Courtyard House: Drunk and tipsy, the whole courtyard exposed at the start.

As for what medicine to take, we'd have to ask about the situation first. Zhang Dabiao didn't know anything about medicine, but he had copied the instructions into his notebook. Besides, people in later generations, after experiencing COVID-19 and various other flu viruses... generally had a pretty good idea of ​​what medicine to use for what symptoms.

Especially after the COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, the phrase doctors liked to use most often when prescribing medication was "treat the symptoms"—take cough medicine if you have a cough, clear phlegm if you have a lot of phlegm, and reduce fever if you have a fever.

Let's get the illness under control first.

"Is Mu Wanqing home?"

Knock, knock, knock—Zhang Dabiao knocked on the broken door of the Mu family's house.

A short while later, Mu Wanqing opened the door. Although it was evening, Zhang Dabiao and his two girls came to see her, and they were from the next courtyard, so no one gossiped.

"What are you doing here again?"

Zhang Dabiao was stunned for a moment. "Big sister, can you please be a little more polite?"

He didn't waste any time, rummaging through his bag for medicine: "I heard Aunt Mu is sick, she's been coughing, right?"

"I still have some medicine at home, so I brought it over to you."

"Hey, there's still half a bottle left. It's Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa, used to moisten the lungs, clear phlegm, relieve coughs, and calm asthma. One teaspoon each time, 3-5 times a day."

"This is Pu Di Lan Anti-inflammatory Tablets. Use it to reduce inflammation if you have a sore throat. The ingredients are dandelion, scutellaria, bitter violet, and isatis root. I've written the instructions on a piece of paper. You can check it against Aunt Mu's condition to see if you need to use it."

Zhang Dabiao imitated Mu Wanqing's actions when she handed over the kimchi jar, shoving half a bottle of Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa, a paper-wrapped bottle of Pu Di Lan, and the instruction manual into Mu Wanqing's hand before leaving without looking back.

Mu Wanqing was stunned: "Eh—"

"Zhang the Fool!"

Zhang Dabiao dashed off, shouting as he ran, "My name is Zhang Dabiao! I'm not an idiot!"

Mu Wanqing stood there, bewildered in the wind, unsure whether she should chase after him. What kind of situation was this?

Xu Xiaoling then explained to Mu Wanqing with a smile, "Brother Da Biao can get a lot of rare things, so don't worry about using them. These are nothing to him."

"Take this for now, and contact Brother Da Biao if you need anything. Sister Wanqing, we'll be going now."

Mu Wanqing was speechless. This wasn't a question of whether it was rare or not; it was medicine!

You're sending medicine for no reason at all, and medicine isn't food—

Who knows if it's true, or if there are any side effects?

Is he really such a fool?

------------

Mu Wanqing took the medicine back to the house. Her mother, Aunt Mu, was lying on the bed, coughing every now and then.

"Who is Wanqing?"

"That idiot Zhang Ersha from the next courtyard, and Yushui and Xiaoling."

"Zhang Er... Zhang Dabiao has brought you medicine." Mu Wanqing felt that it was a bit inappropriate to keep calling Zhang Dabiao "idiot."

"Huh?" Aunt Mu was also stunned.

Then she took the medicine and looked at it. This silly boy from the Zhang family did something so ridiculous that it was both funny and sad. Who would rush to deliver medicine so late at night?

But when Aunt Mu received the dark brown glass bottle of Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa, she was stunned.

Because this bottle of Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa is fine in a glass bottle, but it has a plastic cap, and inside there's a white gasket and an inner cap—

In this era, syrups or ointments were generally sealed with wax and capped with a metal cap, or with a wooden stopper, or at the very least, with the soft rubber tip used in hospital injection bottles.

The loquat syrup that Zhang Dabiao sent was clearly a high-end product, quite valuable, just by looking at the outer packaging.

However, the package was wrapped in paper, which should have had simple printed information about the product name, company, and main indications, but the paper only had simple color blocks and no text at all...

Moreover, the medicine had already been used; there was only half a bottle left…

Something strange was about it.

However, the paper handed over at the same time was filled with the ingredients and applicable diseases.

Aunt Mu still opened it and took a sniff. The cool yet rich and sweet scent cleared her mind considerably.

"Mom, this..."

Mu Wanqing was a little worried about whether she should eat this thing, and whether it was even safe to eat.

But her mother's cough had persisted for months, and the medicine she was taking had not helped. She didn't know what to do.

"That's the taste."

Aunt Mu said something.

"what?"

"One of my mother's former clients used this loquat syrup."

"It's a special cough syrup from Hong Kong, and the ingredients..."

"This medicine is very expensive."

The two didn't think Zhang Dabiao would send medicine to poison Aunt Mu for no reason. They didn't usually interact with each other and had no grudges against each other, so it was unlikely.

It's even less likely that they would covet their family's property; it's just a dilapidated shack, what's there to covet?

When they came to deliver the medicine, the neighbors in the courtyard saw it. Even if Zhang Dabiao was stupid, he wouldn't poison the Mu family in front of everyone.

Looking at the ingredient list on the paper, which included fritillaria cirrhosa and honey, Aunt Mu knew that this stuff was quite valuable.

For a moment, Aunt Mu didn't know whether she should use this medicine or not, because when they had a cough, they would only buy some licorice tablets, which cost just a few cents.

But this half bottle...

Just as she was thinking, Aunt Mu started coughing again, pounding her chest as she coughed, almost coughing herself to death.

Mu Wanqing gritted her teeth, grabbed a spoon, and poured a spoonful of water into her mouth: "Mom, let me try it first."

Mu Wanqing tried the medicine herself, and as soon as she drank it, she felt a cool sensation.

"Um!"

Aunt Mu asked anxiously, "Wanqing, what's wrong?"

Mu Wanqing exclaimed excitedly, "Mom, this medicine is amazing! In my throat, there's this whole line—" She pointed to the line that ran from her throat to her lungs.

"So cool and refreshing!"

Aunt Mu and Mu Wanqing waited for several minutes, but Mu Wanqing showed no signs of discomfort. In addition, Aunt Mu's cough worsened, so she took Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa directly.

Later that night, I took another type of Pu Di Lan anti-inflammatory tablet.

Both of them were surprised. It wasn't that eating it would stop their coughing—it wasn't that magical—but the frequency of their coughing visibly decreased, and Aunt Mu felt that her airway in her chest felt much more comfortable.

Tonight, Aunt Mu can finally get a good night's sleep.

However, the two were puzzled: all they did was help him report the incident to the police, so why did he go to such lengths, treating him to a meal and delivering medicine?

Mu Wanqing is 18 years old this year and will soon graduate from high school. She is a little older than Zhang Dabiao.

Neither of them ever considered that Zhang Dabiao might be lustful—that idiot was tall and strong, but he looked to be only fifteen or sixteen, with just a fuzzy stubble on his lip; he was just a naive, simple-minded boy.

But why would someone who's not related to us help us?

Aunt Mu and Mu Wanqing have met all sorts of people, and they never believe that there is any kindness in this world without a reason.

"I don't want to think about it anymore, Mom. You should rest first. Tomorrow I'll take the medicine to the pharmacy and ask how much it costs."

"I'll return it to him after I graduate and start working."

"..."

"Wanqing, are you really not going to prepare for the college entrance exam? Our family background is that of urban poor, it won't affect your college entrance exam."

"...Mom, let's talk about it later."

Because Aunt Mu's past profession was something she couldn't talk about, Mu Wanqing's classmates looked at her with prejudice from the time she started school. Some things can't be hidden just because you want to.

She really wanted to go to university, but she was afraid that once she got into university, her identity would attract even more attention.

Besides, these days people can't even afford to eat, let alone go to university.

Aunt Mu works at a sewing cooperative under the neighborhood committee. Her salary is already meager, and she's prone to getting sick every few days, especially during the autumn and winter seasons. Life at home is tough...

They could only barely survive. It took selling a lot of Aunt Mu's jewelry to barely allow Mu Wanqing to finish high school. Moreover, the family had incurred a lot of debt and faced considerable hunger due to medical treatment.

Finding a job to support the family is the most important thing.

To get into university and enter the halls of art?

Other students with good family backgrounds who study music or dance are praised for their love of art, artistic talent, beauty, and kindness; they are considered elegant.

When I went to learn it myself, my classmates said that I was just being coquettish, trying to serve men, that I was being shameless, like a daughter following in her mother's footsteps, and so on...

How do I learn it?

She could only dream about it; Mu Wanqing felt she wasn't destined for it.