The Game of Life

Everyone’s flattery repeated the same few sentiments; their boot-licking skills weren’t quite there, failing to impress with any new tricks, and Sir soon grew tired of it.

So, he started looking for something else to talk about.

“Hey, Feng, I think your cooking skills are good enough for that ‘Good Taste Culinary Competition’ I’ve heard about. The prize money seems to be several tens of thousands. You should try it out, maybe you could earn some cash,” Jiang Zaidi suddenly remembered the advertisement he had seen at the bus station, “The competition looks quite big; they’ve even advertised at bus stops.”

“‘Good Taste’? That name sounds too low-class,” Jiang Ran commented.

“Isn’t ‘Good Taste’ that soy sauce brand from Alan City? Their soy sauce is not bad; I’ve been using it for years,” Jiang Jianguo had some impression of Good

Taste.

“Not just soy sauce, they sell all sorts of condiments. I think they even started selling bean paste last month,” Jiang Jiankang added to the conversation.

“Feng, Zaidi has a good idea, you should go sign up and try. What if you win? By the way, Zaidi, is there an age limit for this competition?” Jiang Jianshe joined in.

Jiang Zaidi took out his phone to check while not forgetting to scoop up another big piece of braised pork: “Let’s see, yes, for young chefs, under thirty years old only. All ingredients are provided by the organizers, and it’s solo participation. Oh, the preliminaries, the selections, and even live online broadcasts. If you make it to the top thirty-two, you could appear on television, provincial TV, Feng! If you reach the top thirty-two, you’ll be on

TV!”

“On TV! Son, go sign up quickly. With your skills, you can definitely make it to the top thirty-two!” Jiang Jiankang was very excited, pulling out his phone to look up information, “Oh wow, you can even fill in the name of the restaurant you represent. Hurry up and register; if you get on TV, you even get to advertise our restaurant on provincial TV!”

“I can advertise?” Wang Xiulian suddenly perked up, “Son, go register quickly!”

Jiang Feng:…

Seeing everyone looking at him with eager eyes, Jiang Feng felt like he may have gone too far and spoke hesitantly, “Well, I… I’ve already signed up.” “That’s great, when my son gets on TV, I am going to raise the prices at our restaurant!” Wang Xiulian said excitedly.

“I didn’t fill in ‘Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant’.” Jiang Feng said weakly.

Wang Xiulian and Jiang Jiankang suddenly froze; Wang Xiulian looked heartbroken: “My goodness, you wasteful kid, such a good advertising opportunity and you didn’t cherish it. Do you know how much one second of airtime costs on provincial TV?”

“I filled in ‘Taifeng Building’,” Jiang Feng felt like he might be in big trouble today.

“Taifeng Building? What’s that?” Jiang Ran looked completely clueless.

“I feel like I’ve heard of it before,” Jiang Zaidi said, puzzled.

“I think I’ve heard it too,” Jiang Shoucheng was very confused.

“What building?” Uncle Grandpa was a bit hard of hearing.

“Taifeng Building, Dad, it’s Taifeng Building,” Tian Lin spoke loudly.

Jiang Feng’s parents, uncles, and aunts were shocked.

Sir’s expression darkened.

Not just a regular dark, but a dark tinted with hints of red, and that wasn’t just any red, it was the red of impending rage, hinting at the festive colors of the Spring Festival.

Seeing Sir’s expression, Jiang Feng knew that he might have really screwed up this time.

“Heh, so you filled in ‘Taifeng Building’, huh?” Sir was calm, but everyone knew this was the calm before the storm.

“I just, accidentally, filled it in wrong,” Jiang Feng said sheepishly.

“You filled it out wrong,” Sir repeated, “San’s family, when do you plan to go back to pay a New Year’s visit?”

“Dad, don’t worry, we will go and return the same day, we won’t delay at all!” Wang Xiulian hurriedly said.

Jiang Feng: £( o  o

“Alright, then Feng should start practicing as soon as he gets home tonight, and I will go back with you after school starts. When does the competition start?” Sir asked.

“They haven’t set a date yet, but they mentioned it might start in March,” Jiang Zaidi gave Jiang Feng a sympathetic look.

“Then you should use this time to practice well. If you can’t learn well, don’t disgrace the Taifeng Building’s name. You might as well withdraw from the contest,” Sir said.

“What did Weiguo just say about a nameplate?” the granduncle asked loudly. “Uncle just said that Feng is going to participate in a cooking competition!” Tian Lin explained loudly.

“A competition is good, Feng is showing promise, being able to compete. But the first day of the lunar new year has already passed, how can you compete on the first day?” the granduncle asked, confused.

“It’s a cooking competition, not a competition on the first day, it’s about cooking. Feng is going to compete with others in cooking,” Tian Lin shouted.

“Oh, a cooking competition. Feng, make sure you compete well and don’t lose face for your grandfather!” the granduncle said with a laugh.

Jiang Feng:…

He just saw Sir’s face turn darker.

The granduncle really thrust in a brutal knife with his last comment!

The latter half of the meal was eaten in silence. After the meal, Wang Xiuhan pulled Jiang Jiankang aside to talk in a corner.

“Jiankang, what did dad mean by that? If Feng can’t learn to dad’s satisfaction, doesn’t that mean he won’t be able to compete?” Wang Xiuhan muttered.

“Dad surely won’t let Feng, him carrying the name of Taifeng Building. If he doesn’t even make it to the top four or top eight, that would be a major loss of face,” Jiang Jiankang said, “But I think the dishes Feng cooked today were not bad, maybe he could even win first place!

“Dreaming? We’ve been cooped up in this small place too long, thinking we’re so great, but that’s because we haven’t seen what they have in the big cities. The chefs there must be really good! With so many star-rated hotels, they must be better than us. I just looked, it’s not just Alan City, but a national competition, with so many chefs across the country. Not to mention anything else, Wu is better than Feng in cooking, and Wu is even younger than Feng. Just at UAL University alone, you’ll find someone like Wu, let alone more talented young chefs all over the country!” Wang Xiulian said.

Jiang Jiankang had always felt that his own skills were decent. From childhood, he would always hear Jiang Weiguo speak of Taifeng Building’s glory days, and deep down, he also believed that his great-grandfather was the number one chef in the world. But now, after Wang Xiulian’s analysis, Jiang Jiankang felt like he was just sheltered and inexperienced in a small city.

“Well, the students at UAL seem to like the dishes I make!” Jiang Jiankang said this without much confidence. “Our culinary skills seem to be handed down in the family as well. How about when we go back to Alan City, we try that restaurant in the city center that claims to be the best in the city, to compare?

“Are you talking about Yipin House?”

“Not Yipin House, I heard someone say that Yipin House is not as good as another place, what’s it called… I think it’s Imperial Meal Tavern?” Jiang Jiankang was uncertain, “We’ll just order two dishes, just the two of us to taste. Feng surely will be busy learning with dad and won’t have time to go.

“That works, no, wait, how expensive must the dishes at Imperial Meal Tavern be? Have you paid off the debt to Second Brother?” Wang Xiulian said.

“We’ll just taste two dishes, it won’t cost that much. I almost paid off Second Brother’s loan, I paid another hundred thousand before the New Year, I only owe sixty thousand now, Second Brother said there’s no rush,” Jiang Jiankang said.

After the couple had discussed, Jiang Jiankang went over to pat Jiang Feng’s shoulder and encouraged him, “Son, start learning seriously with grandpa tonight, your mom and I will go back to gather some information for you!”

Jiang Feng: ?