Chapter 14 - Where Did the Rice Go?
Chapter 14: Where Did the Rice Go?
“Tell me, what happened?” Lu Ming could easily guess this time. It was almost certain that this old woman had done something outrageous in an attempt to save money and ended up at the hospital.
“I got food poisoning..,” Qinxue said weakly.
“What?” Lu Ming found it hard to believe that it was just food poisoning. There must be more to the story.
“It’s… it’s because of trying to save money again..,” Qinxue sighed and explained the situation.
A while ago, Song Juying had injured her back and stayed in the hospital for a week. During her hospital stay, some relatives came to visit her.
When visiting a patient, you can’t come empty-handed, right?
Typically, people bring fruits and such for the patient. So, during her hospital stay, Song Juying received a lot of fruits. But since it was just Song Juying and her granddaughter Qinxue at home, they couldn’t finish all the fruits during the hospital stay. When they were discharged, there were still some left. So, they brought the remaining fruits back home. Because some of the fruits had been kept for quite a while, some had started to rot. Song Juying was reluctant to throw them away, thinking it would be a waste. So, she decided to pick out the rotten parts and eat the rest, believing that removing the rotten portions would make the fruits safe to eat. However, little did they know that this would still lead to food poisoning.
After hearing the whole story, Lu Ming couldn’t help but feel exasperated.
“It’s acute gastroenteritis,” Lu Ming said as the test results came in. Song Juying had developed acute gastroenteritis, but fortunately, it wasn’t too severe.
A few IV drips, and some medication would do the trick. While receiving the IV treatment, the old woman was simultaneously vomiting and lamenting, loudly exclaiming that it was a disaster. This time, they had spent over a thousand dollars on medical expenses. With this latest medical expense, the total they had spent to save money had now reached nearly six thousand dollars.
“Lady, when fruits start to rot, no matter how small the portion is, it’s not recommended to eat them anymore,” Lu Ming advised.
“Even if you cut away the rotten parts, it’s still unsafe. Once rot sets in, pathogenic microorganisms have already invaded the entire fruit.”
“Harmful substances can form during the fruit’s decay process, and these are not visible to the naked eye,” Lu Ming explained to Song Juying, hoping that she would refrain from such actions in the future.
Song Juying appeared somewhat stoic, and it was unclear whether she had absorbed the information. At the moment, she was probably still distressed about the money spent.
In the corridor, “Mom, you and Dad should return for a while!”
“If you don’t come back soon, Grandma might end up harming herself!”
Qinxue couldn’t handle it anymore and turned to seek help from her parents, who were working away from home. Because if someone didn’t come back to provide guidance and support to Song Juying, she might genuinely put herself in harm’s way.
“Alright, alright, as soon as we finish our work here, your father and I will come back immediately.”
“Let’s also call your aunt and the rest of the family. We’ll all get together to talk to your grandmother,” Qinxue’s mother’s voice came through the phone.
“Okay, thank you.”
Qinxue breathed a sigh of relief.
In reality, their family lacked money, and they had never mistreated Song Juying and her husband. Qinxue’s parents were engaged in business outside, with a monthly net profit in the tens of thousands. The other siblings in the family were also well-off, with some owning their factories and others running their shops. Their monthly incomes were all above $7,000.
The entire extended family could be considered middle-class. However, when Qinxue’s parents were young, their family was quite poor. It took a tremendous effort from the old couple to raise their siblings.
The frugal habits developed during that time have persisted to this day. Therefore, Qinxue could understand her grandmother to some extent. But she also felt that there was no need to be so frugal to such an extreme extent. After finishing the IV treatment and Qinxue’s insistence, Song Juying agreed to take a taxi back home. Shortly after returning home, Qinxue’s aunt, Qin Keshuang, arrived.
The family had decided to persuade Song Juying to let go of her extreme frugality, and news of the “frugality disease” had spread within the family. So, one by one, family members began to return home. Qin Keshuang, being the closest, was the first to arrive.
“Wow! You extravagant child, why did you buy so many groceries?”
“And seafood?!”
“This must have cost a fortune!”
Seeing the items Qin Keshuang was carrying, Song Juying couldn’t help but feel distressed. She had already spent nearly $900 in the hospital! How long would it take to save up this amount?
“Mom, seafood isn’t expensive,” Qin Keshuang reassured her. “Because of the nuclear wastewater discharge from the invaders, seafood prices have dropped significantly.”
“Seafood is practically as cheap as cabbage now.”
“Oh,” Song Juying sighed. “Alright, never mind. I must ask your father if he’s watered the crops in the field. If those vegetables wither, we’ll lose a considerable amount of money.”
After Song Juying left, Qin Keshuang turned to Qinxue and rolled her eyes. “See, this is your grandmother. She’s obsessed with money.”
Qinxue could only smile helplessly. The next day, other members of the Qin family began to return home. Some brought groceries, others brought fruits, and some bought drinks and snacks. Suddenly, the house became lively, resembling a holiday gathering.
Everyone started working together to prepare a sumptuous dinner. Even Song Juying, with her broken arm and still recovering from her back injury, was not idle. She moved around like a supervisor, overseeing the preparations.
“Oh my!”
[Continued…]“Who picks vegetables like this? Why are you only selecting the leaves, and what about the rest?”
“No, no, don’t throw away the fish roe and bubbles. Cook them together.”
“Don’t, don’t! The chicken’s behind is perfectly fine. Why are you cutting it off? It’s edible!”
“Xiaoxuan! Don’t just throw away the watermelon rind. Toss it into the chicken coop to feed the chickens. It’ll save a lot on chicken feed.”
Whenever there was any sign of “waste,” Song Juying would immediately step in. The entire family felt helpless but had no choice but to comply.
After all, Song Juying was the eldest in the family, so what could they do except appease her?
Song Juying checked the time and realized it was about time to cook the rice. So, she headed to the kitchen. Despite her broken arm, it didn’t hinder her from rinsing the rice and cooking. But then, she noticed something in the trash can—the rice. There was probably a whole bowl’s worth of rice in there.
“This is a disaster!”
“Who could be so wasteful?”
Song Juying was furious.
So, Song Juying collected the rice from the trash can, washed it several times, and added it to the pot, cooking it with the fresh rice. After a while, everyone was almost done with their tasks, and Qin Keshuang decided to tidy up the kitchen waste. As she disposed of the garbage into the trash can, she suddenly felt something was off.
“Huh?”
“Did someone replace the trash bag?”
“I had thrown away the spoiled rice in the trash can just now.”
Qin Keshuang was puzzled. She had noticed that the leftover rice from yesterday had gone bad in the morning, so she threw it away. But now, it was nowhere to be found. She shook her head, thinking that someone must have emptied the trash already, so she didn’t dwell on it any longer.
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