Chapter 185 New Article: The Old Doctor Continued His Fight

After quickly tidying herself up, Yao Xiaoyu finally sat down in the restaurant and had a bowl of hot porridge. Aunt Pang's cooking was excellent; the rice grains were perfectly cooked, and the lean meat was fragrant but not greasy. Yao Xiaoyu ate two bowls and finally got rid of the state where her vision would go black if she moved.

"I'm going to take a nap."

With something in her stomach, drowsiness crept in. Yao Xiaoyu shook her aching hand, not intending to force herself to scribble at the table, but after taking a few steps, she remembered she still had something to do:

"Have Ge Dali buy me a fountain pen. If he doesn't know which brand, just take the one on my desk to He's Bookstore."

The little girl, Ge Mingya, was hired under the guise of running errands, but what could a six-year-old girl do? Naturally, the work was taken care of by Ge Dali.

Yao Xiaoyu took out a few silver dollars from her purse and placed them on the table. Ever since she was able to make a living from her writing fees, Yao Xiaoyu had been buying all her writing supplies, such as fountain pens and ink, from He Family Bookstore. Tao Xiaoxiao had often gone to the store with her before, so she nodded naturally upon hearing this.

"If Aunt Pang can buy some beef, I'll ask her to cut some out and stew it with potatoes. I'll eat it with rice when I wake up."

In wealthy households, vendors would bring meat and vegetables to their door. Wutong Courtyard wasn't that wealthy yet, and the hired workers were just starting to get used to each other. Plus, Aunt Pang wanted Hua Qing to learn more, so they would buy things in the morning. However, it wouldn't be a big problem to buy things on short notice now—if the meat hadn't been sold out yet.

Hua Qing was an apprentice brought by Aunt Pang. Yao Xiaoyu didn't know whether her surname was original or changed by Aunt Pang.

After explaining the two matters, Yao Xiaoyu didn't linger. She drank the honey water on the table in one gulp, returned to her room, collapsed onto the bed, and fell into a deep sleep without even putting on a blackout mask. When she woke up, it was already broad daylight outside.

After moving the door open and washing up, Yao Xiaoyu tied her hair up with a rubber band. The stewed beef with potatoes and rice was already on the table. Yao Xiaoyu tasted it and then decisively began to gulp it down.

The beef is stewed until tender but not mushy, and the tendons inside have turned into a jelly-like consistency. You don't even need your teeth; just a gentle touch of your tongue will melt it all. The potatoes have been stewed until they are half-melted, having fully absorbed the flavor of the beef. Carefully pick them up with chopsticks and put them in your mouth, then pair them with a big mouthful of rice. The joy of carbs on carbs is simply overwhelming!

After finishing two large bowls of food, Yao Xiaoyu felt that she could still eat more, but considering that she had slept all day, she reluctantly put down her chopsticks to protect her stomach and intestines, and decided to work for a while to digest before eating again.

"The paper and ink were a gift from Manager He. He said it was for you to try out and see if it works well. If you don't like using the pen, just return it within three days."

Tao Xiaoxiao pointed to the extra items and said that Yao Xiaoyu was the kind of person who would keep using something once it was useful. Manager He saw that Yao Xiaoyu was unwilling to put in any effort, but also wanted to make more money, so he launched free trial packs and trial periods without any instruction.

Specifically, if they received any high-priced, high-profit items that Yao Xiaoyu might need, they would send her a small portion to try out. This applied to manuscript paper and ink. As for items like fountain pens, which had high profit margins and couldn't be split, Yao Xiaoyu would be given a few days to use them. If she wanted to buy them, she could keep them; if not, she could return them to the bookstore.

"I see."

Yao Xiaoyu nodded, and after giving herself three minutes of mental preparation, she began to try to outline the new article: two days of the ten-day deadline had already passed, and she hadn't written a single word of the book yet.

Perhaps the short story reconstruction was really effective, or perhaps the new pen was just too handy; in ten minutes, Yao Xiaoyu had sorted out the beginning of the outline. Instead of continuing down the page, she switched to a different piece of paper and started writing the main text.

Fragmented outlines are terrible, but having no drafts is even more alarming!

Yao Xiaoyu's new article was an idea she had before the Lunar New Year. At the time, she wanted to write a story about life abroad, riding the wave of popularity among international students. However, after collecting more or less true or false materials from different people, the story unknowingly turned from a single female protagonist into an ensemble piece. The amount of work that she could have finished in four days after regaining her writing skills was dragged on until the evening of the ninth day before she could barely complete it.

But it was all worth it.

Yao Xiaoyu looked at the story, which was much more exciting than before, and put away the manuscript with satisfaction before going to eat. Tao Xiaoxiao had been waiting in the restaurant for a while, and only started eating when she saw Yao Xiaoyu come over and sit down.

"Didn't I tell you that if I didn't arrive on time, you should eat first?"

Tao Xiaoxiao picked up a piece of hot and sour shredded potato with her chopsticks, pretending not to hear Yao Xiaoyu's nagging. Her daughter was good in every way, but she didn't care about herself. She had been sick with her stomach many times when she was at Yao's house. The doctor said that no matter whether she ate two or three meals a day, Yao Xiaoyu had to eat on time, otherwise she would get a stomachache. But when she was writing, she was reckless and ignored the doctor's words.

Previously, when they lived in the Yao family's house, one upstairs and one downstairs, and with the Yao family members blocking them, Tao Xiaoxiao couldn't get them to eat on time. Now that she could finally get Yao Xiaoyu's meals to be more regular by eating together, how could Tao Xiaoxiao easily give in?

Yao Xiaoyu saw that Tao Xiaoxiao pretended not to hear and didn't continue talking. She just thought to herself that she had to buy an alarm clock, otherwise the little girl's stomach would not be able to stand waiting like this every day.

By the way, are alarm clocks still available for sale in Shanghai?

Yao Xiaoyu kept this thought to herself, picked up her chopsticks to pick up two shredded cabbage, but her hand, which had been writing too much, trembled involuntarily due to the pain, causing the chopsticks and cabbage shreds to fall onto the table with a thud.

Tao Xiaoxiao was drawn by the sound and looked over. Yao Xiaoyu, who originally wanted to change the spoon and drink some soup to make do, could only watch as Tao Xiaoxiao hurried downstairs and upstairs. Before long, she brought her a plate of lush and comforting green bean paste.

"This is what Chef Hua left for himself. You fill your stomach first. The kitchen is making egg and meatball soup. Coach Ge has already gone to find a doctor."

Because none of Tao Xiaoxiao's relatives were respectable enough to call her by proper titles like "sister," "aunt," "sister-in-law," or "grandmother," she felt awkward using only their first names. In the end, she compromised by addressing all her employees by their surnames and job titles. After a while, both sides adapted well.

As Yao Xiaoyu listened to Tao Xiaoxiao's series of arrangements, she silently swallowed her own excuses, which were actually nothing. She scooped up a spoonful of green bean paste with her left hand to fill her stomach, and then, not forgetting to touch her little purse, took out a few silver coins and asked Tao Xiaoxiao to give them to Aunt Pang.

This is a snack that someone made for themselves; it's not included in the supply. We can't withhold payment just because of a special request.

Green pea paste is a sweet snack from Sichuan. It is made by repeatedly grinding peas, pouring them into a pot of white sugar syrup with oil, and stirring constantly. Then, the oil on top is filtered into the finished snack. However, this method sounds simple, but if you don't pay attention to the ratio of sugar syrup to oil, the degree of melting, the timing of adding peas, etc., the appearance and taste of the green pea paste will plummet.

Aunt Pang was clearly very good at making green bean paste. The plate full of it looked like jade. A spoon could be put in without any resistance. Yao Xiaoyu was quite tempted but dared not eat it. This thing was like sealed chicken soup rice noodles. Even though there was no white smoke on it, if you didn't blow on it before putting it in your mouth, you would be burning your mouth with blisters!

One important reason why green pea puree is served on a plate instead of a bowl is that plates dissipate heat faster.

Yao Xiaoyu ate while blowing on the food. Because she used her left hand to scoop the food, and the heat retention of the green bean paste was indeed amazing, before she had even finished a serving of green bean paste, Ge Dazhuang had already brought up an old doctor with hair whiter than his beard to take her pulse.

The senior doctor had clearly seen many cases similar to Yao Xiaoyu's. She skillfully used pulse diagnosis and rambling to lower Yao Xiaoyu's guard, and then, taking advantage of Yao Xiaoyu's inattention, she took a board and slapped it on the protruding part of Yao Xiaoyu's wrist. Before Yao Xiaoyu could react, she heard something crack, and along with the pain came the flattening of her wrist.

What is that?

Yao Xiaoyu didn't pay much attention to the bag at first. After all, hygiene conditions were limited in the Republic of China era. It was quite normal to suddenly develop small wounds or bumps on your body after walking around the streets. Although Yao Xiaoyu was not often injured without realizing it, she had been injured a few times. But judging from the old doctor's performance, it seemed that the bag was not quite what she had imagined.

Then, Yao Xiaoyu from the 21st century was educated on the medical knowledge of tenosynovitis and effusion by an old lady who was the pillar of a medical clinic during the Republic of China era. The modern Yao Xiaoyu has a good lifestyle, reasonable writing habits, and none of the occupational diseases of writers, so she is also unaware of this.

"Luckily, it was discovered early. If it had hardened inside, we would have had to use a fire needle to prick it."

Listening to the old doctor's sigh and watching her pull out the long needle she was gesturing with, Yao Xiaoyu silently shuddered and decided to reward Tao Xiaoxiao with a whole roasted lamb later—squeezing jelly out of her own body sounded terrible!

After seeing the doctor off, Yao Xiaoyu, who was still in shock, decided not to continue working on the outline. She obediently ate her dinner with her left hand, quickly went to bed, and the next day she received a popcorn machine from the Ye family, as well as a handwritten letter from Ye Junshu.

The letter was short, beginning with a bunch of polite greetings, followed by a user manual for the popcorn machine, interspersed with comments on other appliances, and a message that he should write if he needed any other machines. Finally, he mentioned that he was reading a travelogue about food from the Ming Dynasty and asked Yao Xiaoyu if she was interested.

Yao Xiaoyu was certainly interested, and she was enthusiastic about replying—if it weren't for the feeling she had when she picked up the pen and met Tao Xiaoxiao's gaze.

Yao Xiaoyu: ...

She silently moved further and further away from the table, until Pi Kangxiu came over right on time to ask for the manuscript, but Yao Xiaoyu didn't write another word.