Chapter 162: Who Are You Looking For?
As people increase in age, sometimes they revert to being like a child. Hence, older people often get referred to as the "old children", a moniker that specifically refers to this type of elderly.
From the circumstances, it seems like the old man yearned for Pickles Pork Dumplings, yet his son and daughter-in-law couldn’t get the taste right. As a result, the old man threw a childish tantrum and refused to eat.
When people reach a certain age and end up in a hospital ward, the saying "each day lived is a day lost" is no exaggeration. The helpless and heartbroken expressions on the faces of the man and the woman by the bed show no signs of impatience, suggesting they might be dutiful children.
Remembering the pickles in her lunchbox, which were homemade authentic farm pickles prepared by Lin Fengying herself, Tong Yao took the initiative to knock on the door of the ward.
"Who are you looking for?" The man by the bed looked up at Tong Yao. Seeing a stranger at the door, he was understandably confused. Considering it was a private ward, and his father was the only patient, he wondered why the young girl was there.
Tong Yao courteously nodded at the man, then softly said: "Hello, I just overheard this elderly gentleman say that he wanted to eat Pickles Pork Dumplings. My lunchbox happens to contain the same dish. It’s filled with homemade pickles crafted by my mother. Would you like to let him try some?"
In her past life, Tong Yao was raised in an orphanage, and the kindest to her there was the old dean. Regrettably, before she graduated from college, the dean passed away from cancer. Toward the very end, he too especially craved dumplings.
However, what he yearned for were the Pickles Dumplings made by his mother. His mother, however, had passed away many years ago. Thus, right until the dean closed his eyes for the last time, he never tasted his mother’s dumplings again.