A young woman who has never set foot in a kitchen tries to make the steamed buns her grandmother has made for decades, during the very New Year her grandmother spends in the hospital.
Scene 1: A Call from the Hospital
二十九的下午，林晓菲接到了妈妈的电话，说外婆住院了，今年的怕是吃不上她包的包子了。
On the afternoon of the twenty-ninth day of the last lunar month, Lin Xiaofei got a call from her mom, saying that Grandma had been admitted to the hospital, and that this year's New Year's Eve dinner probably wouldn't have the buns she always made.
Mom
你外婆躺在床上还呢，说一家人过年没那口热包子，总觉得缺点什么。
Your grandma keeps muttering about it from her bed, saying that without those warm buns, the whole family's New Year just feels like something's missing.
晓菲挂了电话，看着空荡荡的厨房，心里突然下了个决定。
Xiaofei hung up the phone, looked at the empty kitchen, and suddenly made up her mind.
Xiaofei
我从来没做过饭，可这次，我非把外婆那口味道做出来不可。
I've never cooked a thing in my life, but this time, I'm going to recreate Grandma's taste no matter what.
Scene 2: A Call to the Ward
她翻遍了网上的菜谱，却怎么也找不到外婆那种做法，只好硬着头皮拨通了病房的电话。
She scoured every recipe she could find online, but Grandma's particular method was nowhere to be found, so she steeled herself and dialed the hospital room.
Grandma
傻丫头，面要发足两个钟头，里得放一勺白糖，这是关键，别人都不知道的。
Silly girl, the dough has to rise for a full two hours, and you add a spoonful of white sugar to the filling. That's the secret. Nobody else knows it.
Xiaofei
放糖？我还以为是放盐呢，差点就做错了。
Sugar? I thought it was salt. I almost got it all wrong.
Grandma
慢慢来，不着急，外婆在这儿陪着你呢。
Take your time, no need to rush. Grandma's right here with you.
Scene 3: The First Batch
晓菲学着外婆描述的样子面，可面团不是太黏就是太硬，手上、围裙上全是白花花的面粉。
Xiaofei kneaded the dough the way Grandma had described, but it came out either too sticky or too stiff, and her hands and apron were covered in a dusting of white flour.
第一笼蒸出来，包子皮塌了下去，全漏在了笼布上。
When the first batch came out of the steamer, the bun skins had collapsed, and all the filling had leaked out onto the steamer cloth.
Xiaofei
怎么会这样……外婆做了几十年，怎么从来没失手过呀。
How could this happen... Grandma's been making these for decades. How did she never once mess it up?
她擦了擦额头的汗，把面重新成一团，又试了第二次、第三次。
She wiped the sweat from her forehead, gathered the dough back into a ball, and tried again, a second time, and a third.
Scene 4: A Meal by the Bedside
大年初一中午，晓菲提着赶到病房，揭开盖子，一股热气混着甜香飘了出来。
At noon on the first day of the New Year, Xiaofei hurried to the ward carrying an insulated container. When she lifted the lid, a cloud of warm steam laced with a sweet aroma drifted up.
Grandma
这捏得歪歪扭扭的，可这味儿……跟我做的一模一样。
These pleats are all crooked and lopsided, but this taste... it's exactly the same as mine.
外婆咬了一口，慢慢着，眼角的皱纹里盛着笑意。
Grandma took a bite and chewed slowly, a smile gathering in the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes.
Xiaofei
等您出院，我天天蒸给您吃，您可得多教我几招。
Once you're discharged, I'll steam these for you every single day, so you'd better teach me a few more tricks.