Chapter 841: Chapter 844: Fever
Seeing his mother finally agreed to eat the rice porridge, Little Shitou stopped crying and immediately beamed with joy. He happily helped his mother with the vegetables, "Mom, try this dish, it’s made by that auntie. Eat a lot and you’ll get better."
Shitou’s mother held back her tears, trying not to let her emotions affect her son. She nodded and said, "Mm, Little Shitou, you eat too."
"Mom, you eat first, that auntie gave us plenty."
Little Shitou was very obedient. He kept helping his mother with the vegetables, watching her finish the meal before he started eating.
Precious rice porridge — he’d hardly had it before, and as for the white flour pancakes made by the auntie, he’d had even less. He ate ravenously because it was simply too delicious.
He quickly finished eating and cleaned up the dishes, "Mom, you rest first, I’ll take these out."
"Mm, Little Shitou, call that auntie over; I want to thank her in person," Shitou’s mother said.
"Mm, I’ll go right now." Little Shitou agreed and took the dishes outside. Upon reaching the kitchen and seeing the auntie still there, he said, "Auntie, my mom wants to see you."
Xiaoxiao was puzzled, not knowing why the lady was calling her, but she got up and went anyway. She politely knocked on the door, received permission, and entered the room, "Sister-in-law, you’re looking for me?"
"Mm, you’re here. Please sit down," Shitou’s mother said.
Xiaoxiao walked over to sit by the bed and asked, "Sister-in-law, is there something you need from me?"
Shitou’s mother lay there and weakly said, "I wanted to thank you for helping us make the meal."
Turns out she wanted to thank her. Xiaoxiao hurriedly said, "Oh, Sister-in-law, it’s nothing. If we’re talking thanks, I should be thanking you for taking me in."
Shitou’s mother shook her head and said, "The child hadn’t eaten rice porridge since he was two years old."
"..." Hearing this, Xiaoxiao felt an ache in her heart. It’s just ordinary rice porridge, yet she said the last time he had it was years ago. Life has surely been hard for them; seeing both mother and child so skinny makes one guess they’ve suffered a lot.
Xiaoxiao looked at Shitou’s mother lying against the bed, "Sister-in-law, if I may ask, what illness do you have?"
Asked this, Shitou’s mother said, "I don’t really have an illness, just a fever. A few days and it will be gone; it’s nothing serious—just tough on the child these days."
"..." A fever? Is she talking about a high temperature? Xiaoxiao thought about it and reached out to feel Shitou’s mother’s forehead, surprising her with the sudden action.
With that touch, Xiaoxiao indeed found her forehead hot. Xiaoxiao also held Shitou’s mother’s hand; she truly has a fever, and quite a high one. Could it be she usually endures fevers like this?
No wonder her cheeks were flushed; earlier, she thought it was because of the blanket, but it was due to the fever. If it’s just a fever, it’s manageable; there’s fever medicine in the herbal package brought by Xue Shiyi.
"Sister-in-law, you should take medicine for the fever; enduring like this isn’t good. Besides the fever, are there other symptoms?"
Shitou’s mother knew medicine acts faster, but they had no money. They had to endure it, only she didn’t expect it to be this severe—severe enough to sleep through an entire day, "Nothing much, a fever is just a minor issue; enduring it will pass."