“Xiaodong! Xiaodong, don’t scare your mother like this! Open your eyes and look at me!”
Dong Wanqiu stared at her youngest son, who was convulsing from a dangerously high fever. Panic overwhelmed her, leaving her completely at a loss.
Lin Shengxia glanced at her painfully thin little brother curled up in their mother’s arms, then at the cracked porcelain basin in the corner. After a moment of hesitation, she decided she had to go out.
Their family had been sent down to live in this dilapidated temple. They could barely get enough food to fill their stomachs, let alone find medicine to bring down a fever.
She planned to go halfway up the mountain and fetch some cool water. Perhaps wiping her little brother down with it would help lower his temperature.
Once she made up her mind, Lin Shengxia quietly said a few words to Lin Qizheng before hurrying out through the temple’s back door and heading toward the mountain.
But something was strange today.
The moment she pushed open the back door, all she could see was a vast expanse of white. She couldn’t even make out the path ahead.
Lin Shengxia cautiously took another two steps forward.
Suddenly, the world spun around her.
The next moment, loud cries rang out beside her.
“Steamed buns! Fresh steamed buns, straight from the steamer!”
“Fresh strawberries! Sweeter than your first love! If they’re not sweet, they’re free!”
…
The calls rose and fell around her, finally snapping Lin Shengxia back to her senses.
Tentatively, she stretched out one foot and took a step forward.
The endless whiteness before her finally vanished completely, revealing a bustling and prosperous scene.
Lin Shengxia froze on the spot.
This place…
Why was this place so strange?!
She didn’t dare go any farther. Clutching the broken porcelain basin, she carefully turned around, hoping to see the white boundary again so she could return.
This place might look lively and prosperous, but everything was far too unfamiliar. Lin Shengxia couldn’t help feeling uneasy.
While her thoughts were in turmoil, she suddenly felt someone pat her shoulder.
She turned and saw the middle-aged woman who had been calling out to customers at the steamed bun shop nearby.
The woman was looking at her with sympathy. In her hand was a thin plastic bag containing seven or eight large white-flour buns, still steaming hot.
“You poor child. Why did you come out dressed like this? Here, take these buns and fill your stomach. Consider them a treat from Auntie.”
Lin Shengxia stared at the buns and swallowed involuntarily.
She desperately wanted them, but she still shook her head firmly.
“Auntie, I don’t have any money… I can’t accept something I haven’t earned. I can’t take these buns.”
She turned to leave, but the woman immediately stopped her.
“You really are a stubborn child! Can pride fill your stomach? Can it keep you from going hungry?”
Li Xiangqin didn’t know why, but the sight of the painfully thin girl before her made her heart ache. Seeing the girl dressed in rough, old-fashioned clothes only made the feeling stronger.
Lin Shengxia looked into Li Xiangqin’s persistent yet compassionate eyes. In the end, she sighed and accepted the buns, placing them inside her broken porcelain basin.
Li Xiangqin paused in surprise before asking curiously, “Why aren’t you eating them?”
“I… I want to take them home and share them with my parents and little brother. My little brother has a high fever. I came out because…”
Before she could even finish speaking, Li Xiangqin quickly packed another two trays of meat buns and placed them into her broken basin.
When she heard that Lin Shengxia’s little brother had a fever, she thought for a moment before asking, “If you need medicine, you’ll have to go to a pharmacy. Do you… have any money?”
Lin Shengxia hurriedly waved her hands.
She was about to explain that she hadn’t come out to buy medicine and only wanted to fetch some cool water.
But before she could say anything, Li Xiangqin had already grabbed her arm and started pulling her away.
“Xiao Zhang!” she called toward the bun shop. “I’m heading out for a bit. Keep an eye on the shop for me!”
Without waiting for Lin Shengxia’s response, she led her across two streets and into a pharmacy.
Lin Shengxia stared at the brightly lit shop and the countless medicines neatly arranged on the shelves.
By now, a vague realization had begun to form in her mind…
She glanced sideways at Li Xiangqin, only to see that the woman had already approached a pharmacy clerk with practiced ease. Pulling Lin Shengxia forward, she said, “Tell her your little brother’s age and symptoms. Let’s see what medicine he needs.”
Lin Shengxia didn’t dare waste any time and quickly explained Lin Handong’s condition.
After listening, the clerk frowned.
“Those convulsions were caused by the high fever. It would be best to take him to a hospital. But if you need something immediately, this is the most effective medicine we have here.”
As she spoke, she pointed toward a white box inside a refrigerated display case.
Li Xiangqin clearly recognized the medicine as well and knew the clerk wasn’t exaggerating.
She nodded. “We’ll take that one. Pack it up for me. I have medical insurance.”
Almost as soon as she finished speaking, Lin Shengxia saw her pull a small black rectangular object with a glowing screen from her pocket.
Li Xiangqin swiped across it twice, and the image on the screen instantly changed!
Lin Shengxia was still staring at it in amazement when Li Xiangqin scanned a code and completed the payment.
“Here, take it. Hurry home and give this to your little brother.”
After handing over the medicine, Li Xiangqin seemed afraid that Lin Shengxia would try to refuse her kindness again. She immediately turned around and headed back toward her bun shop, leaving Lin Shengxia no opportunity to protest.
Lin Shengxia watched her retreating figure, her eyes turning red.
But her gratitude was quickly replaced by confusion.
She had arrived here simply by opening the back door of the ruined temple.
So how was she supposed to get back?!
Just as Lin Shengxia began to worry, the hazy white boundary suddenly appeared in front of her again.
This time, she didn’t hesitate for even a second.
She quickly stepped into the white mist.
The familiar sensation of the world spinning around her struck again. When everything finally settled, she discovered in astonishment that she was standing at the back door of the ruined temple once more!
She knew this wasn’t the time to think about what had just happened.
Clutching the broken porcelain basin, she pushed open the door and rushed inside.
Dong Wanqiu’s eyes were swollen from crying.
Lin Handong had stopped convulsing, but that was hardly reassuring. He appeared to have completely lost consciousness, his limp body collapsed in Dong Wanqiu’s arms.
Lin Shengxia didn’t dare delay another moment.
Following the dosage instructions the pharmacy clerk had given her, she hurriedly put the medicine into Lin Handong’s mouth.
Then she gently pried his mouth open and carefully fed him a little warm water.
Fortunately, although Lin Handong was barely conscious, his will to survive remained strong. It was almost as though he somehow knew that what his sister had brought back could save his life.
With great effort, he swallowed everything.
Seeing this, Lin Shengxia finally released the breath she had been holding and collapsed onto the ground in relief.
Only then did Lin Qizheng and Dong Wanqiu notice that the broken porcelain basin their daughter had taken out with her was now filled with white-flour buns.
They hadn’t tasted food like this in nearly half a year.
Now, merely smelling the rich aroma made their mouths water uncontrollably.
It was their bodies’ instinctive craving for food, something they couldn’t suppress no matter how hard they tried.
Naturally, Lin Shengxia noticed her parents’ reaction.
She quickly brought the basin over and shared the meat buns with them.
After the three of them had eaten until they were no longer painfully hungry, they set aside several meat buns for Lin Handong.
Only then did Lin Qizheng finally ask, “Shengxia, where exactly did you go just now?”
There was no possibility of finding things like these in the Maisui Production Brigade.
That meant that during the short half hour their daughter had been gone, she must have encountered something extraordinary—something they knew nothing about.
Naturally, Lin Shengxia had no intention of hiding anything from her parents, so she told Lin Qizheng and Dong Wanqiu everything that had happened.
After hearing her story, Lin Qizheng picked up the white medicine box his daughter had opened earlier.
His eyes landed on the clearly printed words:
“Production Date: March 4, 2026.”
His hand trembled violently.
The box slipped from his fingers and fell to the ground.