Chapter 29 Chapter 29 Delivering Meals

“…”

"Xiao Jianmin and I just got married and haven't had time to buy a clay pot." Zhong Manli finally found an excuse.

Little did he know that Wang Nian immediately followed up with, "Then if you buy a clay pot, lend it to me. My salary is not high, and I don't have the money to buy it even if I have the ticket."

Zhong Manli: “…”

"Manli! Go home and cook."

Jiang Fang was listening in the room. As expected, she heard that her daughter-in-law had made herself unhappy again, so she could only speak up impatiently to help.

Even though Wang Nian is always smiling, he has a very tough temper and Zhong Manli has been bullied by him for a long time.

Jiang Fang couldn't even understand why Zhong Manli was always looking for trouble.

Zhong Manli pouted and turned back to her home reluctantly.

The hot porridge in the pot swirled for a while, and Wang Nian covered the stove, and the fire instantly died down.

Stir it twice with a spoon, and pour in the dried mushrooms that the grandfather had quickly brought over.

Such a bunch of wild mushrooms must have been collected by the master after he went into the mountains to chop firewood for a long time. He couldn't bear to eat them himself, so he gave them all to Wang Nian.

"Auntie, it smells so good!"

Shi Wan is now Wang Nian's little follower, and has to follow him no matter whether he is cooking or going out.

The little girl praised the freshly cooked porridge and said it smelled delicious, saying it was the cutest little porridge.

"After we finish eating, let's go to the hospital to deliver porridge to Aunt Zhou, and then to your brother."

"I want to eat with my brother." Shi Wan lay on Wang Nian's lap, looking a little unhappy: "My brother doesn't play with me anymore because he's studying."

The school had its own cafeteria, and Shi Shuwen always ate lunch at school.

Ever since he and Zhang Liye became close friends, the two little boys were busy exploring after school and had no time to take Shi Wan out to play.

"Then I'll bring more, and you and your brother can eat together." Wang Nian touched the little girl's head and began to search in his mind whether there were any little girls of similar age in the family building.

Given the age gap, the brother and sister definitely can't play together.

Unfortunately, there are no girls aged two or three in the No. 43 Family Building. There are only older girls living upstairs, and they have no common language with the three-year-olds.

The dried shrimps are gradually cooked in the boiling porridge, and the fresh fragrance spreads.

Wang Nian stirred again, stood up and checked his watch: "Come to the stove and help Auntie light the fire."

Wang Nian stuffed the burning straw into the stove, and a raging fire started, giving little Shi Wan something to do.

Zhong Manli only saw the porridge in the pot, but did not see the steamer in the pot.

Today's lunch is mainly to thank Zhou Yuying, both for the bag of dried seafood and for upgrading the space for the spice rack.

He opened the lid of the steamer to check the fermentation status, then closed it again when satisfied.

When the steamed buns come out, the aroma of scallions and meat mixed with rich seafood flavor spreads in all directions.

Zhong Manli, who was full of anger but had no place to vent it, smelled the fragrance and immediately started mumbling in a weird tone.

"A spendthrift woman, she spends all the little salary her husband earns on her. If you don't know her, you'd think she's the reincarnation of a starving ghost..."

Jiang Fang paused in arranging the dishes and looked at Zhong Manli coldly as she continued to talk to herself.

Finally, he couldn't help but throw the food into the basket. "What's the problem between you and Comrade Wang? Why do you always pick on her?"

"What kind of conflict can there be?" Zhong Manli leaned against the door, clasped her arms around her chest, and stared at the end of the corridor: "I just can't stand her capitalist style every day."

Jiang Fang glanced at the melon seed shells on the floor and said, "What kind of capitalist style is this! She's busy all day, making everything she eats and drinks by herself. How can she be a capitalist lady?"

"Mom! Is she your daughter-in-law or am I your daughter-in-law? Why do you always speak for outsiders?" Zhong Manli threw the melon seeds in her hand unhappily.

"Why--"

Jiang Fang let out a long sigh and said no more.

If we talk about waste, just look at the melon seeds that Zhong Manli threw away just now. That's what capitalist style means.

Zhong Manli stamped her feet angrily, walked to the small bedroom and slammed the door.

There was a loud bang and sobbing sounds broke out in the house.

Jiang Fang pinched her brows impatiently, and instead of saying sweet words to comfort her as usual, she stood up, took her rice bowl and went to the cafeteria.

If you don’t eat…you’ll starve to death.

Jiang Fang thought so and said hello to Wang Nian after going out.

In fact, Zhong Manli was jealous that Wang Nian lived a more comfortable life than her and felt that she was inferior to him.

Maybe at first she thought that she had married a man who had children and was much older than her, so she didn't target Wang Nian so much in the past few days.

Later, I moved to the first floor and saw with my own eyes what kind of life they lived. I couldn't stop feeling jealous.

"Your heart is smaller than chicken intestines."

Before going down the stairs, Jiang Fang also cursed to herself like Zhong Manli did.

***

Factory Health Hospital.

The air was filled with a faint smell of disinfectant, and the clean clinic finally came into view after a disinfection.

The nurses gathered in groups of three or four at the door to bask in the sun and discuss what dishes they would get from the canteen later.

"Comrade, the internal medicine department is in the second room at the end of the corridor."

The nurse at the nurse's desk saw Wang Nian holding the child and thought it was another parent bringing her child to see a doctor, so she raised her hand and pointed to the corridor on the right.

"Hello, comrade. I'm looking for Director Zhou Yuying."

"Director Zhou?" The female nurse turned around and looked at Wang Nian. She looked him up and down with a meaningful expression. After a while, she pointed to the second floor and said, "Room 201."

Wang Nian nodded in thanks.

Behind him, the nurse immediately called on other nurses to point at Wang Nian's back.

"Look, they are here to see 'Miss Zhou'. I wonder which family they are trying to curry favor with."

"Why don't you control your words? If someone hears you, you'll be criticized."

"Why are you criticizing me? If you want to criticize someone, you should criticize Miss Zhou. She dresses like a vixen every day..."

"Xiao Liu is right. Otherwise, how could someone be promoted to the position of director at such a young age and even have a room allotted to him? I think there must be..."

"Just keep quiet!"

An older nurse couldn't stand it anymore and stood up from the nurses' desk to stop the gossip.

"Sister Xiang...you said our dean..."

The sound gradually disappeared after Wang Nian climbed up the stairs. In the quiet corridor, there were still a few employees waiting to see the doctor.

Wang Nian walked to Room 201 and stopped. He found that the consultation was still going on inside, so he sat outside the door and waited.

Zhou Yuying in the clinic seemed like a different person. Her white coat was buttoned up meticulously to the top button, and all her hair was hidden in her hat.

After the examination, he quickly wrote down the prescription.

Before leaving, the patient insisted on shaking Zhou Yuying's hand to express his gratitude, and said that he had massaged his mother-in-law according to the method she gave him, and the old woman was finally able to walk after lying down for half a year.

Patients and hospital nurses have completely different attitudes towards Zhou Yuying.

"Sister Yuying."

"Sister Wang Nian, why are you here?"

"I made some porridge for you today. I'll come back tomorrow to get the lunch box." Wang Nian smiled and handed one of the net bags to Zhou Yuying: "I won't tell you for now. I still have to send lunch to my eldest son."

Just as Zhou Yuying took the net bag, Wang Nianren had already walked to the stairs, and the voice came from afar again.

"It's cold, so it's best to go to the cafeteria and heat it up before eating."

"This guy..." Zhou Yuying looked at the stairs and chuckled.

Wang Nian said he would give dried seafood away for free every time he made it, and he really did what he said.

Go to the bathroom to wash your hands first, then go back to the clinic, take off your hat and unbutton your white coat.

After such a long time, the lunch box has become cold.

Zhou Yuying was in a good mood. She picked up her net bag and went to the small canteen of the health hospital, which provided meals for medical staff and patients.

Spend five cents and give the lunch box to the chef to help steam it.

While waiting, she glanced casually at the cafeteria and immediately caught a glimpse of that unfriendly gaze beginning to criticize her again.

Zhou Yuying turned around nonchalantly, and then saw Xu Jie sitting alone in the corner.

She rested her chin on her hand, staring blankly out the window, without touching the food in front of her.

This girl is even less popular in Corey than she is. She is cold and irritable, and no one dares to provoke her easily.

Zhou Yuying had always had a guess in her heart, but she had no evidence, so she never mentioned it to anyone else, and she was also afraid that telling it easily would harm Xu Jie.

"I just hope I'm imagining things."

"Comrade, the rice is ready." the chef shouted.

Two aluminum lunch boxes were steaming hot, and Zhou Yuying chose to sit at a table next to the source of the unpleasant line of sight, holding a net bag.

"Director Zhou."

"Director Zhou."

Even if you don't like someone in your heart, most of the time you will still be nice to them and say hello first when you meet them.

Among them, only a young nurse with a pointed face and monkey cheeks rolled her eyes and poked at the food in her lunch box.

The nurse's name is Xue Hongyan, and she entered the health hospital half a year earlier than Zhou Yuying.

In fact, there is no conflict between the two at work. The reason why Xue Hongyan dislikes Zhou Yuying is... related to Shi Xiangming.

At first, the factory manager tried to bring her and Shi Xiangming together but failed. Both parties declined the offer without even meeting in person.

But the news still spread quickly in the health hospital. The rumor was that Zhou Yuying looked down on Shi Xiangming. This made Xue Hongyan feel very embarrassed when her introduction to him was rejected, and she naturally hated her.

"Doctor Zhou, did you bring your own meal today?"

Someone noticed the two lunch boxes Zhou Yuying had opened and asked casually.

Zhou Yuying smiled: "My sister just brought me some seafood porridge."

The two people, most of whom were born in small inland cities, were even more curious and looked up to see what the so-called seafood porridge looked like.

The first lunch box he opened did not contain porridge, but four steamed buns and fried lettuce leaves.

"Why are other people's fried lettuce leaves so green, while the ones we cook in the cafeteria are..."

There happened to be a dish of asparagus leaves in the cafeteria today. The stir-fried asparagus leaves made by the nurse were pitch black, and there was a pile of rotten leaves in the lunch box.

Look at the lettuce leaves in Zhou Yuying’s lunch box.

It is green, moist and tender, with a strong aroma unique to lettuce leaves.

"My sister grew the lettuce herself." Zhou Yuying said as she opened the lid of another lunch box.

A lunch box full of thick seafood porridge, the sweet smell bursts out instantly, creating a very impactful olfactory experience.

“It smells so good.”

Even if it's the first time we smell this scent, we can still tell the difference between the fragrance and the stench.

The thick white porridge looked very pretty with red and green decorations. As Zhou Yuying stirred it with chopsticks, many unnamed things came out.

The smell...it smells so good!

Seeing that several pairs of eyes were glued to the porridge, Zhou Yuying asked casually, "Do you want to try it?"

"Sure! I'll go borrow a spoon."

Zhou Yuying: “…”

I just asked casually, but I didn't expect someone to stand up immediately and be rude.

The man quickly got a bowl and two small spoons from the kitchen: "Don't scoop too much, just a little for each person to taste."

That being said, Zhou Yuying was generous to begin with, and thinking that she had to give more since she was going to give anyway, she scooped up a full bowl.

The white porridge is smooth and salty, with a hint of ginger. The shrimps are sweet, and the white unknown seafood is crispy and chewy.

Eyebrows raised... Zhou Yuying raised her eyebrows, and this was the first word that came to her mind.

“It’s delicious.”

"Can salty porridge be cooked like this? It tastes better than meat."

"Director Zhou said that this is called seafood porridge, not the salty porridge we usually eat."

"Give me some buns too. I can't finish them all by myself." Zhou Yuying simply gave two more buns to others.

Wang Nian was a really generous person. Every time the food was delivered to him, it was enough to make him unable to walk. There was no refrigerator in the dormitory, so he could only share the food with Cui Jiao, the little girl next door.

Next time, I must let Wang Nian do less.

After taking a bite of the bun, Zhou Yuying's eyes lit up instantly. Before she could say anything, someone suddenly ran into the cafeteria door.

"Director Zhou, there's a patient in the internal medicine department who needs emergency treatment."

Zhou Yuying stood up quickly, without even taking the lunch box, stuffed the remaining buns into her mouth, turned around and ran away.

“…”

"I think Director Zhou is actually a nice person." The short-haired nurse hadn't had time to eat the bun in her hand yet, and just murmured as she watched Zhou Yuying running away.

Another person also sighed: "No one is as generous as her."

"I think you were bribed by a bowl of broken porridge!" Xue Hongyan bit her back teeth, and the sound seemed to be squeezed out from between her teeth.

"Broken porridge? Why didn't you let us have some?" the man immediately retorted.

"A lackey of the capitalists!"

Xue Hongyan covered the lunch box with force and glared at the other two people who had been on the same front with her.

"I'm not like some people who offer themselves to others with flattering faces but are looked down upon. They want to live the good life of a capitalist but haven't lived it yet, so they don't know how frustrated they are in their hearts!"

"I heard that the couple has a good relationship and they are living a prosperous life."

Since the other party had turned hostile, how could the remaining two people be friendly to him? They immediately joined in the sarcastic remarks.

If Xue Hongyan hadn't replaced her aunt's job, how could she, a technical secondary school student, have the opportunity to work in the factory health hospital.

Others don’t understand her family’s situation, but don’t they know it either?

"As soon as you mentioned it, I remembered that the woman who came to our clinic this morning was Chief Engineer Shi's wife!"

"I didn't expect that she had such a good relationship with Director Zhou."

"Chief Shi's wife is a great cook. She cooks better than the chef at the previous factory hotel..."

The two of them kept calling Chief Engineer Shi's wife and Zhou Yuying, which made Xue Hongyan furious. She picked up her lunch box and left the cafeteria in a hurry.

She wanted to see... who the woman who married Shi Xiangming was.

***

Factory children's school.

There were many parents like Wang Nian who came to deliver lunch to their children. Although it was not yet time to finish school at noon, there were already many people standing at the school gate.

"The head teacher talked to me yesterday and encouraged us, the families of single-person workers, to let our children go home for lunch at noon."

"Me too."

Soon, the conversation content of several parents nearby caught Wang Nian's attention.

However, before they had heard a few words, the school bell suddenly rang. The parents immediately ended their conversation and looked towards the school playground.

Shi Wan was lying on the iron gate, looking for her brother among the crowd.

Soon, the little girl found Shi Shuwen, who was walking slowly and with his head down and looked dejected.

"Aunt, my brother must have been criticized." Shi Wan immediately turned around and reported.

"Let's go ask."

Wang Nian picked up Shi Wan, squeezed through the crowd, and walked straight towards Shi Shuwen.

"elder brother!"

Walking up to him, Shi Wan yelled mischievously, which frightened Shi Shuwen so much that he immediately started to giggle with joy.

"Why are you here?" Shi Shuwen asked as his first reaction.

"If I hadn't come, how could I have seen you looking unhappy?" Wang Nian freed a hand, put it on Shi Shuwen's shoulder, and led him to the cafeteria: "Tell me, what happened?"

"Nothing." Shi Shuwen replied without hesitation.

Wang Nian did not expose the truth and let the arrogant child walk to the cafeteria with a worried look on his face.

The school cafeteria is just a shed with a large steamer in the middle. Those who bring their own food from home put their food in the steamer, while those who don’t bring any food can get it from the side.

Wang Nian first put all the lunch boxes into the steamer, then turned around to look at the food in the cafeteria.

“…”

Shi Xiangming said that he wanted the children to get familiar with collective life earlier, so he arranged for them to eat in the school cafeteria at noon, but he did not say that the food in the cafeteria was so bad.

A large pot of unpeeled roasted potatoes and a few lumps of oil in the fried cabbage.

The two large pots of food had already gone cold. If there had been any oil in them, a layer of oil would have solidified on them by now.

"Is this what you usually eat for lunch?" Wang Nian asked in a deep voice, touching the back of Shi Shuwen's head.

No wonder he eats a big bowl of rice without saying a word every night. His appetite is almost as much as Wang Nian’s. It seems that he can’t eat enough during the day.

"Come early and have a hot meal," said Shi Shuwen.

Wang Nian didn't know what was going on in the kid's mind. At such a young age, he just avoided the important issues.

After saying this, fearing that Wang Nian would ask more questions, he quickly took Shi Wan's hand and said that he was going to find Zhang Liye to have dinner together.

There was only one dish left on the dining table, and Zhang Liye was late.

"Auntie Wang Nian."

After taking a look at the big basin, Zhang Liye sat back next to Shi Shuwen with the empty lunch box.

"Why don't you get food?" Wang Nian asked.

"I don't want to eat anymore." Zhang Liye pouted and complained to Wang Nian in a low voice: "The bottom of the basin is full of mud, it hurts my teeth."

"Mud and sand?"

"This is how we wash vegetables in our school cafeteria..." He raised his hands and put them down, shaking them twice: "They just wash them casually and put them in the pot. The vegetables at the bottom of the basin are all covered in mud and sand."

Wang Nian: “…”

So she stood up again and went to the serving counter.

"Brother Liye, I'll give you some porridge." Shi Shuwen generously poured half of the porridge into Zhang Liye's lunch box: "Auntie Wang Nian also brought some buns, I'll give you two too."

"Brother, you eat, you eat!"

Shi Wan saw Shi Shuwen give half of the food to others, smacked her lips twice, picked up the spoon and pushed her lunch box over.

"Sister, eat. Only when you are full can you grow taller. We will take you to catch grasshoppers in the future." Shi Shuwen pushed it back again.

"My aunt and I will go home to eat. There is more at home." Shi Wan said again.

"Auntie Wang Nian hasn't eaten yet?"

"No, Auntie didn't eat a single bite." Shi Wan simply knelt on the bench, grabbed a bun in each hand and put it into the lunch boxes of her two brothers: "Eat it all. Only when you are full can you study well."

"I really envy you." Zhang Liye took a bite of the bun sullenly. Although the bun was delicious, he was not happy at all: "I told my mother that the food in the cafeteria was bad, and she said I was hypocritical."

"What do you mean by pretentious?" Shi Shuwen didn't understand, and Shi Wan shook his head like a rattle.

"Just tell me, is the food in the cafeteria bad?" Zhang Liye asked. Shi Shuwen nodded and said, "It's worse than what my grandma cooks."

"Ah?" Shi Wan understood what was said. She covered her mouth with her little hands in shock, and tears quickly welled up in her big eyes.

In my memory, my grandmother often cooked porridge with corn flour and brown flour. I would choke if I ate it too fast, and the cabbage was hard and not tasty at all.

My brother was beaten until his head was bleeding because he stole the chicken leg that grandpa gave to my eldest cousin. In fact, she ate all the chicken.

When the little girl thought about her brother's hard life, she couldn't help but wipe away her tears.

"Let's go and tell Auntie that it won't be a hardship if we don't study."

When Wang Nian returned, Shi Wan, who was crying like a tearful child, immediately rushed over and hugged his legs, yelling incoherently for her brother to come home.

"What's wrong?"

Wang Nian didn't know what had happened in the moment, so he quickly picked up Shi Wan and asked.

At first, Shi Shuwen didn't understand why his sister suddenly started crying, but then he thought about it and recalled his time at his grandparents' house.

"My sister must have remembered that grandma only let us eat Chinese cabbage."

"Only eat Chinese cabbage?" Wang Nian wiped away Shi Wan's tears and patted her on the back gently: "Is life difficult at grandma's house?"

"Grandma would cook a dish for lunch every day. Grandpa would eat the oil residue, and my sister and I would eat cabbage..." Shi Shuwen calmly recounted his previous life.

In the evening, my uncle's family came to have dinner. It was the first time we had seen meat in our house for two or three days. However, the meat belonged to my cousins, so they couldn't even think about it. They couldn't even see what dishes were on the table.

Wang Nian: “…”

Sometimes Wang Nian couldn't help but wonder whether Shi Xiangming was the biological son of these two parents-in-law whom she had never met.

They are both my grandsons, why are there such big differences?

The experience of the brother and sister plus the scene he just saw made Wang Nian's heart feel like it was burned by an unknown fire. He was so uncomfortable that he could not continue speaking.

She thought of her past life, where she also grew up in great difficulty.

Although he could be considered a successful person in the end, he had lost all understanding of love over the years.

She didn't want and didn't want Shi Shuwen to grow up to be Wang Nian from her previous life.

"From now on, I will pick you up at noon every day to go home for lunch, and then take you to school after lunch." Wang Nian said.

Shi Shuwen looked over in surprise, his lips glistening with oil and his eyes filled with surprise and joy.

"Dad said..."

"I'll go talk to your dad."

"good!"

Wang Nian touched Shi Shuwen's head, which was both a way to compensate Shi Shuwen and also her past life.

"Aunt."

Suddenly, a crying voice came faintly. Shi Shuwen had a tearful face and took a bite of the bun hard: "Can you talk to my mother and let me go to your house to eat too?"

"I'll tell your mother when I get back." Wang Nian replied immediately.

I just went to the food counter to look at the silt that Zhang Liye mentioned, but I saw someone from a distance twisting a piece of straw paper out of a spoon.

At that time, Wang Nian's stomach was churning and he almost vomited on the spot.

The dishes are filled with feces, but that doesn’t mean you have to put toilet paper in them.

"Thank you, Aunt Wang Nian." Zhang Liye immediately smiled and happily ate another bun.

“Eat it while it’s hot.”

While the two were enjoying their meal, one of the teachers who was passing by with food outside the cafeteria saw Shi Shuwen.

"That female comrade is Shi Shuwen's parent, right?"

The male teacher stopped and pushed up his glasses to take a closer look.

The male teacher was Jiang Ming, the head teacher of the kindergarten class, and the other teacher was Cui Shulin, the school's vice-principal.