护食 (hù shí) is a Chinese phrase that can be translated to "protecting food" or "food conservation." It often refers to the practice of not wasting or squandering food and being mindful of food resources. This concept promotes the importance of not being wasteful and valuing food.
The bone broth braised noodles is very hot. Chu Xia picked up a mouthful, blew on them, and before taking a bite, in her peripheral vision, she saw Cen Huai'an already gripping a big mouthful with his chopsticks, not stopping at all, as if someone were trying to snatch it away from him. He immediately shoved it in his mouth.
In an instant, Cen Huai'an's face distorted.
Chu Xia was so scared and quickly put down her chopsticks. She reached over to pinch his mouth. "You kid! Spit it out quickly. Do you want to scald yourself to death?"
But Cen Huai'an dodged Chu Xia's hand and stubbornly swallowed the mouthful of noodles, not spitting at all.
When Chu Xia looks at him like this, she doesn't know what to feel in her heart; it's both sour and painful.
She stood up and quickly brought a bowl of cold water, placing it in front of Cen Huai'an. "Rinse your mouth with cold water before eating again."
She knew that making him give up eating was impossible.
Chu Xia could sense Cen Huai'an's resistance, but he also knew that it hurt. After hesitating for a while, he picked up the bowl and rinsed his mouth with the cold water.
Not a single word was said to Chu Xia during this time.
Even though it was a small bowl of noodles, it contained a substantial amount.
However, Cen Huai'an guarded his bowl and finished it, but his eyes still eagerly looked at other people's noodles.
Before Cen Huai'an could react, Chu Xia quickly touched his stomach, and it was already bulging, indicating that he had eaten enough.
But the child was obviously famished; once he had a meal, he wanted to eat his fill, regardless of the possibility of overeating and feeling stuffed.
The bone soup braised noodles were indeed delicious; they were made from genuine lamb bone broth, fresh and fragrant. Chu Xia herself almost couldn't resist the urge to have another bowl, so it wasn't surprising that Cen Huai'an still wanted more.
"I'll bring you here again next time."
Chu Xia reaches out to pat his head, but Cen Huai'an dodges it.
She didn't mind, though.
However, after they left the state-owned restaurant, Chu Xia saw Cen Huai'an about to run away, and despite his resistance, she grabbed his arm.
"Where are you going?"
"None of your business!"
Chu Xia finally heard Cen Huai'an's voice, which was childish but somewhat hoarse, like the voice of a child with a cold.
His tone is vicious, his eyes are tinged with impatience, and he looks like he really doesn't have any feelings at all for Chu Xia as his mother.
But Chu Xia noticed him grinding his teeth and seemingly wanting to bite, but in the end he didn't open his mouth to bite.
To say he resisted, it was only a struggle with his arm; he didn't use his body to resist.
Chu Xia couldn't tell what she was feeling, except that her eyes felt a little hot.
She blinked, smiled, and pinched his cheek while saying, "I'm your mom; if I don't care about you, who cares about you?"
Cen Huai'an stared at her with wide eyes, as if she had done something heinous.
But when she pulled him away again, he stopped resisting and remained silent.
The main industry of Liangzhou City is textile manufacturing. The city has a total of six major textile factories, and several of them are located in the same area, which used to be outside the city center.
Now, with the development of these factories in the area and its proximity to the city center, it has become quite prosperous.
Chu Xia took Cen Huai'an on the public bus to Liangzhou City Hospital. She had a monthly pass provided by the factory, so she didn't need to pay.
Cen Huai'an hadn't been on a bus before.
Only then did he display the curiosity of a child and follow Chu Xia. After getting on the bus, he quietly raised his head and looked inside the bus.
In his heart, he thought: The kids in the courtyard are so childish, and there's nothing special about this bus.
But when Chu Xia led him to sit down, his whole body tensed up. As the bus started moving, his eyes widened as he clung tightly to the seat in front of him.
Chu Xia looks at his appearance and suddenly reaches out to turn his head in the direction of the window. "Look at the scenery outside; is it different from walking?"
Cen Huai'an didn't say anything, but his head remained turned towards the window, just gazing outside.
Liangzhou City Hospital is not far away; after two stops, the bus conveniently stopped right in front of the hospital.
When Chu Xia brought Cen Huai'an down, she noticed a trace of nostalgia in his eyes.
"You'll need to take the bus back later."
The hospital had a simple appearance as well, with a long, four-story building and its walls painted a gray-white color.
Upon entering through the central front door, the top half of the walls was white, while the lower half was painted a turquoise color.
In the corridor, there were patients as well as doctors and nurses coming and going in a hurry.
This was Cen Huai'an's first time in a hospital. He didn't know what his mother wanted to do. However, as he smelled the strange hospital scent, he felt like running away again.
Chu Xia also hadn't been to this hospital in the year 1981, and after asking the nurse for directions to the traditional Chinese medicine department, she directly registered her and Cen Huai'an for a consultation.
In fact, just now on the bus, she took the pulses of Cen Huai'an and herself.
Although she primarily had a background in Western medicine, her previous life was spent as a cardiovascular surgeon, and she was constantly busy in the hospital.
She came from a family of orthodox Chinese medicine practitioners; she learned to read using "Tangtou Ge."
"汤头歌" (Tangtou Ge) might be referring to a specific method or material used in traditional Chinese medicine.
Since she was a child, her grandfather has forced her to memorize medicinal herbs and prescriptions, followed by concocting medicinal herbs. She was tired of doing it, and she rebelled in the college entrance examination and enrolled in the Western medicine that her grandfather criticized all day long.
But her grandfather had just sighed and asked her to not forget traditional Chinese medicine and to study hard after enrolling in the major. He didn't say much more.
Thinking about it now, she was really ignorant at that time and didn't understand her grandfather's heart.
But fortunately, when she came here, her grandfather had already passed away, or else he would have had a hard time.
As for her parents, they divorced when she was a child, then threw her to her grandfather and never cared for her again.
So her pulse reading was still very reliable, and her and Cen Huai'an's weak bodies were mainly due to malnutrition.
Her health was worse. Her confinement period was not done well that year, and she always had some minor problems, which the original owner didn't care about. Coupled with the intensity of her work, she often didn't have enough to eat. If she didn't take care of herself, her body would soon collapse.
Although the pulse was checked, she was still going to take Cen Huai'an to the hospital for a check-up.
In this way, she could go back and buy herbs to condition her body and Cen Huai'an's so that Cen Huai'an and the residents of the family complex wouldn't suspect anything.
After all, the previous owner had never had any knowledge of medicine.
Cen Huai'an was a child prodigy in the books. He remembered things from the age of five, and he remembered them clearly.
The Chinese medicine practitioner sitting in the clinic is a very old man, and as soon as Chu Xia sees him, she feels doubly close to him because the aura on him is very similar to that of her grandfather.
She looks down at his nametag: Li Guanzhong.
Chu Xia smiles. Guanzhong is the name of a Chinese medicine.
She pulls Cen Huai'an to sit down, puts his hand on the pulse pillow, and says to Li Guanzhong, ''Doctor, help me see what kind of disease he has? What should I do to condition his body? "
When Cen Huai'an heard this, he immediately looked at Chu Xia, his eyes showing a complex mix of surprise and a desire to believe, yet also a hint of disbelief.
Li Guanzhong glanced at her and said, "He's clearly suffering from severe malnutrition. This child is starving. Now you know to be anxious about the body of the child; what have you done before? You young parents are irresponsible."
Chu Xia didn't refute when she was scolded; she just nodded "yes" in response.
Feeling his pulse, Li Guanzhong frowned even more tightly, and his eyes at Chu Xia became more and more severe.
"Who are you?"
Chu Xia was very obedient. She said, as if she were facing her own grandfather, "I am his mother."
"Are you really his mother? Why did you starve him like this? Do you know his current health? What's the situation? Severe malnutrition! None of the internal organs are healthy! If you don't take care of it properly, it will leave serious root causes in the future and even hinder your life span!" Li Guanzhong snapped.
He was very angry at the child's mother for allowing her child to become this way.