round spring

That candied fruit is the fireworks on the tip of the tongue.

——An Yuan's Diary

It was night when An Yuan woke up, and when he opened his eyes, his eyes were completely black, as if a layer of black cloth had been covered over his eyes.

The first thing he did when he woke up was to look for his father. In fact, he heard that An Guoqing had left in his half-sleep and half-dream, and his father said he would come back to pick him up after collecting the leather, but the darkness in front of him made him a little scared. Climbing up and sitting up, he opened his mouth and called Dad in a low voice, "Dad, Dad..."

The north wind outside the window made the window "clang", even through the window and the thick wall, for a moment, An Yuan felt that she was going to be blown away by the north wind outside the window.

He screamed again in a trembling hoarse voice, "Dad..."

Shen Xingchun heard An Yuan's trembling voice in the outer room, and hurriedly opened the door and went in to pull the light cord. As soon as the room was lit, he saw An Yuan sitting on the Kang, wrapped in a quilt, with a red face, An Yuan Looking straight at him with tears in his eyes, he sucked his nose hard, trying to keep the tears from falling.

Shen Xingchun walked to the edge of the Kang, bent over and hugged him gently through the quilt, "What's wrong with Xiaoyuan? Missing Dad?"

An Yuan knew that his father hadn't come back yet, but the feeling of emptiness after waking up and the fear of the gust of wind still enveloped him. When Shen Xingchun hugged him like this, the big teardrops wrapped in his eye sockets rolled over his eye sockets, forming clusters of tears. to fall.

An Yuan didn't want to cry at first, he thought it was a bit shameful to cry at such an age, but just now when Shen Xingchun hugged him like that, the tears suddenly couldn't be stopped.

Hearing his soft sobs, Shen Xingchun let him go, looked down at An Yuan whose face was full of tears, raised his hand to wipe his tears, "Don't cry, An Shuming will probably be back the day after tomorrow, when the time comes Come to pick up Xiaoyuan."

When Shen Xingchun wiped An Yuan's face with his fingers, An Yuan still felt that the calluses on his fingers were a bit rough and prickly, but the temperature on his fingertips was hot, so An Yuan didn't feel much pain, and still looked up. Let him wipe.

Seeing that he stopped crying, Shen Xingchun tested the temperature on his forehead with his hand, and said, "Okay, Xiao Yuan'er is no longer burning."

Grandpa Shen and Grandma Shen also heard the movement and opened the door and entered the house. An Yuan called them hoarsely, "Grandpa, grandma..."

When Grandma Shen heard An Yuan's hoarse voice, she hurried over and raised her hand to touch An Yuan's forehead and palms. She felt relieved when she felt that the burn was gone, and turned to call Grandpa Shen, "It should be burnt, old man. Show it to the kids."

With a thermometer and a stethoscope in his hand, Grandpa Shen took An Yuan's body temperature. It was 36 degrees 8. It was true that he had no fever. Then he listened to him with a stethoscope. His lungs were fine and there was no noise. He squeezed Xiao Yuan's chin , Said: "Xiao Yuan'er, open your mouth, Grandpa will show you your throat."

An Yuan opened his mouth obediently, and said "ah" for a long time. After looking at his throat, Grandpa Shen said: "The throat is still a little inflamed, and I need to take some anti-inflammatory drugs."

An Yuan didn't like to take medicine, so he lowered his eyes halfway, a little bit resisting in his heart, but now he has no conditions to resist, he is in someone else's house now, without An Guoqing pampering him, he can't act coquettishly, nodded obediently, and said: "Okay grandpa, I'll take medicine."

Grandma Shen rubbed his arm a few times with a smile and said: "Xiao Yuan'er is so good, let's eat first, and then take medicine after dinner. I slept all afternoon, are you hungry?"

An Yuan raised his head and smiled at Grandma Shen, then touched his stomach unconsciously and said, "I'm a little hungry."

"What do you want to eat?" Grandma Shen asked him, "Grandma steamed bean paste buns and fried spring rolls."

An Yuan doesn't really want to eat deep-fried food now, so she said, "I want to eat steamed bean paste buns made by grandma."

Grandma Shen touched his head with a smile, "Put on some more clothes and come down to eat."

After he finished speaking, he called Shen Xingchun again, "Dachun, I'll go to the kitchen to heat up the meal, and you lead your brother to wash his hands."

Shen Xingchun responded with "Yes".

An Yuan lifted the quilt, put on a sweater again, and supported the edge of the kang with both hands, but he had just subsided from the fever and hadn't eaten much for a day. When he got off the kang, he found that his legs were a little weak, and he walked two steps. A little trembling, both hands tightly grabbed Shen Xingchun's arm beside him and did not let go.

Shen Xingchun saw that he had no strength, so he half hugged and half supported him to go out, "Are you too hungry to have any strength?"

"Maybe." An Yuan took two steps down the ground and got used to it, and then she was fine, and quickly let go of Shen Xingchun's arm.

Shen Xingchun took An Yuan to the hut where he washed his hands, and poured a basin of cold water into his washbasin. He just wanted An Yuan to wash it directly, but when he remembered An Yuan's thin and tender hands, he turned around and went to the kitchen to pick up a kettle. I poured some hot water into the basin, stretched out my index finger to test the temperature of the water in the basin, and then said to An Yuan who was standing aside: "The water temperature is just right, it's warm, Xiaoyuan, come and wash your hands."

After Shen Xingchun finished speaking, he turned around and left the hut with the kettle in hand.

The wooden frame on which the water basin is placed is a bit high, Shen Xingchun's height is just right, but that height is too high for An Yuan, he took two steps forward, stood in front of the water basin, rolled up the sleeves of both arms, stood on tiptoe On tiptoe, I reached into the water basin with my hand, but the water trickled down my wrist and into my sleeves. The sleeves had been rolled up to my elbows just now, and they were still drenched in the end.

When Shen Xingchun came back again, he saw An Yuan standing by the basin, bowing his head and twisting his own sleeves. Then he realized that the basin was too high. He walked over and took the basin down and put it on the ground, holding An Yuan's arm, Touching his sleeves, they were soaked.

He held An Yuan's wrist and squatted down, then put his two little hands into the basin, "Squat down and wash, after washing your hands, go into the house and change clothes."

When An Yuan squatted down, he bumped Shen Xingchun's knee with his knee, and he moved two steps to the side, rubbed his hands in the basin and said, "I don't have any extra clothes to change, the clothes I changed on the road earlier , I haven't had time to wash it yet."

Shen Xingchun said casually: "I wear mine, but it's a bit too big. I'll find you the clothes I wore before."

After An Yuan finished washing, Shen Xingchun took out the towel that was placed on the basin rack and handed it to An Yuan, "This is my towel."

An Yuan naturally took Shen Xingchun's towel and wiped his hands. In fact, he had a towel in his bag, and he was too lazy to get it now.

Shen Xingchun found a slightly smaller dress for An Yuan, but it was still too big for An Yuan to wear. The hem of the sweater covered her thighs, and the sleeves were rolled up several times, but it was still loosely pressed on her wrists. Yuan's arms are very thin, the two sleeves appear to be very empty, and An Yuan also appears to be very thin.

An Yuan also felt that wearing big clothes was uncomfortable, so she touched the sleeves for a while, and fiddled with the hem with her head lowered for a while.

Shen Xingchun said: "After dinner later, I'll wash your clothes and hang them by the fire wall to dry. Thinner clothes will be dry tomorrow morning."

An Yuan lowered his head and straightened his sleeves again, and said in a low voice, "I can wash it myself."

Shen Xingchun smiled and asked him: "Can you do laundry?"

An Yuan didn't say anything, he really didn't wash his own clothes, before at home, when An Guoqing was busy with work, he would ask the hourly aunt, the aunt would cook the meal and wash his clothes, he usually washed socks and underwear without any problems , but he has not washed the bigger and thicker clothes.

He was still thinking about how to answer Shen Xingchun, only to hear Shen Xingchun say again: "I will wash my own clothes later, and I will also wash yours by the way."

An Yuan raised her head, looked at Shen Xingchun, said with a smile, "Thank you brother."

"You're welcome," Shen Xingchun took Xiao Yuan'er's hand, "Grandma has already cooked, let's go eat."

There was only grandma and Shen Xingchun at the dinner table. An Yuan looked back and asked grandma, "Grandma, where is grandpa? Why don't you see grandpa come to eat?"

Grandma Shen said: "Grandpa just ate it by himself. A child in the village had a fever. Grandpa was called away. He probably won't be back until late at night. Let's eat."

An Yuan nodded, and moved the stool next to Shen Xingchun. He ate two bean paste buns at a time and drank half a bowl of porridge.

The little cat at home nestled under the table, meowing, tiptoeing around under their feet.

Shen Xingchun lowered his head and looked under the table, throwing something for the little cat to eat from time to time.Seeing that An Yuan also finished eating what was in the bowl, he brought him another red bean paste bun.

An Yuan couldn't eat anymore, waved his hands and said, "Brother, I can't eat anymore, my stomach is so distended."

As he spoke, he leaned back on the back of the chair, deliberately stretching out his stomach.

Shen Xingchun touched his belly through his clothes, and said, "It's really bulging."

An Yuan sat up straight, patted his clothes after tucking away his stomach, his stomach was a little itchy, and he didn't let Shen Xingchun touch his stomach anymore.

Half an hour after the meal, Grandma Shen took the medicine that Grandpa Shen had prescribed to An Yuan before, and brought it to An Yuan, "Xiao Yuaner, this is the medicine you need to take at night. Grandpa said that it will be fine after taking it."

An Yuan took a look. The medicine in Grandma Shen's hand included capsules and white tablets. The capsules were fine, but An Yuan knew that the white tablets should be particularly bitter, and there were not only the pills, but also the brewed pills in the water glass. The dark liquid kept smelling bitter, even the room was bitter.

An Yuan swallowed silently, raised her hand and shook her loose sleeves unnaturally, and finally reached out to take the dark cup in grandma's hand, and squeezed a few pills from her palm.

He stared at the medicine in his hand for a long time, then raised his head to look in the direction of the door behind Grandma Shen, Shen Xingchun was not there, he didn't know where he went.

Grandma Shen knew that he was looking for Shen Xingchun, she said, "Dachun will be back in a while."

An Yuan gave a soft "um", put the medicine into his mouth, raised the cup containing the black liquid, and drank it all in one gulp.

His mouth was full of bitterness, so bitter that his teeth hurt. An Yuan closed his eyes, his face wrinkled into a ball, and a nauseating feeling filled his throat. He opened his mouth slightly, wanting to take a big breath of fresh air, but suddenly It felt like something was stuffed in my mouth.

It was very sweet, and An Yuan quickly tasted it was candied fruit.

A lot of saliva was secreted from Anyuan's mouth, the sweet and sour taste spread from the tip of his tongue to his throat, and then to his stomach, the bitterness of the medicine was completely overwhelmed by the sweetness of the candied fruit.

An Yuan felt as if a cloud of fireworks had exploded on his tongue, and he slowly opened his eyes with the candied fruit in his mouth.

Shen Xingchun didn't know when he came in, his body was obviously cold, he should have just come back from outside, his coat was opened wide, the skin at the base of his neck was a little red, he was bending over, looking at him with a smile.

"Is your mouth not bitter now? My little face was almost wrinkled just now."

An Yuan rolled up the candied fruit with the tip of her tongue, pushed it under the root of her right tooth, took two bites and smiled at Shen Xingchun, "It's not bitter anymore, it's sweet now."