The Game of Life

Many patient’s family members would share a portion of the soup or porridge they made with the medical staff, and even some of the financially embarrassed resident doctors would run to the small kitchen to cook during their rest times.

When the small kitchen first started two years ago, it was highly praised and welcomed, even requiring a waitlist to use, truly making it Benevolent Doctor’s popular kitchen.

But as time shifted, the novelty of the small kitchen gradually faded, and more and more people realized their culinary skills were actually not that great.

In the small kitchen, enduring the heat, noise, and murky air, the food they managed to make wasn’t even as good as the hospital canteen’s, nor did it compare to the small restaurants at the hospital’s entrance.

The resident doctors also found that after enduring long hours of draining work, eating a meal they cooked themselves was simply unbearable.

Nowadays, the small canteen that was specially established to provide better care for the patients is mostly used by a few persistent ladies who fry a few simple dishes, while others just occasionally come to make soup, setting the timer and letting it cook on the stove.

By the time Jiang Feng finished washing his hands and returned to the small kitchen, Mrs. Qjan had already picked out the carrots from the clay pot and was helping Jiang Feng wash the vegetables.

“Young man, you’re back. I saw you had a lot of vegetables, so I helped you wash some,” Mrs. Qian said warmly.

“Thankyou, Mrs. Qian,” smiled Jiang Feng.

Jiang Feng turned his attention to the beef on the stove.

If the beef had just been put in the pot, the chances of remedying it were still quite high. But now, judging by the looks of it, the beef had been boiling for over an hour; Jiang Feng poked the meat with chopsticks and his first feeling was that it was hard.

Chewing such meat would tire your jaw muscles before it got tender.

Add to that the fact that not enough seasoning was used, the color wasn’t even right—it was definitely a new contender in the dark cuisine category.

The only praiseworthy aspect of this pot of beef was probably the knifework, which Mrs. Qian handled decently, cutting along the grain of the meat.

Unfortunately, the only commendable aspect was also the mistake; beef should be cut against the grain, not along it.

“What is your surname, Mrs. Qian?” asked Jiang Feng.

“My name is Qian. What’s your last name, young man?” Mrs. Qjan was washing mushrooms and corn, “Do you want me to shuck the corn kernels for you?”

“My surname is Jiang, please, Mrs. Qian,” Jiang Feng replied unreservedly. With someone helping to prepare the food, the process could be much faster. Although Mrs. Qian’s cooking skills weren’t great, her food preparation skills were decent.

Jiang Feng picked the large pieces of beef out of the clay pot, rinsed them, cut them into smaller pieces, added more seasoning to the pot, brought it to a boil over high heat, then simmered it on low heat.

“Mrs. Qian, when making carrot and beef stew, you need to blanch the beef in boiling water first, then stir-fry it with green onions, ginger, and garlic. If you’re not sure about the quantity, cut large pieces and use more of them. After stir-frying, add light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, cooking wine, and oyster sauce, and keep stir-frying until the beef is colored. Use about one ladle of light soy sauce, a little less for dark soy sauce, it’s okay to add a bit more cooking wine- two ladles are fine, and oyster sauce can be added freely—its quantity doesn’t matter much,” Jiang Feng said.

“Then switch to a clay pot, add water for slow cooking until it covers the beef in the pot, and put in spices such as bay leaves, Chinese cardamoms, and Sichuan peppercorns. Bring it to a boil over high heat, then simmer on low heat for about two hours with this kind of pot. In the last twenty minutes, add the carrots, then sprinkle some salt and sugar; when it’s stewed, it’s ready to serve,” Jiang Feng instructed Mrs. Qian on how to make carrot and beef stew. “Also, Mrs. Qian, you shouldn’t cut beef along the grain; you have to slice it across the grain, just like I did just now.”

Mrs. Qian looked baffled and after a while said, “Jiang, you said so much, I can’t remember it all at once…”

Jiang Feng:…

Well, it made sense; Mrs. Qian was a novice in cooking, and trying her hand at something like carrot and beef stew was really asking too much of her.

Jiang Feng went to the kitchen counter to prepare the pork belly. Braised pork also needed to be simmered slowly, which took the most time and needed to be started first. Mrs. Qian stood by his side, helping him peel the corn kernels.

“Mrs. Qian, do you cook often?” Jiang Feng asked as he cut the meat.

“I don’t usually cook at home, just help out a bit. It used to be my father-in-law who cooked, nowit’s my husband,” Mrs. Qian replied with a sigh. “My husband loves stewed beef with carrots the most. My father-in-law made it very well, and from when he was young, he never got tired of it. Later, when he started cooking, he made this dish every couple of days, and my daughter loves it too.” “Did you specifically make this dish for your husband?”

“Not only for my husband, but also for my father-in-law and my daughter,” Mrs. Qian said.

Jiang Feng stopped cutting, looking astonished.

Seeing Jiang Feng’s expression, Mrs. Qian smiled, “When you’re out of luck, even water gets stuck in your teeth. My husband was driving, picking up my father-in-law and my daughter, when they got rear-ended and crashed into the truck in front.”

“Thankfully, the ambulance arrived just in time, and all three of them were saved. My mother-in-law is now at the hospital ward taking care of them. She always feels the care is not as good as when we do it ourselves, and insists on being there all the time.”

“My father-in-law and daughter were fortunate, their surgeries went well, and they’ll be discharged soon. But my husband, he’s the worst off, his recovery the slowest. Even though he’s barely in his fifties, not very old, he keeps having setbacks. Yesterday, the doctor called me in, asked me to prepare for the worst mentally.”

“The doctor said if we’re lucky, he might pull through, but my husband has never had good luck over the years. Driving safely on the road, he got sandwiched in a pile-up, he’s never won another bottle from buying drinks, not even a consolation prize at the company raffle. With years of bad luck on his back, I just hope this time his luck turns for the better.”

“This morning I asked what he wanted to eat, and he said he wanted the stewed beef with carrots I make. He said that after making it for me so many years, it was time I made it for him.”

“Just look at him, wanting to eat anything but that, and to think he’s craving my stewed beef with carrots, which is barely eatable! I can’t even properly stir- fry vegetables.” Mrs. Qian managed to keep a smile on her face, even as her eyes unconsciously reddened.

“Jiang, thank you, without your help this beef would’ve been ruined; my husband is definitely going to tease me about it later.”

Jiang Feng looked at the beef stewing on the stove and suddenly felt it wasn’t right for him to directly help Mrs. Qian with stewing the beef with carrots. This dish should not be made by him.

“Mrs. Qian, try making it again tomorrow,” Jiang Feng suggested.

“Huh?”

“This dish isn’t hard. I’ll still be coming over tomorrow to help my cousin cook. I’ll guide you, I talk, you do the work. You make it,” Jiang Feng said.

Mrs. Qian was stunned for a moment, then replied, “Then I’ll be troubling you.”

“No trouble at all, it’s just a gesture of help.”

For some people, the value of a meal isn’t in its taste, but in the person who made it.

“Jiang, I’ll help you process this duck.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Qian.”

“By the way, Jiang, could you go over the steps for the stewed beef with carrots with me again later? I want to write it down on paper and think it over tonight,” Mrs. Qian requested.

“No problem, I’ll go over it with you again in a bit,” Jiang Feng readily agreed.

Deep down, Mrs. Qian really wanted to make a good batch of stewed beef with carrots by herself.

To make it with her own hands for her beloved.