The Game of Life

After tidying up the kitchen and closing the shop for the day, Jiang Feng returned to the dormitory.

When he arrived, he found Wang Hao had already finished washing up and was lying on his bed, reflecting on life. He wasn’t even chatting with Zhenzhen on his phone, his face etched with a sense of dejection and loss.

“What’s wrong?” Jiang Feng asked.

“I just suddenly realized that I have to retake ‘Signals and Systems.’ It doesn’t seem to be Professor Li’s fault,” Wang Hao stared at the ceiling.

“You’ll retake it next semester. Study hard during the summer break, and you should be fine,” Jiang Feng consoled.

“Next semester, the vice dean is teaching ‘Signals and Systems.\'” Wang Hao was now on the verge of tears.

Jiang Feng:

The vice dean was a notorious figure in UAL University’s physics department, holding the highest record for fail rates to this day, with an average of over 65%. Ordinary students who barely scraped by would tremble at the sight of him, often preferring to walk away rather than cross paths.

With such a mythic teacher, known for the big “XXX” failed sign above head, teaching next term’s ‘Signals and Systems,’ Wang Hao was doomed.

After washing up and turning off the lights, Jiang Feng left Wang Hao alone in the dark, sinking into his despondent thoughts. Jiang Feng could even occasionally hear sighs of deep yearning and wistful longing coming from across the room.

His perfectly sane roommate had gone mad.

Wang Hao’s lamentations sounded as though he were heartbroken. No, even during his breakups, he had never experienced such emotional turbulence. Disturbed by Wang Hao’s sighing, Jiang Feng, unable to sleep, decisively opened his attribute panel to see if there were any tasks that seemed doable.

Completing the main quest was just a matter of time, while for the side quests, only “Turn Enemies into Friends” and “Sun Guanyun’s Approval” remained, plus a hidden quest, “The Awakening of Da Hua.”

“The Awakening of Da Hua” also required time; after all, waiting for a pig to pass away naturally could take at least 10 years to accomplish.

Initially, for “Turn Enemies into Friends,” Jiang Feng had thought about recruiting Gu Li to form a team of five. But Gu Li had made it clear during their last conversation that he had no intention of switching sides. As for the remaining top 32 competitors, Jiang Feng didn’t know any of them well enough, so he had to put that quest on hold and wait for the right person.

However, “Sun Guanyun’s Approval” was a task worth striving for. Now that the competition was over, Jiang Feng had plenty of time to practice cooking. If three months weren’t enough, then half a year; if half a year wasn’t enough, then one year; and if one year wasn’t enough, then two. With the backing of two venerable elders, creating an Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon that would satisfy Sun Guanyun was not an illusion.

But Jiang Feng didn’t plan to make Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon these days. He had been wanting to make Li Hongzhang hodgepodge for a long time. Even if he couldn’t practice with exceptionally good and expensive ingredients, it would still be possible to make do with ones of slightly inferior quality.

Continuing to scroll down, he reached his inventory. Jiang Feng had already taken out the kitchen knife for a spin and felt nothing special. It didn’t seem like the kind of blade that could slice through metal as though it was mud, but it did feel quite comfortable in hand.

Since he hadn’t used it to cut vegetables yet, Jiang Feng couldn’t tell if it would make any difference. He planned to find an opportunity to go shopping in a couple of days and bring the knife back, claiming it as his own purchase.

Finally, Jiang Feng’s gaze settled on the only memory in his inventory.

[A Memory of Jiang Weiguo]

Experiencing old Sir’s memories, Jiang Feng had a very strange feeling. In other people’s memories, including Jiang Huiqin and Li Mingyi’s, he felt like a passerby. But with Jiang Weiguo’s memories, he felt a strong impulse to observe everything around him.

He could only experience the latter half of Jiang Weiguo’s life. The Jiang Weiguo he understood was an elderly and one-sided man; he had no knowledge of his youth, his past, his once-upon-a-time.

But he could in these memories.

Seeing a completely different side of a person he knew well in these genuine memories was truly a miraculous feeling.

Real yet surreal.

Jiang Feng chose [A Memory of Jiang Weiguo] and clicked yes.

A dense fog.

“Clang clang, clang clang.” Before the fog could even lift, Jiang Feng first heard the sound of train wheels rolling.

Is this on a train?

Indeed, once the thick fog cleared, Jiang Feng realized he was standing on a train surrounded by people of all kinds, men and women, old and young alike.

To his left was a woman holding a child, cradling the child in her right arm and gently coaxing the child to sleep, while her left hand clung tightly to her luggage and large bags, ears alert and eyes scanning in all directions, fearing some inattentive thief might target her while her husband was away to the restroom.

The train was an old-fashioned green one, not very stable, swaying constantly. For modern youth like Jiang Feng, who were accustomed to riding high-speed trains whizzing by at two or three hundred kilometers per hour, the speed of this green train was painfully slow.

Jiang Feng scanned around and found Jiang Weiguo sitting in the very last row, in the innermost seat.

This was a youthful Jiang Weiguo, who looked about 20 years old with a thin face, a bit more robust than Jiang Feng, with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes that exuded the vigor of youth, though he seemed somewhat listless, perhaps due to the long train journey.

Judgingby Jiang Weiguo’s age at the time, Jiang Feng concluded that he probably wasn’t married yet. Mrs. Jiang was a full 11 years younger than him, still a little girl at this time. If the old man hadn’t had a few romantic pursuits that came to nothing when he was young, he would likely still be single at this point.

Sitting opposite Jiang Weiguo was a round-faced middle-aged man who didn’t seem very old, in his thirties, with a ruddy complexion and very excited. He pointed out the window and said to Jiang Weiguo, “Xiao Jiang, do you think that could be the sea?”

Jiang Weiguo glanced outside and replied, “Master Huang, that’s just a lake. We still have half a day before we arrive at FZ.”

Master Huang?

Jiang Feng couldn’t help but look at this Master Huang. If he wasn’t mistaken, this Master Huang was the former head chef of the state-owned restaurant where Jiang Weiguo worked, and their relationship had always been both as mentor and friend. Jiang Feng had seen this Grandpa Huang when he was a kid, and the two families had maintained good contact up until Chef Huang passed away nine years ago, ending their interactions.

As they were speaking, Jiang Weiguo yawned; he had been sitting on the train for more than two days and felt like his entire skeleton was about to fall apart.

“I’m just too excited, unlike you. You’re so young and you’ve been everywhere already. This is my first time leaving the province,” Master Huang excitedly looked out the window, seemingly unable to get enough of the view.

“Hey, comrade, where are you folks from?” a young man nearby asked.

“We’re from Zet City. We’re both chefs at a state-owned restaurant. We’ve been sent to Fujian to buy some seafood,” Master Huang replied cheerily. He wasn’t afraid the young man next to him had any malicious intent, and even if he did, Jiang Weiguo would not be so easily fooled.

“What a coincidence, I am from a neighboring city to yours. I never imagined the two of you were chefs from a state-owned restaurant. I’ll have to try your cooking if I get the chance,” the young man said with a smile.

“Young brother, what do you do?” Master Huang asked curiously.

“I’m just a lumberyard purchasing agent. I travel all over the place, spending more than half the year on trains,” the young man said. “My surname is Wang. Just call me Xiao Wang. And you two—”

“My surname’s Huang, and his is Jiang,” Master Huang said. “Do you know Fujian well, Mr. Wang? It’s our first time here, and without any familiarity with the place, we wouldn’t know where to buy seafood. Could you point us in the right direction?”

“I’m not sure about places for seafood, but if you’re looking to buy fabrics, pastries, or foreign goods, I can still give you some suggestions,” said the purchasing agent. “By the way, since it’s your first time in Fujian Province, I assume you’re heading to FZ, right? The most famous restaurant there, Jubao Building, has a chef who is taking in apprentices these days. If we’re lucky, we might even be able to catch some excitement there.”

“Wow, is the Jubao Building also a state-owned restaurant?” Master Huang exclaimed naively.

“It should be, isn’t everything public-private partnership now?” the purchasing agent replied uncertainly.

“Xiao Jiang, shall we go take a look? It’s not every day we get out like this, and we’ve been given so much time by the higher-ups. Let’s immerse ourselves in the experience and then tell them all about it when we get back,” Master Huang looked at Jiang Weiguo, hopeful.

Jiang Weiguo nodded and continued to lean against the window, letting the breeze blow on him.

“Mr. Wang, tell me more about FZ. Oh, and here, have some pastries,” Master Huang said. “This pastry is made by my wife. Try some of these flat cakes.”

Master Huang was a chatterbox, and having been bored on the train trip since Jiang Weiguo was feeling unwell and was not up for much conversation, he felt terribly stifled.

Now that he finally caught a neighboring city’s purchasing agent who clearly had seen the world, Master Huang wished he could talk with him for three days and nights.

After listening, he would have some great stories to boast about back home!

Jiang Feng listened from the side to the two men chatting. He could tell that despite the purchasing agent Wang not having been a purchaser for very long or traveled extensively, Master Huang’s lack of exposure to the world made their conversation quite lively as they exchanged stories with enthusiasm.