The Game of Life

In the kitchen, the tablet hanging on the wall let out a “ding,” indicating that a customer had placed an order.

Jiang Weisheng had always been assisting Jiang Weiming, and now that Jiang Weiming had turned his attention to the roasted pig, he moved over to the chopping board to cut vegetables, as it was closest to the tablet. He squinted at the screen.

“Table 3 in area C ordered a large serving of Eight Treasure Porridge,” Jiang Weisheng shouted.

“Table 3? Which one’s Table 3?” Jiang Weiguo asked alertly, raising his head. He waved at Luo Yu, who was getting scolded for breaking a dish while serving, signaling him to get back to work before continuing the scolding.

With a face smeared in dust, Luo Yu returned to the service area and asked Han Yigu, “How much is deducted for breaking a dish?”

“Thirty per dish,” Han Yigu replied without lifting his head, continuing his work.

“Table 3 is my master’s table.” Zhang Guanghang, who had arranged the seating for the customers in area C and knew them best, explained, “It’s probably because my master can’t eat much and wants some porridge; it’s not a big deal.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than Ji Yue arrived at the kitchen entrance and caught hold of a cold dish chef, saying, “The Eight Treasure Porridge for table 3 in area C was ordered by Xu Cheng, probably for the elderly gentleman at their table. Please pass on the message to them.”

The cold dish chef quickly relayed Ji Yue’s exact words.

“Han Yigu, go scoop the porridge,” Jiang Weiguo ordered.

“Hold on a second,” Jiang Feng suddenly spoke up, “I made the Eight Treasure Porridge a bit bland today, and it’s too plain to serve just a serving of porridge. I’ll make a chicken wrapped in cabbage leaves, and we can send it over together.”

The ingredients were already prepared, and those that needed marinating had been done so in advance, making the chicken wrapped in cabbage leaves would only take a few minutes.

Jiang Feng thought that Xia Mushi might like this dish.

Jiang Weiguo said nothing, essentially giving his consent.

“My master doesn’t like chicken wrapped in cabbage leaves,” Zhang Guanghang offered a friendly reminder, “He never eats this dish; he even refuses to make it if guests ask for it.”

“Consider it a gesture; I’ve just learned how to make this dish recently. Do you want to—I’ll show you howto do it?” Jiang Feng said, remembering the special effect of the chicken wrapped in cabbage leaves and promptly changing the subject.

If Zhang Guanghang really did have someone he liked and was the type too shy to confess, the buff might just heat up his brain enough to make him declare his feelings. With his looks, family background, and cooking skills, he’d be out of the singles market in no time. By then, Ji Yue might be so heartbroken she couldn’t come to work, and Taifeng Building would lose an excellent front house manager on its opening day.

“Huh?” Zhang Guanghang was taken aback, not expecting Jiang Feng’s train of thought to be so peculiar. He promptly refused, “No thanks, I already know how to make that dish.”

Blanch the cabbage leaves, wrap the pre-marinated chicken fillets inside, coat them with egg white batter, and deep-fry them. Take them out, turn up the heat, re-fry them, and then remove from the oil.

While plating the sweet and sour carp for Jiang Jiankang, Sang Ming muttered to Han Yigu beside him, “This dish seems easy, I feel like I could make it too. I’m quite good at frying crispy meat, every New Year at home I’m the one who fries it.”

Having spent a few years in Beiping and seen the world, Han Yigu explained, “This is a common family dish around here; many people know how to make it, just like how your place has crispy meat.”

“That’s not right,” Sang Ming protested, “My sister can’t fry crispy meat; she only knows how to eat. When I’m cooking in the kitchen, all she does is wait with her chopsticks to eat. She doesn’t even know how to coat it with flour. Honestly, speaking of my sister, she’s not pretty, and she’s also…” Sang Ming could always turn the conversation to his sister. Within just a few short days, Sang Ming’s legendary soon-to-be high-schooler sister had gained a reputation for being unattractive with a face full of acne, chubby, clumsy, and inept at chores, an image that had become deeply ingrained in everyone’s mind.

Randomly ask anyone in the kitchen about Sang Ming and they might not immediately recall, but ask them about his sister and everyone could respond on the spot.

Their descriptions could be identical.

“Sang Ming, focus on the plating,” Jiang Feng said.

“Alrighty then,” Sang Ming finally let go of his sister.

With three Chicken-enveloped dishes, Sang Ming incorporated the triple pancake design concept into the plating, placing them diagonally in a row, wiped and outlined the soup at the bottom of the plate, added some decorative garnishes that didn’t really mean much, and swiftly delivered both the Chicken-enveloped dishes and the Eight Treasures Porridge to the serving window.

The porridge came from a large pot, a pot familiar to the judges of the Good Taste Culinary Competition, a pot with the distinctive Jiang Family characteristic, a pot that instilled fear and trembling in young servers who were inexperienced and new to the world.

“Fan, I… I can’t carry that pot of porridge,” the young and beautiful server could only seek help from Fan Mei.

Fan Mei was walking back and forth in the main hall, checking for any mishaps when she heard this, frowning, “Can’t carry it? How can you not?”

“I really can’t, it’s just too… too heavy,” the young and beautiful server was on the verge of tears, “Brother Zhao and the others are on the second floor, I came to find you because I was afraid of delaying things.”

Fan Mei felt that the girls these days really lacked strength; everyone was engaged in physical labor, but they couldn’t even carry a pot of porridge. She said, “I’ll have a look, and you should pay attention to exercising your hand strength regularly; otherwise, you won’t be able to carry the dishes steadily.” Then, Fan Mei saw the porridge at the serving window.

Fan Mei began to question her life.

Fan Mei stepped forward, sunk her qi to her dantian, lowered her center of gravity, and exerted force with both arms. The porridge was carried steadily, but she quickly put it back down.

She could lift it but wasn’t sure she could bring it all the way over, and she never attempted things she wasn’t confident about.

“Go upstairs and get a guy to come down,” Fan Mei told the young and beautiful server.

Before the young and beautiful server had a chance to head upstairs, Ji Yue noticed that the two of them had been hovering around the Sichuan cuisine window for a while and came over to see what was going on, only to find them puzzled by a familiar-looking pot of porridge.

“Fan, what’s the matter, is there a problem with the dish?” asked Ji Yue. “Isn’t this the porridge ordered by section C? I remember they ordered an extra-large portion of Eight Treasures Porridge.”

“The porridge is a bit heavy, and I’m afraid it won’t be steady carrying it over. I’ve asked Xiaoling to go upstairs and call a male server to bring it,” Fan Mei replied.

“No need to trouble yourself, I can carry it over, Xiaoling, you take this plate of Chicken-enveloped dishes,” Ji Yue said with a smile, easily lifting the Eight Treasures Porridge and striding forward confidently.

Fan Mei: ???

Xiaoling:!!!

With admiration on her face, Xiaoling watched Ji Yue and spat contemptuously in her heart at Qi Rou’s fellow townsman. That person had been speaking ill of Ji Yue behind her back recently, saying Ji Yue was arrogant and looked down on others, acting like she was better than everyone else just because she graduated from a famous university, yet she was still just a server like them. Then, saying what was Ji Yue good for to be a team leader as if she could take over as team leader if Ji Yue wasn’t one.

That person was nothing but lazy when it came to working; Xiaoling had seen it several times. Fan Mei repeatedly stressed the importance of explaining the Ordering System thoroughly to guests before letting them use the tablet, which everyone took to heart except for Qi Rou’s fellow townsman, who cut corners and sometimes didn’t explain anything at all and would find a corner to slack off at every opportunity, even scoffing at others for working diligently without extra pay.

Xiaoling coldly sneered in her heart, thinking that damn fool really believed others were fools and only she was smart. If she could make it through the probation period without getting fired, Xiaoling would read her own name backward!

“Hello, this is your Chicken-enveloped dish, please enjoy. It comes with a special large portion of Eight Treasures Porridge,” Lin Ling said with a smile.

No one reacted much, so everyone’s gaze was drawn to the Eight Treasures Porridge that Ji Yue had just placed on the table.

The same thought crossed everyone’s minds.

Such a big pot!