Chapter 23 Lu Linchuan's Anorexia
Before Su Yingxue could answer, the system gave her a new task.
"Solving Lu Linchuan's anorexia will grant you a random snack recipe set and will also speed up your grandmother's recovery."
Su Yingxue was worried about not having any new recipes, and when she saw the system's task announcement, she immediately nodded in agreement. "Okay! Actress Huang."
Huang Yifei smiled and told Su Yingxue to change her address: "Just call me Aunt Huang."
Su Yingxue nodded and focused on cooking again; all that was left was to add some sauce to the shrimp. A large bowl of fragrant prawns was ready, their color a bright red, the shrimp meat tender and springy. The aroma of chili and Sichuan peppercorns was irresistible.
Xu Qingqing had already prepared the soup. The fresh pork ribs were tender and juicy, and the light brown broth, combined with the aroma of lotus root, filled the air. The pork rib and lotus root soup in the clay pot was now bubbling with fine bubbles.
Su Yingxue gently stirred the pot with a wooden spoon, examining the lotus root pieces, which were faintly visible in the amber-colored broth. "You need to choose lotus roots with nine holes for a soft and powdery texture," she said with a smile, adding two slices of ginger to the pot, as she spoke to Huang Yifei.
"I specially went to the market this morning to pick out Honghu lotus roots; smell their sweet aroma."
"Oh! It's a nine-hole lotus root! These are everywhere in my hometown, but they're hard to find here." Huang Yifei, a native of Chu Province, felt a sense of familiarity upon seeing the lotus root, muttering, "When I was little, I used to make this for Xiao Chuan. I even added a little pepper. It was his favorite..."
Before I could finish speaking, the director called me away, saying we needed to try out the lighting and costumes again.
"Qingqing, it will be even more fragrant if you simmer it a little longer. Add some Ningxia goji berries that I brought." Before Su Yingxue finished speaking, Xu Guoqing had already magically produced Ningxia premium goji berries from the spice rack. The deep red berries rolled into the casserole, blending into the soup and making them even more vibrant.
Xu Qingqing had already prepared a white porcelain plate. Upon hearing this, she deftly peeled the baby bok choy leaves one by one. Su Yingxue took the shredded ham handed to her by Xu Guoqing and sprinkled it evenly on the hollow of the bok choy: "Cover it with a layer of bok choy leaves when you steam it later. This way, the steam will circulate evenly and the bok choy stalks won't dry out." She turned around and opened the steamer. Warm steam at 100 degrees Celsius gradually filled the frosted glass door.
"Ding—" The steamer made a soft sound. Su Yingxue put on heat-resistant gloves and opened the door. The steam mixed with the aroma of shrimp oil and ham rushed out. The baby bok choy was steamed to perfection, its emerald leaves coated with glistening broth, and the ham strips on top gleamed like agate.
The shredded ham was also a gift from the system; Jinhua ham shreds are especially fresh, fragrant, and mellow. Su Yingxue drizzled the last bit of light soy sauce over the baby bok choy arranged in a flower shape, her fingertips still carrying the fresh scent of minced garlic. "Uncle Guoqing, this steamed baby bok choy is enhanced with broth; could you please taste it and see if it's salty enough?" She turned to look at Xu Guoqing standing by the stove, who was tiptoeing to add hot water to the casserole.
"Enough, enough!" Xu Guoqing stood in the kitchen, his white chef's uniform cuffs glistening with shrimp oil. "How could I not trust Xiao Su's cooking? Last time, I brought home some leftover Peking duck carcass, and my wife praised it for three days straight."
Su Yingxue arranged the steamed baby bok choy into a blue-and-white porcelain plate, then poured over an amber-colored broth made from shrimp heads. Amidst the rising steam, Xu Guoqing carefully poured soup from a clay pot into a large bowl, while Xu Qingqing tiptoed to add a handful of plump red dates. On the far left, a large bowl of braised prawns exuded an irresistible aroma, making everyone's mouths water.
The shadows of several people overlapped in the kitchen sunlight, like a pot of thick soup simmering slowly, gradually exuding a warm aroma.
It was almost 1:30 by the time everyone finished. Today's dishes took a bit of time; we had to devein each shrimp individually, and the soup simmered for several hours. But the final product was good.
When Lu Linchuan arrived, he startled Su Yingxue. He weighed less than a hundred pounds, yet he was incredibly tall. He was nearly 1.9 meters tall, but his body was extremely thin. He seemed so hungry that he could barely walk. His bodyguards pushed him in a wheelchair.
"Lin Chuan, did you eat better today?" Huang Yifei rushed over to ask her assistant as soon as she finished her audition.
Then he quickly introduced it to Su Yingxue.
“This is my son, Lu Linchuan.”
"Young Master hasn't touched a thing today. Dr. Wang gave him an IV of nutrition this morning," the assistant in green said from behind.
When Lu Linchuan sat at the dining table, he resembled a stone statue swollen from being soaked in rainwater—his thin shoulder blades pressed against his shirt collar, forming two jagged curves that seemed as if they could pierce the fabric with the slightest force. His long fingers rested on the edge of the plate, his knuckles an unhealthy bluish-white, his fingernails bloodless.
When Su Yingxue pushed the steamed baby bok choy in front of him, she noticed his Adam's apple bob, but it wasn't an instinctive swallowing motion; rather, it was a reflexive defensive movement. His gaze was fixed on the mountain of shrimp piled on the plate, their shells steamed until bright red and glistening with oil, but his pupils contracted slightly, as if he had seen something unsettling.
"Try this." Su Yingxue picked up a piece of lotus root coated in amber-colored broth, her voice so soft it was as if she were afraid of disturbing something. "Honghu nine-hole lotus root, very soft and powdery, and the soup also has red dates and goji berries in it."
Her chopsticks stopped half an inch from Lu Linchuan's lips, as if bounced off by an invisible barrier. The boy's eyelashes trembled, his lower lip pressed into a tight straight line, making even his jawline appear sharp.
Huang Yifei paused, holding the soup bowl, the goji berries floating on the surface swaying gently with her movement: "Xiao Chuan, I specially asked Su Yingxue to add pepper to this soup; it was your favorite when you were little..."
Before he finished speaking, the boy suddenly leaned back in his chair, his back taut like a fully drawn bowstring. His nostrils twitched slightly, but instead of enjoying the aroma of the food, he seemed to be enduring some kind of pungent smell—in reality, the only aromas on the table were the delicate fragrance of shrimp oil from the baby bok choy, the rich and sweet aroma of the pork rib and lotus root soup, and the faint salty and savory scent of the shredded ham.
"I'm not hungry." He spoke softly, yet with a chilling weariness, as if the words had rolled around in his throat a thousand times. Su Yingxue noticed his high cheekbones, casting two distinct shadows under the light, and his chapped lips, yet he had no desire even to take a sip of water.
When Xu Guoqing tried to put a piece of lotus root in his bowl, the boy almost instinctively shrank back, his sleeve slipping down to reveal his wrist bone—that protruding wrist bone was astonishingly thin, the skin so thin that you could see the pale blue blood vessels and needle holes, like a reed stalk that might break at any moment.
What was even more heartbreaking was the numbness in his eyes. When Su Yingxue pushed the steamed, translucent baby bok choy closer again, he didn't even show any disgust. He just stared at it quietly, his eyes as empty as an ancient well that had been drained of water.
His body remained in a stiff sitting posture, his back straight to the point of being rigid, his hands placed properly on his knees, as if the slightest relaxation would reveal some kind of vulnerable emotion.
"Just a small bite." Huang Yifei's voice softened even more as she scooped up a spoonful of soup and gently blew on it. "Look at these goji berries. When you were little, you always said they looked like rubies..." As the spoon was brought to his lips, Lu Linchuan's eyelashes trembled violently, but he still stubbornly turned his face away.
His breathing was shallow, and his chest barely rose and fell, as if he was expending all his strength just to maintain the most basic physiological functions.
It wasn't until Su Yingxue quietly pushed a small dish of braised prawns to his side that he realized the red oil on the prawn shells glistened enticingly under the light, and the prawn meat, steamed until slightly curled, revealed its snow-white texture.
Seeing that he had no strength, Su Yingxue quietly peeled the shrimp for him.
She didn't speak, but simply used a wooden spoon to gently scoop a spoonful of the baby bok choy broth and pour it over the shrimp. The savory aroma of the broth, mixed with the salty richness of the ham, slowly diffused into the air.
Lu Linchuan's fingertips trembled, and finally, slowly, as if guided by an invisible hand, he moved one centimeter toward the plate of shrimp.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com