130: Anorexia

Anorexia

Elder Han had always dealt with such people who would just try to please him to get some benefits. Han Liwei was the same. Elder Han could see through his pretense from the start. This made him upset but he could not give up on his second grandson. He tried to bring Han Liwei back on track but because Han Liwei was extremely close to his mother, he developed as Mrs. Han wanted him to be. This made him distanced from Elder Han.2

On the other hand, Han Jun was an honest and upright person. He truly loved and cared for his grandfather as a family and not for gaining any benefits.

People are able to decipher if you are being true to them or not, and Elder Han was the same. He knew the difference between Han Jun and Han Liwei.

Moreover, now that Qin Yan, Han Jun's friend had brought him out of his grave, his favourability for Han Jun had increased manifold. This proximity of Elder Han and Han Jun pricked Mrs. Han's heart.

So she came up with another naive plan, which was to rope Qin Yan to their side. She didn't want Qin Yan to get into relationship with Han Liwei as Qin Yan's background could not be compared to Han family. However, she wanted Qin Yan to become Han Liwei's close friend, much closer than Han Jun. It would be even better if Qin Yan develops a crush on Han Liwei, which would give them leeway to use Qin Yan as they wanted to.

"It's fine, Mrs. Han, we are not that close for me to address you informally," Qin Yan responded indifferently.

Mrs. Han's face darkened. Qin Yan ignored her and turned towards Elder Han, "Elder Han, how are you feeling now?"

Elder Han heard Qin Yan's address and immediately reprimanded her, "Yan Yan, you are like my granddaughter. You can call me Grandfather."

Qin Yan looked at Han Jun and then at Elder Han. These days when she administered treatment to Elder Han, she had gotten quite close to the old man. She also came to know about Han Jun's background and was quite shocked.

But after interacting with Elder Han, she realised that his strictness was just for people who wanted to take advantage of him. Otherwise he was just like a kind elder next door. What he lacked the most was familial affection which was given to him by Han Jun. But because of their work, the grandfather and grandson could not interact much. Even now, if not for Elder Han's health, he would not have stayed in S city and Han Jun would not be able to accompany him.

Qin Yan, in both her lives, did not get the love of grandparents. In her previous life, as she was an orphan, she had no chances of getting familial love, much less a grandparent's love.

In this life, Qin Yicheng's parents had died early and thus she had not met the previous owner's grandparents.

She smiled kindly at the old man sitting in front of her, "Okay, Grandfather Han, now can you tell me how do you feel?"

Hearing Qin Yan call him grandfather, Elder Han's face lit up whereas Mrs. Han's face darkened even more. Just now when she had asked Qin Yan to address her informally, the latter had outrightly rejected her. But now that Elder Han put a request in front of her, Qin Yan accepted so readily.

She automatically pictured Qin Yan as a gold digging bitch. As the whole power was in Elder Han's hands, Qin Yan had many advantages in addressing Elder Han as Grandfather. Moreover, she was his benefactor. She could ask for anything from Elder Han.

"Good good good, Yan Yan thank you for agreeing to my request. By the way, I am much better. Only today all the reports came and my situation is much better from before. It is all thanks to you," Elder Han thanked Qin Yan profusely.

"Yes, big boss, you are awesome. Thank you so much. My grandfather is fine just because of you. In the future if you need anything, I will always be there for you," Han Jun pounded his chest.

"Yes, Yan Yan. Please ask if you need anything. You are Han family's benefactor. I will try my best to help you in any way I can," Elder Han also gave his word to Qin Yan.

Qin Yan shook her head, "Grandfather Han, there is no need for anything. I have not helped you to gain anything from you. I just did this for my classmate. But if you insist, if there is any situation that I can not deal with and require your help, I will surely let you know."

Elder Han nodded in approval. Qin Yan was not a greedy person like everyone else. He had not judged her wrongly.

"Okay, I have to leave now. I will come and treat you the other day. Till then, take care Grandfather Han," Qin Yan bade goodbye to the Han family.

*

Xu Dong glanced at the time, it was already 7 pm. He decided to call Mother Xu and tell her that he'd return home tomorrow. He also wanted to tell his family about Qin Yan's offer. He wondered how they would react.

Mother Xu sounded very anxious on the phone. "Mother, did something happen?"

"It's nothing…" Mother Xu hesitated before she told Xu Dong, "Your sister can't stomach any food for these past few days. Whenever she tried to take a few bites, she'd vomit them right out."

Xu Dong frowned after hearing what Mother Xu said. Xu Lei's condition was worsening day by day.

What he didn't know was that even though Xu Lei appeared unaffected on the surface, the accident had affected her deeply. On top of that, she had been homebound for a very long time. As the pressure added, she developed anorexia.

Mother Xu was very worried about her daughter. They had used all kind of methods to stabilize Xu Lei's emotions, telling her that the issues with her legs could be cured but Xu Lei couldn't get over that mental hurdle and it exacerbated her physical condition. Mother Xu's heart shook with pain.

Xu Dong decided to return home that day itself. He could not wait till tomorrow, "Don't worry, mother. I will return home right away."

Xu Dong then changed his clothes and left for the Xu house. He looked at the message on his phone and got puzzled.

Qin Yan had sent a message to Xu Dong about the condition that may happen to Xu Lei and she was correct. Xu Lei had been affected with anorexia. The most important thing now was to restore Xu Lei's physical metabolism and for that she needs to up her protein intake.

For this, she had sent some protein-rich recipes to Xu Dong to follow.

'How could she guess Xu Lei's condition so accurately!' he wondered. Xu Dong forwarded the message to Auntie Qiu, their housekeeper and asked her to follow the instructions in the message.

*

In the kitchen of the Xu house.

Mother Xu smelled something fragrant before she even stepped into the kitchen.

Auntie Qiu took out six tomatoes, four cucumbers and a carrot from the refrigerator and washed them carefully.

She then skillfully diced the beef tenderloin that she marinated the day before. The dices were of the same size.

As Auntie Qiu prepared the ingredients, she realized what the message wanted her to make. She realised that adding mushrooms to the dish would enhance its flavour and thus did so.

She then spooned some oil into the pot. When the oil was hot enough, Auntie Qiu slid in the diced meat for a quick stir fry. The beef was fresh and tender so they would lose their suppleness if left on the fire for too long.

Auntie Qiu beat some eggs and then added mushrooms and carrots. When it was almost done, she added the beef and cucumbers.

Auntie Qiu also cooked some handmade noodles. She then dropped the cooked noodle into ice bath to help keep the stringiness and then dropped them into a bowl. Finally she draped the egg dish over it.

After the noodles were ready, Auntie Qiu followed the second recipe received by her from Xu Dong to make a soup. She stirred miso into boiling water and then added diced tofu, seaweed and bonito flakes. The soup was very simple but the ingredients were all filled with nutrition.

Auntie Qiu served four bowls of noodles and soups. There were still some left inside the pots.

Even Auntie Qiu swallowed when the dishes were served. The fragrance filled up the house and it attracted Father Xu's attention who was downstairs. He walked into the kitchen and saw the noodles. He was impressed. The meat, carrots, cucumbers and mushrooms were finely diced. Paired with shredded egg, it was a perfect meal for the day.

Mother Xu was also shocked at Auntie Qiu's cooking. Usually she would make everything delicious, but today the aroma of the food was totally different.

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