That night, the head nurse helped Lin Dan find a house. It was just opposite the hospital, only twenty meters away from the street, very close. Led by the landlord, the two entered one of the rooms. The tenants inside were arguing. More than a dozen people had crowded into the small kitchen, including men, women, adults, and children. It was very messy.
Before Lin Dan got close, she heard a sharp female voice coming from the kitchen: "Which bastard stole the chicken I stewed on the stove? Will you die without this little food? Believe it or not, I will put rat poison in the chicken soup next time and poison you grandsons to death! Whoever eats my food will have a rotten stomach, intestines, heart, lungs, cunt, face, and XX..."
The woman's scolding became more and more unpleasant. Lin Dan frowned and thought that he definitely couldn't live in such a house. First, there were too many people and it was unsafe; second, the kitchen was shared and would cause conflicts; third, the rooms were only separated by curtains and there was a fear of losing property.
She was about to ask the landlord if there were any other houses, but the head nurse spoke first: "Old Guo, this house won't work. It's too messy. Do you have a single room with a kitchen and toilet? This girl is going out alone, so it's safer to live in a single room."
"The price for a single room is not this high."
"It's okay. I'll help the girl with whatever money she wants." The head nurse immediately took charge of the matter.
Lin Dan quickly rejected the head nurse's kindness, repeatedly stated that he had money, then bowed and thanked her repeatedly, making the head nurse feel embarrassed and reluctantly took back her words.
The landlord had heard of Lin Dan's situation before and was willing to help her. He rented her a small studio room of 10 square meters with a balcony for 80 yuan a day. She still had to go out to use the toilet and there was no kitchen, but there was a small stove and a complete set of kitchen utensils on the balcony, so she could make a fire. The bed and bedding were also ready, so she could move in with just her luggage.
Lin Dan settled down that night and got up early the next morning to buy breakfast for Lin Shuanzhu. She watched him finish his IV drip before running to the nearby vegetable market to buy vegetables. Oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, rice, flour, bowls, chopsticks, and thermos buckets are all things that need to be bought and you can't save on them. Although you will spend a lot of money at one time, in the long run it will be much cheaper than eating boxed lunches.
She bought half a free-range chicken, cleaned it, and blanched it in boiling water to remove the bloody smell. Then she added various seasonings and ginger and stewed it on the stove. It takes a long time to stew a native chicken until it is soft and tasty, so she saved it for dinner. For lunch, she simply stir-fried shredded pork with green peppers, three-fresh tofu, and mushrooms and vegetables.
Although these three dishes are ordinary home-cooked meals, Lin Dan's cooking method is not simple at all. The shredded meat is cut into thin strips and marinated with cooking wine, starch, light soy sauce and other seasonings first. After it is softened and flavored by hand, it is stir-fried over high heat. If the heat is not well controlled, the shredded meat will become tough and dry and lose its original flavor. The three-flavor tofu must be stir-fried while quickly adding bean paste, light soy sauce, shiitake mushrooms, ham slices and other ingredients, otherwise it will not be fresh or tender enough. The key to cooking mushrooms and green vegetables is also the heat. You have to bring out the freshness of the mushrooms, while keeping the green vegetables crispy. There are many tricks involved.
The simpler the home-cooked dishes, the more they can show a chef's true skills. For some reason, this sentence inexplicably appeared in Lin Dan's mind. But she seemed to have gotten used to this feeling and didn't think too much about it. She just quickly put the three dishes into the thermos, turned the stove to low heat, continued to stew the chicken, and finally hurried to the hospital to bring lunch to Lin Shuanzhu.
This was the first time Lin Shuanzhu was admitted to a city hospital. He didn’t feel anything special when his granddaughter was around, but once she left, he felt very uncomfortable. Seeing that the middle-aged woman and young man in the next bed had eaten the lunch brought by the nurse, he lay down, covered his head with the quilt and pretended to be asleep.
The middle-aged woman felt sorry for him and asked loudly, "Uncle, how about I buy you a lunch?"
"Thank you, elder sister. My granddaughter said this morning that she would bring me food." Lin Shuanzhu lifted the quilt and waved his hands.
"Where is your granddaughter? I haven't seen her since she got the injection."
"She went back to make lunch for me, saying that the lunch boxes bought outside were expensive and she couldn't afford them, and that making them herself was cheaper."
Before the middle-aged woman could say anything, her caregiver said disdainfully, "You have to eat even if you can't afford it. Your legs are broken, how can you recover if you don't eat something good? It must be cheaper to eat vegetables and tofu every day."
The middle-aged woman glared at the nurse and was about to smooth things over when Lin Dan came in carrying a thermos bucket. She first greeted the middle-aged woman and the young man politely, then brought hot water for Lin Shuanzhu to wash his hands. After that, she rocked the bed so that Lin Shuanzhu could half lie down, put the board in front of him, opened the thermos bucket, and placed the food layer by layer.
In just a moment, the ward was filled with an incredibly strong aroma. The shredded pork was salty and fragrant, the tofu was tender and smooth, and the vegetables were delicious. When they were put out, the color and appearance of the dishes were no worse than those in a five-star hotel.
The nurse was speechless in an instant, but the middle-aged woman and the young man were sniffing greedily, then they stretched their necks and stared at Lin Shuanzhu's dining table.
"Let's eat." Lin Dan handed the chopsticks to Lin Shuanzhu.
Lin Shuanzhu had never eaten any good food in his life, so naturally he had no idea what level of cooking his granddaughter was at. He just thought it tasted much better than usual, so he nodded repeatedly but didn't ask. This is what is meant by a cow chewing a peony.
The middle-aged woman couldn't resist the aroma. She asked while slurping her saliva, "Little girl, did you make these dishes yourself?" That's impossible? They don't look alike at all! The vegetables were lush green and didn't look like they were cooked at all; the shredded pork was dyed with a shiny sauce and was still soft and tender when poked with chopsticks, and must have tasted great; the white tofu was soaked in the bright red thick soup and garnished with some emerald green onions, it was so delicious!
Although these three dishes are home-cooked meals, they are top-notch temptations in terms of color, aroma and taste! The middle-aged woman comes from a well-off family and she can tell that there is real skill involved in these three dishes just by smelling them.
Before Lin Dan could answer, Lin Shuanzhu proudly said, "My daughter Dan could cook when she was four years old."
The middle-aged woman suddenly realized. The little girl is only thirteen years old this year, and she started cooking at the age of four, which means she has nine years of cooking experience. No wonder! It is said that children from poor families grow up early, and this is indeed true.
"Uncle, with such a granddaughter, your blessing is still to come." The middle-aged woman swallowed secretly, and then looked at the lunch box she had customized from the hotel, and suddenly felt that it was tasteless.
The young man was also eating while peeking at Lin Shuanzhu's table, but he endured it and didn't ask for a taste. The little girl’s cooking skills are really great. No wonder she would rather cook for herself than eat out. It would be good if the food bought outside can be half as good as hers.
After lunch, the doctor changed the bottle of medicine for Lin Shuanzhu. Lin Dan stayed by the side and watched until the medicine was injected. Then he pressed the bell to ask the nurse to remove the needle, and then went back to the rental house to make dinner. The local chicken had been stewed, and there was some cabbage, green onions and peppers left over from lunch, so I simply cut them all into thin strips and stir-fried them with chili oil, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce and other seasonings to make a three-flavor cabbage dish.
After entering the ward carrying the thermos bucket, Lin Dan first half-helped and half-carried Lin Shuanzhu onto the wheelchair, then sent him to the toilet and asked him to take care of his physiological problems. Lin Shuanzhu has one good leg, so as long as we help him put the toilet chair on the squat toilet, he can do it by himself, and then we can carry him to the bed.
Seeing Lin Dan easily handling an old man weighing more than 100 kilograms, the middle-aged woman was surprised and said, "Uncle, your granddaughter is so strong and her hands and feet are so agile!"
Lin Shuanzhu sighed, "She has been helping the family collect firewood and do housework since she was four years old. How could she not be strong? She has endured hard times."
The middle-aged woman praised him repeatedly, but Lin Dan said nothing. He brought hot water to help Lin Shuanzhu wipe his face and hands. After that, he opened the thermos and took out a bowl of rice and a plate of three kinds of cabbage. The rest of the bucket was filled with chicken soup, which was frighteningly fragrant.
The middle-aged woman was waiting for the nurse to bring her food, and she couldn't control her saliva, which immediately flowed down. The young man let the nurse feed him while he secretly looked at Lin Shuanzhu's dining table. The lunch was delicious enough, why do you want to have it again in the evening?
Lin Dan took out the two empty bowls that he had prepared long ago, filled them with chicken soup, scooped out the chicken meat, and brought them to the table of the middle-aged woman and the young man, and said politely, "Brother, Auntie, I stewed too much at noon, and it would be a waste if I couldn't finish it. You guys can try some too."
The two of them said sorry but couldn't wait to start eating. The chicken soup is golden yellow with little bits of oil floating in it, and the color is very beautiful; the chicken had long been stewed till it was well-cooked and completely separated from the bones, and when you put it in your mouth and take a slight sip, the meat melts and the bone marrow seeps out, mixing in the delicious soup, making you want to scream to the sky. How can there be such a fresh and delicious soup in the world!
The middle-aged woman finished the soup in just a few mouthfuls, and only a pile of bones were left of the chicken. If she wasn't afraid of looking ugly while eating, she would have just sucked out all the bone marrow.
The young man had both his hands in plaster and could only wait for the nurse to feed him. However, the nurse was very careful and would wait ten seconds after feeding him a mouthful before feeding him the second mouthful, which made the young man want to bury his head in the soup bowl and sip. It is said that delicious food is found among the people, and they finally believe it.
Lin Shuanzhu also felt that today's chicken soup was delicious and couldn't help but praise it.
Lin Dan didn't explain much. Anyway, Lin Shuanzhui had a simple mind and would not suspect others without reason. Otherwise, he would not have allowed Jiao Xiao'e to abuse the original owner like that. After dinner, Lin Dan took out the dishwashing liquid that he had prepared long ago, used the hot water in the ward to wash the dishes, and then watched Lin Shuanzhu get the last bottle of medicine. If there was no one watching, he would not ask the nurse to remove the needle after the injection, for fear that the blood would return.
There was a TV in the ward, and the young man was holding the remote control and changing channels, looking very bored. The middle-aged woman lay straight on the bed, her brows tightly furrowed, as if she was enduring something.
She was in a car accident and suffered multiple fractures, unable to move at all. Fortunately, her lumbar spine was not injured, so she did not become paralyzed after recovering. Her caregiver went to buy her food, but she didn't come back for a long time. If it weren't for Lin Dan's chicken soup, she would have starved to death on the hospital bed. Her husband is a business executive and is very busy so he cannot be with her all the time. Her son is a senior in high school this year and has to attend various cramming classes during the holidays, so he can't come, so she can only lie there alone.
However, Lin Dan knew that her expression was more of discomfort and embarrassment than resentment and loneliness.
Lin Dan immediately understood her situation and stood up, pulling all the curtains around her bed and taking out a flat bedpan from under her bed.
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