The Game of Life

Chapter 74 - 73 Looking for Someone

Spiciness is a sensation of pain, and as is well known, pain is an unpleasant feeling produced by the human brain in response to stimuli that may cause tissue damage or potential loss.

It wasn’t until his brain stopped sending signals of pain to Jiang Feng that he began to taste the bean sprouts.

If you ignore the spiciness, the boiled fish made with just bean sprouts was quite good.

Wiping away the tears that the spiciness had induced, Jiang Feng bravely picked up a slice of fish.

The fish slices were of a medium thickness; too thin and they would break apart during cooking, too thick and they wouldn’t absorb the flavors well. The flesh of wild grass carp was more tender than that of farm-raised ones, and at thirteen pounds, this one was a rare find, in the prime of its life with plump and tender meat.

It was still very spicy, not just spicy but numbingly so. Jiang Feng seldom ate such strong-flavored dishes, and despite the preparatory layer of bean sprouts, tears uncontrollably welled up in his eyes.

Jiang Feng deftly pulled out a tissue to dry his eyes before picking up another piece of fish.

For a wild grass carp to grow to thirteen pounds was no small feat; it had lived peacefully to maturity before being caught, and then Master Chen, a chef with a keen eye for quality, had purchased it to make this boiled fish. It was all about destiny.

The grass carp had striven to grow plump and tender, and Master Chen repaid its efforts with his culinary skills. The fish slices were cut along the grain, seasoned and marinated appropriately, and the fire control was just right. For such a naturally perfect and rare boiled fish dish, Jiang Feng naturally had to appreciate it.

Even if he couldn’t handle the spiciness, he had to have a few more bites!

So there Jiang Feng was, alternating between a bite of rice and a piece of fish, swiftly going through three large bowls and feeling overstuffed.

All Jiang Feng could do was look longingly at the fish, watching enviously as Wu Minqi happily ate on.

“Are you full?” Wu Minqi managed to spare a moment to speak to Jiang Feng, glancing at the fish bones by his bowl, “You didn’t seem to eat many pieces of fish, did you?”

“I had three bowls of rice,” Jiang Feng said.

“Spicy rabbit head, one for each of us, you have yours first!” Wu Minqi said. Jiang Feng quickly shook his head; the boiled fish was just cooked, but the spicy rabbit head was brined using facing heaven peppers and dried chili, which meant the spiciness would permeate every corner of the rabbit head. No matter how delicious it was, Jiang Feng dared not try it.

He didn’t have the same kind of disregard for life in the pursuit of delicious food that Liu Qian had.

By now, Jiang Feng could feel that his mouth was a bit swollen; if he ate a rabbit head, it would definitely turn into what could only be described as a ‘sausage mouth’.

The thought alone was unimaginable.

Being a native of Shu, Wu Minqi feared neither the spiciness nor the numbing sensation. She wasn’t satisfied with the boiled fish alone and even scooped soup to drizzle on her rice. Just watching the soup-a bright red concoction mixed with Sichuan peppercorns-being poured over the rice made Jiang Feng gasp for air, yet Wu Minqi reveled in it.

Master Chen explained on the side, “She’s liked eating like this since she was a girl, raised in a jar of chili peppers.”

Jiang Feng:…

Shu people, can’t afford to provoke, can’t afford to provoke.

While Wu Minqi was engrossed in her meal, Jiang Feng took the opportunity to inquire about Jiang Weiming’s whereabouts.

Master Chen, I wanted to ask if you knew a chef named Jiang Weiming back when you worked at the state-owned restaurant?” Jiang Feng asked.

“Jiang Weiming? There were several chefs with the surname Jiang at the state-owned restaurant, and some have retired long ago, but I don’t remember a Chef Jiang Weiming,” Master Chen said.

Could he have changed his name?

“It’s possible he changed his name. He was still working there in ’87, probably in his sixties, slightly overweight, specialized in chopped pepper fish head and had a bit of a beard,” Jiang Feng said, looking at Master Chen with hopeful anticipation.

Master Chen thought for a moment and then slowly said, “The person you’re talking about, I have some impression of him, but his name was Jiang Yuanchao.”

That was a good, characteristic name of New China.

“The state-owned restaurant he worked at closed down in ’93, and then he moved away. I heard he seemed to have moved to County Yalom. After so many years, I’m not sure of his specifics,” Master Chen said, indicating that he couldn’t be of much help.

Although the lead had gone cold, knowing that Jiang Weiming had changed his name to Jiang Yuanchao was already a significant breakthrough; at least Jiang Feng wouldn’t end up blindly searching the world for Jiang Weiming.

“Thank you, Master Chen, you’ve been a great help,” Jiang Feng sincerely expressed his gratitude.

After waiting for about fifteen minutes for Wu Minqi to finish her meal, the two of them paid the bill together and then left.

It was quite late by then, but Jiang Feng could still catch the last subway to the hostel he had booked. They said goodbye at the subway station, and Wu Minqi did not forget to make a promise to Jiang Feng, “I’ll ask my grandfather when I get back to see if he knows where Jiang Yuanchao has settled.”

But Jiang Feng felt that the chances Wu Minqi’s grandfather would know were slim.

The state-owned restaurant where Jiang Weiming worked, Number 93 had closed down a long time ago. With so many years gone by, and communication not being convenient back then, he figured any past acquaintances would have long lost touch.

Having sat on the train all day and eaten a poached fish dish in the evening that was beyond the limit of what his tongue could bear, Jiang Feng arrived at the hostel in a daze. After a simple wash, he collapsed into bed and slept like the dead.

When Jiang Feng woke up the next day, it was already noon.

He turned on his phone and saw the WeChat message from Wu Minqi sent earlier, telling him that her grandfather also did not know Jiang Yuanchao’s current address, comforting him with a few words. The last message read, “I’m about to head to the kitchen now and might not be able to respond to messages in time.”

Heading straight to the kitchen to help out the day after returning home, not even arranging to hang out with her besties for a stroll or catch a movie to continue their ‘plastic sisterhood’ or anything, Jiang Feng could only sigh that Wu Minqi truly was a culinary fanatic.

There were high-speed trains from the provincial capital to County Yalom and it only took about fifteen minutes, so Jiang Feng decided to try his luck in County Yalom. In his memory, County Yalom wasn’t that big; by wandering around and asking plenty of people, he might just find him.

However, one hour later, when Jiang Feng arrived at County Yalom, he realized his perception of the size of County Yalom was based on the County Yalom of 1987.

Thirty years had passed, and County Yalom was no longer the small county town it had been. Thanks to its proximity to the provincial capital, it had developed rapidly, its size now rivaling some third or fourth-tier prefecture-level cities.

After leaving the train station in County Yalom, Jiang Feng bought a map, feeling somewhat confused.

How was he supposed to find anyone here?

With millions of permanent residents in County Yalom, all he had was a name.

The odds of randomly finding the person were lower than winning the lottery.

Wang Hao sometimes won five or ten yuan from scratch cards.

Jiang Feng could only start his search from the most crowded commercial streets.

For the entire day, he asked every shop, “Excuse me, do you know a Mr. Jiang Yuanchao? He should be a man in his nineties,” and even dominated the WeChat step count among his friends, but to no avail.

Jiang Feng felt as though he had been distributing missing person notices all day, but unlike others, he didn’t even have a photograph to go with it-just a name.

Finding Jiang Weiming turned out to be much harder than he had imagined.

After a day of fruitless inquiries, Jiang Feng could only buy a ticket back to the provincial capital on the high-speed train. He had not initially expected Jiang Weiming to leave the capital, which was why he booked the hostel for five days. Fortunately, County Yalom was not far from the capital, so traveling back and forth didn’t take much time.

Back at the hostel, Jiang Feng calmed down and began to rethink his strategy.

With the way he was searching, not to mention five days, even five months might not be enough to find someone.

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Jiang Feng started to organize the personal relationships related to Jiang Weiming he was aware of.

Jiang Weiming had been a chef at a state-owned restaurant in the provincial capital in 1987. Han Guishan had seen him there, and the dish of chili fish head they ate was the dish that had cemented his and his wife’s love for each other. Later, the state-owned restaurant had closed down in 1993…

Wait, Han Guishan and his wife’s special dish.

His wife, wasn’t she the waitress at the state-owned restaurant?

Jiang Feng had never seen Han Guishan’s wife, but to be safe, he checked Baidu Encyclopedia. Sure enough, the photo displayed by the search engine was the waitress from the state-owned restaurant where Jiang Weiming had worked, named Wang Jing, no mistake-Jiang Feng still remembered Jiang Weiming ’ calling her Jingjing.

Everything matched up!

Wang Jing had been a colleague of Jiang Weiming’s, and they seemed to have had a good relationship; she certainly would know his current address!

Jiang Feng felt like slapping himself for the day of pointless bustling. He had gone all around only to realize he had missed the most crucial piece of information.

Giddy with excitement, he opened WeChat and carefully composed his words concocting a seemingly plausible and coincidental story, and sent a message to Han Guishan inquiring if his wife knew the address of Jiang Weiming.

After editing, he sent the message.

Feeling delighted, Jiang Feng turned off his phone and went to sleep..