The Game of Life

As soon as Fang Zheng left, Jiang Feng couldn’t wait to try out the new method of making century egg and lean pork porridge.

Even with only one hand, making the process quite arduous, Jiang Feng still persisted with unwavering dedication, moving between the cooking station and the stove all afternoon. After failing a few times due to not getting the sesame oil quantity and timing right, he finally managed to cook a pot of highly praised century egg and lean pork porridge before the evening service began.

[A pot of nearly perfect century egg and lean pork porridge]

This was the highest-rated porridge that Jiang Feng could cook with his current porridge-making skills. The porridge was still piping hot. Jiang Feng scooped a small spoonful, blew on it twice, and tasted it.

Frowning slightly, Jiang Feng felt that this pot of porridge was somewhat less than satisfactory.

The flavor was good, better than all the previous century egg and lean pork porridges he had made, but it wasn’t as delicious as he had imagined. It seemed that the flavor of this porridge didn’t quite live up to the four words “nearly perfect.”

When Jiang Feng first tasted his own creation of the Osmanthus sugar-flavored Eight Treasures Porridge, he was astounded, unable to believe he could reach such a level. That feeling, as if he were the king of the world, was something Jiang Feng still couldn’t forget to this day.

But this century egg and lean pork porridge didn’t give him that feeling.

[A portion of century egg and lean pork porridge with subpar quality preserved eggs, good quality meat that was well-marinated, and two less drops of sesame oil—barely nearly perfect]

Indeed, this century egg and lean pork porridge just wasn’t as good as the previous Eight Treasures Porridge, only barely nearly perfect.

Jiang Feng rested his chin in his right hand, staring at the display the game provided, deep in thought.

If he were to add just two more drops of sesame oil and use higher quality preserved eggs, would this century egg and lean pork porridge ascend from nearly perfect to perfect?

What does a perfect porridge even look like?

Is there truly such a thing as a perfect dish in this world?

As a young chef whose skills could be considered quite good among his peers, Jiang Feng seriously doubted whether anyone could make a dish perfect and what that perfect dish would look like.

Like making a dish that glows like it’s been sprinkled with phosphorescent powder, as Liu Angxing did?

A dish that moves people to tears and makes them bow down to call him big brother?

“Jiang Feng, you scammer, I trusted you and went to see that crap movie!” Ji Yue’s roar, akin to that of a female tyrannosaurus, jerked Jiang Feng back from the anime unfolding in his mind to reality.

Turning his head, Jiang Feng saw Ji Yue coming towards him furiously, followed by Liu Qian, who had in fact been eating at the Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant these days but did not have a designated name nor any lines in the story.

“You actually tricked me, saying it was deeply moving, the best of the year, a must-see, and yet they acted out such crappy stuff!” With an enraged face, just thinking about how she wasted two hours and 9 yuan and 90 cents on that _movie—even if it was a discounted ticket-Ji Yue couldn’t forgive the film.

And even less so, the person who tricked her into watching it!

“Cough cough.” So, this thing was indeed somewhat unethical, but Jiang Feng almost couldn’t help but laugh out loud, “I didn’t knowyou wouldn’t like the movie, I thought all you girls liked that kind of thing. I actually saw a girl in front of me cry while watching it.”

“Heh heh.” Ji Yue let out a sarcastic laugh.

“Come on, have some porridge.” Jiang Feng, with a face full of eagerness to please, brought Ji Yue a bowl—since he only had one hand, he couldn’t hold a bowl and ladle porridge at the same time.

Ji Yue had tried Jiang Feng’s porridge at noon and felt it wasn’t as delicious as the Eight Treasures Porridge he made before. It wasn’t the sweet porridge she loved, so she wasn’t very interested and only scooped herself a small half bowl.

“Why are you making century egg and lean pork porridge? Your Eight Treasures Porridge is so tasty, just make that!” Ji Yue was no longer the poor Ji Yue of the past, who could be satisfied with a 40-cent bowl of plain porridge from a cheap cafeteria. Although she was still poor, she had started to become as picky and discerning as Mrs. Wang Xiulian.

“Century egg and lean pork porridge?” Liu Qian, who hadn’t had any lines for a long time, brightened at the mention. These days, with Wu Hanxue cooking in the back kitchen, Liu Qian frequented the Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant more diligently than attending classes, come rain or shine, eating more with each meal.

“This pot is better than the one this morning, all of you try it.” Jiang Feng also passed a bowl to Liu Qian.

Liu Qian very graciously scooped a full bowl, stirred it for a while, slurped it down, and eagerly helped herself to another.

“Chairperson, the porridge you’ve cooked is even tastier than last year’s!’ Liu Qian’s eyes shone. “It’s just that this century egg isn’t very fresh.”

“The century egg isn’t fresh?” Ji Yue turned her head and asked. “It tastes better than this morning’s, but I think the Eight Treasure Porridge is a bit tastier.”

“Right, and the century egg was cut a bit too large,” Liu Qian added.

“Too large?” Ji Yue felt that she and Liu Qian might not have been eating from the same pot of porridge.

“Qianqian, I’ve noticed you’ve become much more professional since you became a food critic,” Ji Yue began to find a way to save face for her inability to taste the difference.

“A food critic?” Jiang Feng didn’t quite understand.

“You know, that Some-App live stream, where they organized some sort of local delicacy awards. They buy snacks from stores and those on Taobao, have their outdoor food livestreamers taste them and sing their praises, sort of like advertising. Alan City has got only Qianqian as a food critic, and the event has been quite a hit lately. You haven’t been watching her streams for a while, have you? She went to that place yesterday, what’s it called, Chu something? The one where you competed together, ah, what’s it called?” Ji Yue, though young, had somehow developed a rather forgetful memory.

“Chu Peng.” Liu Qian took a moment from her porridge to supply the name. “Right, Chu Peng. His restaurant is now an internet sensation. Some-App is just riding the wave of popularity, so they had Qianqian go there yesterday to eat those vegetable rolls,” Ji Yue explained.

“I lined up for two hours,” Liu Qian added.

“Two hours!” Jiang Feng was genuinely shocked. Didn’t these people have jobs or school? So much free time to stand in line for hours just for a vegetable roll.

He even felt a bit envious.

“Chairperson, I bet next week Some-App live will feature a special judging on your restaurant. I probably won’t even be able to join the queue by then, so you must save me a spot,” Liu Qian implored insistently.

“How did Chu Peng’s restaurant become popular so suddenly?” Jiang Feng couldn’t understand. Chu Peng was eliminated during the top eight, and it had been a while.

“The variety show only updated to the top 8 a few days ago!” Ji Yue couldn’t believe Jiang Feng was so out of the loop with the “Good Taste Chef King Contest.” She began to enlighten him, “Besides, the top eight episode is split into two parts, and they re-edited it. They first broadcasted Gu Li and Chu Peng’s part, cutting it off right at the most suspenseful point while the judges were commenting on Zhang Guanghang and that other person. Your part with Zhang Xi hasn’t been broadcast yet; it will air tomorrow night. You’re going to be famous too.”

“I’m going to be famous?” Jiang Feng was slow to catch on.

“Yeah, don’t you remember? You cooked the Eight Treasure Porridge during the top eight! Everyone in the audience was going crazy for it, the couple next to me almost started fighting over the last two bites,” Ji Yue recalled the scene with a shiver, “I bet our restaurant is going to be swamped the day after tomorrow’s broadcast. No, no, I have to talk to Mrs. Wang about this; we need to hire a couple of temporary workers. Oops, I have to go out and talk to Mrs. Wang about this.”

Having said that, Ji Yue put down her bowl and went to find Wang Xiulian. “Chairperson, the Eight Treasure Porridge you made was really tasty?” Liu Qian asked, curious.

“You haven’t tried it?” Jiang Feng had just asked when he realized, these past few days, while Liu Qian hardly played any role, even though she came to the restaurant to eat every day, he always subconsciously ignored her.

It seemed that Wang Hao hadn’t tried it either.

Thinking about this, Jiang Feng felt it really wasn’t right.

Contemplating the timing of the finals, Jiang Feng said, “How about this, next Friday is the final, so let’s gather next Saturday. I’ll cook a pot of Eight Treasure Porridge and make a few dishes. We can have it as the Chess Club’s core staff’s first gathering of the semester?”

“That sounds great.” Liu Qian nodded eagerly.

Jiang Feng had Liu Qian help him place two clay pots on the stove to continue Cooking Porridge with century egg and lean pork. They had an internal Jiang Family gathering tonight, so he had to make sure there was enough.

It was time to show everyone the real skills of making century egg and lean pork porridge.