The Game of Life

Jiang Weisheng’s Hundred-Flavor Soup shared a similarly ingenious concept with Ji Xue’s vegetable tofu soup, but the ingredients in the Hundred-Flavor Soup were even more diverse and random. Basically, whatever was available could be added, whether fruits, vegetables, meat, or seafood, as long as they were suitable.

The seasoning was also very casual, entirely up to the chef’s improvisation. True to its name, the soup could be made in thousands of ways, hence it was called Hundred-Flavor Soup.

This soup was originally created by Jiang Weiming. Back in the day, whenever Jiang Weiming was working, this soup would appear on the state-owned restaurant’s menu. The reason Jiang Weiming could create this soup was due to the scarcity of ingredients at the time, so he worked with what was available. The soup, initially whipped up on the spot to increase the number of dishes served to foreign guests, unexpectedly gained high praise and subsequently became a fixture on the state-owned restaurant’s menu.

As Jiang Weiming’s apprentice, Jiang Weisheng naturally knew how to make the Hundred-Flavor Soup.

The key to Hundred-Flavor Soup lies in the pairing of ingredients that vary with the season as well as the seasonings, which makes its preparation quite flexible and its success a true test of a chef’s skill. What taste it finally presents and whether the taste is good or bad depends entirely on the individual chef. Jiang Weisheng had been making Hundred-Flavor Soup for nearly 30 years. After the state-owned restaurant closed, he went on to work at a privately- owned restaurant through Jiang Weiming’s recommendation, where the Hundred-Flavor Soup once became the restaurant’s signature dish. Over those 30 years, Jiang Weisheng also devised some techniques for making the soup. Now, at the turn of July and August, there is an abundant variety of seasonal vegetables, which means the flexibility and variability of Hundred-Flavor Soup increase considerably.

Having begun preparing for the Hundred-Flavor Soup since the day of his job application, and with so many years of experience, Jiang Weisheng was definitely full of confidence and determined to succeed at this tasting. Jiang Weisheng and Ji Xue both prepared soups, and they were ready at about the same time.

Ji Xue had spent several days studying the vegetable tofu soup, replacing the asparagus lettuce with two new types of vegetables and still keeping the seasoning very minimal. The soup tasted very pure — even though the addition of tofu gave it a slightly milky hue, it still looked very refreshing and pleasant. In stark contrast, Jiang Weisheng’s Hundred-Flavor Soup included aniseed, kohlrabi, pumpkin, corn, beetroot, radish, red cabbage, mushrooms, zucchini, onions, pork tenderloin, beef strips, and dried scallops — upon looking, one could see it was a great hodgepodge.

Not only were there many ingredients, but the seasonings were also quite heavy; it was even thickened at the end, making the soup appear very thick and somewhat reminiscent of West Lake beef soup.

Ji Xue’s soup was light, fresh, and the tofu was soft and white, with vegetables that were crisp and smooth, leaving one feeling refreshed all night long, as if encapsulating the entirety of early spring in the mouth.

Jiang Weisheng’s soup was rich and comprised of sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, and salty flavors all at once. At first taste, it struck one as unusually savory, yet it was addictive, hearty, and full-bodied, much like the scorching, dazzling sunlight of midsummer.

Besides Sir’s Nine Turns Intestine, this was the first time Jiang Feng had ever tasted a dish with such a complete blend of flavors, and it was in the form of a soup no less.

“Master, what do you think about my soup…” Jiang Weisheng looked at Jiang Weiming with an eager face.

“Did you figure out this recipe yourself?” Jiang Weiming asked.

“Yes.”

“The soup is good, but this is not the Hundred-Flavor Soup; the Hundred- Flavor Soup has no recipe,” Jiang Weiming said with a smile. “You’ve tasted plenty of my Hundred-Flavor Soup in the past, but have you ever tasted one that was the same?”

Jiang Weisheng was taken aback.

“This soup is good and can be added to the menu, but it’s not the Hundred- Flavor Soup. It’s a soup you’ve concocted on your own. You should give it a name,” Jiang Weiming said.

“I… I should name it?” Jiang Weisheng was initially disheartened, but became excited at Jiang Weiming’s suggestion.

“I’ll name it, I’ll name it, what should I name it? The soup is my creation, what should I name it?” Jiang Weisheng, no longer concerned about the pot of soup, went to a corner to mutter to himself and ponder earnestly over what to name his creation.

“San’s wife, think over the pricing of these two soups when you get back. We will discuss it together tonight,” Jiang Weiguo said.

At Taifeng Building, the pricing of dishes was mostly set by Wang Xiulian, a wily businessperson with an uncanny intuitiveness when it came to money matters.

“Alright, dad, don’t worry. Also, Fan Mei and I have discussed and analyzed the last two days; since our restaurant has been open only half a month, we will temporarily remove those dishes with poor sales from the menu. Next month, we’ll lower their prices to see if we can boost their sales. If sales still don’t pick up after the price reduction, then those dishes will have to be taken off the menu,” Wang Xiulian said earnestly, putting down her bowl and getting down to business.

Jiang Feng: …

He felt his mother was talking about him, her eyes fixedly staring at him as she spoke.

“Of course, there are also dishes that sell very well and are in high demand, as well as dishes that were initially mispriced because of our lack of awareness. We are planning to slightly increase the prices of these dishes next month to observe the impact on sales,” WangXiulian continued.

Sun Jikai lifted his head.

“Now I’ll talk to everyone about the specific changes in menu prices, starting with the ones that have gone down.”

“Jiang Feng’s Li Hongzhang Hodgepodge was 488 yuan, Jiang Feng’s Marriage Combo was 168 yuan, Jiang Feng’s Pickled Vegetable Dumplings were 6 yuan each, Zhou Shi’s Braised Chicken in Brown Sauce…”

“Now onto the dishes that have increased in price, Sun Jikai’s Dry-Fried Beef Ho Fun is 48 yuan, Ji Xue’s Dry-Fried Beef Ho Fun is 56 yuan, Jiang Feng’s…” Sun Jikai: ???

???

???

Sun Jikai looked at Jiang Feng.

Jiang Feng looked down at the ground.

Sun Jikai continued to stare at Jiang Feng.

Jiang Feng kept his gaze fixed on the ground.

Sun Jikai relentlessly kept his eyes on Jiang Feng.

Jiang Feng gave in, turned his head to Sun Jikai, and revealed an apologetic smile.

“I just mentioned to my mom about raising the price of your Dry-Fried Beef Ho Fun to 48 yuan, I had no idea she’d go ahead and raise Ji Xue’s price too,” Jiang Feng quietly moved beside Sun Jikai and explained softly.

Sun Jikai showed disbelief in this damned capitalist’s nonsense.

“Really, look, my mom even dropped the price of my dishes, anything in our family is negotiable, only money isn’t negotiable,” Jiang Feng said with sincere emotion and earnest words.

Sun Jikai was skeptical but intrigued.

“Do you remember the shirt I wore today? It’s a special collaboration shirt from Uniqlo for just 36 yuan a piece,” Jiang Feng began to present facts and argue his case.

Sun Jikai fell for his BS.

Jiang Feng breathed a sigh of relief.

What Sun Jikai wouldn’t know was that although the shirt he was wearing today was indeed only worth 36 yuan at Uniqlo, he really loved that anime when he was a child.

Forget 36, he would have bought it for 3,600.

Having successfully deceived yet another person, Jiang Feng was in high spirits.

He took out his cellphone to check the time; it was just past 4 p.m. There was still time to take a walk with Qiqi, arrange a date, and have a stroll in the market.

Jiang Feng quietly sneaked back to Wu Minqi’s side.

“Shall we head to the market later?”

“Sure.”

“I heard from my fourth uncle that there’s a new seafood stall at the North Suburb market that’s really fresh. After we finish dinner at Master Tong’s private restaurant, we could go check it out.”

“But how come I heard that Master Tong’s private restaurant needs reservations two weeks in advance?” Jiang Feng always referred to Tong Deyan as Master Tong, inadvertently leading Wu Minqi off track as well; she used to call him Master Tong.

“I had heard the same, but when I messaged Master Tong last night to ask if there was a table available today, he replied that there indeed was a table for two,” Jiang Feng said.

“What a coincidence?” Wu Minqi was very surprised.

“That’sjusthow it is.”