The Game of Life

Chrysanthemum Fish, Crispy Duo Fried in Oil, Four Joyful Meatballs, Sauteed Liver Tips, Stir-Fried Lotus Root Dice, Strange Flavor Soup, and two portions of Dry-Fried Beef Ho Fun.

“There’s a chef named Jiang Feng in this restaurant whose Sweet and Sour Yam is especially delicious, with a daily limit of six servings my brother particularly likes. But it seems that chef is off today, and his dish isn’t on the menu,” Xue Hua said.

Zhang Zhiyuan almost choked to death on a fishbone.

“How about I go to the kitchen now and make a portion for him?” Jiang Feng hadn’t expected to have loyal customers, and his affection for Xue Shaoheng soared.

“Hmm?” Xue Hua didn’t catch on.

“lam Jiang Feng,” Jiang said.

“Yams, yams,” Xue Shaoheng tugged at Jiang Feng’s clothes.

Xue Hua hadn’t realized the chef she was talking about was sitting right next to her. She bent down to soothe Xue Shaoheng and whispered, “Master Jiang is going to have dinner with us now. We’ll come early tonight, and I’ll make sure Shaoheng gets to eat the Sweet and Sour Yam, okay?”

“The day before yesterday, I was held up by something and arrived late; the Sweet and Sour Yam was already sold out. Shaoheng was unhappy all day long,” Xue Hua explained.

“Yams, hodgepodge, wontons, fish heads, chicken wrapped in vegetables, dumplings!” Xue Shaoheng started to blurt out word by word.

Xue Hua was somewhat at a loss for what he meant, even though she ate at Taifeng Building with Xue Shaoheng every day, but that didn’t mean she could remember all the dishes on the menu.

“Dumplings? Hodgepodge? Wontons? Shaoheng, do you want to eat wontons?” Xue Hua asked.

Xue Shaoheng shook his head; saying so much at once was still difficult for him, and he continued to pop out words one by one, “Yams, hodgepodge, wontons, fish heads, chicken wrapped in vegetables, dumplings!”

“What he’s saying must be, the limited dishes on my section of the menu,” Jiang Feng realized what Xue Shaoheng was trying to say.

“Eat, eat,” Xue Shaoheng continued.

Now Xue Hua understood what he meant and said, “That’s not possible, Shaoheng, we can’t order that many dishes when it’s just the two of us for dinner.”

“Eat, eat!” Xue Shaohengbecame anxious.

“How about we order them over several days?” Xue Hua suggested to him.

“Eat, eat! Miss, him, miss!” Xue Shaoheng pointed at Jiang Feng.

Jiang Feng was stunned; he felt like he finally understood what Xue Shaoheng was trying to say.

But how did Xue Shaoheng know that these dishes were seriously not selling well and that he desperately wanted to sell them?

“He might just want to help me sell these dishes,” Jiang said, feeling a bit embarrassed, “My dishes… don’t sell much. You saw it just now, there are many dishes on the menu, and mine are hidden in the middle below, probably not very appealing. Some dishes are also quite expensive.”

“He could see that too? That’s amazing, almost miraculous!” Zhang Zhiyuan exclaimed in surprise as he ate the Dry-Fried Beef Ho Fun, looking at Xue Shaoheng.

“Sometimes he really can tell what other people are thinking,” Xue Hua said. “Whether it’s happiness, joy, depression, or sadness, he’s extremely sensitive to changes in others’ emotions, and sometimes he can even tell what people are thinking. I can hardly keep anything from him.”

“That’s truly remarkable!” Zhang Chu marveled, “He’s simply a genius!”

“Have you been taking care of him all these years?” Zhang Chiyuan asked curiously.

Zhang Zhiyuan’s mother silently kicked him, signaling that not even food could shut his mouth.

“I’ve been taking care of him all along; my brother is very smart. He understands everything you say; even if you don’t speak, he can tell. But he can’t express himself, whether he’s sad or happy, and can’t voice if he’s wronged. I can’t trust someone else to care for him,” Xue Hua said. “I only learned about the ‘scholar syndrome’ a few years ago. The doctor said his memory, arithmetic, and logical reasoning are far above average. I’m the one who has held him back all these years; otherwise, he might already be a mathematician.”

Xue Shaoheng shook his head at Xue Hua.

“Eat, eat.” Xue Shaoheng hadn’t forgotten about Jiang Feng’s buff dish.

“Shaoheng, I told you, the two of us can’t finish that many dishes,” Xue Hua gently persuaded.

“Eat, eat!” Xue Shaoheng was very stubborn.

“How about this, tonight let’s invite your friends over for dinner and order all these dishes,” Xue Hua suggested.

Only then did Xue Shaoheng calm down and seem to agree.

Xue Shaoheng’s movements while eating were big; he couldn’t pick up the food steadily, and basically relied on Xue Hua to place the food into his bowl, which he then ate with a spoon.

Because he ate slowly, everyone else ate slowly too, mainly because they couldn’t help wanting to watch him.

They didn’t mean any harm; they just couldn’t control themselves and wanted to look at him.

A 30-year-old middle-aged man with a baby face appeared quite young, dressed neatly, his hair well-groomed with a bit of a natural curl, his eyes wide open and his movements while eating like a child’s, occasionally looking up to give everyone a smile.

It was really…

kind of cute.

Zhang Zhiyuan’s family schedule was arranged; they were going to visit Nanluoguxiang that afternoon. Xue Hua had to take Xue Shaoheng to his job at the library, so they left their phone number and departed after paying the bill.

“Mr. Jiang, I just searched online and didn’t quite understand; how does Yonghe House handle reservations?” Zhang Chu asked Jiang Feng while holding his phone.

“When do you plan to go to Yonghe House for a meal? Yonghe House reservations require a membership; I can help you make a reservation,” Jiang Feng said.

“Then I will have to trouble you again, let it be tomorrow night,” Zhang Chu said.

“It’s no trouble, just a small favor,” Jiang Feng replied with a smile.

Zhang Zhiyuan’s family went back to the hotel to rest, and Jiang Feng went to the changing room to change his clothes before joining Sun Jikai and Wu Minqi in the kitchen to contribute to the research on the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon.

To Jiang Feng’s surprise, Zhang Guanghang was also there.

Zhang Guanghang didn’t know much about the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon and had never tasted Sun Guanyun’s authentic version of it. He was simply discussing the method of making the gravy based on his own understanding, along with Sun Jikai and Wu Minqi.

Jiang Feng thought that if they continued like this without making progress on the gravy, Taifeng Building could start a special research topic on the correct way to make Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon gravy.

“Jiang Feng, you take over deboning these pigeons,” said Sun Jikai when he saw Jiang Feng arrive, pointing to the pigeons on the prep table.

Although Wu Minqi’s knife skills were roughly on par with Jiang Feng’s, hard to distinguish in superiority, Jiang Feng had deboned whole pigeons more frequently and was more skilled, with a smaller chance of messing it up, resulting in a higher quality deboned pigeon.

“I’ll debone them later; I need to first prepare the ingredients for Li Hongzhang hodgepodge,” Jiang Feng said.

“Li Hongzhang hodgepodge?” Sun Jikai remembered the fear he had experienced in the kitchen because of Li Hongzhang hodgepodge.

“Did Zhang Zhiyuan order it?” Wu Minqi was a bit worried that after tasting Li Hongzhang hodgepodge, Zhang Zhiyuan might sever ties with Jiang Feng.

“No, it’s another guest,” Jiang Feng replied.

“A very interesting guest.”