The Game of Life

The phrase originates from “Yu Li Zi · Zhi Tan”, with the original text saying, “If I harm one enemy at the cost of harming a hundred of my own men, this is to aid the enemy and greatly harm myself.”

With profound cultural significance, such classical Chinese normally appears in middle school Chinese translation exercises, the kind worth two points each, and are considered giveaway questions.

At this moment, Jiang Feng also understood the difficulty and meaning behind this phrase.

To aid the enemy, he had ordered takeout, and because he had ordered takeout, he needed to carry his phone. His phone, for some unknown reason, kept overheating. There was just a thin layer of fabric between the phone and his thigh, and he felt like that piece of thigh meat was almost cooked.

Jiang Feng was stir-frying absent-mindedly, experiencing the slow roasting sensation of his thigh while also having to keep an eye on the wok.

Wu Minqi had long since noticed something was off with Jiang Feng.

Her Fengfeng had seemed a bit odd ever since he entered the kitchen.

She suspected that Jiang Feng was up to something unspeakable behind her back, but she couldn’t think of anything unspeakable that he could be doing without her knowing.

Had he sneaked off to eat Sichuan hotpot?

“Feng, why did you make seven plates of Sweet and Sour Yam today?” Sang Ming was a bit confused to see Jiang Feng pass over yet another plate of Sweet and Sour Yam.

“Huh?” Jiang Feng turned to look and counted – indeed, he had been so distracted with his cooking that he accidentally made an extra plate.

Thanks to his Appraisal Skill, Jiang Feng could easily identify which plate was the surplus one, and he pointed to that plate, telling Sang Ming, “Leave that one, wait…”

“Xiaxia.” Jiang Feng was about to say to deal with that extra plate however he saw fit, when he suddenly remembered how Ji Xia had been dragging mops and wiping windows last night, even cleaning the hard-to-reach areas behind the TV cabinet, which was truly hard work.

Thus, Jiang Feng decided to reward his apprentice, “Stop cutting, your cucumber strips are shaped all wrong for stir-frying anyway. You need a steady hand when you’re cutting. Come and have a plate of Sweet and Sour Yam.”

Since Ji Xia’s Knife Skills were still in the learning phase, the ingredients she cut were hardly up to standard and were generally used for the staff meals instead.

Since Mrs. Wang Xiulian had already given the go-ahead for a delicious spicy crab staff meal that day, Jiang Feng thought they might as well eat something especially nice, and also decided to let Ji Xia stop cutting vegetables and have the Sweet and Sour Yam. After eating, she could go to learn something from the garnish station.

Learning plate arrangement is also an important step in culinary training.

“Thank you, Master,” Ji Xia said, extremely happy. Not having to cut vegetables and getting dessert instead was like a child not having to go to school and being able to play video games instead.

Jiang Feng smiled and nodded at Ji Xia, intending to check the menu and continue with the next dish, when he felt the phone in his pocket vibrate.

A call had come in!

It must be the takeout.

The Suzhou-style mooncakes from Eight-treasure House had arrived!

“Dad, I’m going to the restroom, can you stir-fry the dishes after these for me?” Jiang Feng shouted across three stoves to Mr. Jiang Jiankang.

Jiang Jiankang stretched out his chubby finger and gestured an ‘OK’ signal to Jiang Feng, showing proficiency in the task.

After Jiang Feng hurried away, Wu Minqi glanced back at him.

Walking through the hall in a chef’s uniform was still quite noticeable, but going back to the locker room to change would be even more conspicuous. Jiang Feng had no choice but to make it quick; as long as he was fast enough, neither the customers nor the waitstaff would spot him.

“Jiang Feng, you guys…”

However, before he could make his escape, Jiang Feng hardly stepped out the back door before he was caught red-handed by Ji Yue.

“I’m going to the restroom, we’ll talk later,” Jiang Feng said, implying that takeout waits for no one.

“Alright, well, you…”

Ji Yue: ???

Didn’t Jiang Feng say he was going to the restroom? Why was he running outside instead of going up to the second floor?

Could there be a problem with the men’s restroom on the second floor?

A malfunctioning restroom is no small issue for a busy restaurant; Ji Yue immediately grabbed a passing server and asked, “Xiao Min, is there a problem with the men’s restroom on the second floor?”

The server caught off guard by Ji Yue was a bit perplexed and responded after a pause, “No… I think not. I haven’t heard any complaints about the restroom being unusable. Do you want me to go check, Sister Yue?”

“Hurry and check, and if there’s a problem, go find Manager Fan right away, so she can contact maintenance to fix it quickly,” instructed Ji Yue.

The convenience store next to Taifeng Building was only a couple of meters away, and as soon as Jiang Feng stepped out, he saw the distinctly blue electric scooter parked at the curb and hurried over.

“7721,” Jiang Feng said, stating the last digits of his phone number, “I couldn’t answer the phone inside just now.”

Walking out of a restaurant in chef’s attire to pick up takeout felt a bit like a McDonald’s employee wearing their uniform to enter a nearby KFC.

But the delivery guy, having been in the business for many years and seen all sorts of things, wouldn’t be fazed at all – not even if Jiang Feng came out of Taifeng Building dressed in a maid outfit…

If it were a maid outfit, however, the delivery guy might be slightly surprised.

“Here’s your order. Please give a 5-star rating if you can, thank you,” the delivery guy said, unfazed, passing the just-received takeout from Eight-treasure House to the chef from Taifeng Building.

“Thank you,” Jiang Feng said, taking the takeout and immediately entering the neighboring convenience store.

Although small in size, spanning just over ten square meters, the convenience store’s owner guards it year-round, and only in the evening does a different employee take over.

The store may be compact, but it’s well-equipped. It has everything a typical convenience store should have, and even maintains three small dining booths. There were plenty of issues too: limited product variety, cramped space, and the fact that customers heading for Taifeng Building hardly ever notice the convenience store next door, leading to persistently poor business.

However, because Mrs. Wang Xiulian was particularly fond of the convenience store’s brown sugar cake, she would often send Jiang Feng over to buy a couple for her to snack on.

As time passed, Jiang Feng grew familiar with the store owner and would occasionally have a chat. After talking more, Jiang Feng learned why the convenience store was able to persist in such a bustling area despite average business, and even afford to hire an employee.

The owner was a second-generation rich kid who, after graduating from college, was quite lost and didn’t know what to do. So, his dad bought him a small storefront to run any kind of store he wanted. It was an opportunity for him to gain some experience and take some time to cool down and plan his future.

Not having to pay rent, the store was actually making a profit.

When the rich second-generation store owner saw Jiang Feng arriving, carrying a takeaway bag he was all too familiar with, he waved and greeted him, “Hey, you ordered takeout from Eight-treasure House, huh?”

Jiang Feng nodded at him, found a spot to sit down, and opened the bag.

The mooncakes were still hot, obviously they had been put into the bag straight from the oven, and as he opened it, the aroma was overwhelming.

The scent of rendered lard after high-temperature baking, melting on the surface of the mooncakes, was the most deadly, and also the most enticing.

It could arouse the most instinctive desire for meat in humans.

Almost simultaneously with smelling the aroma, the convenience store owner realized, abruptly looking up, “You ordered takeout from Eight-treasure House?”

All over his face was the expression that seemed to say, aren’t you supposed to be competitors? Could it be that the major Beiping restaurants are more harmonious than I imagined?

This was soon replaced by, I can’t believe you, a guy who looks so robust, have also betrayed the revolution.

“Eight-treasure House has a new Suzhou-style mooncake; I think it tastes pretty good. Want to try?” Jiang Feng held up the paper bag.

The convenience store owner instantly forgot about Jiang Feng betraying the revolution and turned his eyes to the paper bag in Jiang Feng’s hand, “Eight-treasure House is even selling mooncakes now, I’m not lying, the pastries they make are amazing, wow, that looks so good!”

The convenience store owner casually grabbed a fresh meat mooncake, also the type of Suzhou-style mooncake everyone was most familiar with.

The freshly baked mooncake was still hot to the touch; its small size was just enough to fit into Jiang Jiankang’s mouth in one bite, with a flaky crust that didn’t crumble. The whole mooncake was golden and shiny, and holding it in hand was like having a megaphone shouting in your ear: Eat it fast! Take a bite!

The convenience store owner bit off half of the mooncake in one go, revealing the fresh meat filling inside, and Jiang Feng even caught a glimpse of the juices from the meat that were now slightly oozing out.

“Mmm~”

Jiang Feng felt like he could even hear the wavy lines of satisfaction behind the convenience store owner’s hum.

“My God, this mooncake from Eight-treasure House is absolutely fantastic!” exclaimed the convenience store owner, as if he hadn’t been the one just a second ago turning his nose up at Eight-treasure House’s pastries.

“I’m going to order takeout too. Is the mooncake sold individually or in a mix?”

“A bag of six, with six different flavors. They don’t sell them individually,” Jiang Feng said, picking out a sand sugar lard-flavored mooncake from the bag.

With one bite, Jiang Feng regretted it.

He regretted giving the fresh meat mooncake to the convenience store owner just now. It was the best mooncake he had ever eaten in his life.

Jiang Feng even refused to acknowledge that what he held in his hand was a mooncake.

How could mooncakes taste so good?

How could the chefs at Eight-treasure House make mooncakes taste so good!

How could a chef who makes mooncakes taste so good be with Eight-treasure House!

At that moment, Jiang Feng understood what it meant to cast pearls before swine.

Suzhou-style mooncakes that had cooled down overnight and those freshly out of the oven with their lard not yet solidified really were two completely different kinds of Suzhou-style mooncakes.

The sand sugar lard-flavored mooncake was sweet, and Jiang Feng devoured it in a few bites before picking out from the bag a savory ham lard mooncake that looked obviously salty.

Jiang Feng found that Eight-treasure House’s white-case chef really liked using lard as an ingredient; if the flavor included lard, he’d use more of it, while for flavors that didn’t include lard, he’d use less. No matter how the other ingredients varied, lard was a constant.

However, baking and pan-frying were indeed two cooking methods that could bring out the charm of lard to the fullest.

After finishing the mooncake in his hand, Jiang Feng turned to the owner, “Did you place the order?”

“Not yet, I’m debating if I should have shredded pork in Beijing sauce or shredded pork with green pepper.” The convenience store owner was lost in Eight-treasure House’s extensive delivery menu.

“When you place the order, order three more servings of mooncakes for me. I’ll transfer the money to you later. Call me when it arrives. I’m heading back now,” Jiang Feng said.

“Alright, I’ll call you when it arrives. Hey, do you think Eight-treasure House’s sweet and sour pork tenderloin is good?”

“Not good,” Jiang Feng said as he pushed the door open, “Our restaurant’s sweet and sour pork tenderloin tastes better.”

When he returned to Taifeng Building, Jiang Feng ran into Mrs. Wang Xiulian head-on.

“Son, how come you…” Mrs. Wang Xiulian was surprised to see that Jiang Feng was actually coming from outside.

“Mom, here are three mooncakes for you to try. I’ve got to get going,” Jiang Feng preemptively handed the mooncakes to Wang Xiulian.

Wang Xiulian took the mooncakes and instantly forgot what she was about to ask, ripping open the bag and ignoring Jiang Feng.

Jiang Feng hurried to the kitchen door, only to be caught again by Ji Yue.

“Jiang Feng, we really need to improve this serving window in the kitchen. The plates from our restaurant keep getting bigger, and it’s really hard for us to carry them steadily when we serve from outside,” Ji Yue said.

“I’ll talk to them. Let them choose smaller plates; it’s Sang Ming’s fault – he said the bigger plates look better for plating,” Jiang Feng opted to blame Sang Ming, “Don’t eat dinner later. I ordered mooncakes from Eight-treasure House, and I think you all should try them.”

After speaking, Jiang Feng went into the kitchen.

Ji Yue: ???

Didn’t you go to the bathroom?