After talking to Aunt Liu for a while, Dali led Tie Jun into the corridor, opened the window, and the two of them sat on the stairs and smoked.
Tie Jun tilted his head and glanced at the thin monkey beside him, and asked: "Dali, why are you so thin?"
He vigorously blew out a smoke ring and said with a wry smile: "Brother, it's already a miracle that I'm alive!"
"Miracle?"
"Well, my family is the fifth generation in my family. Both my parents are doctors, and they were also apprentices raised by my grandfather.
I was born in March 1970 on a farm. My mother gave birth to me prematurely while she was fetching water from the well.
By the time someone found us, my mother had already passed away, bleeding profusely, and I was also dying.
My father later told me that when my mother died, she was lying on her side with her arms around me and I was in my mother's coat.
You should know better than me how difficult the conditions were in that era.
I was born prematurely, and my body's resistance is very poor. In addition, spring had just begun and it was quite cold. I was frozen for an hour.
According to my dad, he basically watched me vent my anger. There was no medicine, no medical equipment, no milk, and I still had a high fever.
People who have studied medicine are more calm than normal people when facing death. My father was the same. He calmly found a hillside and buried my mother.
My godfather, Shuanzi's father, is a physician. He nursed me for the whole night. Although the fever went away, he said I had pneumonia.
For a premature baby like me, even in a hospital with an oxygen tank, it would be difficult to survive pneumonia, let alone on a farm.
Therefore, in my father's eyes, I am just a brat who follows my mother's butt, and I just lack a small hole to bury my body.
So, my dad picked up a shovel and dug another small hole next to my mom's grave. When he came back, my godfather and I disappeared together."
"Your godfather took you to the hospital?"
Seeing Dali stop taking a puff of cigarette, Tie Jun couldn't help but ask.
"That's right, he took me to find my godmother.
The godmother was a nurse. She had just given birth to an embolus at that time, and she was in confinement at his grandma's house, which was a village near the farm.
Just like that, with the help of the two medicine boxes brought by my godmother, my godfather's medical skills, and my godmother's milk, I miraculously transformed from an imp to a human.
Shuanzi and I competed for my godmother's milk until we were three years old, and then we left the farm together.
My godfather and his family returned to Beijing, and my father took me to Tangshan Hospital."
"Why not Beijing? Where is your grandfather?"
"My grandpa was in Guangdong at that time and went to Tangshan Hospital because my grandpa was the director and relied on many connections to make it happen.
A few years later, in the summer of 1976, a major earthquake shocked the world.
I was 6 years old at that time, and I was as frighteningly thin as I am now. Because of this, I miraculously survived again.
I was particularly impressed. My dad had three surgeries on the first day, and the last one was done at around 11 o'clock at night.
That day my dad took me with him, and I fell asleep in his office. When he returned to the office after the operation, I heard the door ring and woke up.
When my dad saw that I was awake, he squatted beside the bed and discussed with me. He said that his back hurt and he couldn't go back at night, so he could just stay in the hospital for one night.
I was anxious at that time, because that afternoon, when my grandpa took me to the hospital, my grandma said that the chickens would be killed at night.
So I used my special move and started hitting the wall. Our family was most afraid of my move because my small body was too weak.
Alas, now that I think about it, I am really nothing!"
Da Li shook his thin arms and took another cigarette. Tie Jun put his arm around his shoulders.
"When my dad saw me like this, he immediately told me to go home and asked me to wait for a while while he went to the inpatient department to give the nurse a few words.
More than half an hour passed when he came back again. I was so impatient that when I got angry, I smashed up his office.
When my dad came back, he didn’t say anything and took out two pieces of prawn cakes from his pocket. I was immediately happy.
That was given to me by my Aunt Tang Guo, who is the head nurse of my dad's department, a widow, and has been secretly having sex with my dad for two years."
"not married?"
"No, because I don't want to do it, alas..."
Dali let out a long sigh.
Seeing him lowering his head and smoking as vigorously as a little old man, Tie Jun's heart tightened.
"Seeing that I was happy, my dad turned around and cleaned up the house, took my hand and went downstairs.
It was surprisingly hot that night. It was already midnight, and Cicada kept screaming. Even when I took a breath, my lungs felt hot.
My dad pushed the bike out of the bike shed and put me on the back seat. I heard my dad say something.
He had frequent surgeries and had problems with his entire spine. I was just about to ask my dad if he was okay when Aunt Tang's voice came.
My dad and I turned back together, and Aunt Tang ran over carrying a small basket covered with a floral cloth.
Aunt Tang teased me for a while and then told my dad that her mother had sent eggs in the afternoon and asked my dad to bring them to my grandma.
My dad looked at me first, and as soon as those two pieces of candy entered my mouth, I naturally smiled happily, and then my dad took the basket and stuffed it into my hand."
"Haha, you must have made things difficult for them before, right?"
"Yeah, I just dropped the egg twice, otherwise my dad wouldn't be so careful.
Now that I think about it, people seem to be very abnormal before something happens. Aunt Tang and my dad looked at each other that day and didn't say anything. I was too embarrassed to rush them.
When we got out of the yard and turned the corner, I looked back and saw Aunt Tang crying. I felt quite uncomfortable at the time.
My grandma's house is a bit far from the hospital. It takes more than half an hour to cross two small bridges and ride a bicycle.
Along the way, chickens, ducks, cats and dogs were all barking, and my dad was muttering in front of him, saying something was going to happen.
All I could think about was the chicken stewed by my grandma. I only urged him to ride faster and even complained that he shouldn't take me on duty.
When I got home, my grandma's big yellow dog was scratching at the door. I picked up the door latch and entered the yard. The big yellow dog pulled my trouser leg out.
I jumped out of the car, kicked the big yellow dog twice, gave the basket to my dad, and ran into the kitchen. There was a big bowl of chicken under the screen.
I ate the whole bowl and drank a ladle of cold water. Then I entered the house and saw my dad asleep with the basket on the table.
I stuffed the basket under the bed, got in, and fell asleep soon after. It must have been around 1 o'clock in the middle of the night.
When we were sleeping most soundly, there was an earthquake. When I woke up, the house was shaking violently. My dad woke up first and stood in front of the bed with his bare feet.
It was still dark, and the room was dark. I vaguely saw my dad, his face turned to me, and he yelled: 'Hit it to your head!'
Then, the house collapsed, and the moment the bed board turned up, I saw my dad carrying the bed board in the air and rushing towards me.
I quickly raised my face, and the egg basket suddenly hit me. My father and the bed board were tilted above my head, and then I didn’t know anything."
Dali shivered again and was about to take a cigarette, but Tie Jun grabbed it and hugged Dali's shoulders tightly.