Daily Life in the Countryside After Being Reborn

Chapter 859: Chapter 17: Leaping Memories_2

Although the wages were not high, there was still some income to barely keep the three of them fed. However, the god of fate was not kind to Locke’s family. Locke’s mother, in order to support the family, worked day and night, and her body was long deprived of nutrition. When Locke was thirteen, his mother fell ill with scurvy.

Even more unfortunate, shortly after his mother fell ill, Locke’s younger sister also contracted the same illness. At that time, Locke was just a child and was completely powerless to take his mother and sister for medical treatment. In this way, Locke’s mother passed away from illness.

Locke’s mother’s body remained in the rented room where they temporarily resided for a full three days. It wasn’t until her boss at the restaurant where she worked noticed she hadn’t shown up and couldn’t reach her that he came to the door.

Locke’s mother worked at a Chinese restaurant, and the boss who came to the door was the former head chef of Yuelai Building, Hu Song.

Seeing the miserable situation of Locke’s family, he paid to have Locke’s mother buried.

But Locke’s sister’s illness continued to worsen...

At this point, Locke paused for a moment. The gloom of life shrouded him for a long time until later, with his own efforts, he earned a university scholarship and found a job at a research institute, and his days began to improve.

"And your sister, in the end..." The food on the table was already cold, Xiao Xian and Yiyi were moved by Locke’s story, and even Zhou Ziang was touched.

This generation of theirs was lucky not to have experienced the smoke of war, a fortunate generation. Locke’s experience sounded too distant, also too unfamiliar, but this did not stop them from recalling that blood-colored memory.

Scurvy has almost disappeared in peacetime. But in the decades during and after the wars of the last century, it claimed tens of thousands of lives.

"When Mr. Hu Song took my sister to the hospital, the hospital had already refused to provide medical treatment. I held Susan, begging outside the hospital’s operating room for a long time, and in the end, Mr. Hu took us back," Locke’s voice became hysterical, as he returned to that terrible, cold winter that almost took away all his hope for life.

Ziang patted his shoulder, using the silent comfort unique among men to console his friend. No wonder Locke was always so distrustful of people. It was because he had experienced society’s indifference in his childhood.

That kind of indifference causes lifelong harm to a person, and it was the indifferent experiences of that time that made Locke’s personality peculiar.

"So, in the end, your sister still..." The eyes of the two female trainees were slightly red.

"My sister... just became a grandmother last month, her daughter had a biracial child, her husband is a Chinese from Hong Kong," as Locke narrated this part, the tone suddenly changed, becoming cheerful, and he picked up another Empress Dowager Cake in his hand.

"Didn’t you say the hospital refused to take you in? Did you find some remarkable person later?" Locke’s journey from a Jewish orphan to a world-renowned scientist must have involved extraordinary experiences. Xiao Xian and the others were curious but hesitant to ask directly.

"Things aren’t as complicated as you think. What saved my sister was the Empress Dowager Cake in front of everyone," Locke said with a smile, pointing to the cake on the table.

"This cake?" Xiao Xian and the others were skeptical. In times of famine, a cake might save a life, but how could scurvy be cured without medical treatment, relying solely on a cake?

"When you ate the cake just now, didn’t you notice anything different, like what ingredients were used to make this cake?" Locke, not in a hurry to reveal the answer, first tested everyone’s taste buds.

"I can answer that. When it comes to eating, I’m the best. My dad always said that my taste buds are more sensitive than a police dog," seeing Yiyi’s lively demeanor, Locke also smiled and let her continue.

Yiyi ate a few more bites of the cake and savored it carefully, putting on the airs of a gourmet, "First, the basic ingredient for this cake is refined wheat flour, along with prepared lard. Yes, there should be a bit of chili water and star anise for flavoring. Then there’s white sesame and some white sugar, refined salt." She listed all the ingredients she could remember.

Locke smiled without saying anything, and Yiyi scratched her head, "And egg white liquid, usually only Western pastries use that. I think Yuelai Building probably learned some Western baking techniques."

"You missed something," Xiao Xian said, looking at the sliced Empress Dowager Cakes.

"Missed something? No way, I’m so nitpicky," Yiyi pondered, examining the cake thoroughly.

"Or rather, said it wrong. I just saw an old lady buy a few cakes, asking the cashier if they could be packed in gift boxes and how long they would keep, saying she wanted to send them back home to relatives, and mentioned the cakes were sweet but not cloying, suggesting the sweetness wasn’t from white sugar," Zhou Ziang interjected, noting the details while others were busy eating.

"Ah, I got it, it wasn’t white sugar, it was honey. No wonder I thought there was a subtle floral scent in these cakes, likely brushed with fresh honey mixed with egg white before or after baking," Yiyi exclaimed, smacking her forehead and feeling less wary towards Ziang, realizing the man really was attentive to detail compared to her own careless nature.

"Honey?" Xiao Xian recalled the beekeeping Hive at the research center and glanced at Locke, who nodded at Xiao Xian, seemingly affirming his thoughts.

~Last night when I got home, I saw "Li Yuxue" used her pink ticket, thank you. Actually, Fu Zi is quite lucky to have so many new and old faces showing up every month, it’s touching~ (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation tickets, monthly tickets on Qidian (), your support is my biggest motivation.)