He leaned back against the chair, reached up to take off the reading glasses perched on his nose, gave the bridge of his nose a firm pinch, then stood up from the chair, looking relaxed, and walked over to pour himself a cup of hot water.
Just as he took two sips, there was a sudden knock on the office door, followed by a bespectacled middle-aged man sticking his head in, smiling at Professor Hans, and saying:
"Professor Hans, Professor Lu from Jingcheng University and Professor Liang from Shuimu University have arrived. The dean invites you to his office for a eting."
"OK, I’ll be right there, thank you!"
Professor Hans nodded at him, took another sip of water, put the cup back, straightened his clothes, and walked out.
...
Seventh Dining Hall, first floor kitchen.
"Lao Jiang, I’ve taken care of this for you."
Hu Zhihai squatted across from Jiang Yu with a large bowl of cold rice noodles, eating mouthful after mouthful, saying,
"This afternoon, I’ll bring over those anorexic patients and their families."
Yesterday, when he ca to the dining hall to eat, Lu Shuwu had inford him of Jiang Yu’s intention to find so anorexia patients to try the dishes.
Upon hearing this, Hu Zhihai was imdiately interested and called his dad on the spot.
His dad had a wide social circle, so what’s strange about knowing one or two hospital leaders?
Thus, what seed like a headache and troubleso issue to Jiang Yu and Lu Shuwu was resolved by Hu Zhihai with a few phone calls.
Jiang Yu glanced up at him and asked, "Won’t this affect your studying?"
"I’ve been studying for months in advance, working hard every day, so taking a half-day break now and then isn’t a problem, right?"
Upon ntioning this, Hu Zhihai’s face imdiately turned gloomy. Spending every day buried in the library had exhausted him more than during his ti in senior high school.
Truth be told, if not for the fact that only by getting into the graduate program at his own university could he continue to freeload at Jiang Yu’s place for three more years, he wouldn’t have worked so hard.
Pausing for a mont, he looked intrigued and added,
"Lao Jiang, I always thought your cooking was a bit extraordinary, almost too delicious. But I never imagined your dishes might even cure anorexia patients!
By this afternoon, I definitely want to see it for myself!"
"I never said my dishes could cure anorexia. Don’t say anything rash in front of the patients’ families."
Jiang Yu shot him a glare and continued,
"Anorexia patients have eating disorders. Most of them lose their appetite at the sight of food. I just mainly want to see if my cooking can spark their interest."
"Don’t worry, I won’t say anything rash."
Upon hearing this, Hu Zhihai nodded repeatedly and said,
"I think your dishes are so good. No one can resist them.
Didn’t Yan Tongtong’s roommate have mild anorexia too? Yet she managed to eat a whole basket of soup dumplings!
And when I ntioned your place to those patients’ families, many were eager to co. They obviously have heard of Seventh Dining Hall’s reputation and think there’s a great chance!"
Jiang Yu didn’t pay much attention to what Hu Zhihai said and simply asked:
"How many anorexia patients did you find?"
"Isn’t your goal to see if all anorexia patients can develop an appetite for your dishes?"
Hu Zhihai slurped the remaining rice noodles in the bowl, chewed a few tis, and swallowed them before contentedly patting his stomach and saying to Jiang Yu,
"I found three patients with anorexia caused by different reasons.
One is a five or six-year-old boy. His family is quite wealthy. He’s looked after by his grandma who knows nothing other than giving the boy the best food, always serving at or eggs. He drinks milk whenever he’s thirsty, leading to a high-nutrition diet that eventually damaged his intestines and caused anorexia.
Another is a girl in her twenties. She had a normal body but always thought she was fat and needed to slim down. So, she rigorously dieted and even induced vomiting to restrict calorie intake. Over ti, she feels nauseous just looking at food, with no appetite.
The last one is anorexia caused by illness.
I heard from doctors that most diseases can lead to decreased appetite, from minor colds to major gastrointestinal, liver, or kidney diseases.
I picked a man in his forties. He initially had chronic gastritis and indigestion, constantly feeling bloated, not hungry at al tis, unable to eat, losing appetite, and eventually unable to eat at the sight of food."
After briefly describing the conditions of the three patients, Hu Zhihai glanced up at Jiang Yu and asked,
"How do these three anorexia patients look to you? If you think it’s not enough, I can find more."
"No need. These three are enough. After all, we have adults and children, males and females."
Jiang Yu had finished his breakfast by now. He placed his utensils on the countertop, pulled a tissue to dab the corner of his mouth, nodded, and said,
"Moreover, the causes of anorexia for these three are different, and you’ve considered it very thoroughly.
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