Chapter 16.3 - 杏仁 Almond
At this moment, his phone rang. He saw it was a message from Shen Xifan, "He Suye, was I completely drunk last night? Did I babble a lot of nonsense to you? Please don't mind it."
He replied, "No, you were very quiet when drunk, just humming."
"Impossible, my mom said I was chattering non-stop on the phone last night. Where are you now?"
"I'm on the bus, coughing a bit, going home to take some medicine."
Just as he reached the entrance of the community, he saw Shen Xifan standing there shivering. He quickened his pace, suppressing a cough, "What's wrong, little girl?"
Shen Xifan looked up, her face red from the cold, "You said you were sick, so I came to visit."
He felt an inexplicable anger, "Are you an idiot? It's so cold, with your constitution, it's no wonder you're not sick. Don't you know only emergency services are available at the hospital now, not specialists? If you end up with a cold or fever during the New Year, you'll be crying!"
Scolded so unreasonably, Shen Xifan felt extremely wronged and weakly defended herself, "If I get sick, you can prescribe me some Chinese medicine. I'm not afraid of the bitterness, I'll drink it, just like alcohol, bottoms up!"
Only then did He Suye realize how harsh his tone had been, and Shen Xifan's response made his heart skip a beat. He turned his face away, slightly embarrassed, "Little girl, I spoke too hastily just now, don't be angry. Come up quickly, it's cold."
He first picked a bit of ephedra and licorice, boiled them in hot water, and after preparing, handed it to Shen Xifan, instructing her, "Drink this quickly, be careful not to catch a cold."
Shen Xifan took it, curious about the various herbs in the plastic bag, and finally picked out an almond, "He Suye, is this an almond? Can I taste it?" She popped it into her mouth.
He Suye couldn't stop her in time, watching her frown and exclaim, "It's so bitter, what a weird taste! Is this really an almond? He Suye, you're fooling me!"
He laughed, "That's a bitter almond, not the kind you find in dried goods! Glutton! Bitter almonds are used to relieve coughs and asthma, their bitterness helps to open and lower lung qi, and they also help to disperse lung qi. I have a cold cough, so I use ephedra, licorice, platycodon, and aster."
Shen Xifan could only roll her eyes, "Looks like my luck isn't starting well this year..."
While He Suye was brewing the Chinese medicine, Shen Xifan sneaked into the study. She wanted to find a few simple books on Chinese medicine to read, to avoid being laughed at for her ignorance.
She searched book by book and finally found one suitable for her—'Chinese Medicine (for Traditional Chinese Medicine majors)'. Opening it, she realized it was He Suye's undergraduate textbook, with key points highlighted and margins filled with notes. It seemed he had studied very diligently.
She flipped through the pages, "The properties of Chinese medicine, the compatibility of Chinese medicine, the dosage and usage of Chinese medicine, quite comprehensive—huh, what's this photo?"
A photo, very ordinary, a group of people, including He Suye, Li Jie, Qiu Tian, Fang Kexin, and a girl, very beautiful, someone she had never seen before, at any gathering or occasion.
But a woman's intuition told her that this girl was related to He Suye.
There were no clues, Li Jie had never mentioned her, and others also kept silent. She had long been curious why such an excellent man like He Suye didn't have a girlfriend.
Was the answer here, with this girl, someone everyone deliberately avoided, his pain.
He Suye called from the kitchen, "Little girl, your medicine is getting cold, come and drink it!"
She hurriedly closed the book, stuffed it back into the bookcase. In the kitchen, He Suye was adding water to the rice cooker, the smell of Chinese medicine wafting out, she smelled it—bitter, really bitter.
Why are there so many people in the world troubled by love, like herself, cocooning themselves, stuck in the past unwilling to turn back.
She had seen a post like this, "Some people love one person exclusively for ten years. They carve out a desolate place for him in the dark depths of their hearts. On their lonely journey, they repeat a dream. In the dream, there is the person who has flown far away and the love he once brought. They endure, bear, and also have a little joy.
But all changes happen overnight, all warmth suddenly turns to icicles, they age suddenly, close to death. When they die, they still murmur his name. This scene, this emotion, is immensely grand."
She didn't have the courage to ask about He Suye's past, just as she herself was unwilling to mention her own past to anyone. A part of her heart gradually cooled down, her heart, chillingly cold.
Why is this happening? Why does she feel heartache and sadness for He Suye? Why does she feel like crying? Why does she want to smooth out the sorrow between his brows? He always smiles faintly, but she feels it's forced.
Suddenly, she dares not hope for his kindness towards her anymore. She can't bear it, nor does she deserve it. All this happiness should belong to someone else.
She doesn't have the courage to face it.
--- Support our hard work! Donate to help maintain our website! Thank you <3 ---
