Chapter 66

After dinner, the three of them returned to the residential compound.

In the middle of the night, Yu Xiangnian heard some noise outside the room while she was sleeping. She got up and opened the door to find Cheng Jingmo rummaging through the living room, looking for something.

“What are you looking for in the middle of the night?” Yu Xiangnian asked groggily.

“The medicine I bought a few days ago. Xiao Jie has a fever.”

“Have you taken his temperature?”

“No.”

Yu Xiangnian then realized that there wasn’t a thermometer at home. She said, “Let me check.”

She went into the room and saw Xiao Jie wrapped up tightly in blankets, only his head sticking out, and his face was flushed red from the fever.

She reached out and felt his forehead. It was a high fever, probably around 39 degrees Celsius.

A fever this high, and still covered up?!

She threw the blankets aside and saw Xiao Jie’s neck drenched in sweat. When she touched him, his clothes were half-soaked with sweat.

She told Cheng Jingmo, who came in shortly after, “Quickly, get a basin of warm water.”

Cheng Jingmo said, “You should cover him with the blanket. Let him sweat it out.”

“The child has such a high fever; you need to cool him down first. If you keep him wrapped up like this, you might damage his brain!”

Cheng Jingmo muttered to himself, thinking that people usually just sweat out a fever, but he subconsciously trusted Yu Xiangnian and went to get a basin of warm water.

By the time he returned, Yu Xiangnian had already undressed Xiao Jie and was using a towel from the basin to wipe him down.

“Cheng Jingmo, find a set of clothes.”

After wiping Xiao Jie down twice, his body temperature dropped a bit and he became more alert. “Auntie, my head hurts, and my throat is sore.”

“Open your mouth; let me see.” Yu Xiangnian saw that both sides of Xiao Jie’s throat were red and swollen.

She gently comforted him, “You have tonsillitis. It’s common for children to get this kind of illness. A sore throat, headache, and fever are normal. Just take some medicine and drink plenty of water, and you’ll be fine in a couple of days.”

As Cheng Jingmo dressed Xiao Jie, Yu Xiangnian began preparing the medicine.

Though she called it “preparing medicine,” the house only had two kinds: Anacin and headache powder, the same ones she bought at the clinic that day.

She poured a large cup of warm water and gave Xiao Jie half a packet of headache powder.

Xiao Jie, with a sore throat, was reluctant to drink more water after taking the medicine. Yu Xiangnian said, “Finish this cup of water, and I’ll tell you a story. How about that?”

“I want to hear two stories!”

“Alright, alright, two stories.”

Xiao Jie, enduring the pain, drank the large cup of water in gulps, and Yu Xiangnian began her tale.

“Once upon a time, there was a little girl who was bald, so she had to wear a red hat every day. Everyone called her Little Red Riding Hood.”

“One day, Little Red Riding Hood went to deliver pastries to her grandmother. As she passed through the forest, she saw a big gray wolf sneaking in the bushes. Little Red Riding Hood shouted angrily, ‘I know it’s you, Big Gray Wolf. Come out!’ The wolf was frightened away.”

“As Little Red Riding Hood continued walking, she saw the same big gray wolf hiding in the bushes again. Little Red Riding Hood, now even angrier, shouted again, ‘I know it’s you, Big Gray Wolf. Come out!’ The wolf ran away again. Little Red Riding Hood kept walking and saw the wolf in the bushes once more. She repeated her earlier words.”

“This time, the gray wolf wasn’t scared away. It jumped out of the bushes and ate Little Red Riding Hood in one bite! Then it said, ‘Now I can finally take a comfortable poop!’”

Yu Xiangnian finished the story and couldn’t stop laughing. Xiao Jie and Cheng Jingmo looked confused.

After a moment, the two of them also started laughing.

Then Xiao Jie pouted, “You didn’t tell it like that last time! Last time you told me that Little Red Riding Hood didn’t like to bathe and was very dirty, so everyone called her Cinderella. Cinderella had a stepmother who often beat her, so she ran away and disguised herself as a man to join the army and became Hua Mulan!”

“Huh?” Now it was Yu Xiangnian’s turn to be surprised.

She had told Xiao Jie many stories when she first arrived, trying to get along with him. She made up and mixed up so many stories that she forgot what she had actually told him!

Yu Xiangnian waved her hand and said, “That’s not important. There are many versions of Little Red Riding Hood. Last time, I told the inspirational version; today, it’s the funny version! Now, now, let’s move on to the next story.”

Yu Xiangnian thought for a moment and told him a serious version of Snow White’s story, which lasted for seven or eight minutes.

After finishing, Xiao Jie, with a sad face, said, “That’s not how you told it last time!”

“Huh?” Yu Xiangnian scratched her head and said, “What did I say last time?”

“Snow White’s stepmother wanted to kill her, so she came up with a plan. She put an apple on Snow White’s head and said that whoever shot the apple could marry Snow White. The first person shot the apple and said, ‘I’m Hou Yi.’ The second person shot Snow White and said, ‘I’m sorry!’”

Yu Xiangnian chuckled, “Oh! You have a good memory, still remembering the English!”

She then felt Xiao Jie’s forehead; his fever had temporarily subsided. “Alright, we’ve finished two stories. Time to sleep.”

Satisfied, Xiao Jie lay down and fell asleep shortly.

Cheng Jingmo said, “You should go to bed. I’ll take care of him.”

Yu Xiangnian yawned, “He has acute tonsillitis. Before the inflammation goes down, he’ll keep having fevers. It’s possible he might have another fever in three or four hours. Don’t keep him wrapped up; let him cool down when he’s feverish. Cover him with blankets only after the fever has gone down to keep him warm.”

“If he has another fever, use the method I showed to cool him down and give him more medicine. There are no antibiotics at home; I’ll take him to the clinic for an injection tomorrow morning.”

After saying this, Yu Xiangnian went back to her room to sleep.

Since Cheng Jingmo had his own adopted child, he needed to learn how to take care of a sick child.

Cheng Jingmo stayed up most of the night, unable to fall asleep.

Yu Xiangnian’s approach earlier had reassured him.

Xiao Jie had had a fever before, and Cheng Jingmo had only given him an Anacin and wrapped him in blankets to sweat it out.

But Yu Xiangnian’s method was to cool him down and avoid using too much Anacin, saying it was not very safe.

This was the first time Cheng Jingmo had heard this advice; usually, people just took this medicine for headaches and fever, and it worked quite well.

Moreover, he couldn’t tell those stories.

Thinking about the two stories from earlier, he couldn’t help but laugh.

What kind of stories were those? They were really just to fool kids!

As expected, just as Yu Xiangnian had predicted, Xiao Jie had a fever again in the middle of the night.

Cheng Jingmo followed Yu Xiangnian’s method, using warm water to wipe him down, changing his clothes, and giving him medicine.

When Yu Xiangnian woke up, Cheng Jingmo was already gone, and breakfast was warming on the coal stove.

She went to Xiao Jie’s room and saw that he was still sleeping soundly.

After Xiao Jie woke up, they had breakfast together and then went to the clinic.