The rain was pouring down, shrouding the entire Qinglan City in haze.
On a street in the north of the city, a girl was running as hard as she could. She looked about ten years old and was a little thin. She was wearing linen clothes that had turned white after being washed, and a pair of equally old thin cloth trousers. The patches on her clothes clearly indicate the girl's family background.
My bare feet kept lifting and falling on the cold stone road, and the rain puddles I stepped on made waves of water splash. This is the only market in the slums of Qinglan City. There are many rice shops, butcher shops, pharmacies, etc. on both sides of the street. Wait, but compared to the bustle of Qinglan Market, this place is obviously a bit rundown and deserted.
After all, she was only a half-grown child. Accidentally, the girl tripped over a stone and fell to the ground. The pain in her feet was mixed with the numbness caused by the cold, which made tears well up in her eyes, but she seemed to have thought of it. What? He pursed his lips that were already purple from the cold, stood up again, and ran towards the depths of the market.
Uncle Fu is already seventy-three this year. He has been running a pharmacy in the market in the north of the city for most of his life. The weather has been cold these days, the rain has been constant, and there has been no business, so he pressed down the door of the pharmacy early. Go up, sit alone in the back room, warm a pot of wine, serve a plate of peanuts, and enjoy it comfortably.
"Bang, bang, bang..."
The hurried knock on the door interrupted the little old man's comfortable evening life. He thought that one of the neighbors was suffering from a sudden illness and needed some simple herbs. He quickly got up from the rocking chair and walked to the front hall to replace the door panel. Open.
"Xiaoyu? Why are you here, kid? It's raining so hard, come in quickly, quickly."
The girl standing outside the door made Uncle Fu stunned for a moment. Isn't this a girl from the old Nie family? Why did such a heavy rain come to him? Seeing that his clothes were all soaked, and there were obvious abrasions on his legs and arms, it was clear at a glance that this child had suffered a lot on the way here.
"Uncle Fu, please save my parents, save them... wu wu..."
Nie Xiaoyu, who had gritted her teeth and persisted all the way, finally burst into tears the moment she saw Uncle Fu, begging the old man in front of him for help with tears and snot in his eyes.
"Speak slowly, speak slowly, come in first, it's raining so heavily outside, oh, this child has done something wrong."
Uncle Fu is quite clear about the situation of Nie Xiaoyu's family. The Nie family is not a native family in Qinglan City, but came here twenty years ago. At that time, Nie Liang and his wife traveled long distances to escape the war and experienced nine deaths. , they just came to Qinglan City, but they never thought that this extremely luxurious and prosperous city was not as satisfactory as they imagined.
Since Nie Liang had no skills, he had to work hard in the mines outside the city in exchange for a meager income to support the family. His wife also got a job as a laundry worker for a wealthy family. The couple frugally spent two Years later, I even borrowed some money from a bank, and finally settled down in the north of the city.
Such poor days passed day by day. Ten years ago, the cry of a baby rang out in the Nie family's hut. Nie Xiaoyu was born. Even though Nie Liang was tall and thick, his daughter was born with unusual beauty. From then on After that, the neighborhood leaders could see this upright man smiling from ear to ear on the street every day with his daughter on his shoulders.
But years of working in the mines also eroded Nie Liang's health. First, he had a persistent throat discomfort, then a long-term cough, and later he even coughed up blood. However, Nie Liang never told his wife and Xiao Yu about all this. , he knows that he is the backbone of this family, and he must persevere no matter how difficult it is.
Nie Liang, who came back from the mine that day, finally collapsed at the door of his house. His whole body was hot, but his face was watery. After coughing violently, blood spurted out of his mouth. This frightened Xiaoyu who was alone at home and cried out. He asked his father what was wrong, and his cries alerted the neighbors. Everyone moved Nie Liang back to the house in a hurry. But after all, they were from a poor family. They didn’t know what kind of disease this straightforward man had, so they could only watch helplessly. With.
As Nie Liang continued to cough up blood, Nie Xiaoyu began to force herself to calm down. She remembered that Fu Bo, who ran a pharmacy in the market in the north of the city, was familiar with her family. Her father would often go to Fu Bo's pharmacy to buy plaster for her mother who suffered from back pain. Maybe he could be of help, so he asked Nie Liang to a group of neighbors and ran to Fu Bo's pharmacy.
After simply listening to Xiao Yu's description, Uncle Fu also knew that the situation was urgent, so he didn't say anything more, directly picked up the medicine box and followed the poor girl into the rain curtain.
"Everyone, please disperse. Stop crowding in this room. Lao Nie needs to rest now."
In the small room, the furnishings were simple but very neat. On the wooden plank bed, Nie Liang was lying quietly. His cough had subsided, but his face was still not good, his eyes were closed and his breathing was a little short.
The neighbors who were watching saw that nothing happened and dispersed, leaving Nie Xiaoyu, Nie's wife, Fu Bo and Nie Liang in the house.
"Uncle Fu, what disease did dad have? Is he cured now?"
Seeing that her father no longer coughed up blood, Xiaoyu thought that her father's illness had been cured. She was grateful to Fu Bo and also became very interested in the white pills that the old man fed her father.
"Uncle Fu, what's wrong with Aliang? He's always been in good health, why are you so sick all of a sudden?"
The woman on the side knew that her husband had not been cured, but had only alleviated the symptoms by taking medicine. Seeing Uncle Fu's solemn expression, her heart tightened, and she quickly wiped away the tears on her face and asked the old man about Nie Liang. Case.
"Well, he has lung disease, and it has been for a long time. Now I estimate that the entire lung is almost damaged. I have temporarily alleviated his symptoms with medication, but it is impossible to cure him."
The kind old man hesitated for a long time before telling the mother and daughter the cruel bad news. The man on the bed was about to die soon, and he really couldn't bear to deceive this poor family anymore.
The old man's words made the woman unable to control her emotions anymore, and she collapsed directly on the ground. She didn't understand why her family still suffered from this misfortune despite their desperate efforts. Why did God punish them like this?
"Uncle Fu, is there really no way to save daddy? There must be something, right? Xiaoyu doesn't want daddy to leave."
Looking at the little girl tugging on his sleeve, Uncle Fu felt extremely uncomfortable. What kind of evil had he done? God wanted to treat this family like this. They just wanted to survive. Is this wrong?
"It's not like nothing, it's just..."
Hearing what Uncle Fu said, the little girl's eyes suddenly lit up, and she quickly pestered the old man to ask how she could save her father's life.
"Ordinary medicinal materials can no longer cure this level of lung disease, but those real elixirs can. It is said that there is a high-level elixir called Yuping Xianling Dan that specializes in treating lung diseases like your father's, but the price is simply too high. The astronomical figures are simply beyond the imagination of us civilians, so I didn’t say anything about it before.”
The hope in the little girl's eyes had just risen when she was poured cold water on by Fu Bo's words. Children from poor families have already become masters. She understood very well what the astronomical figures in Fu Bo's mouth meant, which meant that even if she worked hard, Even if you work hard for several lifetimes, you may not be able to earn this kind of money.
"Uncle Fu, where can I buy this elixir?"
The old man also had a sad look on his face at this time. He carefully checked the pulse of the slumped woman beside him, and found that it was just the shortness of breath caused by excessive sadness. Then he felt relieved, and a question came from behind.
"You should be able to buy it at Baicaotang, but that's not necessarily the case. I've never seen such a level of elixir. Oh, Xiaoyu, where are you going? Xiaoyu..."
In the old man's astonishment, Nie Xiaoyu plunged into the heavy downpour outside again. At this moment, Qinglan City seemed so cold and cold, not close to fireworks...
