Upon reaching the hospital interior, Qin Xiangyang still hadn’t woken up, Aunt Hua sat by the bed, the worry never dissipating from her face.
Qin Xiangmei placed everything she brought inside the hospital cabinet, then she took Aunt Hua’s hand.
"Auntie, you and Uncle Hua should head back, I’ll be fine here by myself. At your home, there’s still your brother and sister, and the fields waiting to be tended."
"But..." Aunt Hua was indeed anxious, the kids at home needed attention, and the fields indeed had no one to farm them – the soil had just been turned, waiting for seeds. If they don’t plant soon and the weather turns bad all of a sudden, wouldn’t this whole season’s crops be ruined? Yet, leaving Qin Xiangyang and Qin Xiangnuan here, she felt uneasy. These children were still so young, who could they possibly take care of? Moreover, there’s one with a serious illness.
"It’ll be fine," Qin Xiangnuan reassured Aunt Hua.
"I can take good care of brother, feed him, help him to the toilet, I can do a lot, a lot of things."
The more Aunt Hua listened, the sadder she became, turning her head to secretly wipe away her tears,
"Auntie, please, go home," Qin Xiangnuan continued to persuade Aunt Hua, who truly had no choice. Every household has its issues, and in the countryside, there’s an endless stream of chores; miss a single day, and countless tasks will pile up.
After Aunt Hua left, Qin Xiangnuan finally opened her hands, revealing the ten yuan she still had – it was the change from the money she had previously given Aunt Hua. These days, hospitals treat first and charge later, however, Qin Xiangyang required a medicine that had to be transferred from another hospital, for which she had already paid ten yuan.
Before leaving, Aunt Hua gave her an additional five yuan.
She pushed it back several times, but Aunt Hua forcefully stuffed it into her hands.
She accepted the money – she already owed Aunt Hua a lot, this wouldn’t make much difference. In the future, when their days get better, she definitely won’t forget Aunt Hua, nor all the other people who helped her, and those who hurt her and wronged her; she did not want to let go of that either.
By the evening, Qin Xiangyang finally woke up.
Qin Xiangnuan was too tired and had fallen asleep at the head of the bed.
Chun Xiangyang rubbed his sister’s hair, only then realizing that he was in a hospital.
The touch on his head woke Qin Xiangnuan. She rubbed her eyes, her small face still bruised, but now appearing exceptionally delicate and adorable.
"Why am I here?" Qin Xiangyang let out a sigh, feeling uncomfortable all over, his head dizzy, and his body extremely weak.
"Brother is sick, Uncle Hua brought brother here," Qin Xiangnuan took a pillow and placed it behind Qin Xiangyang, helping him to sit up.
"Hospital care is expensive, let’s go home," Qin Xiangyang said, attempting to jump off the hospital bed and return home. Their family was different from others; even before, it was impossible to expect their dad to foot the medical bills for them, let alone after the turmoil they had caused.
"Brother is sick," Qin Xiangnuan pushed Qin Xiangyang back down onto the bed, "Brother, don’t worry, Nuannuan has money."
"Just five yuan?" Qin Xiangyang knew he had given Qin Xiangnuan five yuan, but what could five yuan do nowadays? In their village, five yuan could do a lot – buy lots of flour, cooking oil, and cornmeal. But in the big city, five yuan was hardly enough for anything.