Old Mrs. Tong laughed heartily and said, "Ah, old sister, meeting is destiny, especially since we get along so well. I can’t help much with other things, but I can certainly make you some pickled cabbage dumplings.
It’s cold outside, hurry back inside. I’ll go and cook them now, make sure to eat more later."
Granny Zhang smiled and nodded, entering the courtyard.
Old Mrs. Tong quickly turned around to get busy again.
Sister Chen moved in with Granny Zhang to take care of her.
Xinyan had already made arrangements. Xinyan pointed to a brand-new set of bedding on the kang: "Aunt Chen, this bedding is newly prepared by me. It was already aired yesterday. You can use this."
Sister Chen saw the new bedding and was moved: "The old ones are fine for me, really, you didn’t have to spend so much."
While organizing things, Xinyan smiled and said, "Even if you wanted to use the old ones, there aren’t any here."
Sister Chen and Granny Zhang both laughed at Xinyan’s words.
Indeed, everything in this little courtyard was newly purchased, where would there be old items?
After helping Granny Zhang make up the bed, she said, "You should lie down and rest for a while. Since Grandma Tong made dumplings, I won’t prepare any main dishes. There’s chicken soup I simmered last night in the kitchen. I’ll go heat it up and bring some over."
Granny Zhang knew Xinyan was methodical in her work, and she knew that by listening, Xinyan would feel at ease: "You just arrange everything."
Sister Chen helped Granny Zhang lie down on the kang and then turned to Xinyan: "What do you think I should do now?"
Xinyan glanced at Granny Zhang on the kang: "Let Granny Zhang rest. I’ll first take you around the courtyard to get familiar with it."
Han Jingchen knew Xinyan was busy and worried she might not be able to take care of Granny Zhang properly, so he had Sister Chen come along. He also mentioned that after the next surgery, they’d directly move back to the suburbs for the New Year, so Sister Chen could continue making nourishing food for Granny Zhang.
There wasn’t much left for Xinyan to do at school, and once her grades were out, it would be time for the holiday.
She planned not to go south for this winter vacation and instead focus on Granny Zhang. Even though Sister Chen was taking care, she still worried.
Moreover, she wanted to take ingredients from the space, so she dismissed the idea of going south.
She thought that once she used the stock in her space once more, it would be cleared, and she wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore.
This vacation, aside from taking good care of Granny Zhang, she intended to focus on learning medicine from her master diligently. Her own medical skills were still lacking. If she were adept in all aspects, maybe Granny Zhang’s illness could be detected early.
If not for Granny Zhang regularly eating food from the space, which inhibited tumor growth, the situation might have been dire. Just thinking about it was frightening.
It seems that in the future, she would also need to send ingredients from the space to her dad’s side regularly. Though she had always used the space’s ingredients to care for her dad’s health when she lived in the suburbs, she realized now that these ingredients don’t show immediate effects, and only with regular consumption could the body be adjusted.
Of course, the medicinal wine brewed with ginseng from the space was an exception. Just one small cup would make people feel a change in their bodies, so such wine could not be easily given to others.
After taking Sister Chen on a tour around the front and back courtyards, while Sister Chen went to the bathroom,
she quickly returned to the kitchen and took out quite a bit of food from the space. In addition to grains, oil, meat, eggs, and vegetables, she also brought out three fish and kept them in a large basin for washing clothes.
Finally, she took out the chicken soup that she had simmered in the space last night, poured it back into the pot, and pretendingly heated it on the stove.