go the same way

Chapter 13

Spring is very short, and at the turn of summer, Li Pei fell ill.

He was prone to colds since he was a child, and he was prone to being frozen when the seasons changed and in winter. His elder brother hated him, but he was also the one who heard coughing in the middle of the night and would come from his room to tuck him in.

Later, the people around him became Cunhe, and I seemed to be made into steel by him. Except for the overwork of the shoulders, neck and lumbar spine, which looked like old machines running on overload, they were considered healthy throughout the year. The medicines at home were often bought. Come back, put it well past the expiration date, and then be picked out by Cunhe and thrown away.

The temperature in this city varies greatly, Li Pei went back a little late the night before, his head was heavy that day, and he had a high fever, he found medicine to take, his face was red and fell asleep until the morning without much improvement, he was in a daze and asked Li Yan After asking for leave, he half-closed his eyes and looked at his thin wrist, feeling that he was really weak.

After recovering from the illness, it is time to go to the gym and exercise the heart and lungs.

Li Yan received a message from Li Pei before entering the meeting room, and he replied concisely with the word "good". Thinking of the raging SARS during this period, his heart tightened, and he immediately dialed Jiang Weiping.

In essence, she is the general practitioner of the Li family, and Li Yan invests in the hospital. After all, it is for convenience. When the family members are ill, he is not so polite, and he doesn't feel that he is bothering the other party.

"Is it a fever? I see. I'll go and have a look," Jiang Weiping comforted. "Don't worry about Li Yan. The epidemic areas are mainly Beijing and Guangdong. I know that the hospitals in the city haven't received any cases yet. You go ahead your."

When Jiang Weiping hung up the phone, Nie Xunqiu asked her, "Is Xiaoyong sick?"

"No, it's Li Pei," Jiang Weiping said, "His brother is more worried about him, and he can understand. Didn't I go to an academic conference in the next year, and a doctor in Beijing that I knew at that time was also recruited when he went back. Yes, it is still in isolation. These days, the hospital has been more intensively disinfected than usual, and it is possible to prevent a little bit. Someone must protect our doctors."

Nie Xunqiu lived in that world in 2003, and he is quite familiar with the SARS incident. It was a global epidemic of infectious diseases. Every day when he turned on the news, he could hear the infection cases in various epidemic areas rising or stabilizing, and the front line to fight against it The doctors were fully armed, but many people fell, recovered, or died in batches.

They are not in the epidemic area, one is out of the mind and the other is anesthetized. No matter how sensational the report and text in the news are, they are pale.

But no one can deny that they are all great heroes who stick to their posts with the determination to die.

Nie Xunqiu stayed in Medellin for 65 days. When he returned to Baltimore, he found a job invitation letter and employment authorization letter in the mailbox. He finished reading the letter on the stairs, which happened to coincide with his desire to return to China.

He expressed his thoughts to Rachel, who respected his decision to withdraw temporarily and wished him a bright future.

Hong Kong is a SARS-infected area, and Nie Xunqiu had to avoid transiting through this place to enter the country. He took many detours and had to go through customs for a long time. Both him and Jiang Weiping, who came to pick him up, were exhausted.

The two of them came out of the airport at dawn, Nie Xunqiu was the same as before, still had no luggage, they went directly to the hospital for breakfast, the chairs were still cold, Li Yan's phone rang.

"Then I'll go. You still have to work. I just have nothing to do. I'll go home and rest when his temperature drops." Nie Xunqiu stood up and took off the coat hanging on the side. "You give me your address. Me, I'll take a taxi."

Li Pei made it clear before that he didn't want to see her again.

But Nie Xunqiu didn't want to just give up, he still had a lot, and he didn't have time to tell Li Pei.

About missing him for six years, about death, about new life.

Nie Xunqiu probably knew about Li Pei's illness. He once mentioned to himself that he often fell ill when he was a child. His family invited Chinese medicine to treat him slowly, and the boiled out was a bowl of black medicine that even adults didn't like to drink. Not to mention Li Pei, who can't bear to suffer at all.

He likes to secretly add sugar to the medicine, so Li Yan usually watches Li Pei take the medicine, and must control the sugar bowl in his hands to ensure that no sweetener can be added indiscriminately by him.After drinking the medicine, the child coughed so bitterly, and when he wrinkled his face and wanted to cry, a rock sugar was stuffed into his mouth.

A small square piece melts slowly in the mouth, the sweetness is just right, warm and moist, the child smacks it twice, and wants to ask for another one with a smile.

Li Pei used to be a moody person, easy to lose his temper, but easy to coax him to restrain himself.

It was he who planted the lingering sorrow with his own hands.

Li Pei moved away from that bustling area, and his current residence is not in a towering apartment, but in a very quiet old apartment building.The neighbors are also retired teachers and family members from colleges and universities. When the sun is shining, there are people sitting in the yard reading newspapers with reading glasses every day, watering flowers and playing with birds.

The greening in the community is very good. There are low gardenias planted on both sides of the sidewalk. The car is parked under the tree, and the roof and roof are covered with green leaves blown down by the wind.The iron door of the unit building has been broken for a long time, and the buttons are not flexible. The resident opened the door wide and used a brick to block it, so that it is convenient to enter and exit. Otherwise, people like him who come to visit have to press the owner's house number downstairs. , let him come downstairs to open the door himself.

Nie Xunqiu rang the doorbell, put down his hands and waited quietly.

Maybe Li Pei could hear it, maybe he couldn't hear it, he estimated in his heart how long it would take for Li Pei to get off the bed and touch the door, and whether he would fall down, and how he would explain his reason for coming, one by one. At the same time, cold sweat dripped from his fingers, curled up, trembling.

He was able to level the gun and pull the trigger without hesitation, but at this moment, his courage was punctured, leaving only an empty bag.

The door was very thick, he couldn't hear the footsteps, time "ticked" in his heart for about a hundred times, Nie Xunqiu rang the doorbell again, raised his head and looked at the corner.There is no dust or cobwebs there, just a white one, and the border places cast shadows, as if they can extend into infinite space.

When he was a child, he loved to stare at the corner of the wall.It’s just that no one will clean the place where he lives so carefully. He is not tall, and the housework he does is washing and cooking, cleaning the floor and cabinets, and he can’t reach the height of the roof.There are always one or two spiders settling down in the corner, spinning and weaving there. One day, if it is accidentally broken, he will move a stool and stand on it, watch it repair, and keep his eyes on it all day long.

Li Huisheng admired his composure, but he didn't know that it was just the loneliness that evolved from a child.

Just when Nie Xunqiu was about to knock on the door for the third time, the door opened.

Li Pei put on a coat, his hair was a little long, drooping obediently, as black and smooth as in his memory.His face was reddened by the high fever, and his hands were probably cold, and he pressed them tightly to his cheeks to cool down. He seemed to see the person standing outside the door, he choked up, and his hoarse voice squeezed out of his throat. Out: "Why don't you bring the key..."

As he spoke, he coughed twice to make room for his throat, bent down, and found slippers for Nie Xunqiu.

Those opening lines that Nie Xunqiu had designed before were perched on a branch like a bird. Li Pei's sound, like a gust of wind, startled everything and scattered cleanly, leaving a field of down feathers.

Li Pei recognized him as Cun He.

He couldn't say anything, for fear of waking Li Pei up, he changed his shoes silently. Li Pei had already moved his steps and returned to the room slowly. His coat slipped off his shoulders. A little rain can crush it.

After clearing his throat several times, Li Pei's voice was finally not so hoarse: "I'm a little hungry and sleepy, when I wake up, cook me something to eat."

Nie Xunqiu picked up the sweater, let out a muffled "hmm", and watched the man lie back on the bed again, drooping his eyes tiredly, before he dared to sit by his bed, feeling those soft hairs piercing his body. In his own heart, bleeding came.

Seeing Li Pei again, he realized that his longing had penetrated into his bones and merged into one.

Nie Xunqiu didn't dare to touch him, so he simply took Li Pei's temperature, because he wasn't sure what he had eaten before, so he had to ask, "Did you take your medicine in the morning? Is there any other pain?"

"Eat, let me sleep for a while..." Li Pei murmured, "It doesn't hurt."

He tucked up the quilt for Li Pei and left the room, remembering that Li Pei said that he was hungry, so he wanted to make something good for him before he woke up.

There is nothing in the refrigerator, but a few bottles of mineral water are placed randomly, which is very empty under the light.There are quick-frozen dumplings and glutinous rice balls in the freezer. The man probably knows that he doesn't know anything, and he doesn't prepare ingredients in the refrigerator. The fully equipped kitchen is just a decoration.

When Li Pei was young, someone specially took care of the meals. When he lost his temper, his older brother would cook for him at night, and then he would.

It seems that he is not worried about not having him in the future, so Li Pei always says that he wants to learn, but he is still a dwarf in action, and he doesn't even want to get wet.

Nie Xunqiu found a piece of paper and pinned the door lock, lest Li Pei get up to open the door for him again.He went downstairs, intending to do some shopping.

When he returned to the community, he saw a peddler carrying a shoulder pole outside. He hadn't seen it when he walked out, and there were brightly colored small cherries in the Shakei, piled up into a sharp hill.

"Try it, it's sweet."

Most of the cherry trees hadn't reached their fruiting period yet. They were probably wild cherries that the hawker went to the mountain to pick early. Nie Xunqiu carried the vegetables, squatted down to take a look, and bought half of them.

Not long after, redder and sweeter cherries will be on the market, but Nie Xunqiu wonders if he can wash the cherries for Li Pei at that time, pull out the stems one by one, pile them into a bowl full, and hand them to him eat.

He remembered that one year, when the weather was hot, Li Pei turned on a small fan early and sat in the living room watching the show. Some inexplicable things were talked about, and Li Pei was also very interested: "I heard that someone can give cherries with their tongues. Tie a knot, can you?"

Cun He ignored him, put the stemless cherries on the table, and Li Pei said, "Is there some left unwashed?"

He heard Li Pei's overtones, and took out the unstemmed cherries, washed them carefully, and let Li Pei play around.

Li Pei was depressed for a while, but there seemed to be a critical point of sadness, after that point, the wound seemed to heal, everything started again, and he became much more cheerful, often joking with him.

He watched Li Pei put the cherry stalk into his mouth, poised his chin and tried to tie it, sometimes accidentally bit it, and frowned at the bitterness, and then ate the sweet fruit into his mouth, neutralizing it astringency.

After eating a small basket of cherries repeatedly, Li Peishen beckoned to him mysteriously. Cun He leaned over and was suddenly wrapped around his neck. A burst of strong fruity smell rushed into his nostrils. In a daze, the kiss was just an exchange. , There is a little cherry knot between the teeth.

Probably because I love you, I have done many meaningless things. I am afraid that you will not listen, so I can only share it with you like this.

When Nie Xunqiu went upstairs, the paper was still stuck in the crack of the door, and no one came or went out during his absence.

He beat two eggs, mixed them with water, and put them in the steamer. Li Pei didn't like porridge, but he didn't refuse custard.

While waiting, Nie Xunqiu divided the cherries in half, put them in a bowl and washed them carefully. The sound of the running water was a little louder, covering the footsteps, but not the voices.

"What are you doing here."

A few cherries fell to the ground, as if falling into his wilderness.