Quick Wear: Cousin, Come to the Bowl Quickly

The educated youth heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing this, but then frowned again, lowered her voice, and said hesitantly, "Where did you get this? Didn't you say you can't..."

She swallowed her words halfway through, and her eyes unconsciously glanced cautiously towards the door, as if she was afraid of being heard.

Today, the wave of breaking old customs and pursuing new trends is growing stronger and stronger across the country, with the potential to spread like wildfire. The loudspeakers in the commune are shouting slogans of "Destroy the Four Olds" every day, and more and more slogans are painted on the walls.

In such an atmosphere, although "backward" things like traditional Chinese medicine are not criticized by everyone, they are also considered by many people to be decadent products of the old era.

The old drugstores in the town had closed down long ago, and the barefoot doctors had changed their careers and disappeared. The more famous ones were even afraid that they would be made examples and criticized one day.

Things that are not understood and valued, and are constantly suppressed, will naturally fade away, lose their inheritance, and become unable to recover.

The educated youth were all educated intellectuals, and although they were inevitably influenced by the spirit of the times, they believed that traditional Chinese medicine was not something that could be discussed openly.

When I first went to the countryside, I saw the villagers using mugwort to fumigate the house and boil dandelions to drink, and I thought it was feudal superstition.

But now, after spending half a year in the countryside, I found that even the wild grasses on the roadside that I couldn’t name could be pulled back by the villagers to boil water for treating illnesses. Naturally, their attitude towards traditional Chinese medicine changed from initial resistance to half-belief and half-doubt.

Seeing her skeptical attitude, Song Guanwen pursed his lips, but did not explain much. Instead, he handed the medicine bowl to the female educated youth and said in a calm tone: "Don't worry about it. I will take responsibility if anything happens." His voice was not loud, but it was firm and convincing.

He turned the tin can in his hand so the educated youth could see the red words printed on it clearly. "This is malted milk. Keep half for her, and share the other half with the people in your room. If her fever goes away, give her some of this. Thank you for your help."

The tin can shone with the unique cold light of metal in the moonlight, and the three words "malted milk" on it were particularly eye-catching.

The female educated youth also came from the city, so she naturally knew that supplies were scarce nowadays. Malted milk was a rare commodity, and it might not be available even with money and tickets in the city's supply and marketing cooperatives, let alone in this remote educated youth camp. But the man in front of her simply took out a whole can generously.

She couldn't help but look at Song Guanwen again. This male educated youth who was usually taciturn and not close to anyone was now standing in front of the adobe house. He was clearly trying to show concern for others, but there was not much warmth in his tone and expression.

He seemed to be a person with a cold exterior but a warm heart. The female educated youth made an evaluation of him in her heart.

Taking her eyes off Song Guanwen, she looked down at the dark brown medicine in his hand, then looked at the tin can with red letters in front of her. Finally, she reached out to take it and shook her head.

"I'll give her the medicine. As for this malted milk, it's too expensive. Lin Xi is so sick, so I'd better keep it for her. We all went to the countryside together, so we should take care of each other."

Song Guanwen, who handed over the medicine and other things, seemed to have finally completed his task. His originally cold expression suddenly became even more distant.

He breathed a sigh of relief imperceptibly, replied lightly, "It's up to you," nodded to the female educated youth, turned and left.

……

This is what happened to Lin Xi before she woke up today. After taking in all the details, she couldn't help but press her still dizzy head and sighed deeply.

Although she and Song Guanwen could nominally call each other cousin, when they set off, Song's father, at Hu Yun's suggestion, told Song Guanwen to take care of Lin Xi.

But to be fair, not to mention the neglect and differential treatment that Song Guanwen had suffered in the Song family over the past decade, the fact that Hu Yun instigated Song's father to morally blackmail Song Guanwen and put him on the list of people going to the countryside was enough to make the two of them develop a deep hatred.

If Lin Xi were in Song Guanwen's situation, it would be considered magnanimity and compassion on her part if she didn't take advantage of her wicked stepmother's cousin, not to mention taking the trouble to take care of her.

Since going to the countryside, the relationship between the two has indeed been as Lin Xi imagined. It can't be said that they are as hostile as water and fire, but it can also be said that they are strangers.

Although Lin's mother and Hu Yun were cousins, their relationship was not very close. Except during the New Year holidays, the Lin and Song families rarely visited each other.

Therefore, the original body was not actually very familiar with Song Guanwen, her nominal "cousin". In the limited contacts she had, she only thought that he was a quiet and taciturn person like herself.

She had never known the real reason why he went to the countryside. In her simple understanding, she only thought that Song Guanwen was just like herself. As the eldest child in the family, he took the initiative to take responsibility and responded to the call on behalf of his younger siblings. She even secretly admired him in her heart. He had the opportunity to stay in the city, but he still went to the countryside without hesitation.

So at the beginning, she had intended to get close to Song Guanwen. After all, being thousands of miles away from home and having no relatives in a strange place, it would make her feel much more at ease to have a relative who didn't talk much but was at least familiar to her.

But obviously Song Guanwen didn't think so.

Because of Hu Yun's cold treatment and Song's father's indifference, he had developed a taciturn and solitary character since he was a child. Because of Hu Yun, he hated everyone in her family, so naturally it was impossible for him to have a good face to this cousin who had no blood relationship with him and came to him for no reason.

Therefore, every time the original body took the initiative to talk to him, although he would not speak harshly, he would at most give a simple reply, or simply remain silent, leaving the original body embarrassed and at a loss.

After being treated coldly many times, the original body, although not knowing the reason, could see that he did not like her, so she gradually stopped taking the initiative to show kindness to him.

It seems that the two of them have no intersection, but...

Thinking of this, Lin Xi cast her eyes on the empty bowl on the table that had not been taken away, and the can of malted milk with big red words printed on it, and couldn't help but curl her lips.

It seems that this person is not without flaws.