The Game of Life

“Master, just now second senior brother was wiping tables on the 2nd floor,” Cao Guixiang covered for Qin Guisheng.

“Would he ever be that diligent?” Master Cao Guixiang obviously didn’t believe their ghost stories, “A body full of laziness, he would never stand if he could lie down, sooner or later someone has to deal with you. Come here, you ve lazed around enough, you and your junior sister go and handle the honeysuckle, chrysanthemum, sophora flowers, kudzu, and kapok flowers.

“Didn’t Manager Zhang say he would deliver the herbal tea tomorrow? Qin Guisheng asked.

“My distant uncle is sick, I have to visit him at the hospital tomorrow, I won’t have time, so let’s prepare the herbal tea today and keep it aside. It’s hot today anyway, after brewing the herbal tea you all can drink a couple of cups to cool off,” Master Cao Guixiang said, then looked up to another middle-aged chef a short distance away, “Master Wang, I’ll have to trouble you tomorrow.” “No trouble at all, no trouble at all,” Master Wang replied cheerfully, continuing to chop vegetables.

Master Cao Guixiang was slicing ham, very slowly and carefully, ensuring each slice was the same size; the ham was cut so thinly it seemed almost translucent. Given the superb quality of the ham, one could tell it was top-grade Jinhua Ham, and Jiang Feng could imagine the melt-in-your-mouth texture of the ham slices from Master Cao Guixiang.

Master Cao Guixiang focused on slicing the ham and didn’t bother checking if Qin Guisheng was slacking off again; having been given a task, Qin obediently went to work, going with Cao Guixiang to find the ingredients.

The herbal tea made with honeysuckle, chrysanthemum, sophora flowers, kudzu, and kapok was naturally Five Flowers Tea.

Five Flowers Tea is one of the herbal teas commonly consumed by the people of Guangdong Province, and back in elementary school, Jiang Weiguo would at times brew herbal teas. Since Mrs. Jiang loved fruit teas, Sir usually made teas like watermelon rind tea, tangerine tea, or fruity appetite-inducing teas.

There was just one summer, it was so hot that even a thin person like Jiang Feng could sweat profusely by just sitting indoors without doing anything. To remove internal heat and clear liver fire, Sir made Five Flowers Tea then.

On a scorching summer day, drinking a cup of heat-clearing herbal tea was more effective than eating a hundred slices of iced watermelon.

It’s just that the Five Flowers Tea Sir made used frangipani instead of kudzu because kudzu was too expensive.

When Jiang Feng saw Qin Guisheng and Cao Guixiang take out a handful of top- quality kudzu from the bag, he immediately felt a rich aroma filling the air.

What kind of family conditions must one have to use such top-quality kudzu to brew Five Flowers Tea, and to give it away as well.

Brewing herbal tea is actually very simple – soak the Five Flowers Tea in water, place it in a soup pot, bring it to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a gentle simmer.

While rinsing the sophora flowers, Qin Guisheng chatted with Cao Guixiang: “I think to brew the best Five Flowers Tea, you should add some monk fruit and a bit of brown sugar to give it some flavor.”

“If you want to add, just add, the master won’t care what you’ve put in, as long as the final product is good,” Cao Guixiang said.

While Qin Guisheng was handling the Five Flowers Tea ingredients, he tilted his head to see what his master was doing, and as he looked, he saw his eldest senior brother was torching something.

It was sea cucumber, his eldest senior brother was burning the sea cucumber, charring its exterior.

“My goodness, who is coming for lunch today that they even ordered sea cucumber,” Qin Guisheng exclaimed, “They must be really wealthy.” “What’s wrong with wealth? If customers don’t order, the master won’t make it and you wouldn’t get to learn at all,” Cao Guixiang continued with her work. Jiang Feng had no time to pay attention to what Cao Guixiang and Qin Guisheng were doing anymore. He wished he had the ability to clone himself, or to have an extra pair of eyes – one pair to watch Master Cao Guixiang slicing ham, and another pair to watch Cao Guixiang’s eldest senior brother preparing the sea cucumber.

Whether it was Braised Big Black Sea Cucumber or Kuei Hua Duck, both were highly complex banquet dishes in Tan Family Cuisine. To witness the preparation was to strike it rich.

Ever since the game update, which fixed old bugs and introduced new ones, memory could no longer be reviewed repeatedly. Now, memories could only be reviewed in the segment concerning the recipes, so if these dishes weren t in the recipe section, Jiang Feng could only watch this once.

After Cao Guixiang’s eldest senior brother finished torching the sea cucumber and scraping off the charred skin, he used a small knife to make a slit in the sea cucumber to remove the innards.

After slicing the ham, Master Cao Guixiang walked over to a steaming pot and took out the steamed duck, quickly deboning it and slicing the duck diagonally into pieces.

“Master, the sea cucumber has been prepped,” the eldest apprentice announced.

“Once it’s ready, put it in the pot to cook. Guixiang, go help your senior brother,” Master Cao Guixiang ordered.

“Okay!” Cao Guixiang excitedly washed and dried her hands, decisively leaving Qin Guisheng behind to assist her senior brother.

Being able to participate in the preparation of such a complex dish was more useful than watching the master do it a hundred times.

“Guixiang, start by chopping the green onions and ginger,” her senior brother instructed.

As Cao Guixiang chopped the green onions and ginger, the senior brother began to place bamboo chopsticks in the enamel pot, then laid a bamboo mat on top, followed by the soaked large sea cucumber, and covered it with another mat. By then, Cao Guixiang had finished chopping the green onions and ginger, and together they began adding the old hen, Jinhua ham, dried scallops, along with the chopped ingredients into the enamel pot. They filled it with water, covered it with a lid, and put it on the stove to boil vigorously.

After the pot began to boil, they reduced the heat to simmer it gently. Master Cao Guixiang glanced over and said, “The flame is too high, turn it down a bit more.”

Senior brother turned the heat down slightly.

Only then did Master Cao Guixiang nod in approval. By now, he had already sliced the duck, shiitake mushrooms, and ham with uniform thickness and size, arranging them neatly on a plate to be steamed later.

However, steaming them would likely have to wait for a few hours more. Seeing the master taking a break, Qin Guisheng approached with a grin and asked, “Master, who are the guests for lunch today? You’ve ordered so many good dishes.”

Master Cao Guixiang’s face was stern as he scolded, “What business is it of yours who the guests are? We’re chefs; our job is to cook, not to be nosy.” “I’m just asking. It’s not a holiday or anything, is it someone’s daughter getting married or a wedding happening?” Qin Guisheng wasn’t fazed by his master’s scolding.

Upon hearing Qin Guisheng’s question, both Cao Guixiang and her senior brother became curious and turned to look at their master.

“It’s Manager Yin from the silk store next door,” Master Cao Guixiang revealed. “Her daughter will be getting married in a few years. She wants to have the Golden Carpenter make a Qian Gong Bed for her daughter. Today’s meal is for inviting the Golden Carpenter and his apprentices.

“A Qian Gong Bed?! Manager Yin really has money. How much does it cost to have one made?” Qin Guisheng asked, astonished.

“Of course, Manager Yin has money; she came from the South. I heard her father was a particularly well-known silk merchant there. The dowry she brought when she got married included a Qian Gong Bed, created by the best craftsman there. They say it cost quite a few yellow croakers,” Master Wang couldn’t resist joining the gossip.

“Several yellow croakers?!” another kitchen helper gasped in shock.

“That’s an exaggeration. Would she be sleeping on a bed or on money? I bet it’s an overblown rumor,” Qin Guisheng doubted, his poverty capping his imagination.

“Who knows? We’ve never slept on such an expensive bed,” Master Wang shook his head.

Cao Guixiang had a different focus: “Who is this Golden Carpenter?” “That cabinet on our restaurant’s second floor was made by the Golden Carpenter,” the senior brother explained. “He also came last month to fix the staircase handrail, but you were probably in the kitchen and didn’t see him.’ “Right, master, that cabinet on the second floor is broken again. Since the Golden Carpenter is coming today, why don’t we ask him to fix it too? the senior brother suggested.

“Manager Zhang has already asked the Golden Carpenter, he will come to fix it tomorrow,” Master Cao Guixiang stated.