Chapter 56: Breaking Out in Smallpox

  Today is Friday, Xiaoxiao calls it Black Friday. Because this morning's third and fourth periods are Chinese classes, the Chinese teacher always schedules writing lessons for these periods. In the third period, she explains how to write, and in the fourth period, we have to finish writing in class. The work must be handed in before school ends. Most people in our class complain about this rule, especially the boys.

  The third lesson began, and the language teacher said: "Classmates, today's composition topic is a semi-open format, an event of xx, which can be chosen as exciting, interesting, unforgettable, sad, etc. Of course, we first let each student think about it, then ask students to fill in the blanks and talk about their own examples. Okay, for the next ten minutes, everyone closes their eyes, relaxes their body and mind, and recalls like releasing something?"

  Everyone chimed in, "Like watching a movie." Although everyone didn't like composition class, they couldn't slack off during composition class after all, since the composition section took up a big chunk of points on the language exam. "Alright, now students can start, and afterwards discuss with your surrounding classmates, I'll ask some students to share their thoughts."

  Everyone closed their eyes, some people accidentally drifted away, while others were scratching their ears and thinking deeply. But those who seemed confident like Xuan Yuan, Ya Ya, and Shao Bing were not many. When classmates discussed the time, everyone seemed lively and intense, as if they had endless things to say. However, when the teacher asked for volunteers, there was no one.

  The teacher called on several classmates who didn't write well in their usual compositions to stand up. At first, they were tongue-tied and hesitant, but later managed to say something, although it was all very embarrassing things. For example, someone mentioned a painful experience, but it turned out that they just did poorly on the mid-term exam and got scolded by their parents, causing the whole class to burst into laughter, and he himself felt embarrassed.

  After class, I asked Xiao what she was going to write. Xiao mysteriously took out something and ran over to my seat, whispering: "Don't say sisters aren't thoughtful, huh? Here's the latest synchronized composition, with examples on it. Take a look, there are five or six articles."

  "I pointed at her and said, 'No wonder your compositions have been praised by the teacher recently. It turns out that you have this kind of protection. However, you can't always rely on it, it's better to read more primary school student composition collections. Let me take a look, the first one, an interesting thing? Ah, getting a rash? You can't write about this, it's too fake. The second one, pulling teeth? How are these all like this. Can you learn from them?"

  Xiao Xiao laughed and said: "Who says I want to write about acne? This article is still left for Lin Lili to learn from, she didn't have acne at home for a week last time, did you? You even sent her a gift then. If it were me, I wouldn't go, she deserved it. As for tooth extraction, I can write about it, last time one of my teeth hadn't fallen out yet, and the other had already grown out a bit, I was in so much pain, so my mom took me to People's Hospital to have it extracted."

  "Oh, how was I supposed to know?" Xiaoxiao rolled her eyes and pretended to cry, saying: "I'm heartbroken, and you don't even care about me." "Okay, okay, don't cry. Isn't it enough that I'll treat you to Wangji's duck blood noodles this afternoon?" "Yes, and I also want a bag of spicy strips." "Get out, you just take advantage of me whenever you can."

  When it comes to getting chickenpox, I never had it until I graduated from college. It's said that this disease is usually only contracted by elementary school students, and adults generally won't get it. Chickenpox is like wisdom teeth and appendicitis - not everyone will have them, it depends on luck.

  Lin Lilili had chickenpox last time, and none of her friends were willing to take care of her, so I took the initiative to send her some food. At that time, her mother was cooking in the kitchen, and she asked me to sit down and have a snack. Out of politeness, I could only sit on the chair in the hall. Lin Lilili was in her room, and all I heard was her saying angrily: "Nan Xixi, thank you. You don't know how painful it is to get chickenpox. It's so itchy that you can't scratch, or else you'll become a pockmarked person. And you can't blow your nose, watch TV, or do anything except lie down and eat some light porridge. You can't even have any spicy food..."

  After complaining with me for a while, suddenly, I heard a thud from her room. She cried out: "It hurts so much, Nan Xixi, come and help me, I fell off the bed and can't move my legs." I didn't want to go in at first, after all, we weren't close friends, but she sounded so pitiful that she started crying. I had no choice but to go in and help her up, and then called out for her mom. Her mom kept thanking me, and Lin Lilili even said a rare "thank you". It turned out that she had been sitting for too long and got numb legs.

  On Saturday afternoon, I suddenly felt itchy in my stomach. When I touched it, I found several pimples had grown. As I have a constitution that is prone to allergies, I shouted: "Mom, I think I'm allergic again, get some medicine for me to apply."

  Mom told me to go to the balcony first, and she would come over later to help me apply some ointment. I lifted up my thin clothes, and mom applied the ointment under the sunlight while saying: "Baby, this time the allergy is different from the acne before, it's shiny, you need to be careful not to scratch it, or it will break and get infected with bacteria."

  At this time, grandma went to the balcony to fetch something and saw it. She said: "Wait a minute, let me take a look. How does it look like chickenpox?" Grandma fetched her old flower glasses and took a closer look. She said: "Daughter, this is indeed chickenpox! When did you discover it? Did you have a fever?"

  I replied truthfully: "It seems like I had it just last night, so I shouldn't have a fever, but I feel a bit itchy."

  "Daughter, please take the afternoon off and bring Yaotou to the hospital for a check-up. This chickenpox is not something to be taken lightly, we used to die from it back then, but now there's medicine that can cure it. However, we still need to be careful and prevent high fever, or else it'll damage her brain. Also, right now it's just on her belly, but soon it will spread to her face, so she mustn't scratch randomly, or our lovely Yaotou will become pockmarked. Fortunately, this period won't last long, at most half a month."

  My mom took me to the hospital in the afternoon, lined up for registration, went to the dermatology department, a kind old doctor looked at the acne on my belly, touched my head and said: "It's okay, this is the early stage of water pox, I'll prescribe some medicine, two are oral, two are topical, it will be fine in about a week or so. Little girl, pay attention, don't scratch randomly, otherwise it will become smallpox."

  Mom was a bit worried and said, "Doctor, our baby is in sixth grade now, and it's almost time for the junior high school entrance exam. Is this more than a week too long? Is there any way to shorten the time so as not to delay classes?"

  "It's actually possible to suppress it with an IV, but I don't recommend doing that, after all, this chickenpox is for expelling toxins from the body."

  I pulled on my mom's sleeve and whispered: "Mom, going to school while sick isn't good either, but in just over a week, trust me, I'll catch up, after all, my grades are among the top in class too."

  Mom said, "I'm worried about you, I didn't expect you to be ungrateful. Never mind, just rest at home and take care of yourself. Mom still believes in you, but that mom doesn't take this promotion exam seriously."

  I smiled and said, "Yes, yes, I'll work hard. And thank you, Grandpa." The old man chuckled and said, "Not only is the little girl's smile sweet, but her mouth is also sweet, hehehe."

  I stayed at home for eight whole days, became an isolated person, and couldn't contact my cousin. Of course, I didn't have any entertainment either, because I couldn't watch TV, listen to music, or even blow air, it was like being in prison! Even on the bed, it's best to sleep, if you really can't sleep, you can only sit for a while, and you can't eat delicious food. From the bottom of my heart, I longed for these days to end soon.

  On the sixth day, Xiaoxiao, Shu Gege, Xuan Yuan, Shaobing, Yaya and Shu Tuantuan all came to see me. Xiaoxiao stared at my face for a long time and said, "Thank goodness, you haven't become disfigured." Everyone else was secretly laughing, I threw a pillow over and said, "Xiaoxiao, can't you say something nice?"

  Xuanyuan hugged his arms and said, "Not bad, living a pretty comfortable life." I said, "Of course." Then he came up with a sentence: "Can be compared to pigs." I was so angry that I killed him many times with my eyes.

  It's just that Shao Bao spoke a fair word, saying: "Xuanyuan, Xiao is sick, don't make her angry." Xuanyuan surprisingly didn't say a word and nodded.

  Finally, after a week, I returned to school with a healthy body and mind, it's really true that "no illness is the best blessing".

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