The Game of Life

The tangy and fragrant aroma exploded as the golden-brown, freshly fried carp, scorching hot, met the equally hot sauce, creating a sizzling sound and sending delicious scents wafting through the air.

“Gulp.”

Xu, quite embarrassingly, swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

Director Zhong from the emergency department was his mentor, and Xu had spent the longest time there. He was also the most reliable of the new doctors in the emergency department, called upon for both significant tasks and trivial ones, by nurses and doctors alike, making him the busiest resident physician.

Although he hadn’t worked the night shift yesterday, he had arrived at the emergency department at just after 5 a.m. For breakfast at 5, he had eaten two radish buns, one “three delicacies” bun, and a cup of hot soy milk from the earliest-opening breakfast stall near the school.

From 5 a.m. to 7 p.m., for a total of 14 hours, aside from two buns passed to him by Director Zhong, he had only had two cups of water, and by now he was ravenously hungry. Not to mention a freshly cooked aromatic sweet and sour carp like this, even a lukewarm large pork bun in front of him at this moment would probably make him drool with craving.

Zhou wasn’t much better off. Unlike Xu and Jiang Shoucheng, who were specialized residents from prestigious universities, Zhou had graduated from a second-tier medical school and had come to further his skills after passing an exam at a local hospital. He had a basic salary that wasn’t high, and little in the way of allowances; he was older than Xu and Jiang Shoucheng, and he had a fiancee with whom he had been in a long-term relationship and was about to marry.

The overwhelming financial pressure made him frugal in his daily life: only buying clothes from Uniqlo’s sale section and daring only to order cheap vegetarian boxed meals like stir-fried cabbage or sweet and sour shredded potatoes when ordering takeout. Such a main dish as sweet and sour carp was something he only got to enjoy when he went home for the New Year or when his parents or fiancee occasionally visited him in Beiping.

Jiang Shoucheng only became familiar with Zhou after rotating to the emergency department. There were just too many interns from Benevolent Doctor, residents, and yearly visiting doctors; it was impossible to know everyone as new faces arrived and old ones left each year.

“Brother, the other dishes are ready, and I’ve also cooked some preserved egg and lean meat porridge. These dishes are all in large portions, so please bring a few more plates. There’s also sweet and sour yam that needs to be made on the spot. I’ll start on it now,” Jiang Feng said as he uncovered the braised pork, braised chicken, and beer duck on the stove.

The three men, still in their white coats, had their eyes light up upon seeing the dishes on the stove, with one word in their minds.

Meat!

This is meat!

All meat!

Big, tempting, fragrant, shiny, greasy meat!

Zhou felt his stomach, accustomed to being filled with cabbage and potatoes, start to churn wildly, and every cell in his body seemed to be frantically screaming, “I want to eat meat, big chunks of tasty meat.”

The braised pork dish was the largest in quantity. Jiang Shoucheng picked up the braised pork, Zhou took the braised chicken, and Xu took the beer duck; with their ample experience in carrying stretchers, handling these three dishes was a piece of cake.

The three of them ran back and forth three times, and by the last trip, the sweet and sour yam was just ready. Jiang Feng, with the sweet and sour yam in his left hand and the braised beef with carrots given to him by Qjan Lijuan in his right, watched as Jiang Shoucheng carried a big pot of preserved egg and lean meat porridge with a Herculean effort.

Jiang Feng had already portioned out and delivered the porridge and dishes meant for Qiu Yuan and his wife in advance; they were probably already eating by now.

Following Jiang Shoucheng into the office, Jiang Feng saw several doctors in white coats moving about with bowls and chopsticks. As they entered, they were greeted with exclamations, “Here they are, here they are. Mr. Zhong, stop looking at medical records, it’s time to eat.”

The Mr. Zhong they were talking about was a white-haired old man wearing glasses, always carrying a smile on his face, looking very kind.

Mr. Zhong had worked in the emergency department for most of his life, and he had taught many students. He took good care of the younger doctors, earning great respect from them.

In the middle of the office there was a makeshift dining table made of four desks pushed together, featuring identical plastic bowls. The chopsticks, on the other hand, were a motley collection—wooden ones, bamboo ones, expensive ones bought from boutique stores for more than ten yuan a pair, and disposable ones left over from takeout, you name it.

“The supermarket by our hospital’s entrance was having a promotion, those big packs of instant noodles, you get a plastic bowl with each pack, now our department is full of these plastic bowls,” Jiang Shoucheng explained.

“I’ve seen doctors on TV shows always eating from instant noodle buckets,” Jiang Feng asked, “Aren’t those more convenient?”

“Convenient, yes, but bucket ones are expensive. Instant noodles aren’t healthy to begin with. Eating one or two buckets isn’t filling, and eating seven or eight buckets might as well be replaced with a boxed meal,” Jiang Shoucheng said, placing the congee steadily at the center of the table, “Come on, let’s eat, today my bro is cooking, my treat.”

“Send me the bill later,” Jiang Shoucheng whispered, turning his head.

Jiang Feng gave him an OK gesture.

“Let’s start with the Sweet and Sour Yam, it doesn’t taste good when it’s cold,” Jiang Feng said.

Everyone began reaching for the Sweet and Sour Yam, and soon the table was filled with stretched sugar threads.

“My goodness, this Sweet and Sour Yam is even more authentic than the one made by the banquet chef in our village!” Becoming excited, Xu’s Northeastern accent started to burst out.

“Xu, you’re actually from the Northeast!” Jiang Shoucheng exclaimed in shock; Xu always spoke Standard Mandarin so well that everyone thought he was from the South.

“I went to college in the South. Back in our school, you would get bonus points for passing the Mandarin exam. During that period, my roommate wouldn’t even let me talk, afraid I’d mislead them. I wanted to chat with them, but they wouldn’t talk to me, so later I started to practice Mandarin diligently,” Xu explained.

“That’s too much, it’s just a Mandarin test. Why couldn’t they chat with you?” Zhou protested indignantly.

Zhou was dumbstruck.

He was from the South.

“You see,” Xu said with a helpless expression.

The room was filled with laughter.

“This is a salted egg yolk lion’s head meatbail; it has a salted egg yolk inside. The soup is a salty egg white tofu bok choy soup, which is good to cut through the grease. The congee might be a bit hot because it’s fresh from the pot. The sweet and sour carp is also just out of the pot, best eaten while hot. These vegetarian dishes have been sitting for a while, so they might be cool,” Jiang Feng began introducing the dishes on the table.

“You’ve worked hard, Jiang. You really have!” Dr. Cao kept exclaiming.

“It’s not hard work; I’m originally a chef. I do these things in the restaurant normally. You guys are the ones doing the hard work, saving lives and helping the injured,” Jiang Feng said with a smile.

Mr. Zhong, an elderly man, preferred lighter dishes and didn’t have much interest in rich, meaty cuisine, so he scooped up a spoonful of Eight-Treasure Tofu.

Dr. Cao had been on the night shift yesterday and had even done two consecutive night shifts. All he had eaten today were two small bread rolls, which he had shamelessly scrounged from a nurse.

Although Dr. Cao could still laugh and talk, the dark circles under his eyes, the greasy hair, and his withered appearance made him look even more like a patient than 80% of the ones in Benevolent Doctor.

Just coming from an intense resuscitation, Dr. Cao now felt as if he were floating on a cloud and needed to drink a couple of sips of porridge to calm down.

Dr. Lu was in better spirits since he hadn’t been on a night shift and had had a hearty breakfast. He was like a breath of fresh air among the emergency room doctors. Being a local, his home was right next to Benevolent Doctor. He came from a wealthy family, his parents were healthy, his wife was beautiful, and he had a pair of twin boy and girl who were currently in primary school. He was one of those who seemed to be winning at life.

He loved eating, and knew how to enjoy good food. Whenever he had a day off, he would take his entire family to old, established restaurants in Beiping or to various international cuisine restaurants to dine out. He even had a premium membership card from Yonghe House. Next week, he had a day off and planned to treat his wife, kids, and parents to a meal at the newly opened Taifeng Building.

Dr. Lu, the gourmet among the ER doctors, picked up a piece of sweet and sour carp with his chopsticks.

Dr. Wei was only slightly better off than Dr. Cao. He had worked the previous night’s shift and had the misfortune of encountering cases from food poisoning at a night market, drunken brawls in a bar, and fights in a KTV lounge—all through the night, non-stop—and he had to endure a bunch of drunken hooligans making a ruckus in the ER. He hadn’t even recovered from his last shift’s dinner.

After being busy all day today, and only having had a bowl of tomato and egg noodle soup with an extra fried egg in the morning, Dr. Wei was now craving meat.

Braised pork, chicken, fish, duck, and beef.

After contemplating for three seconds using the process of elimination, Dr. Wei resolutely reached for a large piece of braised pork with his chopsticks.

Xu went for the beer duck that was closest to him.

Zhou, with the hunger for meat that had built over several months, stretched his chopsticks towards the braised chicken.

Sun, with a heart broken by Huihui’s rejection and a stomach rumbling from hunger, picked up a piece of sweet and sour carp with his chopsticks.

Jiang Shoucheng excitedly launched an attack on the beef that he had been craving.

“Ding, gained 371 experience points.”

“Ding, gained 772 experience points.”

“Ding, gained 299 experience points.”

“Ding, gained 699 experience points.”

“Ding, gained 522 experience points.”

“Ding, gained 999 experience points.”

“Ding, gained 611 experience points.”

Ever since Jiang Feng had set up notifications to alert only for substantial experience gains, it had been a while since he heard such frequent bursts of experience notifications.

These angels in white coats were truly angelic.

Wait a second, it seemed like there was a notification missing?

Jiang Feng looked around at everyone.

Mr. Zhong was still smiling, but Jiang Feng could tell from the subtle changes in his expression before and after that he was satisfied with the Eight-Treasure Tofu.

Dr. Cao held his bowl of porridge, drinking it in the same manner as the first time Jiang Family members tried the Eight-Treasure Porridge made by Jiang Feng.

Dr. Lu looked satisfied.

Dr. Wei had his mouth full of braised pork.

Xu, Zhou, and Sun were all devouring their food like hungry wolves.

Jiang Feng turned his gaze to Jiang Shoucheng.

In that moment, Jiang Feng even felt a pang of distress. Everyone was so cooperative, so pristine in their white coats, so angelic, so magnanimous, so generous.

Why was it that only his dear second brother was so stingy?

Jiang Shoucheng looked at the beef in his bowl with a complicated expression.

Wait a second, Jiang Shoucheng had just picked up some beef.

Jiang Feng:…

“Ahem, second brother, thatbeef isn’t made by me, it was a gift from an auntie in the small kitchen.” Jiang Feng began to pass the buck.

Jiang Shoucheng: t_t

PS: (Free of charge)

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