emerged from the fog. The loose hair wet by the morning dew stuck to the neck, making half of the neck look like a freshly peeled lotus root.

Her hair was wet, and her thin blue cloth jacket was slightly damp from the morning mist. It was obvious that she had been standing here for a long time.

There were a lot of people surrounding her yesterday, and she was sitting the whole time, so Song Guanwen only saw half of her upper body.

But now, looking at Lin Xi standing in the morning light, as thin as a piece of paper, he was shocked to realize that she was really too thin.

The morning breeze blew across the mountains, and her thin body swayed slightly, like a dead leaf swaying on a branch. The empty blue cloth jacket was filled with the wind, outlining the contours of her bony shoulders.

The ends of her hair were wet and stuck to her pale cheeks, her lips were an unhealthy light blue, and she looked like a clay sculpture faded by rain, about to melt in the morning mist if she wasn't careful.

Song Guanwen frowned subconsciously.

A trace of suspicion rose in his heart. Did this person think his life was too long? He had only been sick for a few days, and he dared to run out early in the morning to drink dew?

Lin Xi was a little flustered at first because of the sudden sound of footsteps, but when she saw who was coming, her clear eyes suddenly lit up.

She looked at Song Guanwen and subconsciously raised her face. Just as the corners of her lips curled up softly, she was caught off guard by Song Guanwen's cold gaze.

"What are you doing here?"

His brows were furrowed, and his light-colored thin lips were slightly pursed. There was obviously no special expression on his face, and his tone was very flat, but Lin Xi's breathing suddenly stopped, and the smile on the corner of her mouth froze in the middle before it could fully bloom.

Her eyelashes trembled in panic, like the wings of a frightened butterfly. The originally bright light in her eyes gradually dimmed, and finally turned into a cautious temptation.

"I..." She unconsciously curled the corner of her blue cloth jacket, her knuckles turning white from exertion, her voice so soft it was almost blown away by the morning breeze. "The room is too stuffy, I, I just came out to get some fresh air..."

Her tone was timid, and the ending of her voice seemed to tremble. She lowered her eyelids and dared not talk to Song Guanwen. She looked exactly like the timid and cowardly person Song Guanwen had always remembered.

But Song Guanwen suddenly recalled the cunning and clever smile she gave him across the dinner table a few days ago. His brows furrowed even deeper, and he began to wonder if he was too tired from the recent spring planting and was really hallucinating.

But after all, he and Lin Xi were not close, and he made medicine and sent things to her just because of something that happened in their childhood, and he wanted to give it a try.

Now that she had recovered from her illness, he didn't owe her anything, and everything between them was over. Song Guanwen was too lazy to spend any more time on her, so he stared at Lin Xi for a moment, and finally said nothing more. He just said lightly, "It's very windy outside, go back," and walked straight past her, sat on a big rock beside her and started reading.

Lin Xi opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she said nothing. She turned around and whispered "Okay" to Song Guanwen, then walked down the slope with one foot deep and one foot shallow.

The rustling sound of footsteps gradually faded away. Song Guanwen then raised his head from the book and casually glanced in the direction where Lin Xi left. After confirming that the empty blue cloth jacket had disappeared from his sight, he withdrew his gaze.

Just as I was about to continue reading, I suddenly caught a glimpse of something glowing in the morning light among the deep and shallow weeds on the ground not far away.

He frowned, stood up and walked over. After a closer look, he discovered that right where Lin Xi had just stood, a package carefully wrapped in oil paper was lying quietly among the wet grass leaves.

Song Guanwen bent down and picked up the thing with some confusion. The oil paper package felt slightly cool and a little damp. He weighed it and it was about half a pound.

Song Guanwen subconsciously looked in the direction where Lin Xi left, but didn't see anyone. He looked around again, hesitated for a moment, and finally opened the wrapping paper.

It's rock sugar.

The crystal-clear candies were neatly stacked in the paper package, refracting tiny glints of light in the morning sun like flawless gems. Song Guanwen couldn't help but startle, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing the rough edge of the oil-paper.

There was a neatly folded piece of paper next to the rock sugar. Song Guanwen adhered to the principle of opening the paper, and after hesitating for a moment, he unfolded the paper. After seeing the handwriting on it clearly, he couldn't help but be stunned.

"Rock candy. Eat one whenever you feel dizzy or black out."

Song Guanwen stared at the bag of rock sugar in his palm, his fingertips unconsciously stroking the rough texture of the oil paper. The bag of sugar was like a mirror, reflecting his vulnerability that he had never shown to others.

He has had anemia and hypoglycemia since he was a child.

Back in the city, although my father and stepmother favored my younger brother, at least he would always have three meals a day. Back then, this problem was just a minor thing, a blackout when I stood up, which I would only have to hold on to the wall for a few seconds to get over.

It was fine when he was in the city. Although Song's father Hu Yun was partial to him, he would not let him go hungry, so his little problem was not a big deal.

But after going to the countryside, he worked all day and ate only bland food, so his illness became more serious and he would have an attack from time to time.

The most serious incident was during last year's autumn harvest.

Under the scorching sun, he carried four bundles of wheat back and forth in a row. Suddenly, he felt dizzy, cold sweat instantly soaked his back, his hands and feet were soft like cotton, and his ears were buzzing.

He held on to the carrying pole tightly to avoid falling down on the spot. He stood there for a long time to recover. When his vision returned, he found that the bamboo thorns had cut the skin on his palm and it was covered in blood.

He naturally knew that eating sugar could relieve the pain, but sugar was a rare commodity and often could not be bought even with money and tickets. He was also unwilling to spend his limited money on these things when the future was uncertain, so he only made himself some brown sugar water occasionally. Most of the time, he still had to rely on hard work to get through it.

He had never mentioned this to anyone, not even the educated youth who had lived in the same room with him for more than half a year knew about it, but Lin Xi... she actually knew?