The Game of Life

Jiang Feng contentedly finished slicing a plate of thin radish pieces and put down his knife to stretch his muscles. When he turned around, he saw Jiang Weiming standing at the door.

“Ah, Granduncle Weiming, you’re here. Where’s my grandfather?” Jiang Feng asked.

He s outside on the phone,” said Jiang Weiming with a smile. “What are you up

“Preparing ingredients for lunch and dinner. By the way, Granduncle, the theme for the day after tomorrow’s top 16 is chicken, and I’m thinking of making Eight-treasure Chestnut Aromatic Chicken, using the same method as for Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon. What do you think?” Jiang Feng asked.

I think it’s pretty good,” Jiang Weiming said with a smile on his face.

Not two minutes later Jiang Weiguo also came in, and Jiang Feng repeated the question.

Jiang Weiguo was silent for a moment, then a feigned smile appeared on his face, and he said, “Your idea is very good; go try making it.”

Jiang Feng went to get the already deboned tender hen, but couldn’t help turning around to glance at the two elders. He felt something about them was odd and not quite right.

Following the method for the stuffing of Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon, Jiang Feng made an “Eight-treasure Chestnut Aromatic Chicken.” The thickened sauce was also made from soup cooked with chicken bones. Other than substituting chicken for pigeon, nothing about the method had changed. After tasting the finished product, Jiang Feng felt it was hard to put into words. How to say this – it wasn’t bad, but it was very discordant.

After tasting it, both Jiang Weiguo and Jiang Weiming fell silent.

It was a consensus that Jiang Feng’s first attempts at a dish would almost always fail. He was scolded so much by Sir in the kitchen that it greatly expanded Sir’s vocabulary and methods of cursing, as well as his use of metaphors. Jiang Feng held his breath, watching Sir’s slightly unfriendly expression, knowing he was about to be scolded.

Jiang Weiguo’s expression changed.

He dropped the displeasure and dissatisfaction, adopting a forced and hollow smile, and said amiably, “This dish does have some thought behind it.”

Jiang Feng: ???

“The production technique is very mature, which is commendable. But chicken is different from pigeon. Chicken meat is thicker; there’s absolutely no need for tenderizing. It’s fine to fill a tender hen with vegetarian filling, but your filling is not fresh enough. You need to add some bamboo shoots and dried scallops. When steaming, you should add Shaoxing wine for flavoring, and this…”

Jiang Feng was shocked.

This was not the Sir he knew!

If it were any other day, Sir wouldn’t even think about smiling; even keeping a straight face was considered polite. He was an absolute tyrant in the kitchen, intolerant of anything he deemed unsuitable. How could he be so calm and composed today, his words so measured? They would definitely have been:

Open your eyes wide and look at the monstrosity you’ve made. Is this even fit to be eaten, and you have the face to serve this to customers for money? Can’t you tell the difference between chicken and pigeon? You’re no longer clear on what chicken and pigeon meat look like, only thinking about cutting vegetables all day long. What else can you do besides cutting vegetables? What’s the use of making it look nice if it doesn’t taste good? You might as well not cook at all! Look at your stuffing; what have you concocted? Can’t you use your brain a little? Have I been teaching you for so many years just to turn your brain to mush, you…”

I think some ham should be added,” Jiang Weiming’s words brought Jiang Feng back to reality.

The two elders discussed for half a day and finally came up with a preliminary formula for the chestnut aromatic stuffing, allowing Jiang Feng to estimate the proportions and try making it again.

As the second Eight-treasure Chicken went into the steamer, Wu Minqi also came to the back kitchen to help. It was almost time for meals, and takeaway orders were increasing.

“You’re trending on social media,” said Wu Minqi, tying on her apron.

Jiang Feng nearly choked on a mouthful of water, exclaimed, “How do you know about it?”

“Just scrolled through Weibo and saw it,” Wu Minqi began to check the takeaway orders. “What are you planning to do for the next competition?” “Make Eight-treasure Chestnut Aromatic Chicken the same way as Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon,” Jiang Feng said as he dumped the eggplant into the pan. “What about you?”

“Kung Pao Chicken. Zhang Guanghang is making French red wine braised chicken,” Wu Minqi replied.

“How do you know?”

“I added him on WeChat last night,” she said.

Jiang Feng suddenly felt wronged.

I think you are all isolating me!

“You left too early yesterday, he wanted to add you too. Shall I share his contact card with you?” Wu Minqi said as she started to pour ingredients into the hot oil in the pot.

“Sizzle.”

“Sure.”

Although there weren’t particularly many customers at lunch today, many from the physics department who recognized Jiang Feng came by, curious to see this physics whiz who had made it into the national top sixteen with his cooking skills.

During the lunch break, Ji Yue switched to another ridiculous soap opera to watch. She had already abandoned the previous one and was now giddily infatuated with the new male lead.

Both Jiang Feng and Wu Minqi watched with her. After a few minutes, Jiang

Feng found it boring and went to the kitchen to practice making the Eight-treasure Chestnut Aromatic Chicken. Wu Minqi watched for another two minutes before she also got up to leave.

“You’re not watching anymore?” Ji Yue pressed pause and turned her head to ask.

“No more, I don’t like these kinds of shows,” Wu Minqi replied.

“You were quite serious about watching Mr. Zou’s series before, and even asked me about the plot,” Ji Yue said, puzzled. She glanced at the phone screen, “Aren’t these two series pretty similar?”

“That series is different. I’m leaving now,” Wu Minqi said and then walked away.

Ji Yue looked at the screen in confusion, resumed playing, and muttered to herself, “The filters are the same, where’s the difference?”

Just after nine in the evening, the kitchen finally closed. The relatively successful Eight-treasure Chestnut Aromatic Chicken that Jiang Feng had made last was all in the stomach of Jiang Jiankang, who only had two bowls of rice for dinner.

Jiang Jiankang burped, praising, “Son, not bad, this chicken is well made, the flavor is deep, but it’s a bit too fatty, the fat is slightly thick.”

“Burp, add less ham next time, no problem,” he advised.

The two elderly sirs had left around eight o’clock, and after helping clear the tables, Jiang Feng headed back to the dorm.

Wang Hao was sitting at his desk, furiously typing on the WPS document. Hearing noises at the door, he quickly saved and exited, switching to a video on optical information theory, pretending to study intently.

Jiang Feng entered.

Yo, Feng’s back!” exclaimed Wang Hao, standing up. “Agh, it’s already past nine. Time for a bath, bath. Studying all day has worn me out.”

Jiang Feng saw the lecture video on Wang Hao’s computer and the draft papers on the desk, his heart skipped a beat. Could it be that he truly turned over a new leaf and started studying in earnest?

Could it be that “Have you Fourier transformed today?” wasn’t actually his alternate account?

“Have you been on Weibo recently?” Jiang Feng asked casually. “Today Ji Yue told me I was trending.”

You actually made it to the trending list, Feng, awesome!” Wang Hao looked genuinely surprised, with an expression that didn’t seem feigned at all. “Just the mention of Weibo annoys me. You know I had two alternate Weibo accounts? They both got banned. I have no idea who the hell reported them; it pissed me off! Those were the accounts I used to vote for my goddess!”

Jiang Feng felt he had misunderstood Wang Hao, a twinge of guilt in his heart: “Don’t be angry, you still have your main account, right? I’ll lend you my Weibo account to help your goddess. I think I haven’t logged in for over a year.” “Deal!” said Wang Hao, grabbing his clothes and a basin and heading into the bathroom.

He unlocked his phone, checked the likes and private messages on Weibo, and silently changed the account name “Have you Fourier transformed today?” to “Did you study today?”

Merely a hot comment was far too easy!