A young boy from the 1970s, separated from his family, fled famine and led his younger brother into

Su Nianci washed the ink off her face, finished the bowl of porridge that Banxia had brought her, and tidied up the things in the study.

The diagrams and her father's prescriptions were locked in the drawer, and the transcribed notebook was placed on the table, to be closed after it dried.

At ten o'clock in the morning, she moved a small stool and sat in the courtyard. On the stone table in front of her, there was a clean white cloth, on which six kinds of medicinal herbs were neatly arranged.

Astragalus, Codonopsis, Atractylodes macrocephala, Poria cocos, Angelica sinensis, and Glycyrrhiza uralensis.

Each ingredient was freshly taken from the medicine cabinet yesterday, with the cut side facing up, and its color and shape were in their best possible condition for identification.

Banxia appeared out of nowhere, her hands still covered in mud from digging in the flowerbed, and plopped down on the small stool next to Su Nianci.

"Mom, what are you doing?"

"Organizing medicinal herbs."

"Can I help you?"

Su Nianci glanced at her, then reached out and turned her muddy hands over to examine them.

"Go wash your hands first."

Banxia ran to the tap and washed herself thoroughly. When she came back, her hands were still wet, and she splashed water all over Su Nianci's face.

Su Nianci took a towel and wiped her hands, then pulled them above the stone table.

"Look at these six things, which one do you recognize?"

Banxia lay on the edge of the table, turning her little head from side to side.

"this!"

Her finger poked at the astragalus root.

"The one you showed my brother yesterday smelled like beans!"

Su Nianci nodded.

"What about this one over there?"

She was referring to Codonopsis pilosula.

Banxia tilted her head and looked at it for a while, then reached out, picked it up, brought it to her nose, and took a deep breath.

"It's sweet!"

Su Nianci raised an eyebrow.

"Good, you have a good memory."

Banxia sat up straighter after being praised, her eyes shining brightly.

"What about this one?"

Su Nianci pointed to Bai Zhu.

Banxia picked it up, smelled it, and wrinkled her little nose, thinking for a long time.

"This smells like, like—"

She took another deep sniff.

"Like Dad's smelly socks."

Su Nianci's hand holding the water glass wobbled, and two drops of water splashed onto the tablecloth.

She lowered her head, her shoulders trembling several times as she suppressed her smile.

"The atractylodes smells a little earthy, not like your dad's socks."

"But the taste is so similar!"

"It doesn't look like it."

"It looks like it!"

Hoshino poked his head out of the house, holding a small notebook and a pencil, and sat down at the table.

He opened his notebook and carefully wrote another line below what he had written yesterday: "Astragalus = bean flavor".

Su Nianci leaned over and took a look.

"Codonopsis pilosula = sweet. Atractylodes macrocephala = dad's socks."

Su Nianci's forehead twitched.

"Hoshino, cross out the last two words."

Hoshino looked up at her, his face completely innocent.

"My sister said so."

"Why are you remembering what your sister said? To remember the properties of the medicine."

Hoshino thought for a moment, then crossed out "dad's socks" and changed it to "rustic".

Su Nianci reluctantly accepted the revision.

She continued teaching.

"This is Poria cocos. It feels hard to the touch, and when you break it open, the inside is white. It has almost no smell."

Banxia picked up the Poria cocos and weighed it in her hand.

"It's so heavy."

"Poria cocos grows under the roots of pine trees, absorbing nutrients from the pine trees, which is why it grows so densely."

What is density?

"For objects of the same size, the heavier they are, the greater their density."

Banxia's eyes darted around, looking at the Poria cocos in her hand and then at the Astragalus membranaceus beside her.

"Is Poria cocos fatter than Astragalus membranaceus?"

Su Nianci's lips curved into a smile.

"That's one way to understand it."

Banxia nodded in satisfaction and put the Poria back on the table.

When the fifth ingredient, Angelica sinensis, was being taught, footsteps were heard at the courtyard gate.

Lu Xingzhou returned from outside carrying a bag of vegetables. His cloth shoes were covered in mud. He held two bunches of greens in his left hand and a fish in his right.

When Banxia saw him, she immediately jumped up from the bench, grabbed a medicinal herb, and rushed over.

"Dad! Smell this, does it smell like your socks?"

Lu Xingzhou paused for a moment while holding the fish.

He glanced down at the white atractylodes stick Banxia was holding, then looked at Su Nianci, whose shoulders were trembling, and Xingye, who was desperately trying to suppress his laughter.

His expression darkened for a moment.

"Su Banxia".

"Um?"

"lay down."

"Take a sniff first!"

"Put it down and go back to your seat."

Banxia pouted as she took the white atractylodes back, glancing at her father several times as she went.

Lu Xingzhou carried the fish into the kitchen, the fish's tail flicking out water droplets that landed on the door frame.

Su Nianci finally burst out laughing in the courtyard.

Hoshino added another line to the notebook, writing it even more neatly than before.

"Dad doesn't like atractylodes."

Afternoon classes continued.

Su Nianci explained the names, smells, effects, and basic combination logic of the six medicinal herbs to the two children.

Banxia listened attentively, but her mind kept wandering in strange directions.

"Mom, will Poria cocos and Astragalus membranaceus react with each other if they're put together?"

"No, they're a great pair; one replenishes qi and the other promotes urination, they work together very well."

"What about angelica root? Who does angelica root pair well with?"

"Angelica sinensis goes well with many herbs. It nourishes the blood, and when combined with astragalus, it is called Angelica sinensis blood-nourishing soup."

Banxia thought for a moment, then asked another question.

"Is there any medicine that makes you unable to get along with anyone?"

Su Nianci looked at her, and was stunned for a moment.

"Yes, there are some incompatibilities in traditional Chinese medicine. Some medicines, when put together, will reduce their efficacy or even produce toxicity. This is called the 'Eighteen Incompatibilities and Nineteen Antagonisms'."

Banxia's eyes were wide open.

"Can medicines argue?"

Su Nianci smiled.

"You could say that."

Hoshino scribbled down the "Eighteen Antidotes and Nineteen Inhibitors" in his notebook, drawing two circles next to them and a lightning bolt in the middle.

As the sun began to set, Su Nianci put away the medicinal herbs and took her two children to the kitchen to wash their hands.

When trying to put her child to sleep at night, Banxia tossed and turned, refusing to close her eyes.

Su Nianci tucked the blanket in three times and pressed down on her shoulders.

"Stop flipping through the pages, go to sleep."

Banxia burrowed around in the blanket a couple of times, turned to her side, her big black eyes rolling around on the pillow, and opened her mouth.

"Mother."

"Um?"

Did your mother teach you to smell medicine?

Su Nianci's hand stopped on the corner of the blanket.

Her smile remained unchanged, hanging at the corners of her mouth, but something flashed in her eyes so quickly that even Banxia couldn't catch it.

"No, my mother's mother passed away very early."

Banxia frowned slightly.

"Who taught you that?"

Su Nianci pulled her hand back from the corner of the blanket, placed it on her knee, and rubbed her thumb against the knuckle of her index finger.

"Mom learned it herself."

Banxia gave an "oh," then turned over and wrapped herself in the blanket, leaving only the top of her head sticking out.

She closed her eyes and mumbled something.

"Then I'll teach my daughter from now on."

His voice was muffled and sleepy, and he fell silent after speaking.

My breathing gradually became even.

Su Nianci sat on the edge of the bed, her hands on her knees, looking at Banxia's peaceful sleeping face.

A thin ray of moonlight peeked through the gap in the curtains and landed right on Banxia's brow.

Su Nianci's lips moved slightly, but she didn't make a sound.

She lowered her head and maintained that smile for a long time, until the muscles at the corners of her mouth started to ache.

Then she stood up, tucked Banxia's foot back under the covers, and bent down to gently touch her forehead.

"it is good."

Only she could hear the sound.

"You teach your daughter."