Chapter 403 - 203: This Line of Text Is Very Authoritative
"Yan, I came to get medicine for Grandma today and brought the tofu up on my way, so Uncle won’t have to make another trip."
Zhou Yan smiled. ’This guy is really something else.’
It was only six o’clock, the sky just beginning to brighten. The doctors at the factory hospital wouldn’t start work until eight.
He must have left home around five. It was far too early.
Zhou Yan took the fountain pen from his breast pocket and quickly scribbled a few words on a piece of paper: "Have you eaten breakfast?"
Lai Fu grinned, shook his head, and pulled a pencil stub from his pocket. He wrote on the paper, "I’ll eat at home after I get the medicine."
"The hospital doesn’t open until eight. It’s warm in my shop, so just wait here until it’s time to go. In a bit, I’ll make you a bowl of noodles and you can have a taste of my cooking." Zhou Yan handed the note to him, smiled, and patted his shoulder before pushing the bicycle, laden with vegetables, through the door.
Lai Fu followed, hoisting the back-basket onto his shoulders and heading into the shop.
"Let me." Comrade Zhou stepped forward and took the back-basket from him in one motion.
Mrs. Zhao was also up. Her eyes filled with sympathy as she looked at Lai Fu. "This must be over sixty pounds! It’s so heavy. You should have just let your uncle bring it. You poor thing, carrying this all by yourself."
Lai Fu couldn’t hear her, but he just grinned.
His head was covered in sweat, steaming in the cool air, and his oversized clothes made him look even thinner and more fragile.
"This poor kid..." Mrs. Zhao sighed. She picked up a thermos, poured him a bowl of water, and said with a smile, "Have some water first."
Lai Fu held out his right hand and tapped his thumb twice before taking the bowl. He drank in small sips, finishing the entire bowl in a moment.
"What was that gesture he made?" Mrs. Zhao asked, looking at Zhou Yan.
"He’s saying thank you," Zhou Yan translated with a smile. ’That’s one of the few signs I understand.’
"Even though he can’t speak, his heart is in the right place. He’s always been so polite, even as a little boy." Mrs. Zhao smiled at the explanation, then turned and went inside to get a dry towel. She came back and helped Lai Fu dry his sweat-soaked hair.
Zhou Yan sized up Lai Fu. He was still thin, but he had clearly put on some weight since the first time they’d met. There was more color in his face now.
Zhou Yan had told Mrs. Sun not to worry about the money and to make sure Lai Fu bought meat every few days. He needed to eat well and build up his strength.
Zhou Yan was now buying forty pounds of tofu, ten pounds of dried tofu, and ten pounds of tofu skin from them daily. His purchases alone brought them an income of twenty yuan a day.
After deducting the cost of the beans, their daily profit was at least ten yuan.
The grandmother and grandson were now considered high-earners. Even if they ate a pound of meat every day, it wouldn’t be a problem.
Day by day, their lives were visibly improving.
Comrade Zhou, who picked up the tofu every day, reported that Mrs. Sun’s leg was much better and she could walk around slowly. The swelling around her eyes had gone down, and her vision had improved significantly.
Last week, their tofu skin production had increased from eight pounds to ten, another sign that her health was clearly on the mend.
A short while later, Zhao Hong and Zhou Lihui arrived as well.
Zhou Lihui was about the same age as Lai Fu, but Huihui was a generation younger, so he had to call Lai Fu "Uncle."
The two exchanged a few simple words on paper, then Huihui gave Lai Fu a handful of melon seeds and went into the kitchen to help Zhou Yan.
"Uncle, since Uncle Lai Fu can’t hear or speak and is so skinny, does he get bullied?" Zhou Lihui asked with some worry as he tended the stove fire for Zhou Yan.
"He has been," Zhou Yan replied. "But we relatives stood up for him, so it should happen a lot less in the future."
"Then I’ll stand up for him in the future, too! I’ve got plenty of brute strength, so I’m perfect for the job," Zhou Lihui said, puffing out his chest with a brilliant smile.
"Deal." Zhou Yan glanced at him and smiled as well.
’The little guy is full of righteous spirit,’ he thought. ’A true son of the Zhou Family.’
Lai Fu wasn’t one to sit still. After a short rest, he went to help Comrade Zhou.
Children from poor families learn to be independent early; he was a quick and efficient worker.
Zhou Yan made him a bowl of noodles with beef and dried bamboo shoots. Lai Fu drank every last drop of the broth.
By the time he finished eating, it was 7:40. Only then did Zhou Yan let him go to the hospital to wait.
When lunch service ended, Zhou Yan pushed his bicycle out the door. In the basket were a copy of *How the Steel Was Tempered* and a packet of braised meat. He headed straight for the library.
’It’s great to be young.’ Despite sleeping late last night and being busy all morning, he didn’t feel overwhelmingly tired.
Mr. Wang was reclining in a lounge chair at the library entrance, listening to a cassette player with his eyes closed. He opened them at the sound of brakes and, seeing Zhou Yan, smiled. "Well, look who it is! Comrade Zhou, you haven’t been here to borrow a book in over a week. Slacking off a bit, are we?"
"It’s about tempering steel, after all. The book is so profound that I used to fall asleep the moment I opened it. I finally pulled an all-nighter to finish it yesterday." Zhou Yan parked his bike, took the braised meat and the book from the basket, and placed them on a small table nearby with a smile. "Mr. Wang, I brought you some beef and pig’s head meat to go with your drinks."
"What’s with all the courtesy? You bring me braised meat every time you come." Mr. Wang sat up and looked at him. "What book are you looking to borrow this time?"
"Do you have any cookbooks here? I’d like to borrow a couple to study up on professional knowledge," Zhou Yan said.
"Don’t you have a master? Why do you need to learn from cookbooks?" Mr. Wang asked with a laugh.
"I want to read more recipes and classic texts to broaden my horizons and find new ideas. Now that I’ve opened my own shop, it’s not as convenient to learn from a master," Zhou Yan explained. ’After all, some masters have to come to me to learn things now.’
"Go to the third bookshelf from the entrance. On the second shelf, all the way at the end, there’s a copy of the *Sichuan Cuisine Recipe*. It was published by the Rongcheng City Food Service Company and has a very comprehensive collection of Sichuan Cuisine recipes inside. You can go take a look. I picked it up at a used bookstall last year."𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮