Though sensing something unusual, Jiang A Yao didn’t question Lu Da.
Previously she had only thought his name was ordinary, but now she realized it must have been intentionally chosen to avoid drawing attention.
Jiang A Yao gave him a deep look, having already made a decision in her heart. The Jiang family couldn’t be relied upon. Though temporarily staying with the Lu family, she still needed to make plans for the future.
But for now, she had to first take good care of Lu Mingzhu, find ways to earn money, and see if there would be opportunities to establish a female-headed household in the future.
By noon, Jiang A Yao planned to cook. After asking Lu Da about the ingredients in the house, she entered the kitchen.
The kitchen didn’t have many vegetables, but there were refined rice, refined flour, and coarse rice, though the coarse rice was noticeably more abundant.
“These are all the grains we have at home now. You can cook whatever you’d like to eat.”
Though Lu Da said this, Jiang A Yao understood that the refined rice and flour were bought specifically for Lu Mingzhu.
Lu Mingzhu was in poor health and couldn’t digest coarse rice. With a sick person in the house, she naturally had to be prioritized.
Jiang A Yao wasn’t being pretentious either – as long as it filled her stomach, she could eat anything. She immediately rolled up her sleeves and started cooking.
Lu Da came to help as well. Jiang A Yao didn’t refuse and let him tend to the stove.
After Lu Da finished with the stove, he took some meat from the small storage jar. Jiang A Yao cut the meat into pieces, then stir-fried radish with coarse rice.
Later, she found some wilted greens in the kitchen, chopped them finely, added some minced meat, fried them with a little lard before adding water to boil. She mixed some flour with cold water and poured it in, cooking a bowl of porridge-like noodles.
Adding a little salt and drizzling some sesame oil just before serving made it incredibly aromatic.
Lu Da hadn’t expected Jiang A Yao to be so skilled at cooking. He had always just cooked things until they were edible.
He made his living by hunting, so the family never lacked meat. But because he couldn’t cook well, Mingzhu rarely ate much of it.
Most of what Mingzhu ate was millet porridge with some brown sugar added.
As for the refined flour dishes, they were usually made by village women. Though he had learned a couple of times and thought it was fine then, seeing Jiang A Yao’s cooking now made him instantly feel that he had been mistreating Mingzhu all along.
After the meal was ready, Jiang A Yao first served a bowl of the porridge-like noodles and went to Lu Mingzhu’s room.
Lu Mingzhu was half-asleep and didn’t clearly see who was before her. Jiang A Yao didn’t make her get up, just slightly raised the pillow to prop her up, then fed her the porridge spoonful by spoonful.
Perhaps she was truly hungry – she actually finished the entire small bowl.
Having eaten her fill and regained some strength, Lu Mingzhu’s half-open eyes widened slightly. When she saw it was Jiang A Yao, a faint smile appeared on her pale, thin face. “It’s Sister Jiang, you’ve come.”
Jiang A Yao nodded, set the bowl and chopsticks aside, and gently massaged the acupoints on her arm.
“Feeling more comfortable now?”
Lu Mingzhu nodded and asked, “Did Sister Jiang cook just now?”
Jiang A Yao asked, “Was it delicious?”
“Very delicious. I wish I could eat Sister’s cooking every day.”
Though Lu Mingzhu’s voice was weak, it carried satisfaction, her eyes full of hope for the future.
She’s so easily pleased, satisfied with just a bowl of porridge-like noodles.
Thinking that she shouldn’t be too tired while sick, Jiang A Yao didn’t let her talk too much and said softly, “If you like it, I’ll cook for you again tonight. You can sleep more now if you want.”
Mingzhu hummed in agreement and indeed fell into a deep sleep again.
Jiang A Yao stayed by her side until she fell asleep before getting up to leave.
When she went out, Lu Da had already served rice and placed it on the table.
Seeing the empty bowl in her hand, Lu Da showed a surprised expression. “Mingzhu… has never eaten this much before.”
Even when they hired village women to cook, Mingzhu would only eat half a bowl at most, and that was when she was in better spirits.
“Feeding patients isn’t the same as feeding healthy people. Their food needs to be finely chopped, preferably cooked until soft and mushy, but it shouldn’t be tasteless either,” Jiang A Yao explained gently. “People need to eat well before taking medicine, otherwise the bitter medicine will make them nauseous and their condition will only worsen.”
Lu Da nodded in agreement, as Mingzhu’s inability to take medicine properly was exactly why her health had been declining.
Sitting opposite him, Jiang A Yao asked, “Is there any medicine left from the doctor’s prescription?”
“Yes.”
Lu Da took out the prescription and handed it to Jiang A Yao. “We brewed one dose yesterday, and there’s another dose left for tomorrow, stored in the kitchen.”
Jiang A Yao carefully examined the prescription. Though she didn’t raise any objections, Lu Da’s gaze toward her shifted slightly.
She could read?
There weren’t many literate people in the village, and most were men. Some villages didn’t even have a single literate person—those who could read and write were practically qualified to be village heads.
But his curiosity lasted only a moment. Seeing her set down the prescription to eat, Lu Da immediately lowered his eyes and didn’t stare further.
The meat in the kitchen was wild boar, which Jiang A Yao had stir-fried until fragrant. The radish strips retained their moisture and, when steamed with the coarse rice, made the typically rough grains much softer.
At the Jiang household, they hardly ever had meals with any oil. Even the little coarse rice they had was scooped up by Lin Qinghua for her second son.
Jiang Dagen, being the laborer, could eat his fill, but Jiang A Yao and her two younger sisters only got bitter herbs mixed with coarse rice soup.
People said she was as thin as a mantis, but with an empty stomach every day, how could she possibly gain weight?
Soon, Lu Da finished eating. Though he restrained himself, it was clear he still wanted more.
“Was it good?”
Lu Da nodded. It had been a long time since he’d properly enjoyed such a delicious meal.
He never expected Jiang A Yao to be such a good cook.
“If you like it, I’ll make it again next time.”
“Okay.” Lu Da’s eyes instantly lit up.
His earnest tone amused Jiang A Yao. He was so easily pleased—just one meal of radish and pork with rice made him this happy. If she made him a full imperial feast, he’d probably be stunned.
But Jiang A Yao kept that thought to herself. Not only were supplies limited, but she also didn’t have the skills to prepare an imperial feast.
All she knew how to make were simple home-cooked meals. Because of her background in traditional Chinese medicine and her long experience caring for patients, her cooking tended to focus on soft, easily digestible foods.
Patients often have dulled taste buds, so their food needs extra flavor. You can’t just use “light diet” as an excuse to serve bland food. It’s not difficult to prepare—it just requires a bit more effort.
After the meal, Jiang A Yao went to wash the dishes while Lu Da took an axe and went outside.
By the time she finished cleaning the kitchen, Lu Da had already chopped a pile of firewood in the yard, neatly stacked under the eaves.
The sunlight outside wasn’t harsh; instead, it felt warm and comfortable on the skin. She brought out the medicine packet and a small sieve, carefully separating the dregs from the herbs.
Lu Mingzhu had a weak constitution and could only be treated with gentle tonics; some medicines were completely unsuitable for her. Yet this doctor mixed everything together indiscriminately. If she took this prescription, not only would it be ineffective, but it would also cause Lu Mingzhu to develop blood-heat syndrome.
While moving firewood, Lu Da noticed her selecting medicinal herbs. She seemed familiar with each one.
It was important to note that dried medicinal herbs differed greatly from their living counterparts growing in the mountains. This didn’t appear to be knowledge one could acquire from just a few casual instructions.