Food Supplements - Chapter 16

That day, Qin Cheng stayed outside until dark.

She sat numbly in the corner of the flower bed until several private cars used to transport senior executives had left one after another. Only then did she return home in a daze.

Fortunately, the two mothers had gone together to visit a scenic attraction in the suburbs and had not yet returned. Otherwise, anyone would have seen at a glance from her lost, distracted expression that something was seriously wrong.

For Qin Cheng, who had personally endured the torment of illness and still lived beneath the shadow of death, nothing could be more serious than the thought that the person she loved might also be afflicted by disease.

Although everything remained speculation for now, the mere thought of that woman enduring all kinds of suffering left Qin Cheng agitated and unable to sit still.

She had already felt an ominous premonition when she saw Jiang Rong enter the congee shop.

That restaurant was well known for its medicinal congee. Because it was expensive, not many people ordered it, but it was certainly worth making a special trip for.

Sure enough, the assistant had specially ordered one of those congees. Instead of eating it herself while it was hot, she had hurriedly carried it back to the company.

Even though the company was a rising star in the industry with major celebrities under its banner, there were very few people important enough to have Jiang Rong personally run out and bring them congee.

Even so, it did not necessarily have to be for her.

Perhaps it was for that sharp-tongued, thick-skinned, thoroughly poisonous fellow surnamed Tang…

Qin Cheng poured herself a cup of hot water and held it in both hands.

The comfortable warmth helped calm her chilled body slightly, and she tried to reassure herself.

Unfortunately, it did not work very well.

The reason was simple.

This was not an isolated incident.

When the medicinal congee was considered alongside the near encounter at the hospital, it was difficult to feel reassured.

The more Qin Cheng thought about it, the more uneasy she became.

Before her mother returned, she set down the cup, took out her phone, and decided that no matter what, she had to call the man surnamed Tang and try asking.

Even if he mocked her mercilessly, it did not matter.

It would not be the first time.

Unfortunately, nothing went smoothly.

After she finally made up her mind and dialed, only a cold automated message came from the other end, repeatedly informing her that the number was outside the service area.

The same thing happened no matter how many times she called.

Even Qin Cheng, who had spent years cultivating patience, nearly exploded with anger.

She had known that man was unreliable!

He was the nominal leader, but in reality, he was a hands-off boss. Once he participated in setting the overall direction, he left everyone else to do the actual work while he wandered around wherever he pleased.

Disappearing for ten days or half a month was common. Even vanishing for six months would not be surprising.

The company could not have risen so rapidly without its strong financial backing, but the decision-maker’s abilities and connections were the true key.

Why should one person work herself sick while the other remained so idle?

It was completely unfair.

While fuming over the injustice, Qin Cheng had already more or less accepted who the sick person was.

After all, someone whose phone was outside the service area could hardly have been in the office that afternoon drinking nourishing congee.

Still, she needed further confirmation.

Everyone clung to wishful thinking, and besides repeatedly checking, Qin Cheng could not think of anything else she could do for the moment.

By now, the bond between the two of them had become so weak.

Apart from Qin Cheng’s one-sided spying from afar, the only thread remaining between them was the infuriating man surnamed Tang.

So over the next few days, Qin Cheng no longer had the attention to accompany her mother.

She went out whenever she had the chance, taking advantage of her improved energy to wait from the beginning of the workday until everyone left.

She wanted to observe the situation more closely and hoped to discover further details—or, better yet, something that would overturn all her previous conclusions and prove that the woman was perfectly fine.

She still could not get close enough to see the person in her heart.

Instead, she witnessed Jiang Rong come out several more times.

Every time, she hurried to the same shop to collect congee.

After seeing it often enough, Qin Cheng no longer needed to follow her inside and ask questions. She could tell what had been purchased simply from the style of the takeout container.

The more she observed, the heavier her heart became.

Even her last trace of hope could no longer stand.

If it had happened only once, Jiang Rong might have been picking something up for someone else.

But as a personal assistant, repeatedly running errands during working hours could no longer reasonably be explained that way.

After the panic and anxiety gradually subsided, Qin Cheng finally managed to calm herself and sort through her thoughts, trying to determine what she could do.

First, the other woman might be ill, but it probably was not extremely serious.

Otherwise, no matter how irresponsible the man surnamed Tang was, he could not possibly remain unreachable for so long.

Even if the company could contact him through other channels, he could not continue managing everything remotely from elsewhere.

At the very least, out of personal concern, he would certainly return to see her.

Second, even if that heartless man truly did not care, Jiang Rong, as one of Chu Qinyi’s most trusted subordinates, would never allow her direct superior to work herself into the ground while still maintaining a normal daily schedule and occasionally even working overtime.

Besides, when Qin Cheng had run into her at the hospital, her complexion and energy had not seemed particularly poor.

But then again, makeup could conceal complexion.

And she had always been so strong-willed…

Qin Cheng wiped her face and sighed deeply as she walked, her thoughts tangled.

A dozen meters ahead, Jiang Rong was hurrying back with the takeout container.

Over the past few days, the time she collected the congee had varied considerably.

This indirectly proved that the other woman’s schedule was also irregular.

It seemed she could not even eat lunch properly.

And no matter how nourishing or gentle on the stomach the medicinal congee might be, eating it every day for so long would become tiresome.

Why did she never change the flavor?

Could she not find another similar restaurant?

While Qin Cheng silently criticized the assistant, the person ahead suddenly turned and entered a chain convenience store by the street.

This had never happened before.

What was she doing in a convenience store?

Qin Cheng quickly walked a few steps closer but did not follow her inside.

Through the large glass wall facing the street, she could clearly see everything happening within the small shop.

Jiang Rong did not linger.

Still carrying the takeout container, she went straight to the refrigerated section and picked up something before heading to the register.

When the employee lifted the item to scan it, Qin Cheng saw that it was a small premium carton of soy milk.

Her earlier dissatisfaction immediately faded somewhat.

She could guess who the soy milk was for.

After all, no one knew that person’s preferences better than she did.

Unfortunately, although that packaged soy milk tasted good, it had a faint milky flavor.

It did not entirely suit your boss’s tastes…

As Qin Cheng silently muttered, a sudden flash of inspiration crossed her mind.

An idea surfaced.

For the following week, Qin Cheng no longer went out so frequently.

She spent at least half her time at home.

For one thing, she wanted to reassure her mother.

For another, she was secretly testing her idea.

During that week, she appeared to eat three normal meals every day, no different from before.

In reality, she never touched certain special crops with her chopsticks.

It was also during this period that everyone noticed she had developed a fashionable new hobby.

She made different kinds of fruit juice every day.

That was right.

Qin Cheng avoided the vegetables and did not eat the fruit directly.

Instead, she bought a juicer and drank the produce as juice.

She tried consuming the crops from the small realm through this single method alone.

After several days, she felt no decline in her condition.

The special effect remained.

Once this crucial point had been confirmed, the plan in her mind became more complete and determined.

Mother Qin noticed that her daughter had seemed absentminded recently.

She either sat alone in a daze, busied herself with trips outside, or shut herself in her room to nap while sending her mother next door to accompany the landlady and her daughter.

Had Qin Cheng not kept each nap brief—at most one or two hours—and remembered to bring home fruit and vegetables whenever she went out, Mother Qin might have suspected that the child was under too much pressure.

In truth, Qin Cheng was indeed under considerable pressure.

But even more strongly, she felt a restless sense of anticipation.

She had not experienced this kind of eager pursuit in a very long time.

First, among the fruit she brought home on each outing, she deliberately selected some to take into the small realm.

Before long, a large patch of green seedlings appeared in another empty area beyond the tomatoes and potatoes.

It occupied no less space than the potato field.

This was a strawberry nursery.

The other fruits were even simpler because they grew on trees.

In the rectangular plot opposite the apple tree, she planted a pear tree and a kiwi vine.

Of course, for now, they were only two small green shoots that had just emerged from the soil.

Because kiwi branches were weak and liked to climb, they would probably require supports in the future.

So Qin Cheng left a large space between the kiwi and pear.

The two plants took up the entire plot.

There was no room left to squeeze in the mango without treating it unfairly, so Qin Cheng casually planted it beside the dragon fruit plants, making full use of that land as well.

But neither the strawberry nursery nor the fruit trees mattered most to Qin Cheng.

What she valued most was a carefully selected batch of high-quality soybeans purchased online.

They were also an old, low-yield variety.

Their skins were slightly pale green, and the beans were not perfectly round.

But Qin Cheng vaguely remembered that the soybeans from her hometown had looked like this.

With an exceptionally serious attitude, she prepared the soil and made ridges, measured the spacing, then planted each seed with care.

Apart from not applying fertilizer or pesticides, she followed nearly every scientifically recommended step she had researched in advance.

No matter how tiring or tedious the process became, she did not grow impatient.

The soybeans and strawberries were planted in the same large area, but the soybeans took up twice as much space and nearly filled all the remaining land.

Planting them required considerable effort.

Harvesting them would inevitably be just as troublesome, because the beans would have to be removed from the pods one by one and collected.

And if Qin Cheng wanted to accomplish the goal in her heart, the work after that would become even more complicated.

None of this reduced her anticipation.

Had her energy not been limited and the present workload already pushed her close to her limit, she might have planted several more varieties.

Fortunately, effort was rewarded.

A few days after planting, the fruit trees were still slowly growing taller, while the strawberries and soybeans developed rapidly.

Unlike the small patches of spring onion, ginger, and garlic, the broad expanse of orderly green was especially pleasing to the eye.

When the breeze swept through, countless leaves rustled together, giving the field the weight and grandeur of waves rolling across farmland.

The only disappointing sight remained the blood orange tree she had planted earlier.

It occupied a carefully selected plot without any other crops competing for nutrients.

Yet of all the seeds, only the one that had previously produced a tiny sprout grew into a tree.

The others remained completely still.

Eventually, Qin Cheng could no longer resist digging up one spot to investigate.

She discovered that the seed beneath the soil had become entirely shriveled.

It had probably died long ago.

The only tree that emerged did not seem healthy either.

First, it grew with extraordinary difficulty.

Qin Cheng had once complained that the apple tree developed slowly.

Only after comparison did she understand what true slowness was.

The newly planted fruit trees changed visibly every day, while the single blood orange tree remained silent and still.

It struggled to grow a little larger, then showed no further movement for a long time.

Another three or four days passed.

By then, the broad field of soybeans had turned from green to gold, the pods plump and approaching full maturity.

Only then did Qin Cheng finally see a few objects resembling fruit appear on the blood orange tree.

But the sight of those sparse little fruits alone nearly chilled her heart.

She picked one and tasted it.

As expected, it was no good.

It was purely sour and astringent, without the slightest sweetness.

The fruit was impossible to eat in that state.

Qin Cheng could only leave the rest hanging and hope their flavor would improve after ripening.

But until they withered and disappeared on the fifth day, the taste never changed.

The situation was clearly unusual.

Whether it was the death of the seeds or the sour fruit, nothing like this had happened before.

Qin Cheng was naturally confused and suspicious.

But at that very moment, the large soybean crop entered its final harvesting stage.

One person had to cut and transport the plants, remove the pods, and shell them.

Without the assistance of large machinery, even with several convenient small tools purchased in advance, it was extremely heavy labor—especially for someone with Qin Cheng’s constitution.

Still, the feeling of effort producing a reward was always satisfying.

After all the hard work, Qin Cheng looked at the two neat rows of storage containers and revealed a rare, completely contented smile.

After that, Mother Qin discovered that her daughter owned even more fashionable appliances.

Besides the juicer, several strange-looking devices appeared.

When she asked what they were, she was told they were food processors, high-speed blenders, and other such things.

Her daughter repeatedly experimented with them, leaving Mother Qin unable to understand what she was trying to accomplish.

At the time, Mother Qin could never have imagined that these modern kitchen appliances, which seemed difficult for an older person to understand, would be used to create an extremely simple food.

One day, without warning, Qin Cheng invited her mother and the landlady and her daughter into her room.

She said she had something for them to taste and wanted their opinions.

Her own mother naturally had no issue with it.

This was the first time she had invited the landlady and her daughter over to sit.

The older woman was delighted, though somewhat worried that her daughter might refuse to leave the house.

Unexpectedly, although the young woman appeared slightly uncomfortable, she did not refuse.

In the end, she truly followed her mother over.

The first things the three visitors saw were a tidy little dining table, a glass pitcher, and two small jars of condiments.

Compared with the mysterious jars, the pitcher attracted more attention.

Because it was made of glass, the milky-white liquid inside was clearly visible.

“Is that milk? You called us over so mysteriously just for this?” Mother Qin asked directly, naturally without any reservations.

Qin Cheng smiled and shook her head.

She first invited everyone to sit, placed three glass cups before them, then tilted the pitcher and filled each one.

As the liquid poured into the cups, wisps of steam rose.

A fragrance drifted with it.

It was not especially rich and was even somewhat simple, yet it seemed to flow directly into everyone’s heart.

“It’s soy milk!”

The landlady sniffed and immediately recognized it.

Then she asked doubtfully, “Young lady, where did you buy this soy milk? It certainly smells fragrant. Could it have additives?”

“Don’t worry, Auntie. It’s pure soy milk. I made it myself.”

Qin Cheng smiled, not taking offense at the suspicion.

“The fragrance comes from the quality of the beans and partly from the processing method. I tried several approaches and felt this one worked best, so I wanted all of you to judge it for me.”

After hearing the explanation, everyone lifted their cups with confidence.

The soy milk was hot, though not scalding.

People sensitive to heat needed to let it cool for a while.

The young woman waited, then looked into her cup and awkwardly tugged at her mother’s sleeve.

“There’s… a layer of white skin…”

“Ah, hahaha. That’s soy milk skin. It’s like the skin that forms on milk. You can eat it.”

The landlady looked over and laughed as she explained to her daughter.

“Our family doesn’t drink soy milk often. Even when we do, we usually buy it ready-made outside. No wonder you’ve never seen this. Only good soy milk forms a skin like that. Come on, try it.”

The young woman lowered her head toward the cup and lightly sipped.

The thin layer slipped into her mouth.

It felt soft and light, slightly sticky against her lips, but melted as soon as she pressed it with her tongue, requiring almost no chewing.

Once it dissolved, a faint sweetness accompanied by a delicate fragrance slowly spread through her mouth.

Having successfully tried the unfamiliar part, she no longer hesitated over the familiar liquid beneath it.

The milky-white soy milk was thick and slightly viscous because of its richness.

Yet that same thickness allowed the flavor to linger fully on the tongue, becoming more fragrant with every sip.

More importantly, although it entered the mouth thickly, it slid down the throat with exceptional smoothness.

There was no trace of a raw bean smell from beginning to end.

Only a faint sweetness and clean fragrance remained, lingering with a long finish.

The soy milk seemed like an entirely different drink from the bagged or bottled versions sold outside.

The young woman clearly loved it, and both mothers drank with equal enjoyment.

The landlady especially praised it with almost every sip, saying it tasted exactly like the soy milk from her childhood memories.

Her full cup was empty in moments.

Still wanting more, she smacked her lips and raised a thumb.

“Delicious. It would be even better if it were a little sweeter. Why don’t I go get some white sugar?”

“There’s no need, Auntie. If you prefer it sweeter, you can add this.”

Qin Cheng opened one of the small jars on the table.

Inside was a crystalline powder, but it did not look quite like granulated sugar.

The landlady scooped up a small spoonful and asked hesitantly, “Is this… powdered sugar?”

“Powdered rock sugar. I bought traditional rock sugar and ground it myself. People say rock sugar is better than white sugar, don’t they? The price difference isn’t large, so I chose the better one.”

As Qin Cheng explained, she added an appropriate amount to the landlady’s cup and filled it again.

Beside them, Mother Qin asked curiously, “Then what’s inside the other jar?”

Qin Cheng smiled.

“Mom, would you like to try it?”

She opened the second jar, scooped up a spoonful of pale golden liquid, and added it to Mother Qin’s cup.

After something had been added to each drink, the two women stirred and tasted them.

The landlady’s eyes immediately brightened.

She loved sweetness.

Although the original soy milk had been rich and smooth, she had found it slightly lacking in sweetness and fragrance.

Now, after the powdered rock sugar was added, the sweetness became more distinct without turning cloying.

Instead, it blended completely into the soy milk.

The drink became both sweeter and more fragrant.

The two qualities complemented one another, making the flavor even fuller.

Mother Qin, on the other hand, did not know what had been added to her cup, so she drank with some hesitation.

After taking a small sip, she did not show the landlady’s delight.

Instead, she frowned slightly.

Alongside the original mellow fragrance of the soy milk, there was now a subtle spiciness.

“This… why does it taste slightly of ginger?”

“As expected of an experienced cook. You guessed it immediately.”

Qin Cheng opened the small jar, and the scent of ginger indeed drifted out.

“It’s freshly prepared ginger juice. Add a little and it becomes ginger soy milk. It doesn’t taste quite as good as the plain version, but it helps dispel cold, warms the lungs, and benefits the spleen and stomach. It’s good for people with cold constitutions, so I made some to keep on hand.”

Qin Cheng explained all this with a smile.

But Mother Qin’s expression grew increasingly serious.

Once her daughter finished speaking, she drank the remaining soy milk in one breath and set down the cup.

“You child, you’ve put far too much thought into this. Surely you didn’t call us over only to try something new. Tell me, what are you planning?”

Faced with her mother’s solemn expression and businesslike posture, Qin Cheng remained as relaxed as usual, her smile natural.

“I’ve made up my mind, Mom.”

She said, “I’ve decided to start a business and open a shop.”

“A small shop focused on freshly made drinks, built around the idea of freshness and health.”

Her usually dark, tranquil eyes now shone with unwavering determination.