The old man, looking aggrieved, took his food and left, then sat down next to a few other old men to start eating breakfast.
Sigh, I told you not to gossip.
Yin Zhu watched the whole thing with a smug look on her face and decided to have a good chat with the old woman after dinner.
When Yin Zhu got close to the elderly woman in the floral dress, she suddenly felt conflicted. She knew how to strike up a conversation with young men and women, but how should she do it with an elderly person?
You look so elegant...?
No, that's too deliberate.
You look so beautiful, you feel so warm and friendly, like my older sister...?
No, that's too fake.
Mother-in-law, you remind me of my maternal grandmother...?
No way, my grandma might actually be watching my live stream. Even though she's retired a long time ago, she still feels young. If she knew I think she looks like this wrinkled old lady, she'd probably be very unhappy.
When Yin Zhu returned to Blue Star last time, her biological mother called her and told her that "the whole family will be proud of you." Nine times out of ten, this "whole family" also included Yin Zhu's grandparents, maternal grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.
It seemed she had been standing for a while. The old woman in the floral dress couldn't help but look at the young female employee who had been walking towards her with a constantly changing expression but hadn't uttered a single word. She was almost about to ask, "Do you need me to call a doctor?"
Looking into the old woman's eyes, Yin Zhu realized she had been agonizing for too long, and a phrase from the most stereotypical viewpoint in China came to mind:
Have you eaten yet?
The old woman in the floral dress probably didn't expect Yin Zhu to ask this right away, and for a moment she didn't know what to say.
After all, there was breakfast right in front of her.
Yin Zhu also noticed, and for a moment she was extremely embarrassed, comparable to asking a repairman, "What do you do, sir?" when he was fixing an air conditioner. Her ability to make small talk was at its peak.
After silently reciting the platitude, "As long as I'm not embarrassed, it's not me who's embarrassed," Yin Zhu braced herself and sat down next to the old woman: "May I sit here for a while? Your food looks delicious, let me smell it."
Damn it, this is even more embarrassing.
Yin Zhu also realized this, but since it had already been said, unless there was a memory erasure pen to use on the person involved, the old woman probably wouldn't forget it.
Since we're going to have an awkward conversation, let's just go all the way with it!
Yin Zhu decided to go all out and fill the other person's mind with a ton of topics to force them to forget what had just happened: "Grandma, my name is Hao Sun, and I'm a new employee. I don't think I saw you yesterday. What activity group are you in?"
In fact, Yin Zhu couldn't remember so many old people, so she decided to take a gamble.
If the other party has met Yin Zhu, they will definitely correct her statement; if they haven't met Yin Zhu, they naturally won't think she's wrong.
The old woman in the floral dress finally realized what had happened. She glanced at Yin Zhu indifferently, elegantly brought the spoon to her lips, blew on it twice, put the spoon in her mouth, swallowed, and then slowly said, "I'm from the gateball club. I usually stay in the classical garden. It's normal that you haven't seen me before."
"Are you still able to exercise at your age?"
"You'll die if you don't exercise."
The old woman answered casually, seemingly indifferent to life and death, yet her actions showed a deep concern for life and death.
"Oh, I see." Yin Zhu nodded blankly, as if she hadn't understood anything. "Can I join your activity group? I think I need to get some exercise too."
If it were an elderly person in a community center, they would probably be overjoyed and nod enthusiastically upon hearing this question.
However, after hearing this, the old woman in the floral dress just looked at Yin Zhu meaningfully, played with the small cup in her hand with her long but wrinkled fingers, and asked with a hint of amusement, "Are you sure you want to join?"
"I'm not sure, I was just asking. I don't know how to play gateball either," Yin Zhu casually offered as an excuse.
"You can just call me Yan Zihan."
Grandma Yan suddenly stood up, lightly dabbed the soup from the corner of her mouth with a napkin, turned and left: "Welcome to come to me with your knowledge."
If Yin Zhu hadn't seen her wrinkled face with her own eyes, she probably would have mistaken her for a noble and elegant young lady. Her tone was never pretentious like other elderly people; she communicated with Yin Zhu as a peer, giving her a very youthful impression.
But what kind of "knowledge" is Grandma Yan talking about?
From another perspective, what does she want to know?
Yin Zhu had no clue what to do at the moment, but it was almost time for her to start work, so she could only think about it while hurrying to the activity center to begin her day's work.
Life at the nursing home was mostly ordinary, except for a near-fight among the elderly and a near-self-immolation incident after a heated argument. Yin Zhu had tried to inquire about the classical garden from her colleagues, but they all promptly walked away upon seeing her, much to Yin Zhu's frustration.
Perhaps these senior colleagues had some survival rules in the Sin City nursing home, but their refusal to communicate with others was really annoying.
After finally making it to noon, Yin Zhu quickly went home and ate a meal.
This noon, the menu included potatoes, carrots, green peppers, and pork. As a potato lover, Yin Zhu was overjoyed and immediately made a dish that was her favorite in the school cafeteria when she was in school—fish-flavored shredded potatoes.
The reason it wasn't shredded pork with garlic sauce was because the school was reluctant to put in any meat. They managed to serve a few shredded pork pieces, but the cafeteria lady's hand trembled slightly, and all that was left was shredded potatoes.
However, Yin Zhu liked potatoes, so she was deeply impressed by this dish.
Time always seems to fly by when you're doing something you enjoy. After lunch, Yin Zhu realized she still had a lot of time left during her afternoon nap, so she headed straight to the office to see if the "knowledge" she had guessed was what Grandma Yan wanted.
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