Seeing her swaying as if she might collapse, Li Zi’an exclaimed, “Auntie, could it be low blood sugar?”
“Come, come, come! Sit inside the shop!”
Before Lu Minggui could respond, he scooped her up like a hawk grabbing a chick, half-lifting, half-supporting her into a chair.
The old woman was thin and frail, utterly powerless to resist.
Li Zi’an then grabbed a bag of granulated white sugar from the shelf, ripped it open, poured a generous amount into a disposable cup, added hot water, stirred briskly, and set it down.
Pinching his reddened fingertips, he muttered, “Ouch, too hot, can’t drink yet.”
“Better try this!”
Though the shop didn’t sell drinks, Li Zi’an always carried soda with him, and today he had brought two bottles.
With a click, he opened one bottle of cola and practically shoved it into Lu Minggui’s hands.
“Auntie, drink this! The sugar water is hot, but this is good. Drink it first, or you’ll faint!”
Lu Minggui froze, startled by his rapid actions. She shrank into the chair like a quail.
Sugar? Was the white stuff sugar?
And the black liquid in her hands… what was that?
Her frail hand clutched the bottle tightly. She didn’t dare throw it away; the tall man was staring at her.
He also had “MSG” somewhere, but she didn’t know where.
“Drink it!” Li Zi’an urged, slightly anxious. “Why are you dithering, Auntie?”
“Don’t tell me you want to faint here to scam me?”
“Here, everything’s monitored. You won’t get anything from me!”
Lu Minggui didn’t understand what “monitored” meant, but she understood “scam.”
Quickly, she stammered, “No, no! You misunderstand, young man, I’m not trying to scam you.”
“I… I just haven’t drunk this before…”
She had never seen such a thing and hesitated. The liquid was dark and fizzy. Could it be Meng Po’s soup? Or poison?
Li Zi’an, hearing her say she’d never drunk cola, was reminded of his own grandmother.
His mother had brought him to visit his grandmother in the mountains during summer vacation. His grandmother wore a faded, blue, wrap-style jacket—somewhat like this old lady’s, though without all the patched layers.
She had been kind and gentle, but that was the last time he saw her. After that summer, she fell gravely ill and passed away.
Back then, she had said, looking at the soda he brought, “I’ve never drunk this before.”
“Grandma won’t drink it. Zi’an, you have it yourself.”
Thinking of this, Li Zi’an softened his tone: “Here, drink it. It’s sweet, and it’ll help your low blood sugar.”
Lu Minggui didn’t know what low blood sugar was, but the sweet smell alone tempted her. She reasoned that she was just a rural old woman with only two copper coins—who would bother her?
Facing his expectant gaze, she cautiously brought the bottle to her lips. Some tiny bubbles fizzed onto her mouth—it was indeed sweet!
She took a bolder sip, and a surge of sweetness filled her mouth, immediately followed by a strange, tingling heat.
“Cough! Cough!”
She couldn’t help coughing. It was sweet and spicy at the same time, like fireworks bursting in her mouth, crackling and making her tongue tingle.
When the coughing subsided, she belched involuntarily, quickly covering her mouth in shock.
Li Zi’an couldn’t help but laugh, then felt a pang of guilt.
He realized that this frail old woman, dressed in tatters, must have come from a remote mountain village—she had probably never had cola in her life, just like his grandmother.
He then brought her a disposable cup of sugar water.
“Auntie, if you don’t like cola, drink this sugar water. It works even better, and it’s not hot anymore.”
“Wait here for a moment,” he said, leaving.
Lu Minggui, unsure why he left, looked down at the cup in her hands.
It wasn’t ceramic or clay—more like thick paper, pure white.
The sugar water inside was clear; it could have been mistaken for ordinary water. She could feel its warmth through the cup and tentatively sipped it.
Sweet—so sweet! Delicious!
Sugar had been rare in her home; they had never been able to buy it.
She had drunk sugar water only once as a child, when she was three and sick, made by her mother. Later, she had drunk brown sugar water during childbirth, but white sugar water remained her favorite.
That memory was forty years ago, yet still vivid.
This young man was good-hearted, giving a stranger like her such precious sugar water.
Her heart warmed as she watched the cup gradually empty. She cherished every drop.
Just then, Li Zi’an returned with a bag of steamed buns.
“Auntie, I guess you skipped breakfast, which caused your low blood sugar. Here, take some buns to eat.”
The transparent bag held five plump, white buns, the aroma of bread and meat making her mouth water.
She hurriedly refused: “I can’t! I’ve already had your sugar water!”
“No, that’s fine, really!”
Li Zi’an waved off her protest. “Don’t worry, it’s not worth much.”
“Come on, eat! Don’t be shy!”
Each bun cost two yuan, so the bag was ten yuan in total.
Still, Lu Minggui hesitated, embarrassed at accepting so much.
Seeing her insist, Li Zi’an put the whole bag into her bamboo basket.
“Take it! Why be shy?”
“But I can’t eat all of it… it’ll go to waste.”