Aunt Mei furrowed her brow tightly. "The laryngeal edema is severe. No good, we must take him to the town health center immediately. Xiao Gao, go start the car."
Gao Xiang acknowledged and was about to leave when Zuo Si'an, who had been standing silently nearby, suddenly spoke up. "Aunt Mei, how long will it take to reach the town hospital?"
"About 20 minutes by car."
"This child appears to have diffuse laryngeal mucosal edema caused by a food allergy. His tongue is already swollen—he can't hold on that long. He needs an immediate cricothyroid membrane puncture, or he'll suffocate."
"I know that too, but I don't know how..."
"I'll do it. I'm a doctor. Please prepare disinfectant cotton swabs, 1ml of 1% tetracaine solution, and a No. 7 injection needle for me. Gao Xiang, please help hold the child down."
Both of them were taken aback, but Zuo Si'an's expression and tone carried undeniable authority. They immediately sprang into action as she directed. Gao Xiang moved to the other side and firmly restrained the child. Zuo Si'an unbuttoned the child's clothes, tilted his head back, and took the iodine-soaked cotton swab handed by Aunt Mei to disinfect the area. With her left index finger and thumb, she quickly located and secured the spot, then inserted the injection needle vertically with her right hand. After withdrawing slightly, the child suddenly coughed loudly. She stabilized the syringe, injected 1ml of 1% tetracaine solution, withdrew the needle, and pressed a dry cotton ball to the injection site—all in one fluid motion. The child's breathing noticeably began to recover.
"Alright, now take him to the hospital."
Gao Xiang picked up the child and hurried out. By then, a large crowd of villagers had gathered to watch. When they reached the pond, Zuo Si'an took the child and got into the car with Aunt Mei and the child's grandmother.
Gao Xiang stepped on the gas, and they arrived at the town health center in fifteen minutes. Aunt Mei, very familiar with the place, immediately called for the medical staff, who carried the child inside. Zuo Si'an briefed the doctor on the child's condition and offered concise, professional follow-up recommendations, prompting the doctor to glance at her in surprise.
Aunt Mei comforted the still-trembling grandmother. "Don't be afraid anymore. Your grandson's life has been saved."
The old woman expressed endless gratitude, and Aunt Mei smiled. "You're really getting forgetful. It wasn't me who saved your grandson—it was Xiao An."
Zuo Si'an quickly interjected, "No need for thanks. The doctor will administer antibiotics and hormones. Usually, after 12 hours of observation, the doctor will try to block the tube. If there are no breathing issues, the puncture needle will be removed, and the puncture site will close naturally. Once the allergen is identified, make sure he never eats that thing again. Take good care of him."
As they left and got into the car, Aunt Mei asked Zuo Si'an, "Xiao An, what kind of doctor are you?"
"Strictly speaking, I'm still a third-year Resident in Neurosurgery. To become a Specialist in Neurosurgery, I need at least three more years of specialized training."
"I've heard that studying medicine in the U.S. takes a very long time and is especially difficult."
"Yes, it's a long process. Even if you enter medical school right after college and choose a specialty with shorter training, you likely won't practice independently until after you're 30."Aunt Mei listened with great attentiveness and joy. "That's wonderful, Xiao An. The fact that you never had formal systematic education has always worried me. I always wanted Jingjing to study medicine, but unfortunately she refused. Seeing you become a doctor makes me happier than anything."
They returned to Aunt Mei's house, which remained exactly as before. Stepping over the threshold led to a small courtyard, with a narrow hall facing them—what locals called the main room, containing an Eight Immortals table and ancestral portraits. The side rooms on both sides served as bedrooms. Aunt Mei invited them to sit before hurriedly heading to the kitchen behind the main room to make the osmanthus rice wine that Zuo Si'an had always loved. Her husband, Uncle Liu, emerged at her call to entertain the guests. He was a short man who appeared quite aged, extremely reticent and introverted, struggling with conversation. His hands fidgeted nervously on his clothes, his gaze briefly sweeping over both of them before he mumbled something about going to the vegetable garden to pick fresh greens and hurried out.
"Aside from this house, everything has changed."
"After such a long time, it's not surprising that everything is completely unrecognizable."
It was Zuo Si'an's turn to fall silent. Sunlight slanted down from the courtyard above, placing them precisely on the boundary between light and shadow, making it difficult to see each other's expressions clearly. Finally, she spoke, "I know I've changed a lot, but you're still you, unchanged."
Aunt Mei brought in two steaming bowls of osmanthus rice wine. Just like before, each bowl contained translucent white poached eggs, sprinkled with candied osmanthus flowers, the sweet aroma rich and enticing.
Zuo Si'an cheered, taking a bowl and immediately scooping a spoonful into her mouth, only to grimace at the heat. Aunt Mei laughed heartily, "You definitely can't get this overseas, can you?"
"No. A few years ago, I had some homemade rice wine at a Chinese student's place, but it couldn't compare to yours, Aunt Mei."
Gao Xiang had never liked sweet foods, but it was hard to refuse such hospitality, so he forced himself to eat. When he looked up, he noticed Zuo Si'an wasn't eating as eagerly as before. Instead, she had bowed her head unusually low, her face almost buried in the steam rising from the bowl.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
He could hear her struggling to keep her voice calm and didn't press further.
☆ 09
III
After finishing her tasks, Aunt Mei came over and sat down. Zuo Si'an asked her, "Aunt Mei, what exactly happened to Xiao Chao?"
Aunt Mei seemed uneasy, hesitating before finally saying, "He dropped out of school the year after you left."
Zuo Si'an's eyes widened in shock. "But he was in his final year of high school then, and his grades were excellent."
"Yes, Xiao Chao always had a natural talent for studying since he was little. I always thought he'd be the first from this village to attend Peking or Tsinghua University. Who would have thought..." She sighed. "He suddenly started skipping school, his grades plummeted. With three months left before the college entrance exams, he quietly dropped out and ran off to work in the south. His parents chased after him, tried both punishment and pleading, but he refused to come back."
"Jingjing never mentioned this in her letters to me."
"Xiao Chao made her promise not to."
Zuo Si'an murmured, "How could this happen?"Aunt Mei shook her head: "Xiao Chao has always been a deep thinker; no one ever knew what was on his mind. He’d only been in the south for two or three years when he suddenly started sending money home to his parents, saying he’d found a good job. His parents even bought an apartment in Qinggang, thinking they could finally rely on their son for support. But then, eight years ago, Xiao Chao suddenly returned to Liu Wan and shut himself indoors. When I asked what had happened, he wouldn’t say. Less than a week later, the police came and arrested him. Old Liu Qi wasn’t wrong—it was the first time a police car had ever driven into Liu Wan. Later, I found out Xiao Chao was charged with being a hacker, attacking online systems and stock trading companies, making a lot of money. It was all over the news and caused quite a stir."
Zuo Si’an looked stunned, but Gao Xiang remembered: about seven or eight years ago, he had indeed read reports about a man named Liu Guanchao who was arrested and sentenced to three years in prison for allegedly hacking into and controlling the computer systems of several securities companies for illegal profit. The case had sparked widespread public discussion about cybersecurity at the time. However, he had never connected the name Liu Guanchao with Wei Si’an’s thin, quiet middle school classmate or Aunt Mei’s stubborn, silent nephew, Xiao Chao.
"His parents have always been proud; after this incident, they were too ashamed to return to the village. Xiao Chao served two and a half years in prison and was released early for good behavior. He never came home, and no one knew where he went or what he was doing. He only returned to Liu Wan once three years ago, stayed for two days, and before leaving donated a large sum of money to the village committee to repair the road leading out of the village. Ah," Aunt Mei sighed again, "who knew it would stir up more gossip? People said he must have gotten the money through shady means, otherwise how could he be so rich so soon after being released from prison? He doesn’t keep in touch with his family, just sends money. But his parents are too scared to use it, constantly worrying about him."
Zuo Si’an was silent for a while. Aunt Mei changed the subject: "I’ll ask Old Liu to kill a chicken and make some chicken soup for you later."
"Please don’t trouble yourself. Aunt Mei, where is Jingjing now?"
"She stayed in Beijing to work after graduating from university. Just like her brother, she only comes home for the Spring Festival."
"Oh, has Uncle Liu stopped working in the city?"
"He’s getting older and his health isn’t great. A few years ago, he stayed in the city to help Guanjiao and his wife take care of their child, but now that the child is in school, he’s come back." Guanjiao and Jingjing are Aunt Mei’s son and daughter. Mentioning them, Aunt Mei’s expression darkened, and she changed the subject again: "Xiao An, why not stay with me for a few days?"
"I can’t, Aunt Mei. My vacation isn’t long, so I can only stay one day. I’ve already bought a plane ticket for tomorrow afternoon to Chengdu, then I’ll head to Ngari, Tibet to visit my father."
"Is your father still in Tibet? I thought cadres only served in Aid Tibet for a few years before returning?"
"He said he likes it there, so he stayed."
"A few years ago, I saw a report about him on TV. He’s truly remarkable."
Just then, another villager from outside the village came in for medical treatment. Zuo Si’an said, "Aunt Mei, you’re busy. We’ll go out for a walk."The two of them walked out, and Gao Xiang's phone rang. It was Zhu Xiao Yan calling to ask where he was. Only then did he remember her birthday was approaching—they had agreed to take her car shopping today as a gift. He had no choice but to apologize, "Let's reschedule, or you could go to the dealership first and take a look."
"Forget it. Going alone is no fun. I'll stay home and finish the PPT for the meeting the day after tomorrow. Wait for you to pick me up tonight for the concert."
"Sorry, Xiao Yan. I'm in Qinggang right now and won't be back until tomorrow. Why don't you ask a friend to go to the concert with you instead?"
He put down his phone, and Zuo Si'an, who was a few steps ahead, remarked, "Liu Wan has pretty good cell signal now. Back then, if you wanted to make a call, you had to walk almost all the way to the highway."
Of course, he remembered. Just as she couldn't forget the osmanthus tree she often sat beneath, he couldn't forget the nearly month he spent in this village: the monotonous, seemingly endless days; the pitch-black nights where you couldn't see your own hand; the occasional barks of dogs that made the surroundings feel even quieter; the complex chorus of birds and roosters at dawn; the freezing rain pattering on the dark roof tiles before dripping from the eaves into the courtyard with a hypnotic rhythm; the frost on the cabbage leaves in the vegetable garden... And, of course, the cell signal that only appeared once you reached the highway.
The village seemed smaller and emptier than they remembered. Many houses were locked up, and several newly built homes had residents on the first floor, while the second floor exposed bare cement walls. Balconies lacked railings, and some windows didn't even have glass panes—it was unclear why construction had halted or why the owners had lost interest in finishing.
The area was planted with many osmanthus trees, and it was the peak blooming season. Many villagers had picked the flowers and laid them out to dry in flat bamboo baskets in front of and behind their houses. The sweet fragrance permeated the air throughout the small village.
Zuo Si'an casually picked up a pinch of the delicate osmanthus blossoms and brought them to her nose. "Jingjing once told me that the fresh osmanthus scent in Liu Wan is unmatched anywhere else. I've always wanted to experience this fragrance, but that tree..." She didn't finish her sentence, letting the blossoms trickle back into the basket.
"So you went on to study medicine."
"Yes."
"What exactly are you trying to accomplish by coming back this time?"
She looked at him, neither offended by his stern questioning nor defensive. "Just looking."
"I remember you saying you never wanted anything to do with the past again."
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