"Dad, I can't finish this. If you don't mind, you can have the rest of my noodles!" Bai Xue couldn't finish half of her meal because the original Bai Xue had a small appetite, and the noodles were plenty.
"I don't mind, just pour it into Dad's bowl!" Bai Daliang was still eating his own. He could actually sit up, but the doctor advised against it due to the concussion, so he had to lie on his side and eat awkwardly. Nevertheless, it didn't seem to dampen the deliciousness of the noodles.
But in these times, who would mind leftover food? Unless it fell into the dirt and was truly inedible, there was no reason to refuse white noodles.
Bai Xue poured half of her lunchbox's noodles into Bai Daliang's bowl and waited a moment until both An Quanzi and Bai Daliang finished their noodles, then took the lunchbox to wash it.
On the way back, she took out an old-fashioned paper-wrapped candy from the supermarket.
"Uncle Quanzi, take this candy back and give it to Sister Liangliang and the other two!" Returning to the ward, she handed the candy to Quanzi.
There weren't many, just six pieces. Each person could get about two. At that time, a piece of candy was worth a penny, and she didn't dare take out more. But to thank Uncle Quanzi for helping bring her dad to the clinic, it was not too much to give some candy.
"No, no, give them to Little Yun and Little Chuan when you return! Uncle can't take them!" An Quanzi waved his hand, refusing to accept them.
Having eaten a large lunchbox of their noodles and taking their candy was truly too much, and feeling his full belly, he couldn't bear to accept them.
Bai Xue, seeing people like this, sighed in her heart, feeling that most people from this era were still quite simple and honest.
"Uncle Quanzi, I bought separate ones for my siblings. This is for Sister Liangliang and Mingming's group. Just take it back for them. It's indeed a bit difficult these days, but it's just a few candies, don't be picky, Uncle!" Bai Xue insisted, forcing the candy into An Quanzi's hands.
With it said this way, An Quanzi could no longer refuse, so he accepted the candy and carefully put it in his cotton coat pocket.
"Alright, then Uncle will take it to them! You take good care of your dad! Uncle will return the ox cart. Your second uncle should come over later, and he will relay the message back. When your dad is discharged, Uncle will come to pick you up!"
"Alright! Uncle, take it slow on your way back! I'm here with Dad, don't worry! Please help tell Mom that Dad is fine and will be home in a few days!" Bai Xue, playing the role of a little adult, hosted him.
"Quanzi, when you return, ask the younger brothers and sisters to check on your sister-in-law. She just gave birth to two kids, and then this happened. She can't even rest properly in confinement... sigh..." Bai Daliang lay on the bed, sighing and groaning.
"Don't worry, Daliang. You focus on recovering; don't worry about home! I'll be going now!" An Quanzi said, putting on his heavy Lei Feng hat, and left.
Bai Daliang continued to look at the door, sighing and groaning.
"Dad, you should sleep for a while! Sleeping will help your wound heal faster. When your concussion is less severe, we can go home to recuperate. We have the grain you brought back this morning, and I have hidden some white sugar and two eggs. Mom and my siblings will be fine!" Bai Xue comforted him.
"Dad is fine, Xiao Xue, you should rest for a bit too!" Bai Daliang, being a man of few words, found it hard to express his emotions.
"Alright, Dad, just sleep. Don't worry about me!"
The winter sun set early. Bai Xue looked outside, estimating it was around three o'clock, and guessed that her second uncle should be arriving soon. She needed to find a chance to prepare fifty pounds of yellow millet for Uncle Wang, scheduled for after dark, which wasn't too far off.
The black market price for fine grains was one yuan and fifty cents. She needed cash now, so she could only offer fine grains; yellow millet wasn't considered genuine fine grain to her anyway.
Bai Xue accompanied Bai Daliang for a while, and when he fell asleep, she quietly got up and went outside.
She still needed to order food at the clinic's cafeteria. They didn't mind skipping dinner, but her second uncle had traveled a long way, was cold and hungry, and with it getting dark soon, he surely needed to stay overnight, so she had to prepare food for him.
Honestly, comparing the behavior of her third uncle to her second uncle, she felt a sense of duty to treat her second uncle right.
When Bai Xue arrived at the clinic's cafeteria, there were a few people ordering meals in groups of three or two.
"Comrade, I want to order meals for three people!" Bai Xue approached and spoke to a young man working in the cafeteria.
"Two Liang (a weight measure) of meal coupons per person for twenty cents!" the young man replied, neither warmly nor coldly.
Bai Xue was taken aback. Was a meal coupon required even in the cafeteria? She only had two and a half yuan with no coupons whatsoever.
"Comrade, is it impossible to order meals without meal coupons?" Bai Xue asked cautiously.
"You can, but you'd have to provide your own grains. You can get a dish without meal coupons; a bowl costs fifty cents!"
Bai Xue looked at a large bowl meant for holding a dish, and it was indeed quite ample for three people.
"What dishes are available?" Initially, she had intended to order a meal.
"Tonight's dish is cabbage stewed with potatoes!" The canteen worker was getting impatient.
Bai Xue froze again. Was that the only dish? She had wanted to order more variety.
Seeing the worker's poor expression, she decided not to ask further and quietly backed out.
She needed to take out some more grain and have it sent to the cafeteria to be prepared, buy some dishes for the three of them to eat at night - the State-Owned Restaurant couldn't be visited again, as the chef had already spotted her taking out white noodles at noon. She didn't want to be too conspicuous.
Judging by the cafeteria worker, an adult eats two Liang of rice per meal. She had cooked before, but hadn't accurately measured how much rice was needed per meal. So she decided to follow what they said - two Liang per adult, sure she'd leave some leftovers, so she measured half a pound of rice from her supermarket space and took it out wrapped in a coat fabric bag.
Holding half a pound of sorghum rice in her hand, she dared not take out the fine grains and could only use sorghum instead.
If she got the chance, she should make some more bags for future use; the coat fabric bag looked like something not available in this era.
Bai Xue turned back and said, "Comrade, here's half a pound of sorghum rice. I'd like to buy a dish as well!" handing over the sorghum and fifty cents to the worker.
"Sure, come back in an hour!" The young worker said before turning back to what he was busy with.
After delivering the grain, Bai Xue returned to the ward. Aside from Bai Daliang, no one else was there, so she comfortably lay down on another hospital bed, closed her eyes, and let her consciousness enter the supermarket. After measuring fifty pounds of yellow millet, she realized she couldn't carry such a heavy load.
"What's going on? How can I fix this?" Bai Xue unconsciously murmured.
The next moment, she found her physical self standing in the supermarket, frightened, and quickly yelled to get out, immediately returning to the lying position in the ward.
She then realized that after entering the supermarket with her consciousness, she couldn't do much and couldn't stay too long. If she wanted to move heavy items, her physical self had to enter.
Just as she was about to get up and leave, her second uncle appeared at the door, covered in frost.
"Second uncle..." Bai Xue quickly stood up to greet him.
"Is your dad alright?" Bai Dajiang didn't have time to take off his hat and warm up before asking.
"My dad's fine now. The back of his head needed a few stitches. He just finished his IV drip and fell asleep."
"That's good, that's good!" Bai Dajiang said, entering the room.