Chapter 186: Rock Sugar Pear Drink
“The system is getting more and more evil!”
“It actually forced me to take care of someone with the flu! What if I get infected too?!”
An Han walked down the street with a smile on her face, complaining out loud about how heartless the system was, then stepped into a pharmacy.
She grabbed a pack of masks from the shelf, hesitated for a moment, and added a bottle of medical alcohol.
If she was going to take care of Su Peng, she had to keep herself safe first. She decided that every time she entered or left his room, she would disinfect herself with the alcohol.
After that, she went back to school and, despite Chen Junjie’s loud cries of pain, packed up the dorm’s cooking pot and induction stove.
“My hotpot! My hotpot!” he yelled.
“Go eat at a restaurant!” An Han kicked the dorm door shut, carrying the pot. Then she bought ingredients and returned to her rented apartment off-campus.
She was in a great mood. Considering how Su Peng’s throat often hurt, she specially bought rock sugar and pears to make rock sugar pear soup, which was said to be good for clearing the lungs and easing coughs. She also prepared ginger Coke and brown sugar ginger tea...
Since she had zero experience in taking care of sick people, An Han decided to rely on food therapy. Whether it was rock sugar pear drink, ginger Coke, or ginger tea. All were said to help with colds.
On top of that, she also bought lily bulbs, white fungus, and dried tangerine peel to stew them all together. According to what she read on Baidu, these ingredients were good for reducing phlegm.
Besides, Su Peng’s constant coughing was driving her crazy, that heart-tearing sound made it hard to sleep at night.
The soundproofing in this rented place was way worse than the school dorm.
When she got back, Su Peng’s snoring was still loud and clear.
She pulled out the small folding table she used before for dorm dinners, set it in the corner, prepared the cooking tools, poured water into the pot, and tossed in a pear and a handful of rock sugar.
Watching the water begin to boil, An Han looked around and finally grabbed her toothbrush cup from the bathroom.
Recently, she’d been drinking straight from big cheap bottles of mineral water, so she hadn’t used any proper cup, the toothbrush cup would have to do.
Even though her body and appearance were now completely feminine, her carefree, sloppy habits hadn’t changed a bit.
“It’s already ten o’clock, and he’s still not up…”
She squatted beside the little table, watching the pear slowly soften in the pot.
“Doesn’t look very tasty… so I guess I don’t need to peel the pear, right?”
“Well, it’s not like it’ll poison him.”
She still felt like what she was doing was kind of pointless. After all, Su Peng was already taking medicine. But other than this, she really didn’t know what else to do.
Once he was better, maybe he could help her clean up, take out the trash, or grab deliveries during meals. That was about it.
Suddenly, a heavy cough came from next door. An Han quickly stood up, ran to his door, and knocked gently.
“Open up! Time for breakfast!”
“Coming,” Su Peng’s voice sounded even hoarser than before.
Moments later, the door opened. His face still looked pale, but he managed his usual smile when he saw her.
“You came right when I woke up?”
“I heard you coughing.” An Han looked up at him, he was clearly trying to act fine and reminded him, “You didn’t lock your door last night. Make sure to lock it next time.”
“The landlord gave two keys. You can keep one.”
An Han took the key from him. “That works.”
Just as she was about to step inside, she suddenly froze. Under Su Peng’s confused gaze, she dashed back into her room.
A few seconds later, she returned, now wearing a mask and holding the bottle of alcohol. Her tone was deadly serious.
“You have a contagious flu! From now on, keep at least three meters away from me! And you’re not allowed to leave your room!”
"That’s too much of an exaggeration..."
Before Su Peng could finish, An Han sprayed alcohol all over him and interrupted, “Also, you need to get up earlier every day, eat three meals on time, and don’t skip any, or you’ll miss a dose of medicine.”
“I still have to go downstairs to pick up my food delivery though…”
“I’ll do it for you!”
Su Peng paused for a moment, then looked into An Han’s eyes with a small smile. “So, you’ve decided to take care of me these days?”
“I was forced to~”
All because that stupid system gave me this random task!
“Doesn’t look like it.”
“You’re sick and still talking nonsense! Get back inside!”
An Han kicked him lightly on the butt.
“I’ll make breakfast for you. Boil some water and get ready to take your medicine.”
“Alright.” Su Peng obediently went back into his room. Keeping a few meters of distance between them, he smiled more gently and asked, “So, what’s for breakfast?”
“I made it myself, rock sugar pear soup! It should be almost done. I’ll check online how long it should cook.”
Watching her walk away happily, Su Peng’s smile grew even wider.
Wait a second!
His smile froze, a bad feeling crept up.
An Han’s cooking skills… He had eaten with her in the dorm before, but it was always hotpot, which didn’t say much about her cooking ability. What if she made something horrible and forced me to eat it?
The more he thought about it, the more uneasy he felt. He could already imagine her pinching his nose and forcing some weird dark dish down his throat.
Knowing An Han’s personality, if she were good at cooking, she would’ve shown off long ago. Most likely, she only knew how to fry eggs and make instant noodles, a total kitchen beginner.
Sitting at his desk, Su Peng shook his leg anxiously. He touched his burning forehead, sniffled a few times, and started thinking about how to act healthy to avoid being “poisoned” by her food.
“I’m coming!”
Her cheerful voice came from outside. Soon, she came running over, holding a toothbrush cup in her hand.
Su Peng peeked inside, it was a whole unpeeled pear soaking in sugar water.
Didn’t look too bad, actually.
“You drink this first. I heard it helps clear phlegm. I’ll go downstairs later to buy… maybe some marinated dishes? You need to eat some meat to recover faster.”
Su Peng didn’t move, waiting for her to leave.
“Go on, try it! Tell me how it tastes, it’s my first time making it.”
He looked up and saw her standing there with her head tilted slightly, big eyes full of expectation.
“It’s a bit hot, be careful,” she added.
He suddenly felt like he was being forced to drink poison.
Su Peng swallowed nervously, picked up the cup, and took a small sip. A light pear flavor, a faint sweetness and that was it.
Not bad, but definitely not delicious either.
He relaxed instantly. “It tastes pretty good.”
“Right? The main thing is to eat the pear.” An Han handed him a small spoon.
As he ate, he asked, “Have you cooked before?”
“Sometimes. Usually I just follow an online recipe, I don’t cook often, but it shouldn’t taste bad.”
Now Su Peng felt completely relieved.
An Han leaned forward on his desk, looking at him with concern. “Are you feeling any better?”
“Seems like it’s gotten worse…”
“You only took the medicine once, don’t rush it.”
According to the system, he should recover in two days anyway. Otherwise the task wouldn’t have been set for only two days.