The Game of Life

The kitchen was bustling with people. At a glance, Jiang Feng could see at least three chefs frying dishes. Along with the helpers, messengers, and stewards, the spacious kitchen seemed somewhat cramped.

“Wang, do you have the cut sweet potatoes ready?” Jiang Huiqin stopped a familiar kitchen helper to ask.

“Yes, Master Chen just cut them. I will go get them for you, young mistress,” Wang answered, putting aside his current task to fetch the cut sweet potatoes for Jiang Huiqin.

“Huiqin, do you need any help from me?” Li Mingyi seemed eager to try his hand as well.

“Just stand over there. Be careful not to get oil on your clothes and dirty them,” Jiang Huiqin pointed him to a spot far from the stove. “Last time when I was making sea cucumber and egg custard, I asked you to beat an egg and you ended up splattering it all over yourself, resulting in a good scolding from mother.”

Li Mingyi gave a sheepish smile and obediently went to the spot Jiang Huiqin pointed out, “That was my first time. If you make one mistake, you can avoid it the next time. If I practice a couple more times, I won’t make a mess, right?” “Forget it. Those hands of yours are made for writing, not cooking. You still need to prepare for college next year! It’s already good enough that you can use chopsticks, let alone learning a couple more times. If mother finds out, she’ll ban me from the kitchen!” said Jiang Huiqin with a laugh. Seeing Wang coming with the cut sweet potatoes, she turned her attention to them instead of looking at Li Mingyi.

Master Chen, the old chef from Taifeng Building, had cut the sweet potatoes into two-centimeter wide chunks with a rolling cut. He had followed Jiang Chengde to Beiping from the Northeast and had only agreed to become the Li Family’s head chef because of Jiang Huiqin.

Even though the dynasty had already fallen, there were still plenty of nobles and their descendants in Beiping City. Li Mingyi’s grandfather was only a fifth- rank official, which was nothing special in Beiping.

“Master Chen, I’m going to use your sweet potatoes. If you need them, cut some more for yourself!” Jiang Huiqin shouted across the distance to Master Chen, who was busy cooking.

“Okay,” Master Chen acknowledged.

Jiang Huiqin added oil to the wok, put in the sweet potato chunks when the oil was still cool, and allowed them to fry slowly. She didn’t stir them, just patiently waited. As soon as the sweet potatoes had turned golden brown and crispy on all sides, she quickly scooped them out to drain the oil.

The main event for the candied sweet potatoes was up next: caramelizing and creating sugar strands.

Caramelizing and creating sugar strands could be considered one of the supreme skills in Shandong cuisine. Honey glaze, frost coating, glazed, sugar strands—the five-part sugar frying symphony is a progressive relationship of fire control.

Jiang Feng could caramelize sugar too. Any person who couldn’t even cook might manage a passable job following a video tutorial, but to successfully complete the five stages of sugar frying and then create sugar strands—now that was difficult.

Jiang Huiqin poured sugar and water into the wok and brought it to a boil over high heat. Once the water boiled, she took the spatula and continuously stirred in a clockwise direction, watching the pot intently, not daring to slack off even a bit. As the water gradually evaporated and the sugar color darkened, the syrup began to bubble. Jiang Huiqin instructed the helper managing the fire to reduce the heat slightly. She kept stirring steadily at the same speed.

By now, the syrup in the pot could just pass for a syrup, beginning to thicken. When the surface showed soft small bubbles, Jiang Huiqin told the helper to add more wood and increase the heat. When a hint of burnt aroma wafted from the pot, she hurried to pour the drained sweet potatoes into it, reminding the helper to turn the heat down again.

She rapidly stirred the sweet potatoes in the wok, ensuring every piece was coated with syrup, flipping the wok and serving them out.

The sweet potatoes, fried to a golden hue, were each tightly wrapped in a thin layer of syrup, with fine sugar threads stretching from one to another, unbroken as they were pulled. The sugar-coated sweet potatoes in the dish shimmered with a light, emanating a sweet fragrance, golden and crisp.

Jiang Huiqin proudly patted her sleeves and upper body, then looked down and twirled in front of Li Mingyi, “See, I didn’t get it on myself, right? My new clothes aren’t dirty, right? Qin is just a worrier. Ironically, her name shares a phonetic with mine, yet she doesn’t trust me at all.”

“Absolutely, absolutely, let’s poke fun at her together after the New Year,” Li Mingyi agreed with a laugh, “Don’t you always say that sugar-coated sweet potatoes are best eaten while hot? You better hurry and serve them to grandma in the back hall.”

“Wait a moment, I need to show Master Chen first,” Jiang Huiqin said carefully, carrying the sugar-coated sweet potatoes over to Master Chen.

Master Chen was in the middle of deboning a whole chicken. Upon seeing Jiang Huiqin approach, he knew what she wanted to ask, “Your timing in sugar- coating is off, and the temperature wasn’t high enough, it’s far from howyour brother does it.”

Jiang Huiqin immediately made a face of disappointment.

“Alright, it’s much better than your last attempt. Didn’t you visit Taifeng Building just yesterday? Is your brother thinking that his sister, once married off, is no longer a member of the Jiang Family and is unwilling to teach you the secret of making perfect sugar-coated sweet potatoes?” Master Chen, in his forties and having watched Jiang Huiqin grow, appeared quite stern but was actually fond of teasing.

“What are you talking about, Master Chen? My brother did teach me, I just haven’t mastered it yet. It’s really hard to handle two pots at the same time, but look at how well I’ve done with the sugar threads. Can’t you compliment me? My brother won’t, and neither will you!” Jiang Huiqin felt that her performance that day was actually pretty good.

“Okay, okay, my lady, you did an excellent job, much better than last time. The old lady will love it for sure—now quickly, take it to her before it cools,” Master Chen said, as he continued to busy himself with deboning the chicken, performing somewhat of a cursory praise.

Jiang Huiqin packed the dish into a food container and said to Li Mingyi, “Mingyi, don’t give Master Chen a red envelope this New Year. He can’t even spare a few nice words for me during the holiday.”

“Agreed.” Li Mingyi said with a smile, watching Jiang Huiqin leave the kitchen before turning to Master Chen, “You can rest assured, Master Chen, I’ll definitely give you the biggest red envelope!”

“Just make sure Huiqin doesn’t find out about it, or she’ll certainly get angry,” Master Chen said with a chuckle.

“If you don’t tell her, how would she know?” Li Mingyi replied cheerfully as he went off to follow Jiang Huiqin.

Jiang Feng remembered that this was Li Mingyi’s memory. When he first appeared in the kitchen, Jiang Huiqin and Qin had been tussling at the door for a while before Li Mingyi showed up, which made him think he had a lot of freedom to move around in this memory—so he decided to stay in the kitchen to watch how Master Chen deboned the chicken.

But just as Li Mingiy had barely left the kitchen, that invisible wall hit Jiang Feng.

Jiang Feng realized Li Mingyi had pretended to have just come in search of Jiang Huiqin, but in fact, he’d been hiding and watching the lively scene for quite some time.

Sneaky, really sneaky!

Jiang Feng rubbed his poor bottom and hurried to catch up to Li Mingyi’s pace with a quick trot.