The morning air is cool and moist. The dense chest-high seedlings in the river float with a gentle mist like a thin veil. The water in the canal is rushing, the pump is buzzing, and the sound of the croppers watering the field asking questions and answers to each other is particularly refreshing. It's the most comfortable time of the day in the dog days.

The demonstration of the four sisters won a decisive victory, and her husband asked the third child to take her to the county hospital to see a doctor.

The four sisters sit on the back rack of their bicycles. Her man, Lu Jianfeng, clutched the rusty handlebars of the borrowed bicycle with both hands, and ran on the dirt and stone road from Lujiabao to Mulberry Town with a little nervousness and struggle. The road was potholed, and two ruts that had been run over by the carriage were deeply sunk and covered with a thick layer of powdered loess. The wheels of the bicycle were bent and bounced, and she almost fell off several times, but despite this, the fourth sister was still in a happy mood. In the wheat field and in the cotton fields, she often heard the daughters-in-law in the village recounting with relish what men had seen and heard about the men taking them to Xi'an and Langxian counties, and she was now sitting behind the waist of the three children and going to Mulberry Town! Thinking that the public reason for her family to go to Mulberry Town was to see a doctor, the fourth sister was a little sad.

The morning before yesterday, she lay under the sheets and did not get up until the family came home for breakfast. First, Jianfeng returned to Xiawu and heard that she was sick, but he was shocked and asked her to go to the brigade medical station to see a doctor, she turned over and did not say anything. He pressed hard, and she said coldly: "No money." He said that the brigade medical station provides free medical treatment and does not charge money for medical treatment. When she heard this, she said even more coldly, "It costs five cents for the registration fee." I don't, do you?" He couldn't talk back for a long time, and he was also anonymous all year round.

The old woman lifted the curtain of the door, walked in and asked, "What's the matter?"

The fourth sister got up softly: "Headache, nausea......"

"Go to the medical station. ”

The old woman put down a five-cent coin on the table, clanked, turned and walked out, fulfilling the old man's very restrained care for the younger daughter-in-law.

She went to the medical station, paid five cents of the registration fee, and the two doctors, who had undergone short-term training in the commune health center, enthusiastically and generously prescribed her pills and potions of no less than two yuan, went home and lay down again, and slept until it was dark yesterday. She endured hunger, did not eat a bite of food, and was so hungry that her limbs were sore, her head was dizzy, her mouth was dry, and a layer of dry dead skin burst out on her lips, and she really became a patient. Jian Feng asked in a panicked voice: "The medicine at the medical station is not for symptoms?" she groaned and didn't answer, why bother, in fact, all those medicines were stuffed into the kang hole. The old woman came to ask again, and then called Jianfeng back to the upper room, and finally conveyed her husband's decision and asked him to take her to the county hospital in Mulberry Town to see a doctor.

It took so much trouble and two days of unbearable hunger to win the opportunity to visit Mulberry Town today, which is really sad to think about. If it weren't for her pretending to be sick, but her husband generously gave her a few dollars and let her go out for a good day, she would probably call "Dad" non-stop. Regardless, she had achieved her goal, and although the means of winning were not so open-minded, she felt a sense of relief after revenge.

After turning from the dirt and stone road onto the black asphalt road leading to Mulberry Town, the car stabilized. I hadn't eaten for two days, and I was so hungry that I couldn't straighten my waist. She felt like a fallen leaf, fluttering, unsteady on her feet. She leaned on his back, one arm around his waist, against the squirming spine under his shirt. It's far away from Lujiabao Village, and acquaintances can't see it, so I'm not afraid of embarrassment. The road surface was smooth, the car was stable, and he stepped easily, so he asked, "Are you uncomfortable?"

"Hmm......," she replied, sickly.

"Bear with me, I'll be at the hospital right away. He stepped faster, and the car whirred.

The fourth sister's face leaned weakly against his broad back, and when she was really sick, he hurriedly took her to the Mulberry Town Hospital. Although he was cold and indifferent to her, he was afraid that she would be sick and even more afraid that she would die. He was honest and didn't notice her intentions in the slightest. She asked, "How much will our dad give you?"

"Five. He gasped softly and said without thinking.

"What if I don't have enough money to prescribe medicine?" she asked.

"Then ......," he paused slightly, "our dad said that five yuan is enough for a general headache and brain fever." Our dad said that if you are in trouble and you need to see it again, then he will give us ......."

"What if I can't finish it?" the fourth sister asked tentatively, "Do you want to give the rest of the eight cents to our father?"

"Of course...... Supposedly, it should be handed over to the elderly. He said, "There are many adults in our house, and there are no rules." Ask the old man for the time, and hand over the rest after spending. ”

"Does our dad still check the cost of the medicine?" she asked defiantly.

He was silent. It seems that only then did he realize that the off-string voice in her question contained some irony, some mockery, and some disrespect to his Lao Tzu, and he did not answer.

She didn't ask, thinking about how to make the most of the five tickets in his pocket, and it would be a pity if she spent a large part of them on pills and noodles that she didn't need. The county hospital is not the medical station of the Lujiabao Brigade, and every pill has to be counted.

On the market day of Mulberry Town, the streets were crowded with men and women, and she jumped out of the car and helped him to squeeze in the human nest. Walking to the entrance of the hospital, she grabbed his car and said, "Eat first, I'm hungry." He said, "After seeing the doctor, stop eating, and if it's late, I'm afraid I won't be able to register," she said stubbornly, "It doesn't matter." Eat something first. Helplessly, he turned his bike around.

She finally glanced at a state-run cafeteria, and when she walked in the doorway, her stomach jerked and her heart ached slightly—she saw the dumplings. In a large porcelain plate, piled up with a mountain of dumplings, purple slivers, fluttering as the waiter grabbed them, she felt that she could eat the mountain of dumplings. The dumplings are pressed with buckwheat noodles, and buckwheat is a product of the hometown in northern Shaanxi, and when you are at home, you can always eat a meal during the New Year's Festival. Guanzhong does not produce buckwheat, and it has just become a commodity meal in the canteen. On a hot day, how comfortable it should be to eat a bowl of cold dumplings!

He bought two bowls, put them on the table, and earnestly urged her to eat them.

She mixed the vinegar a lot, and the cold dumplings rolled from the smoking throat into the churning stomach, and she choked and burped, and then she raised her head, and looked at him embarrassedly, and she realized that he had not eaten it herself, and held a piece of dry and exploding bun in his hand, nibbling and watching her eat. She stopped her chopsticks and stared into his eyes tightly: "Why don't you eat dumplings?"

He smiled apologetically and said, "I...... Just eat the buns!"

She was apprehensive, he only bought her two bowls, and nibbled on the dried buns himself, wanting to save a few dollars. She moved in her heart, and then became angry, snatched the bun from his hand, stuffed it into a cloth bag, pushed the bowl of dumplings in front of him, and looked at him fiercely until he picked up the bowl, lifted the chopsticks, and smiled and lowered his head to eat.

She saw that he was eating very deliciously and was very greedy, and a bowl of dumplings was picked up with chopsticks only three or five times. She held out her hand and said unequivocally, "Give me the money." Without saying a word, he took the money out of his pocket and handed it to her.

She took the neatly folded whole ticket and the loose ticket, turned around and walked to the ticket window, bought four more bowls at once, piled them on the table, and said to his frightened eyes, "You eat, I will eat too." ”

He whispered, "What if I don't have enough to see a doctor?"

"I'll talk about it when I'm full. She ate her heartily.

She ate three bowls of dumplings, and it seemed that she could fit three bowls in her stomach. She didn't buy any more, leaving room for something else she had been longing for. She walked ahead, and he followed her with his bicycle. She stopped in front of a cart selling tomatoes, asked for the price, repaid the price, bought three catties, put them in a canvas bag, and waited for them not to be washed with water, but wiped them with a handkerchief, and ate them. She stuffed two of them, and he ate them with doubts in his eyes. Until she stopped in front of a watermelon stall and spent eight cents to buy a whole watermelon, he was so frightened that he almost cried: "What should I do if I see a doctor, the money is spent......" She said: "I have a way, you are in a hurry, eat the melon first......"

She and he squatted at the small table on the melon stand, divided five by two, and ate a watermelon.

She was full, her whole body regained her strength, she was satisfied, and she dreamed of eating apricots, peaches, and watermelons many times, and when she woke up, she had a piece of saliva on her pillow. Looking at him depressed, she felt that he was too stupid, pitifully stupid and hateful. Walking to the door of the hospital again, he muttered, "The cost of medicine is definitely not enough!"

"Forget it!" she said.

He turned his head, his eyes wide in disbelief.

"My illness...... "Great!" she said with a smile, "Watermelons and dumplings are better than medicine!"

He probably only understood now that he had fallen into her trap, and suddenly he lost his strength, so he squatted down under the locust tree next to the entrance of the hospital, sighed deeply, and lowered his head a little angrily.

She also wanted to take a break, so she sat down on the ground, looked at him with a bitter look, and whispered: "What should I do?

He didn't care about her sarcasm, but asked, "Are you really not sick?"

"Now...... I have no money to see if I am sick. She said teasingly, "How do you want to pay the account when you go back?"

He bowed his head and remained silent again.

"So—" she said, "you have nothing to do." These five yuan are considered to be borrowed from my father, you tell him, I will pay him back sooner or later. ”

"No, no, no—" he smiled awkwardly, "that's not what I said!"

"Jianfeng—" she whispered, "I'm telling the truth, not joking you." I dare to spend five dollars today, I can't stand it! You know, I've had it for three or four months. I don't know, I have this thing in my stomach, and my mouth is ...... hungry."

"You should have said it earlier," Jianfeng said, .......

"What did you say? You don't know, our mother doesn't know?" she said, "but I can't even ......" she couldn't go on, and she was so aggrieved that she wanted to cry. Looking at the crowded men and women on the street, she held back her tears and said, "If you don't think for me, you should think for your own offspring." If I give birth to a skinny monkey, you'll regret it!"

Jian Feng lowered his head and sighed softly.

"I conceived a doll for you, and no one asked me. I'm so sick that I can't eat, your mom doesn't care, and you don't care. The fourth sister said angrily, "The old sow raised by your father is pregnant with a pig baby, and he feeds and drinks water three days a day, tickles and catches lice...... I'm not even as good as a sow!"

"Fourth sister, you listen to me-" Jianfeng was anxious, and hurriedly explained, "I really don't have a penny, and I can't use it if I have the heart, so let's talk about it...... I don't know what to do. ”

"No money, no money, there should be a sentence, right?" the fourth sister did not accept his explanation, "Your father is so feudal that you are not even allowed to say a word to me?"

Jianfeng lowered his head again, sighed uncomfortably, sulked for a long time, and said euphemistically: "Our dad has a bad temper, a cold face, and a big family law, and I can't do it, but you can slowly know, our dad has a good heart, and told me yesterday that there is money left for medical treatment, and asked me to buy you something to eat." Our dad said that there are many adults in the house, so it's not good for you to drink and eat, so take advantage of this time to see a doctor, and buy whatever you want......"

"Ho! how generous!" the fourth sister sneered, "Just give me five yuan, if you really want to see a doctor, how many cents can you have left?"

"Our family...... Alas, there is no money!" Jianfeng said, "The grain was sold for 500 yuan, and all the debts were paid off to relatives, and it was a bad debt for me to marry you......"

"Poor or rich, anyway, I've been in your gatehouse for almost half a year, and I spent five yuan for the first time today. The fourth sister said lightly, "You tell the old man that the money I spent indiscriminately today is counted as what I borrowed, and I will return it to him in the future." That's it—you're going to have to pay the bill!"