The Game of Life

Having left the memory, Jiang Feng sat in the chair, still somewhat dazed.

He had stayed in that memory for far too long, long enough to become very familiar with every person in it.

Xia Mushi, Yanzhi, Wen Er, the old woman who took care of Yanzhi, and other waiters in the inn; Jiang Feng could remember their faces and voices. He even remembered the owner of the bun shop where Xia Mushi bought buns every day —staying in the memory for over ten days felt like taking a trip to Xingcheng, where all those people were just travelers he had met along the way.

Yanzhi was Li Fen, and if he wasn’t mistaken, Li Fen was Fen.

The human trafficker in San Francisco, Mrs. Chen, wasn’t wrong; a girl as pretty as Fen would be better off dead than alive.

Jiang Feng sat in his chair, calming down for a few minutes before opening his attribute panel.

Another icon lit up in the recipe column.

Xia Mushi (1/4)

[Chicken Bun Level C]

Creator: Xia Mushi

Dish Details: A very ordinary and common homemade snack, made invaluable due to the strong but unspoken love it contains. It’s not only the last fragrance of Li Fen’s life but also the only expression of Xia Mushi’s love. Eating this will trigger an impulse to express one’s love for 2 hours after consumption.

Number of times it can be made per day (0/5)

Jiang Feng:…

If he remembered correctly, the daily limit for making Spicy Fish Head with

Chopped Chili was also 5 times.

This dish, paired with the Spicy Fish Head with Chopped Chili, was the perfect confession tool, unbeaten, five times a day, grow big and strong, work hard to close all the matchmaker agencies in Beiping within three years.

The recipe for Chicken Bun was indeed not difficult, a Level C dish was within his skill range. Jiang Feng opened the recipe and reviewed it a few more times, feeling somewhat confident about it.

After looking over the recipe for Chicken Bun, Jiang Feng checked the WeChat group. Mrs. Wang Xiulian and his aunt had a fruitful night of shopping; his aunt even got an annual membership for the gym in the adjacent mall, indicating she was ready to start a new round of dieting.

Filial son Jiang Zaidi: Mom, you can do it, persistence leads to success! [Cheer]

[Cheer] [Cheer]

Tailor who loves family life: Wife, you can do it! [Cheer] [Cheer] [Cheer] Jiang Jiankang who loves his wife the most: Big sister-in-law, you can do it!

[Thumbs Up] [Thumbs Up] [Thumbs Up]

I love reading in business and management: Aunt, you can do it!!!

Jiang Feng thought for a moment and felt that he should also join in and encourage his aunt.

Jiang Xiaofeng who loves cooking the most: Aunt, you can do it! [Cheer]

[Thumbs Up]

Jiang Feng was wondering how Mrs. Wang Xiulian and his aunt had finished their shopping spree so early, but when he checked his phone, he realized it was almost 10 o’clock. Both of them needed their beauty sleep, they had to be in bed by 11 p.m. every day.

Jiang Feng casually sent a message to Wu Minqi to see if she was still at Wu

Family Restaurant.

Jiang Feng: Have you rested yet?

Qiqi: I’m home, just finished bathing.

Jiang Feng initiated a video call.

Wu Minqi had indeed just finished bathing; she was still drying her hair with a towel. While drying her hair, she asked, “What made you want to video call today?”

“Because I missed you, I wanted to see you,” Jiang Feng said.

Even he was stunned after saying it; how could he have said something so flirtatious.

Wu Minqi was also taken aback, and it took her a long time to respond, somewhat dazed, “Ah.”

“Hmm.”

“You.”

II T II

A suffocating dialogue.

“Qiqi, honestly, I really miss you. Taifeng Building is about to open soon, you should come over in a couple of days,” Jiang Feng said.

“Okay.”

“I’ll book your ticket.”

“Okay.”

Wu Minqi, looking at Jiang Feng on her phone screen, smiled and was the first to open the floodgate of words, “What did you do today?

“Today, we were all busy with recruiting, oh, and you’ll never guess, you remember my Granduncle Weiming had a disciple in Shu, right? He’s here too, but…” Wu Minqi launched the conversation, and they found plenty to talk

about.

They had chatted for over half an hour when Wu Minqi glanced at the time on her phone, “It’s so late, you haven’t taken a shower yet, right? Go take one and sleep early.”

“Mhm.”

After hanging up the video call, Jiang Feng thought for a moment, what had

they just talked about?

Oh, right, booking tickets, better hurry and do that.

For tomorrow, or the day after?

Better book for the day after, tomorrow seems a bit rushed, if I book for the morning the day after, I should arrive by noon.

On the other side, after Wu Minqi finished blow-drying her hair, she still couldn’t figure out why Jiang Feng had suddenly video called her today. She could only seek advice from Ji Yue, who, despite being single, seemed to be quite the expert in romantic affairs and keen on playing the love guru.

Wu Minqi: Yueyue, what’s going on when a boyfriend suddenly becomes super clingy?

Ji Yue:…

Ji Yue: Don’t ask, get lost.

Wu Minqi with her phone: ???

The next day, the Jiang family members who had tasks assigned to them got up early, each to their own duty. Those who didn’t have tasks, like the juniors Jiang Feng, Jiang Junlian, and Jiang Junqing, were free to do as they pleased.

The renovation at Taifeng Building was coming to an end but hadn’t been fully completed, which would happen within these two days. The two sisters only had these two days of leisure left.

Once Taifeng Building’s renovation is complete and the back kitchen is all set up, Sir would definitely drag them to train in cooking.

That’s also why Aunt had tacitly agreed to let the two sisters run wild these few days.

Jiang Feng spent a day playing around in Beiping City with the two sisters, with most of their time spent on the subway. They basically went from eating in one shop to another. Each sister would give Jiang Feng a bite of their snacks, which was enough to fill him up despite being just a bite, but he came home burping because of the quantity.

On the third day, Jiang Feng went to the airport for a pick-up and began the happy cohabitation life.

As the saying goes, a little separation is better than a wedding night. Jiang Feng had been gone in Xia Mushi’s memory for over ten days, and from an outsider s perspective, he had only not seen Wu Minqi for a few days. But from his standpoint, it had already been over ten days.

The flight was right on time. Jiang Feng had only waited for over ten minutes at the exit when he saw Wu Minqi. He took over her luggage and bag, asking,

“Have you eaten yet?”

“I ate an in-flight meal, it was not bad, the food was pretty good, and they even gave each person a spoonful of Lao Gan Ma sauce,” Wu Minqi said.

Jiang Feng: ???

He had also flown to Beiping before, but he never had such treatment.

“Is everything going smoothly with the shop?” Wu Minqi asked with concern.

“My dad said it’s going quite well. I can’t really help with those things. How about we go straight to the restaurant after dropping off our things at home? The renovation is almost finished, and the back kitchen is all set up,” Jiang

Feng said.

“Okay.”

As Jiang Feng and Wu Minqi were walking to the subway station, he received a call from Jiang Jiankang.

“Hello, son, your grandma had someone send over Da Hua, but it seems there s a jam somewhere on some road, and the driver, being from out of town, can’t find his way. Your grandma’s flight is in the afternoon and won’t arrive until the evening. You’re the only one free in our house right now, so go over and help out. I’ll send you the address now!” Jiang Jiankang shouted over the phone, apparently in a noisy environment.

Jiang Feng: ???

“Da Hua? Dad, are you sure you’re not mistaken? When did grandma mention she would come over? I wasn’t aware,” Jiang Feng said.

“There’s no mistake, your grandma just told me over the phone. The arrangement for her to come over was decided a few days ago. Didn’t your mom and I tell you? Oh, maybe we were too busy at the time and forgot to mention it,” Jiang Jiankang said, “I need to hang up now, it’s too noisy here. I’ll send you the location in a bit.”

“Wait, dad, don’t hang up just yet, why is Da Hua being sent over?” Jiang Feng was completely confused now. Da Hua was a pig, and it had been the heaviest pig in the Jiang family.

Even if it might have slimmed down a bit from grandma¹ s careful feeding, it still weighed over 200 pounds. Transporting a pig such a long distance from Zet City to Beiping—bringing it here is easy, but where would you keep it?

“Your grandma is coming over, so of course, Da Hua needs to be sent over too since there is no one to take care of her,” Jiang Jiankang explained.

“Aren’t there other pigs in the pigsty? Don’t tell me grandma sent Erhua and Sanhua over too?” Jiang Feng was genuinely flustered now.

“Erhua and Sanhua weren¹1 sent over. They are still young, so your grandma gave them to Old Madam Li next door to take care of. But you were supposed to take care of Da Hua. Didn’t you say you wanted to keep her as a pet? That’s why your grandma went through the trouble of getting her transported all this way,” Jiang Jiankang explained, “Alright, that’s enough, you better hurry and go help out. I need to hang up; I’ve really got to go!”

“Wait, wait, wait, where are we supposed to keep Da Hua after bringing her here?” Jiang Feng’s Northeastern accent began to slip out in his panic.

“Oh, right, right, right, good thing you reminded me, son, I nearly forgot. Send Da Hua to Professor Li’s house, they’ll come over in a couple of days. The pigsty at their place had been fixed by their butler or manager-whatever you call the person in charge of the house. I’ll send you the address along with it, just make sure you take Da Hua there. I’m really too busy here, I’m going to hang up-no, really, I’m hanging up now.” Jiang Jiankang didn’t give Jiang Feng another chance to speak and immediately ended the call.

“What’s the matter?” Wu Minqi inquired.

“It seems we can’t go home yet, we need to pick up Da Hua first,” Jiang Feng was still a bit stunned.

“Who’s Da Hua? Is that your cousin?” Wu Minqi asked curiously.

“It’s a pig.”

Wu Minqi: ???