Chapter 42 42 Qin Lian

Today is Qin Yue's last day in the hospital.

As soon as Xia Tang entered the ward, he was immediately surrounded by several people.

These people were all colleagues in the machinery room. They were familiar with Qin Yue and were naturally friendly to Xia Tang when they saw him.

"Xiao Xia, what food did you bring for Qin Yue today?"

"Why does it smell so good? Is it the Sichuan Fritillary Chicken from yesterday?"

"Xiao Xia, I went to your snack bar yesterday, why didn't you buy the braised chicken and mushrooms I brought the day before yesterday?"

"Hey, aren't you guys going too far? I'm the patient who wants to eat, why are you making such a fuss?"

Qin Yue was still receiving an IV drip, and he watched helplessly as those people came closer. He could only watch helplessly, feeling very dissatisfied.

"I know it's you who's eating, but can't you let others see it?"

"That's right! Aren't you going to be discharged from the hospital now? Why are you still pretending to be sick? Are you sorry?"

Several people were talking back and forth.

Xia Tang smiled and said:

“The dishes that Tong Kee can serve cannot be ordinary home-cooked dishes. Some dishes may taste good, but they are complicated to prepare, the taste is difficult to control, and the ingredients are unstable, so they cannot be served.”

"But if you want to eat it, I can make it every now and then."

As she spoke, she took out the dishes from the lunch box. Before she knew it, the small wooden table in front of her was already full of food.

There is a big rescue stewed with bait cubes, a steaming hot fish casserole, and even the black chopped fish, which has a lot of black fungus and pork.

I took so many dishes at once, and the portions were quite large.

It was obvious that Qin Yue couldn't finish it all by himself.

As expected, Xia Tang served the last dish of stir-fried chicken with tiger mushrooms, opened the lid of the rice bowl, and said with a smile:

"Thank you all for taking care of Qin Yue. Let's eat here together at noon. After Qin Yue is discharged from the hospital and settled, I will prepare a table for everyone at Tangji."

"How can I do that?"

Several people were talking, but their hands had already subconsciously picked up the dishes and chopsticks.

Xia Tang wanted to laugh when he saw this, and quickly added another bowl of rice for Qin Yue.

At lunch, several people devoured the food.

The oldest, Lao Feng, couldn't help but say to Qin Yue while eating:

"Qin Yue, I have to say something about you. You said your partner is so nice and is such a good cook, why didn't you introduce him to us before?"

Another person named Liu also quickly agreed:

"That's right! He's hiding it like a piece of cake, he's afraid we'll know!"

"I'm really afraid you'd know,"

Qin Yue picked up the chopsticks and tried to pick up the fish meat, but the last piece of fish was intercepted by Lao Feng. He could only say angrily,

"I'm afraid that once you get to know Xia Tang, you'll always be thinking about eating the food she cooks!"

Lao Feng stuffed the last piece of fish into his mouth with an extremely satisfied expression, and did not forget to say to Xia Tang:

"You have to take care of Qin Yue. If you are too stingy, you will have no friends."

Xia Tang pursed her lips and smiled.

After just a few days of getting along, she roughly realized that although these colleagues in the machinery room talked a lot, they were not bad people.

He also takes good care of Qin Yue on weekdays.

Qin Yue was also happy to have such a colleague around her.

They were almost done eating, and before Xia Tang could start, the others started cleaning up and washing the dishes.

Xia Tang didn't force it, so he watched Qin Yue's infusion while packing up his things.

According to the doctor, once this bottle of fluid is finished, I can go through the discharge procedures.

She thought of packing everything in advance so that it would be more convenient when she left.

She chatted with Qin Yue casually while sorting out the things on hand.

At this moment, there was a knock on the door.

Then, a girl with a pretty face, led a boy, and walked in through the door.

The girl had two pigtails and looked to be about sixteen or seventeen years old, with her pretty round face slightly lowered.

The boy looked like he had just entered primary school. He was as thin as a monkey, but his eyes were very bright.

Xia Tang had never seen these two people before, and was wondering if they had come to the wrong place.

But unexpectedly, the next second, the girl looked at Qin Yue, tugged at the corner of her clothes nervously, and shouted:

"elder brother."

This is...

"Qin Lian? Why are you here?"

Xia Tang turned around to look at Qin Yue, but saw that Qin Yue's brows wrinkled slightly, but he didn't say anything else. He just nodded at the person and called her over to show Xia Tang:

"This is my sister, Qin Lian, she is currently a senior at Huixian No. 1 Middle School."

"The one next to her is the one I told you about, Shuigen. After I brought her back, I placed her in the village primary school, where she is in the second grade."

"Qin Lian, this is Xia Tang. She held you in her arms when you were little. Do you remember?"

Qin Yue didn't know how to introduce the relationship between himself and Xia Tang for a moment, so he subconsciously used the most popular way among relatives.

"You are Qin Lian?"

A look of surprise appeared on Xia Tang's face. He reached out and squeezed Qin Lian's hand. Feeling the coolness of her fingers and the cord in her palm, his heart was filled with warmth.

It’s Qin Lian.

In fact, her impression of Qin Lian was still stuck on her life in a small mountain village.

Qin Lian is a few years younger than both her and Qin Yue.

When she was a child, when she and Qin Yue were running around in the mountains and fields, Qin Lian was like a little tail, always wanting to follow behind them.

Qin Yue was a wild monkey when he was young, so naturally he was unwilling to take care of this sister who was so much younger than him.

So, when Qin Lian cried because she couldn't find anyone, Xia Tang would clumsily wipe her chapped little face with her hands and stuff the yellow bubble that Qin Yue picked from the tree into her hands.

Later, the little child grew up and Xia Tang never saw her again.

As far as I can remember, she passed the exam and was admitted to a junior college. After graduation, she was assigned to work in a veterinary hospital directly under the Agriculture Bureau. It sounded like a very stable job.

The people in my childhood memories always seem to be surrounded by a circle of warm yellow light.

Now that he suddenly appeared in front of her, Xia Tang was even more surprised and happy.

Moreover, although Qin Lian spoke little, she looked calm and honest, and had a temperament somewhat similar to Qin Yue, which made people naturally feel close to her.

And Shuigen is more sensible and obedient than ordinary monkeys.

"Qin Lian, you are here to see Qin Yue, right? It's already noon, have you eaten? I'll take you to eat something."

Xia Tang said enthusiastically.

Qin Lian had been keeping her head down, and when she heard Xia Tang say this, she shook her head:

"No."

"We heard that my brother was in the hospital, so we came to check on him. We were relieved to see that he was fine."

After saying this, he took Shuigen and was about to leave.

Xia Tang hurriedly stopped him, and while speaking he turned around to look at Qin Yue:

"It's not easy for you to come here, so let me take you to eat something first. After dinner, we will take Qin Yue home together."

Qin Lian didn't say anything, but like Shui Gen'er, she was waiting to see Qin Yue's reaction.

It was not until Qin Yue frowned and nodded that he glanced at Xia Tang quietly and said in a low voice:

"Excuse me."

*

The hospital cafeteria is out of food.

Xia Tang took the two children to the door and found a small shop selling wontons to eat.

In those days, the wonton shops outside had not been open for many years, and the meat fillings inside were not as small as they would be when you point with chopsticks in the future.

Each wonton is stuffed with a lot of fragrant meat filling. The wonton skin is thin and fine, and the soup base is full of flavor. It tastes very satisfying.

The two children buried their heads in their bowls and couldn't stop eating.

Shui Gener finished a large bowl first, but wiped his mouth and looked at Qin Lian's bowl with an unsatisfied look.

"Boss, another bowl please."

When Xia Tang saw the look in his eyes, she asked the boss for another bowl.

“No… no need.”

Qin Lian quickly refused and pushed her bowl to Shui Gen'er:

"I've finished eating, just give it to him."

"No, just order another bowl. It's nothing."

Xia Tang ordered another bowl of wontons, but fearing it wasn't enough, he ordered two more crispy buns.

The two children ate voraciously, and when they finished, they finally touched their round stomachs and felt full.

Xia Tang went to pay the bill, while Qin Lian and Shui Gener stood behind him and watched quietly.

Shui Gener tugged at the corner of Qin Lian's clothes and whispered:

"Second sister, this little sister-in-law...seems pretty good."

"Why does Sister Hu Fang speak so badly of her?"

Qin Lian lowered her head, her face tense:

"Stop talking."

Many people also came to the machinery factory in the afternoon.

The leader, Sister Ren, went through the formalities and, together with a few others, took Qin Yue out of the hospital.

The two children followed Xia Tang all the time, following him step by step, fearing that they would lose him if they took a wrong step.

After settling Qin Yue, Xia Tang took the two children to Tangji Snack Shop and made a small pot of rice noodles for each of them.

After they finished eating, they sent the two people on the bus back to Hui County.

"Tell mom that Xia Tang and I will go back to see her in a few days."

Qin Yue looked at his sister and stuffed twenty yuan into the innermost pocket of her clothes. Then he touched Shui Gen'er's head and watched them leave.

Qin Lian sat on the tall bus, which slowly drove away from the bus station.

She sat on it, watching Qin Yue holding Xia Tang's hand, gradually turning into two small figures, until the car turned a corner and even the figures disappeared.

She pursed her lips, lowered her head, and gently pinched the two thin old man's bills in her pocket, muttering:

"sister in law……"

*

Qin Yue thought that Xia Tang would not fail in opening a snack bar, but he never thought that she would be so successful.

So when he saw the long line at the door of the snack bar, he was so shocked that he hardly knew what to say.

"Xia Tang, is this really your store?"

Xia Tang smiled with her lips pursed:

"How could it be fake?"

She led Qin Yue in, and along the way she heard people in the queue asking:

"Boss Xia, who is this?"

"She's your date... She looks pretty good! She's energetic and serious..."

"That would be great! Boss Xia's business is so good, wouldn't it be better to keep a gigolo?"

Xia Tang greeted them with a smile while leading Qin Yue through the crowd.

Qin Yue finally couldn't bear it anymore until he entered the inner courtyard.

He pointed his finger at himself and asked in shock:

"Am I a gigolo?"