The Game of Life

“Son, what’s wrong?” Jiang Jiankang noticed Jiang Feng’s peculiar expression and asked, “Don’t be nervous, we’re just starting out.”

Jiang Feng:…

If you could keep your tongue straight, I might even believe you a bit more.

Nobody had experience with interviews at big restaurants; when Jiang Weiming and Jiang Weiguo were still working in Taifeng Building’s kitchen, there was nothing like today’s strict division of labor. There were only three titles: head chef, sous chef, and kitchen assistant. You just did whatever the master chef told you to do, at most dividing the tasks into Red Chef and White Chef. Who would have imagined such a variety as nowadays, ranging from head chef stove chef, presentation chef, vegetable chef, kitchen apprentice cook, to the chef responsible for rough processing, and all the different kinds of cold dishes and pastries? This complex division of staff roles gave Jiang Jiankang, who had spent more than a decade shouldering every chef responsibility in the small stir-fry restaurant, a serious headache.

Had it not been for Zhang Guanghang’s help, today’s chef recruitment definitely wouldn’t have gone smoothly.

Last night, after returning, Zhang Guanghang helped Jiang Family Members organize a detailed recruitment outline for the chefs and sent it to Jiang Feng via WeChat. Today, their interviews were quite straightforward, targeting seven types of positions.

The cold dishes position, as its name suggests, focuses solely on cold dishes. They were hiring only two chefs for this position, with stringent requirements on seasoning skills, which would be judged by the taste-sensitive Jiang Jianguo. The pastry position, also the sole White Chef position, would likewise be interviewed by the pastry-proficient Jiang Jianguo.

The seafood position, responsible for the slaughter and cleaning of fish and seafood, would be overseen by Jiang Weiguo.

The stove position, in charge of the direct cooking of dishes, would have Jiang Weiguo and the older gentleman Jiang Weiming as interviewers. Nobody was really expecting to hire any particularly outstanding chefs for this; it was enough to find an apprentice with talent who was well-behaved and honest. When it came to chefs, Taifeng Building itself was already well-staffed. They had full-time chefs like Jiang Feng, Jiang Jiankang, Ji Xue, Zhang Guanghang and Wu Minqi, plus two part-time chefs who would drop in randomly, Jiang ’ Weiguo and Jiang Weiming.

The cutting board position, in charge of chopping and marinating the raw materials, required only knife skills and would also be personally interviewed by the two older gentlemen.

The assistant chef position, supporting the stove chefs with pre-cooking tasks, passing ingredients, and plating the dishes, would be overseen by Jiang Feng, ’ who, after years of being an experienced assistant at Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant and the only one in the Jiang Family with a natural talent for plating, became the sole interviewer.

The specialty dishes position, responsible for crafting dishes that require simmering, stewing, and soaking dry ingredients like abalone and sea cucumbers, would be conducted by the Jiang Family’s broth trio: Jiang Jiankang, Jiang Weiguo, and Jiang Weiming.

A standard Chinese kitchen normally has seven major chef positions including roast meats, focusing on barbecue, marinated meats, and cured flavors, but the seniors felt there was no need to hire a specific roast meats chef since Taifeng Building did not initially offer such dishes.

As for the management position, Jiang Zaidi had already found someone through a headhunter with a good CV and plenty of experience, and they would meet in the next few days for a detailed discussion.

Even though Jiang Zaidi had already filtered through applicants once, there were still many who showed up for the interview, mainly because the salary offered by the Jiang Family was quite attractive. The standard base pay included meals, commissions, five insurances and one housing fund, bonus for holidays, and comprehensive employee benefits, which, compared to KFC and MacDonald’s practice of deceiving students for ten yuan an hour, made them seem like a truly conscientious business.

The kitchen was stocked with fresh ingredients delivered by suppliers at Zhang Guanghang’s behest the day before. The back-of-house staff interviews were indeed straightforward; they only had to demonstrate their skills directly, and as long as the speed and quality were up to standard, they would be hired.

As everyone waited on the side, Jiang Shoucheng was still registering people outside. Once he finished categorizing the applicants and handed over their resumes, the interviews could begin.

As Jiang Feng looked around listlessly at the aspiring chefs, he caught sight of

Sun Jikai, his face etched with the words ‘Don’t underestimate the determination of the youth.’

Why is he here?

Why would he come to apply at Taifeng Building when he could inherit the top restaurant in FJ?

A corporate spy?

Rich family strife?

An imposter?

A tragic love story?

Could it be that twenty years ago, on a rainy night in the hospital, two babies were swapped. Lives interchanged, emotional entanglements, gratitude towards birth parents versus adoptive parents, the true scion of a rich family facing off against the usurper in his nest, familial love versus…

In a mere few seconds, Jiang Feng’s mind raced through numerous possibilities.

“Hey, doesn’t that young man look just like the one from the previous competition?” Jiang Jiankang pointed at Sun Jikai.

“That’s him, Sir Sun’s grandson,” Jiang Feng stated with absolute certainty. “Wow, our shop must be impressive to have attracted him to apply,” Jiang Jiankang didn’t have as wild an imagination as Jiang Feng.

Jiang Feng:…

While the Jiang Family Members surveyed the applicants, the applicants were also sizing up the interviewers. After scanning around, the same thought occurred to everyone.

That skinniest one looks like he’d be the easiest to fool.

A few minutes later, the highly efficient Jiang Shoucheng came into the kitchen with the organized resumes and handed them out to everyone.

“Those with a red check are the decent resumes that we can consider prioritizing, and there’s an older individual who went to the restroom and will be joining us shortly,” Jiang Shoucheng said before he went to deliver the resumes to Wang Xiulian and the others.

Jiang Feng got five candidates, all quite young, with two of them even younger than himself-one 18 and the other 19. The 19-year-old at least had a high school diploma, while the 18-year-old had only completed nine years of compulsory education.

Han Yigu, Sang Ming,” Jiang Feng called the two youngest, pointing to the plates and cut fruit on the table, “Two minutes, arrange a fruit plate.” It seemed they knew each other as they exchanged a glance, washed their hands at the sink, and got to work.

Plating is an art, as humans are visual creatures, naturally drawn to and pursuing things that are appealing to the eye; an outstanding presentation of a dish is definitely a bonus.

At the very least, it makes for an impressive post in your social circle.

Arranging a fruit plate is entry-level, and Jiang Feng prepared a variety of fruits: mangoes, apples, cantaloupes, watermelons, pineapples, peaches, kiwis, blueberries, bananas, and cherry tomatoes-some sliced and some whole, providing plenty of options for the two candidates to express their creativity. While Han Yigu and Sang Ming were fully focused on their plating, Jiang Feng reviewed their resumes.

Han Yigu, 18 years old, started drifting to Beiping after middle school graduation, with work experience in the back kitchens of three restaurants in Beiping, all of which had closed down—one each year over three years.

Jiang Feng:…

Sang Ming, 19 years old, had no work experience. His resume was so clean it was almost pitiful; even including his League of Legends rank didn’t make it as rich as Han Yigu’s. The only reason he got through the first round of interviews was because there were few applicants for the Kitchen Apprentice Cook position.

The two minutes flew by quickly. Han Yigu’s plating was extremely beautiful, using kiwi, mango, blueberries, and strawberries on a large, flat white ceramic plate. Four vibrant colors-green, yellow, red, and purple-each took up a quarter of the plate with very neat demarcations. Such a skillful fruit plate would sell for at least 168 yuan in a KTV lounge.

Sang Ming, on the other hand…

Let s just say he was a very creative young man.

He arranged a Mahjong tile.

The Red Dragon.

He even managed to arrange the frame.

To be able to arrange a Red Dragon in just two minutes, with the characters even somewhat resembling the real thing, Jiang Feng could only compliment him on his profound love for playing Mahjong.

A passion for the national pastime deserved praise.

Han Yigu, with his extensive experience as a Kitchen Apprentice Cook, was dumbfounded by Sang Ming’s fruit plate. The 18-year-old’s worldview had been massively shaken.

He had never imagined that plating could be done like this!

Forget about flowers blossoming and riches coming forth, phoenixes soaring through the heavens, or fairies under the moon-nothing could compete with the glorious 14.4 tiles of Chinese Mahjong.

Jiang Feng felt that Sang Ming was undoubtedly talented, just that his talent was misspent; he should be in the Sparrow Saint Crew rather than aspiring to be a Food God.

Dad, Jiang Feng called out to Jiang Jiankang, who was busy noting the understanding levels of the chefs for various ingredients for the job positions.

What s up?” Jiang Jiankang turned his head and was taken aback.

What did he see, a Red Dragon?!

Jiang Jiankang expressed his helplessness.

Jiang Feng thought for a moment and said, “Please sit over there for now and wait for a bit. There will be other tests soon.”

“Dude, how did you come up with the idea to do a Red Dragon?” Han Yigu asked, thoroughly impressed.

“I originally wanted to do the Wan character tile, but there weren’t any black fruits,” Sang Ming said, somewhat disappointed.

Jiang Feng:…

Ou Yang, Luo Yu, Yin Xuan, all three of you come here,” Jiang Feng said.