The Game of Life

The next morning, Jiang Feng arrived at the shop with two large dark circles under his eyes.

He had struggled with the game all night, no customer service, no reporting, no complaints—the players from Earth had no rights in this game without all three.

The main quest was still ???

Jiang Feng began to suspect that the game’s developer had racked up a debt of 3.5 billion universal currency from a life of eating, drinking, gambling, and had run off with his mistress.

Fortunately, the props obtained in the game could still be used normally. Although there was only one preservation box and one promotional board. In the morning, before the business opened, Jiang Feng was instructed by Jiang Weiguo to simmer soup in the kitchen.

Professor Li walked into the Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant with a document bag in hand.

“Uncle, you’ve returned from your meeting in Beiping, I see,” Wang Xiulian, wiping the table, greeted him.

Professor Li smiled and nodded at her, asking, “Is Feng here? I have some papers here that I need him to sign.”

Papers? Wang Xiulian’s smile vanished, her face turned serious, “Did that rascal get into trouble at school again?”

No.” Professor Li chuckled, opened the document bag, and handed a thick stack of papers to Wang Xiulian, “It’s a transfer document for a restaurant property. It’s under my dad’s name; he called me a few nights ago to transfer ownership of this restaurant to Feng.”

Wang Xiulian took the papers, the dense terms made her head swim, but she could make out the bold characters at the top.

Taifeng Building Transfer Agreement

What was Taifeng Building? It seemed like something Dad had mentioned before.

A sense of foreboding told Wang Xiulian that something major was happening. “Jianguo, Feng, Dad, come out quick! Something’s happened!” Wang Xiulian shouted at the top of her lungs.

Five minutes later.

All four of them silently flipped through a copy of the document.

“No, no, Junming,” said Jiang Weiguo, “this is too valuable; our family can’t accept it. I’ll talk to my uncle. Feng can’t just accept this!” Although Jiang Weiguo didn’t quite understand things like restaurant transfers or transfers of shares and land deeds, he’d grown up in Taifeng Building and knew very well its location and size… Even though he hadn’t returned to Beiping since, he would occasionally check the news on his phone and knew that an apartment in Beiping’s second ring road was worth tens of millions. How much for Taifeng Building then?

Several billion?

Tens of billions?

Jiang Weiguo didn’t have the audacity to let the Jiang Family accept someone else’s property worth tens of billions for nothing.

Jiang Feng was also stunned.

Though he had never seen the entirety of Taifeng Building, he’d at least been to the kitchen and had some impression of it.

It was, after all, a standalone restaurant building in Beiping!

And it had actually survived until now!

Jiang Jiankang and his wife also knew when to refuse, both expressing that they couldn’t accept it.

Professor Li persuaded, “Weiguo, Taifeng Building was originally yours, the Jiang Family’s. My father has been looking for you brothers for half a century. I’m not very clear about what happened back then, but I do know a bit.” “This restaurant was bought by my mother in the 37th year of the Republic of China. While she was still alive, she always said Taifeng Building was originally the Jiang Family’s ancestral property. It changed hands because her father squandered the family wealth on opium. Because of the war, they had to move from the Northeast provinces to Beiping. Later on… sigh. My mother had passed away by the time of the political rehabilitation, and the government returned Taifeng Building, which by then had been altered beyond recognition. My father spent a lot of effort restoring it to its former state. Keeping it was always to hope one day we’d find you to continue running Taifeng Building.” Our family doesn’t have a knack for business, and I have no children. Feng is my junior; since my father has decided to transfer Taifeng Building to Feng, let’s just go with his wishes.”

“No, it won’t do,” Jiang Weiguo insisted resolutely.

Didn’t he want Taifeng Building?

Of course, he did.

Jiang Weiguo still remembered when, during their escape, Jiang Chengde spent the last of their money to buy him a ticket to Magic City. He gave Jiang the last bun, hoping he would make something of himself and, returning gloriously to his hometown, buy back Taifeng Building in Beiping.

He desired Taifeng Building, but it had to be something the Jiang Family bought back honorably with real money, not through a relative’s gift. “How about this,” seeing the strong opposition from the Jiang family, Professor Li took a step back, “I was actually planning to have Feng sign the papers and then go with me to Beiping to finalize the procedures. Alternatively, we can modify the text and have a public notary assess the total value of Taifeng Building. We’ll sell it to you, and the payments can be made in installments.” Professor Li said this, but he really had no intention of taking any money.

Wang Xiulian hesitated.

She could see that her father-in-law was longing for Taifeng Building.

But how much would a restaurant in Beiping cost?

At least several billion, right?

Just owing 800,000 to her second brother-in-law made her scrimped, unwilling to buy the freshest vegetables. To owe several billion at once?

Wang Xiulian’s small-town heart could barely stand the pressure.

Jiang Weiguo was tempted.

His biggest dream as a child was to beat his six brothers to become the future head chef of Taifeng Building. Later, his dream shifted to saving enough money to buy back Taifeng Building in Beiping.

Half a century had quickly passed, and he never returned to Beiping.

Now, the transfer document for Taifeng Building was laid out brightly before him, the transferee was his grandson; he could hardly find a reason to refuse. “Okay,” Jiang Weiguo agreed.

At the same time, a notification sounded in Jiang Feng’s mind.

“Ding, a new optional main quest discovered: [Reopening] Let Taifeng Building reopen in Beiping City.”

“What about you, Feng?” Professor Li looked towards Jiang Feng.

“Sure,” Jiang Feng found it impossible to refuse.

Tens of billions in debt.

His legs felt slightly weak at the thought.

But he was very clear that this was not just for fulfilling a game mission but also about fulfilling Sir’s wish.

How often Sir used to talk about Taifeng Building, Jiang Feng knew only too well. If Taifeng Building could really shine once more in their hands, Sir might even get so excited that he’d end up taking the head chef role himself.

“Feng, come with me to Beiping tomorrow to handle the transfer procedures,” Professor Li said, “although the restaurant hasn’t been managed for seven or eight years, there might be some difficulties in reopening.”

Professor Li gave them a heads-up.

After all, his latest visit to Beiping for a conference showed him a Taifeng

Building that resembled a poorly preserved cultural relic.

Renovating it would likely be a substantial expense..