She hadn't even swallowed the steamed bun in her mouth when the caregiver shoved another large piece into her mouth without a second thought.

For a moment, she was like a hamster, her cheeks stuffed full, making it impossible for her to chew.

The caregiver broke off another piece and forced it into her mouth.

A strong feeling of suffocation washed over her, and Xu Xiuzhen's eyes bulged out of their sockets.

In her life, she had imagined many ways she could die, but she never imagined that one day she would choke to death on a steamed bun...

In an attempt to save herself, she began to try to push the saliva-soaked steamed bun out of her mouth with her tongue.

"You...Grandma, why are you so troublesome?"

The caregiver finally put down the steamed bun in her hand, got up, grabbed a tissue, and wiped the corners of her mouth and neck, as well as the drool and slurry that had dripped onto the pillow.

With space in her mouth, Xu Xiuzhen breathed deeply, feeling as if she had come back to life.

Before she could even catch her breath, the caregiver hurriedly broke off another piece of steamed bun and tried to stuff it into her mouth.

Startled, she quickly shut her mouth and turned her head to the other side.

"Forget it, I think you just don't want to eat this tasteless steamed bun!"

Xu Xiuzhen breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the caregiver put down the half-eaten steamed bun out of the corner of her eye.

"If you don't want steamed buns, how about porridge? You didn't like plain porridge yesterday, and you can't eat salty food, so I specially went out early this morning to buy you pumpkin porridge. It's very sweet, try it."

Upon hearing this, Xu Xiuzhen's eyes immediately lit up.

Pumpkin porridge is her favorite food.

I had just turned my head when I saw the caregiver stirring something in a disposable bowl and then blowing on it a few times...

At that moment, Xu Xiuzhen felt like her world had collapsed.

This... isn't this equivalent to eating the caregiver's saliva?

Lost in thought, the caregiver grinned and brought a spoonful of porridge to her lips.

Xu Xiuzhen's gaze unconsciously lingered on the caregiver's yellowed, almost blackened teeth.

The visible tartar in the gap between her gaping gums terrified her.

"Come on, open your mouth, ah..."

As the caregiver spoke up close, his foul breath made her stomach churn, and she almost vomited up everything she had eaten the day before.

With a dry heave, Xu Xiuzhen quickly turned her head away.

So the pumpkin porridge in the spoon spilled all over the blanket.

"You..." The caregiver's smile vanished, veins bulging between her eyebrows, looking like she wanted to slap her a few times.

Xu Xiuzhen shrank back in fear and closed her eyes.

She was prepared for the slap to fall.

However, there was a loud bang in my ear, followed by the caregiver's dissatisfied complaint.

"Why are you being so difficult, you little old lady? You won't eat plain porridge, you won't eat steamed buns, you won't even eat pumpkin porridge. What do you want to eat?"

That big, meaty dish, salty and oily, it's not that I don't want you to eat it, it's that your son told you not to!

When Xu Xiuzhen opened her eyes, the pumpkin porridge that had been in the caregiver's hands was now in the trash can.

On top of it lay half a steamed bun that she had left uneaten.

"Then tell me what you want to eat, okay? Just tell me, and I'll go buy it for you! Otherwise, when your son comes, he'll say I didn't take good care of you!" The caregiver got up angrily.

Xu Xiuzhen's mouth twisted, her mind filled with the lingering tartar and the unforgettable breath... then she shook her head.

"Alright, alright, you're not hungry, right? Then I won't worry about it! I'll come back and ask you again at noon." After saying that, the caregiver bent down to empty the urine bag for her, and then took the bedpan out.

A short while later, when the caregiver returned, she placed the bedpan under her bed and wiped her wet, sticky hands on her trouser leg with remarkable ease.

In an instant, goosebumps exploded all over her body like fireworks.

Xu Xiuzhen couldn't remember when the caregiver left.

Anyway, when she came to her senses, there was no one by the bed.

The aroma of meat buns wafted into her nostrils... She turned to look at the source and saw it was from the bed next to hers.

The girl in the next bed had her daughter bring her some steamed buns from home.

She couldn't help but swallow, and her stomach started growling loudly.

Perhaps because they had been starving for two whole days, the sound was like thunder.

The mother and daughter in the next bed turned to look at them at the same time.

Their eyes met, and Xu Zhen, snapping out of her daze, gave an awkward smile.

"Auntie, it's not that I don't want you to eat, it's just that the doctor said you can't eat greasy food these days. How about I ask your son to make you some vegetarian buns?"

Xu Xiuzhen felt a pang of pain in her heart whenever she heard the name of the "filial son" who abandoned her.

She devoted half her life to him.

But in the end, what did I gain?

"What? Your aunt's son didn't just abandon you here, did he?"

Xu Xiuzhen quickly interjected, "Don't kneel! The word 'da' is a sham, and the beating is just a joke."

Having lived a whole life, she certainly knew that emotions are never universally understood.

Your misfortunes are nothing but a complete joke in the eyes of others.

Of course, she wouldn't willingly let others laugh at her.

"Oh my! A university professor? No wonder he has such a scholarly air about him, he must be a cultured person! Sigh, I envy him! Unlike my two good-for-nothing brothers, when I tell them to study, they want to ride pigs instead, they almost didn't graduate from elementary school."

Sensing the envious gaze of the other party, Xu Xiuzhen unconsciously, as always, proudly raised her chin.

You know, in the past, when people around her heard that her son was a professor at Jiang University, they would immediately try to curry favor with her. So how could they possibly bring up something that was hard to talk about?

Just as she closed her eyes smugly to "recharge her energy," she heard the other person say, "Then you can call your daughter-in-law and have her do it!"

Oh! By the way, Auntie, you can't speak properly. No problem, you can make the call, and I'll tell her! If she doesn't know how to do it, I can teach her over the phone.

"I may not be good at much else, but when it comes to making steamed buns, I'm an absolute whiz! Don't believe me? Ask my mom if my buns are delicious. I'm not bragging, but once you've tasted my buns, you'll never want to eat any more from Deyuan!"

The other party chuckled, but Xu Xiuzhen panicked.

Daughter-in-law?

Is it sappanwood?

The mere thought of Su Mu filled her with rage.

"What? Doesn't Auntie have a daughter-in-law? That shouldn't be the case! I noticed yesterday that my older brother isn't young, is he? How could someone his age not have a wife?"

"Uh... I've already lost the machine! I'll just leave the machine and not tell anyone." Xu Xiuzhen made up a reason as soon as she opened her mouth.

Seeing that the other person was still very enthusiastic, she quickly closed her eyes, pulled the blanket over herself, and pretended to be asleep before giving them a chance to speak.

However, at this moment, my stomach let out a low growl, much to my dismay.

"Sigh! It seems that Auntie and her daughter-in-law don't get along. Otherwise, it's been two days and her daughter-in-law hasn't come to see her."

Enraged, Xu Xiuzhen flipped over and covered her head with the blanket.