Teacher Wu hurried to the last row of the classroom. She helped Lin Zhixia up, placing a hand on her forehead, and sighed, "You really do have a fever."
"I'm so dizzy..." Lin Zhixia described.
Teacher Wu gasped sharply and said loudly, "Dong Sunqi, Tang Yueqin, you two maintain classroom discipline. I'm taking Lin Zhixia to the school clinic. Is anyone else in class running a fever? Does anyone feel unwell?"
The entire class fell silent, with no one responding.
It turned out Lin Zhixia was the only one with a fever.
Teacher Wu didn't dare delay for even a minute. She quickly brought Lin Zhixia to the school clinic and called Lin Zhixia's mom.
Around noon, Lin Zhixia's mom rushed to the school in a hurry.
The nurse at the school clinic had taken Lin Zhixia's temperature twice, each time reading 38.1°C. After taking fever reducer, Lin Zhixia felt weak and limp all over, only wanting to go home and sleep. Seeing her mom, she felt a surge of security and, holding her mom's hand, said, "Mom, I want to go home."
Her mom was especially gentle with her.
Lin Zhixia stayed quiet, obediently leaning against her mom's sleeve like a young animal lost in a storm, seeking her mother's protection. Her cheeks were slightly flushed, and her eyes were watery, making her mom's heart ache terribly.
Her mom quickly said, "Xia Xia, let's go. Mom will take you home right now."
Her mom had come by bicycle. She had Lin Zhixia sit on the back seat, holding onto her waist with both hands. Riding the bicycle with her daughter, she navigated through the howling cold wind of late December. The winter in this city wasn't warm at all. The leaves on the roadside trees had all fallen, leaving only bare branches. The cold wind blew into Lin Zhixia's collar, making her shiver.
Her nose and ears were frozen stiff. Each breath she took sent chills spreading through her windpipe.
"Xia Xia?" her mom called out to her.
"Are we almost home?" Lin Zhixia asked in return.
Her mom parked the bicycle by the roadside. She took off her down jacket and draped it over Lin Zhixia's head. The jacket was warm, like spring sunlight, still carrying lingering body heat.
Lin Zhixia's exhaled breath condensed into white mist, scattering with the wind. She handed the jacket back to her mom: "It's really cold today. If Mom gives me the jacket, Mom might catch a cold."
"It's okay, we're almost home. I'll make you chicken noodle soup for lunch, alright? It's cold out, so drink more hot soup." Her mom, wearing a sweater, continued cycling.
"Okay," Lin Zhixia replied softly. She vaguely remembered that the sweater her mom was wearing had been knitted by her grandmother. Grandma definitely wouldn't want Mom to suffer from the cold in winter either.
Lin Zhixia held up the down jacket with both hands and hung it over her mom's shoulders. The jacket covered her head, forming a semi-enclosed space.
She dozed off briefly as the bicycle slowed down, and her mom brought her back to Ancheng Residential Complex.
Her mom said to her, "Xia Xia, have lunch and take a nap. If you still have a fever this afternoon, we'll go to the hospital."
Lin Zhixia hated going to the hospital more than anything. She was even afraid of getting shots, let alone an IV drip. She pretended to be obedient and nodded, but in her heart, she thought she definitely didn't want to go to the hospital.
A little past noon, Lin Zeqiu returned home from school.
Lin Zeqiu stepped through the door and sensed a heavy atmosphere. A foreboding feeling rose in his heart, and he ran up to his mom to ask, "Did something happen to our family?""It's nothing," Mom told Lin Zeqiu. "It's just your sister—she developed a fever after getting the Hepatitis B vaccine today. Her temperature reached thirty-eight degrees. She's taken fever reducer and is now sleeping in her bedroom."
The outdoor temperature today was minus one degree Celsius. Frost weighed down fallen leaves, and the biting winter wind stung people's faces. Lin Zeqiu's home only had one electric heater, which was naturally placed in Lin Zhixia's room.
Mom turned the electric heater to its highest setting, quickly warming up Lin Zhixia's room and making it the most comfortable place in the entire house.
The living room had an iron stove with honeycomb briquettes burning in its chamber. Lin Zeqiu brought over a stool and sat by the stove to warm himself.
The flames burned hot and bright. Lin Zeqiu poked at the honeycomb holes of the briquettes with an iron rod, causing red sparks to suddenly shoot out and nearly singe his clothes.
Sitting on the chair, he shifted backward using his waist strength, his shoe soles scraping against the floor tiles and creating a harsh noise.
"Lin Zeqiu!" Mom scolded him sharply. "Sit still and don't cause me any more trouble."
Lin Zeqiu straightened up nervously. "I wasn't doing anything."
Mom was busy working in the kitchen. While cooking, she instructed, "Lin Zeqiu, if you have nothing to do, go check on your sister."
Without complaint, Lin Zeqiu walked to Lin Zhixia's bedroom door.
He stood there for ten seconds without hearing any sound. Gently pushing open Lin Zhixia's door, he immediately felt the cozy warmth generated by the electric heater.
He saw Lin Zhixia lying on her side on the bed, covered with a soft cotton quilt and holding a Little Penguin plush toy in her arms. The little penguin's head was partially visible. Lin Zhixia had her eyes closed, her eyelashes thick, her cheeks pale and tender, breathing evenly and steadily—she seemed to be already asleep.
Lin Zeqiu felt reassured.
A while later, lunch was ready. The aroma of food filled the house. Mom woke Lin Zhixia and brought a bowl of steaming hot chicken noodle soup into her room, coaxing her to eat bite by bite.
Lin Zhixia, feeling dizzy, began talking nonsense: "Mom, do you think I'm smart?"
To encourage her to eat more, Mom answered without hesitation: "Of course, our Xia Xia is the smartest child in the world."
"No way," Lin Zeqiu interjected indifferently from behind.
Mom turned and glared at him: "Keep quiet. Your sister is sick today."
Lin Zeqiu walked to the bedside, raised a hand, and pressed it against his sister's forehead. His calm expression gradually cracked. Frowning, he looked down at Lin Zhixia: "The fever's pretty high."
Lin Zhixia also looked up at him: "I want to sleep."
Mom tried to negotiate with her: "Xia Xia, have one more bite, okay?"
Lin Zhixia shook her head like a rattle drum. Lying in bed and pulling the quilt tight, she said: "I have no appetite. I just had a dream."
"What dream?" Mom and Brother asked her in unison.
Lin Zhixia recounted vaguely: "I dreamed that my brain got burned out... I forgot all the knowledge I've learned, just like an ordinary person. I suddenly understood Brother. All these years, Brother, have you had a hard time? You need to spend time memorizing texts, exams make you nervous. Brother, both you and your brain have had it tough..."
Under normal circumstances, such dangerous remarks from Lin Zhixia would have made Lin Zeqiu fly into a rage on the spot.However, today, Lin Zeqiu uncharacteristically tolerated Lin Zhixia. He calmly and frankly said, "Being your brother isn't easy."
Lin Zhixia asked him, "Brother, are you sad inside? Do you feel sad because you have a relative like me?"
Lin Zeqiu whispered, "No."
Lin Zhixia tilted her head and met his gaze: "Really?"
Lin Zeqiu smiled. His birthday was in January. In less than half a month, he would turn thirteen. He was in the thriving stage of adolescence. His Adam's apple had become prominent, and his voice had changed, sounding slightly deeper: "When you were little... I'm not talking about now, but before you started school at six, you used to drive me crazy. No matter what, you are my... my..."
He rarely spoke sentimental words. He always called Lin Zhixia by her full name. But now, he stammered, "My sister."
"Really?" Lin Zhixia clutched the edge of the blanket with both hands. "Brother, you're much more patient today than usual."
Lin Zeqiu took the bowl from Mom's hands. Holding the spoon handle, he scooped up some noodle soup and awkwardly, slowly extended the spoon forward.
He had never fed Lin Zhixia before. He thought she would do him this favor.
But Lin Zhixia turned her head toward the wall: "I don't want to eat."
"You've only had two bites of food. Aren't you uncomfortable being hungry?" Lin Zeqiu scolded her sternly and reproachfully.
"My head is so dizzy," Lin Zhixia whimpered as she burrowed under the covers. "I don't want to eat anything. I also have some potential gastroesophageal reflux symptoms. Please let me rest... I'm so sleepy, Mom. I want to sleep."
Mom soaked a towel in water, wrung it out, and placed it on Lin Zhixia's forehead. Both she and Lin Zeqiu left Lin Zhixia's bedroom, and the room suddenly became much quieter.
The curtains were drawn tightly, and the electric heater emitted a faint hum.
Lin Zhixia drifted in a semi-conscious state, muddled and confused. She didn't know how long she had slept when she heard Mom say by her ear, "Xia Xia still hasn't broken her fever. We need to go to the hospital."
The sky had long since darkened, with moonlight streaming like silk.
In the harsh December winter, cold winds blew fiercely one after another, blurring the lights of countless households.
Dad carried Lin Zhixia out of the house, while Mom closed up the shop. Lin Zeqiu locked the security door, threw on his coat, and chased after them, declaring, "Take me with you. I'm going to the hospital too."
"Why do you need to go to the hospital?" Mom told him instead. "Stay home and don't cause trouble."
Lin Zhixia was still putting up a final resistance: "Dad, I don't want to go to the hospital. I want to stay home..."
Dad's tone turned stern: "Xia Xia, your fever is at 39 degrees. We just took your temperature. You took the fever reducer at noon, but your temperature hasn't gone down. It's getting worse. This won't do, Xia Xia. We must go to the hospital."
Dad was the most easygoing person in the family.
Lin Zhixia couldn't persuade Dad. She knew some troubles were unavoidable.
Mom hailed a taxi at the entrance of Ancheng Residential Complex. Dad held Lin Zhixia in the back seat, and Brother followed along. Mom didn't send Brother away. She told the driver, "Sir, to the Provincial People's Hospital."
How far was the Provincial People's Hospital from here?Lin Zhixia gazed out the car window at the streaming streetlights, the city ablaze with colorful neon. The bustling roads stretched in all directions. She watched skyscrapers towering over the landscape, distant buildings connecting to form an unbroken skyline.
"Architecture," she suddenly said. "I haven't studied architecture yet."
Lin Zeqiu, sitting beside her, responded: "Can't you just sit still? Don't overthink things."
Lin Zhixia yawned: "Brother?"
Lin Zeqiu answered: "What?"
Lin Zhixia placed a hand on his shoulder: "I have a 39.4-degree fever right now. My mind is blank, my thoughts are blocked, I'm restless and anxious..."
Pausing mid-sentence, she leaned on her brother's shoulder and said drowsily: "I used to often suspect we weren't biological siblings. You never want to discuss things with me, and you're always so harsh with me. But now, I don't doubt it anymore. Me with a 39.4-degree fever is so similar to you."
"Lin Zhixia." Lin Zeqiu gently patted her head.
He even smiled slightly, though his words remained rough and aggressive: "Can't you shut up? Are you the only one in this car who can talk?"
"Lin Zeqiu, don't argue with your sister." Dad's voice sounded weary and exhausted.
Lin Zeqiu shrank back into his seat. He crossed his arms, adopting a defensive posture.
Soon after, they arrived at the Provincial People's Hospital.
The taxi ride had cost a full 14 yuan. Lin Zhixia felt somewhat reluctant about the expense, but neither Mom nor Dad commented. Her parents took her to the emergency building of the Provincial People's Hospital, where she went through registration, queuing, and consultation. The doctor then sent her for blood tests.
Lin Zhixia froze immediately. She asked: "Blood draw?"
The doctor inquired: "Never had blood drawn before?"
Lin Zhixia widened her eyes, staring blankly at the doctor. Her eyes grew moist, misty with gathering tears ready to fall.
The young doctor, trying to be kind, gently explained: "The nurse will tie a tourniquet, puncture the blood vessel, and it'll be over quickly..."
Upon hearing "puncture the blood vessel," Lin Zhixia's eyes welled up instantly. Tears fell on her clothes as she couldn't help whimpering softly: "Mom, Mom, I don't want blood drawn, I'm so scared..."
Mom quickly comforted her: "Xia Xia, don't be afraid. Tomorrow Mom will make you shrimp dumplings, braised pork ribs, and tomato egg soup, okay? And I'll buy you half a pound of strawberries."
Shrimp dumplings and strawberries were among Lin Zhixia's greatest loves in life.
Even with her high fever muddling her thoughts and her heart filled with resistance toward the blood test, she couldn't help being drawn in by the promise of shrimp dumplings and strawberries.
She looked up at her mother, eyelashes still wet with tears, and nodded in agreement: "Okay."
Suppressing her emotions, she appeared exceptionally well-behaved and quiet.
Mom hugged her, murmuring to herself: "No matter how much Xia Xia knows, she's still just a nine-year-old child."
Lin Zhixia obediently followed the nurse for the blood draw. For the sake of shrimp dumplings, braised pork ribs, and half a pound of strawberries, Lin Zhixia demonstrated remarkable willpower and exceptional endurance.
Even when she learned she needed an IV drip, she merely furrowed her brows: "I had a feeling this would happen."
At 9:30 in the evening, Lin Zhixia lay quietly in the hospital bed, calmly accepting her fate.The IV bag hung from the stand beside the bed, the liquid dripping drop by drop into Lin Zhixia's veins.
A needle was inserted into Lin Zhixia's left hand. She didn't dare look at her hand and lay silently for several minutes, unable to sleep yet bored while awake. She called out, "Brother."
"The two aunties in the opposite beds are both reading," Lin Zeqiu reminded her. "Keep your voice down if you have something to say."
Lin Zhixia suggested, "Brother, I'm so bored. Let's play the Flying Flowers Game."
The so-called "Flying Flowers Game" was a drinking game from ancient China that tested one's mastery of poetry. Participants would take turns reciting lines of poetry containing a specified character.
The most challenging part was that the character's position had to shift sequentially in each line.
Lin Zeqiu absolutely despised this game. Since childhood, he had lost every single time he played. His memory simply couldn't compare to Lin Zhixia's.
"Brother! I'll start, and I choose the character 'flower'!" Lin Zhixia said enthusiastically. "A Tang dynasty poet wrote in 'Teacher's Encouragement'—'Flowers bloom again in season, water flowing eastward never returns.' Brother, your turn."
Lin Zeqiu pondered for a moment before responding, "The peach blossoms still smile in the spring breeze."
Lin Zhixia quickly answered, "Silken robes fly like flowers in the white jade hall."
Lin Zeqiu spread his legs apart, placing both hands on his knees. "I can't do it, I can't think of any more. I surrender."
"Brother, let's keep playing," Lin Zhixia begged him. "Any poetry or songs containing the character 'flower' will do."
Only then was Lin Zeqiu willing to continue: "When will the spring flowers and autumn moon end? How much of the past is known?"
Lin Zhixia recited a famous line from Tang poet Sun Guangxian's "Buddhist Dancers": "In the small courtyard, fallen flowers lie unswept, sparse fragrance covers the ground as the east wind ages."
Lin Zeqiu propped his cheek with one hand: "The face is gone, who knows where? The peach blossoms still smile in the spring breeze."
"You already said that line," Lin Zhixia pointed out mercilessly. "You can't repeat it."
Lin Zeqiu straightened up in his seat: "Where do all these troublesome rules come from? Can't you play some normal games with me?"
"Then let's play... the game of listing heroes from Water Margin. My schoolmates all love this game. I've never joined in because I know nobody can beat me." Lin Zhixia honestly confessed to her brother.
Her brother maintained a cold expression as he started: "Flowery Monk, Lu Zhishen."
Lin Zhixia continued: "Black Whirlwind, Li Kui."
Her brother said casually: "Mother Yaksa, Sun Erniang."
Lin Zhixia's eyes lit up: "Brother, do you know the origin of the term 'Mother Yaksa'? Yaksa is the name of a demon. There's a story in the Qing dynasty novel Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio called 'The Land of Yaksas.' Apparently! In the land of Yaksas, the more beautiful someone is, the lower their social status, while the uglier they are, the better their life! Hahahaha, isn't that interesting..."
Suddenly overcome with drowsiness, Lin Zhixia yawned repeatedly: "Brother, with looks like yours, you'd be beaten up by everyone in the Land of Yaksas."
Lin Zeqiu couldn't tell whether Lin Zhixia was complimenting his good looks or cursing him to get beaten up in the Land of Yaksas—he tended toward the latter interpretation.
Dad had gone downstairs to pay the medical and hospitalization fees, while Mom remained in the hospital room keeping them company.While Lin Zeqiu was chatting with his sister, their mother sat nearby peeling an apple. Using a small knife, she created an unbroken spiral of apple peel, but Lin Zhixia said, "Mom, I don't want to eat apples."
"This is for your brother," Mom replied.
Lin Zhixia adored strawberries, while Lin Zeqiu exclusively favored apples. Perhaps this was because Lin Zeqiu's name contained the character for "autumn," and apples always come into season during that time of year.
After finishing the peeling, Mom handed the apple to Lin Zeqiu.
He took a bite of the apple. By then, Lin Zhixia had already fallen asleep.
Mom reached out a hand to gently tuck Lin Zhixia's blanket tighter around her. Gazing at her daughter, she said to her son, "Lin Zeqiu, you'll go home with your dad later. I'll stay overnight here with Xia Xia. She needs to remain under observation for another day. You have school tomorrow. At four tomorrow morning, your dad will come to the hospital to relieve me, and I'll ride the tricycle to the wholesale market to restock... Your dad is too soft-spoken to bargain with anyone. For purchasing goods, it has to be me."
The cold late-December wind brushed against the hospital windowsill as a light drizzle began outside. Passing vehicles splashed through puddles on the road, their spinning wheels creating a scattered sound of spraying water droplets.
Lin Zeqiu glanced out the window and unexpectedly asked, "Mom, don't you think... life is hard?"
Mom hesitated for two seconds before answering, "It's not hard." She kept her head slightly bowed while tending to her daughter, her slightly disheveled hair obscuring her vision.
Lin Zeqiu didn't know what else to say. He straightened his back awkwardly: "In a few years, both Lin Zhixia and I will be grown up."
"Okay," his mother replied. Perhaps due to the dim lighting in the hospital room, he thought he saw a glimmer of moisture in her eyes as well.
Throughout the night, the rain continued falling outside. The sound of rainfall was chaotic, with water splashing everywhere across the sky and land.
By the following evening, the rain had finally stopped.
Lin Zhixia felt refreshed and had basically recovered. She left the hospital with her mother, who instructed her to follow the doctor's orders strictly, so she rested at home for another day.
True to her word, Mom woke early to visit the vegetable market where she bought live shrimp. She shelled them, blanched them, chopped the filling, and prepared a plate of shrimp dumplings.
During lunch, both parents claimed they didn't like shrimp. Mom picked up the plate of shrimp dumplings and divided portions into both Lin Zhixia and Lin Zeqiu's bowls.
"Are you really not going to eat any?" Lin Zhixia asked.
"These are sea shrimp," Mom told her. "Your dad and I don't eat seafood. We grew up in the mountains and prefer mountain provisions. There's no reason to lie to you - your grandparents know I've been accustomed to mountain foods since childhood."
Lin Zhixia was half-convinced.
There were six dumplings in her bowl. After careful consideration, she picked up two with her chopsticks and placed them in her father's bowl, then transferred two more to her mother's bowl.
Holding her porcelain bowl, Lin Zhixia said softly, "I still want to eat together with Mom and Dad."
Mom didn't respond. Dad sighed. Picking up his lunch box, he turned and went back to tend to business at their shop.
Lin Zhixia watched her father's tall figure disappear through the living room doorway. Holding her chopsticks, she took a bite of the shrimp dumpling - it was truly delicious. How could something as wonderful as shrimp dumplings exist in this world?
She couldn't bear to wolf them down. She decided to savor each bite slowly.Lin Zeqiu and Lin Zhixia had completely opposite eating styles. Lin Zeqiu devoured the food in his bowl like a whirlwind, his appetite being twice that of Lin Zhixia. He casually checked on his younger sister: "Are you still feeling unwell today?"
"It's fine," Lin Zhixia said, dipping a dumpling in vinegar. "My fever's completely gone. I'm healthy and refreshed."
Lin Zeqiu reminded her: "You need to go back to school tomorrow."
"Okay," Lin Zhixia replied.
After dinner, Lin Zhixia organized her belongings in her bedroom.
Her bed was covered with a pile of stuffed toys, scattered about in complete disarray. She only kept the kitten and Little Penguin. The other plush toys were either stuffed into the cabinet or placed on her desk.
On her desk, there was also a business card.
It was Professor Shen Zhaohua's business card.
Over two months ago, Lin Zhixia had met Professor Shen Zhaohua and her doctoral student team at the marine aquarium.
At that time, the doctoral student told Lin Zhixia that she was welcome to call Professor Shen and visit the university campus anytime.
Logically speaking, since Lin Zhixia had obtained Professor Shen's contact information back in October, she should have called immediately. But at that time, she was busy reading newly published physics research papers from 2004 about "exotic properties of neutron-rich nuclei," so she had... temporarily set aside Professor Shen's business card.
This noon, almost as if guided by some unseen force, Lin Zhixia picked up the landline receiver and dialed a phone number she had memorized by heart.
Lin Zhixia felt she had grown a little. The brief hospital stay had made her braver.
She waited by the phone for just two seconds before hearing a young woman's voice: "Hello, who are you looking for?"
"Hello, I'm looking for Teacher Shen Zhaohua," Lin Zhixia briefly explained. "In mid-October, I met Teacher Shen and her students at the marine aquarium."
The woman exclaimed in surprise: "Ah! It's you! Hello there, little sister." She immediately introduced herself: "I remember you. I'm Teacher Shen's student. I was there that day too."
Lin Zhixia thought for a moment, then asked: "Sister, is your name Zhu Chan? Teacher Shen currently only has one female doctoral student named Zhu Chan. I found the relevant information on the university's website."
When Zhu Chan heard her say "sister," she felt the word was spoken too sweetly.
Zhu Chan didn't hold back at all, telling her: "Are you looking for Teacher Shen? Teacher Shen went to Beijing for a conference and won't be back until this Saturday."
Lin Zhixia asked further: "Then could I visit your Laboratory?"
"Of course," Zhu Chan said. "Teacher Shen already mentioned you to us. It would be best if you came with your parents. You're still too young and need guardian accompaniment."
Lin Zhixia hesitated slightly: "May I ask, besides my guardian, could I... also bring my classmate?"
Zhu Chan sounded uncertain: "Your classmate? Another nine-year-old child?"
"Yes," Lin Zhixia told her. "You saw him that day at the aquarium too. He helped me accept Teacher Shen's business card."
Zhu Chan agreed cheerfully: "Alright then, both of you can come to our university this Sunday. Teacher Shen will be at the school on Sunday to organize materials. Teacher Shen really wants to meet you and discuss academic topics you're interested in."
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