The Game of Life

“Do you want to try this Chinese cabbage, Jiang Feng? It’s super flavorful after being thoroughly cooked in the spicy pot!”

“Little brother, how about some lamb rolls?”

“Younger brother, would you like some pork intestine?”

“Feng, why aren’t you eating? These quail eggs are really tasty, especially when cooked in the spicy pot.”

“Feng…”

Jiang Feng had never so profoundly realized that being popular could actually be a painful thing.

As the bowl in his hands got heavier, and the originally clear soup turned redder, the pungent and thick unique scent of the beef tallow hot pot began to linger at the tip of his nose, refusing to dissipate. Jiang Feng felt as if his every breath tasted of hot pot, every word he spoke tasted of hot pot, his whole being enveloped in the flavor of the Shu spicy hot pot. The nightmare he experienced in his dreams looked set to become reality.

“Okay, stop teasing, you all know Jiang Feng can’t handle spicy,” said Wu Minqi with a helpless smile, coming to Jiang Feng’s rescue.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” the singletons could only make their widowed tsking sounds.

Jiang Shoucheng and Jiang Zaidi added fresh plates of beef and lamb into the pot. While the meats were still tumbling in the pot, Jiang Shoucheng, with nothing better to do, set his sights on the lamb rolls in Jiang Feng’s bowl that were still mixed with Sichuan peppercorn husks.

“Little brother, this spicy pot is indeed very hot. Here, let me help you eat that lamb roll,” Jiang Shoucheng said with feigned concern.

Jiang Feng instantly thought of the crispy apple he had missed out on eating on New Year’s Eve.

“No need, Cheng, I can handle a little spice,” said Jiang Feng seriously, resolutely picking up a lamb roll from his bowl and stuffing it into his mouth.

Hiss, it really was spicy.

Jiang Feng had intended to chew a few times and swallow quickly, but he accidentally crushed a Sichuan peppercorn.

The fragments of peppercorn scattered in his mouth, the numbing sensation spreading from the tip of his tongue all the way to the base, his entire mouth wrapped in a strange numbing and spicy sensation.

As everyone knows, spicy is a pain sensation; capsaicin can stimulate cells to form a burning-like sensation in the brain. Most people who eat chilies are suffering yet enjoying it, but Jiang Feng only felt the pain and found no pleasure in it.

The next second, tears came to Jiang Feng’s eyes.

“What’s wrong, little brother?” Jiang Shoucheng was alarmed, wondering why there were tears while eating.

“Nothing, it’s just that this lamb roll is so delicious, I’ve never eaten such a tasty one and got a bit emotional,” Jiang Feng snuffled, trying to muster a smile.

Jiang Shoucheng: ???

This little brother’s lying skills are getting worse by the day.

Wu Minqi, watching Jiang Feng’s expression, almost couldn’t hold back her laughter. She turned to find some whole milk and poured a large glass for Jiang Feng.

“Have some milk, this helps with the spiciness,” Wu Minqi handed the glass to Jiang Feng, who took it and gulped down more than half the glass.

After a pause, Jiang Feng drank the remaining half glass and only then did he feel as if his mouth had regained sensation.

After such a narrow escape, the lamb roll with intact Sichuan peppercorns was even more lethal than the pickled chilies Jiang Feng had eaten earlier.

“Is your man really not able to handle spicy food?” Ji Yue whispered to Wu Minqi.

“Fengfeng isn’t great with spicy food; he can handle it a little, but the hot pot seasoning Grandpa Jiang made is a bit too spicy,” Wu Minqi replied.

“That’s a pity, he’s missing out on one of life’s great pleasures,” Ji Yue shook her head, nimbly grabbing a piece of lamb roll from the bubbling spicy pot, eating it while sucking in breaths from the heat.

Wu Minqi: …

You don’t seem to have much room to talk about Jiang Feng.

That’s how Ji Yue ate, alternating bites of lamb roll, Chinese cabbage, and enoki mushrooms with sips of soy milk. Wu Minqi, sitting beside her, suddenly felt that something was different from before.

Her lipstick hadn’t faded despite eating for so long; instead, it seemed to have changed shades, going from Armani 402 to a very dark bean color, as if it hadn’t been properly applied, making her lips look swollen.

“Did you just touch up your makeup?” asked Wu Minqi.

“No, why would I retouch my makeup when eating hot pot? It would just smudge again,” replied Ji Yue, clearly confused.

“Then it’s because your lips have been spiced into a ‘sausage mouth,\'” said Wu Minqi with a wry smile.

Ji Yue: !!!∑(°Д°ノ)ノ

Ji Yue instinctively covered her mouth, then pulled out her phone to check and saw that her lips had indeed been spiced into a ‘sausage mouth’ and wished she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

Zhang Guanghang sitting opposite must have seen her ‘sausage mouth.’

Ji Yue’s internal alarm bells went off, and she blurted out, “I’m going to the restroom,” before making a quick escape.

Jiang Feng sat to the left of Wu Minqi, wavering endlessly between the intimidating but seemingly tasty spicy pot and the mild soup pot he had been eating for over a decade but suddenly found tasteless today.

Ever since the taste of the lamb slices cooked in the spicy pot had faded from his mouth, Jiang Feng found himself missing the somewhat prickly burning sensation, and even the food dipped into the mild soup pot seemed bland and lackluster in comparison.

Should he choose the spicy pot or the mild soup pot?

Jiang Feng felt that the spicy pot was like a devil, reaching out its sinful red hand to tightly grasp his heartstrings, making him yearn for it after just one taste.

Jiang Feng’s gaze shifted to the quail eggs Sang Ming had enthusiastically given him earlier.

The quail eggs were the first to be cooked, boiled in the pot for about fifteen minutes, their original white color obscured, the entire egg stained with a hue reminiscent not of the spicy pot but of a marinated egg simmered in sauce.

They looked particularly appetizing.

Since the quail eggs weren’t cracked, the insides should not be spicy, Jiang Feng comforted himself as he stretched his chopsticks towards the now cold quail eggs in his bowl.

Fifteen minutes was enough to thoroughly flavor the quail eggs without absorbing the spiciness as easily as beef or lamb slices would due to the eggs’ properties.

Upon tasting, the coolness of the quail eggs was apparent; they would have been even more delicious if eaten hot, straight from the pot, requiring a few blows to cool down before consumption.

Spicy but not overwhelming, salty, fragrant, and with the inherent taste of the egg itself—these were sensations that the mild soup pot and dipping sauces could not provide.

Jiang Feng felt as though he had opened the door to a new world.

How could there be something as delicious as spicy hot pot in this world?

What had he missed in the first 20 years of his life?

Mushroom, tomato, seafood, sour cabbage, and bone broth pots—all of them combined couldn’t match a single bite of spicy hot pot!

After finishing the quail eggs, Jiang Feng set his sights on the now cold cabbage leaves in his bowl. The cooling had caused the oil to congeal on the leaves, making them look less appealing than the quail eggs; the leaves, softened from cooking, were filled with the color of chili oil, and just looking at them made one expect a spicy assault, potentially hotter than the initial lamb slices he had eaten.

Jiang Feng hesitated momentarily but still reached out with his chopsticks.

Discarding the Sichuan peppercorns on top, he gingerly bit into a cabbage leaf.

“Hiss,” Jiang Feng inhaled sharply—the cabbage leaf was indeed much spicier than the quail eggs, possibly even spicier than the previous lamb slices!

The pricking sensation on his tongue was like a protest against Jiang Feng’s daredevil act.

But…

It was really delicious!

The spicy pot-cooked cabbage leaves were truly tastier than those from the mild soup pot!

After finishing all the various hot pot ingredients that others had given him and which had long gone cold in his bowl, Jiang Feng finally turned his attention to the boiling spicy pot.

He saw a piece of lamb, just right in fat and lean composition, not too small, which must be delicious to eat.

Jiang Feng made his move, extending his chopsticks.

With a successful snatch, Jiang Feng secured the piece of lamb in his bowl before Jiang Shoucheng’s chopsticks could reach it.

Jiang Shoucheng: ???

Who? Who was it? Who took the lamb he had his eye on!

Angered, Jiang Shoucheng turned his head only to see Jiang Feng giving him a slight smile.

Jiang Shoucheng: ???

“Little brother, didn’t you say you can’t eat spicy?” Jiang Shoucheng inquired as if his soul depended on it.

Since you grabbed the wrong thing, hurry up and give me back the lamb I was eyeing!

“I just discovered that the spicy pot is really too delicious! Didn’t I tell you, Cheng, that the lamb slice was so good it moved me to tears?” Jiang Feng replied with earnest, swiftly removing the two Sichuan peppercorns nestled in the lamb slice and stuffing it into his mouth.

Hiss, so spicy.

But the freshly cooked lamb slice was just too delicious!

Jiang Shoucheng: ???

Did my little brother not lie to me just now?