Chapter 17: Breaking into the Kitchen

The assistant chef was worried. "Will the soldiers like these cacti and sweet potato leaves?"

"This..." The head chef stopped writing and looked at her doubtfully.

Su Jinhui wasn't worried at all. "Just remember how to cook. Making the food delicious is my job."

"Okay!" the chef agreed readily.

The blood-replenishing soup is easy to make, but the other dish is a bit more troublesome.

Not only the tender stems of the cactus need to be selected, but the thorns also need to be removed and sliced. The selected jellyfish heads need to be pickled in vinegar to prevent them from rotting. The two are mixed together and finally drizzled with secret garlic sauce to complete the dish.

She spent the entire morning teaching the chef only two of the dishes: kelp and oyster blood-replenishing soup and cactus jellyfish salad.

Because they were afraid that the patients would not buy it, they discussed giving the soup and dishes prepared in the morning to people who came to get food, so that they could taste it and get some feedback.

After all, the dishes were modified by Su Jinhui according to the local people's tastes. Whether the local people will accept them or not still needs to be proven through experiments.

She still sent someone to deliver lunch to Yan Li'an, while she stayed in the cafeteria.

Although it is nominally a military hospital, normally fishermen can come to the hospital for treatment as long as they have all the necessary formalities and bring a letter of introduction to prove their identity.

Even if you encounter an emergency illness, you can go through the green channel, see a doctor first and complete the procedures later. It can be said to be very humane and truly makes the military and civilians one family.

So there were men, women, young and old, military and civilians in the cafeteria. Su Jinhui selected people of different identities and ages to interview and inquire about the taste of the free dishes.

Without exception, all received positive reviews!

Su Jinhui's heart finally settled down. It seemed that she could teach the next two dishes to the chef according to the normal process.

"You are just looking down on me! Why do they have soup and vegetables to eat, but I have nothing? I don't care! If you don't give me something like that today, I won't leave!"

Looking in the direction where the sound came from, I saw a middle-aged woman in tattered clothes. She had already reached over the food window and was pointing at the chef's nose and cursing.

The waiter couldn't stand such humiliation and retorted bluntly, "You came late, who are you blaming? It's free, first come, first served. What the hell are you doing on public property? You old bitch!"

"Who are you scolding? You're calling me an old bitch! You're just a stinky rice cooker, do you really think you're that important? Come out here if you dare..."

Seeing the conflict intensify, Su Jinhui quickly strode over and said, "Alright, stop arguing. You're just making a fool of yourself, aren't you?"

"Who dares to laugh at me? Let me see who dares to laugh at me! I didn't steal or rob anything, so I'm not afraid of being seen! But you, who are you? Are you in cahoots with that stinky rice cooker?" The woman stared at her warily.

Others didn’t know Su Jinhui, but she had been staying in the kitchen most of the time recently, so the chef naturally knew her.

She immediately said, "Don't talk nonsense! She is a military family member, you can't slander her."

"I told you that you are in the same group, bah! You say that the military and civilians are one family, but in fact, we ordinary people need a letter of introduction to come here to see a doctor. You are wary of us like thieves. You talk better than you sing, so hypocritical!" The woman cursed, and her words became more and more unpleasant.

Su Jinhui understood in her heart that the person in front of her was just feeling unbalanced because he didn't get any advantage, so he staged this big drama. However, if it escalated to the level of conflict between the military and civilians, it would not be a good look.

"Sister, this letter of introduction is not for the big guys, but for those with ulterior motives! What's more, the price for ordinary people to see a doctor and get medicine here is 20% cheaper than that for military families. This money is subsidized by the state. What are you still not satisfied with?" Su Jinhui deliberately raised her voice, obviously not only for the other party to hear, but also for everyone around to hear.

The eldest sister sneered, "You sound nice, but I can't even get a bite of food after coming here, what's that?"

"Look, in the final analysis, it's just a matter of a dish and soup. Let's just deal with the matter at hand. Why escalate it into a conflict between the military and the people? How about this, I'll give you my share of the meal, and this matter can be put to rest, right?" Su Jinhui didn't want to make things difficult for the other party. As long as she could cooperate and leave, everyone would be happy.

She thought the other party was clear-headed and knew what was good and what was bad. It was not until Su Jinhui put the dishes and soup in her hands that she glared at the chef fiercely and left arrogantly.

Adhering to the principle of being a good person to the end, Su Jinhui bought the ingredients out of her own pocket and made steamed eggs for the chefs. Everyone was very grateful to her.

It was not until the evening that Su Jinhui returned to the ward with grouper glutinous rice porridge and steamed eggs with sweet potato leaves and seahorse.

As soon as he entered the door, Yan Li'an noticed that her face was full of fatigue.

Before he could ask, Su Jinhui took the initiative to speak, "The head chef said that I can use the kitchen at the back and it won't charge me!"

"Hmm?" Yan Li'an raised an eyebrow and took her hand, as if checking something. "Did you help them with the work?"

"Yes and no, they recognized my cooking skills, so I simply taught them how to make a few medicinal dishes, and the response was pretty good." Su Jinhui raised her little face proudly, but her hands did not stop moving, helping him to arrange the food.

Medicinal food?

Yan Li'an knew that not only were his recent meals prepared by her personally, but each dish was also a medicinal dish. No wonder he felt that his body had recovered much faster recently.

"Jinhui, thank you." He said sincerely.

Not only did she save his life, she also took care of him wholeheartedly. How could he not be moved?

For the next few days, Su Jinhui helped in the kitchen, leaving Yan Li'an alone in the empty room.

The medicinal food was officially put on sale online, and everyone came to get the food tacitly, and it was often sold out as soon as it was served.

The cafeteria opens at 11:00 am. Many people line up at the door at 9:00 am in order to buy medicinal food. After all, medicinal food is not only delicious but also beneficial to physical recovery, and everyone is longing for it.

The entrance of the cafeteria was crowded with people, which became a beautiful landscape.

Under Su Jinhui's assistance and management, the chefs have a clear division of labor, are skilled in cooking techniques, and have already mastered most of them.

On the other side, Yan Li'an was also arranging to be discharged from the hospital, and she immediately chose to retire.

Adhering to the principle of saving trouble, Su Jinhui specifically instructed the head chef not to spread the word that these dishes were made by her, so as to avoid unnecessary trouble.

The chef readily agreed.

When they were discharged from the hospital, the two reached a tacit agreement and chose to return to the team in a low-key manner.

"Can you really walk by yourself? Do you want me to support you?" Su Jinhui held the bag in one hand and held his arm with the other.

The next second, Yan Li'an suddenly staggered two steps and almost fell.