The Game of Life

So now the question arose, which hospital in Beiping City had a good proctology department?

A moment of spicy delight, a post-meal cremation site.

After Jiang Feng had a tough battle in the bathroom with some indescribable matters for dozens of minutes, he emerged physically and mentally drained.

The soy milk was finely strained, with a touch of sugar added, giving it a slight sweetness that went well with the taste of the beans.

“How about you don’t go to the store today and have it checked out at the hospital instead?” Wu Minqi had never seen anyone end up like this after eating hot pot.

“No need for the hospital, I just need to rest at home for a bit. If I’m still not feeling better by the afternoon, then I’ll go to the hospital,” Jiang Feng said, attempting to sit down. His butt barely touched the chair before he sprang up, “I’ll just stand instead.”

“Are you sure you don’t need to go to the hospital?” Wu Minqi was still worried.

“No, no, I have it under control. If it really gets too much, I’ll go to the hospital in the afternoon,” Jiang Feng replied.

“Alright then, you just rest at home today, don’t worry about the shop. I already called Zhou Shi and worked it out; he’s pushing back his days off by two days, so the kitchen won’t be understaffed,” Wu Minqi started to drink her soy milk.

A few minutes later, Wu Minqi finished her simple breakfast, tidied up, and prepared to go to work.

“I’m off, make sure to rest up, and send me a WeChat message if you go to the hospital in the afternoon,” Wu Minqi reminded him repeatedly before leaving.

“Okay, don’t worry, Minqi, and be careful on the road,” Jiang Feng waved goodbye to Wu Minqi from the dining table, just like a wife in a Japanese drama seeing her husband off to work.

Wait, wife?

…

After Wu Minqi left, Jiang Feng tried various standing activities like mopping the floor, watching television, and playing with his phone. Regardless of the task, however, he couldn’t ignore the aftermath of this morning’s toilet ordeal.

Maybe watching a memory could provide some relaxation?

He was curious to see what Zhang Guanghang looked like as a child and whether someone could truly be handsome from young to old. Or perhaps he had an ordinary appearance as a child, and his current looks were the result of cosmetic surgeries after returning to France.

With malicious thoughts, Jiang Feng clicked open the properties panel and flipped to the item tab.

[A Piece of Zhang Chu’s Memory]

[A Piece of Zhang Guanghang’s Memory]

Zhang Chu?

Jiang Feng pondered. He remembered that Zhang Chu’s memory was a reward from completing a side quest. As for why it had been in the item tab for so long without him watching it, to the point of completely forgetting about it, Jiang Feng couldn’t recall the reason.

After all, he was already a 21-year-old on the brink of entering his thirties, his memory surely wasn’t as good as when he was 20.

Jiang Feng decided it was best to watch Zhang Chu’s memory first to avoid forgetting again. With this in mind, he moved his finger over [A Piece of Zhang Chu’s Memory] and clicked ‘yes’, suddenly finding himself enveloped in a fog.

The mist dissipated quickly this time, clearing almost the moment Jiang Feng heard the sound.

Jiang Feng found himself standing in a small courtyard, the uncomfortable feeling in his body now gone.

Although the yard was small, it was filled with various types of lumber: long, wide, flat, big, and small, the material of the wood Jiang Feng could not recognize, but they all looked different. In addition to the logs, there were also many unfinished pieces of furniture, mostly simple things like tables and chairs, all piled together, making the whole yard very crowded.

“Chu, how many more planks do you have left to saw?” asked the Golden Carpenter, Zhang Chu’s master, as he was busy tallying the lumber in the yard.

“Twenty-three left,” replied Zhang Chu, focusing intently on sawing the plank.

“After you finish sawing these planks, go help your senior apprentice brother. Once I complete the current batch of orders, we will focus on making the Qian Gong Bed that Manager Yin ordered. This time, making the Qian Gong Bed for Manager Yin is a rare opportunity, so you better take it seriously and learn well. Opportunities like this are hard to come by, and if you miss this one, you might never encounter it again in your life,” warned the Golden Carpenter.

“I understand, Master. I will study diligently and won’t slack off,” Zhang Chu said, his thick brows and big eyes exuding sincerity that made one believe every word he said.

“Oh, I almost forgot. Later at noon, come with me to Yonghe House again, the place where we went for lunch yesterday,” the Golden Carpenter added.

Zhang Chu stopped what he was doing and looked up at the Golden Carpenter, puzzled, “Master, if you’re going to Yonghe House to repair a cabinet, wouldn’t it be enough to take my senior apprentice brother? What would I be doing there?”

“Lucky for you, kid, just yesterday at noon I told Manager Yin to inform me if there was any work on window frames to be done, so I could let you try your hand at it. Turns out, last night, for some reason, a window frame on the second floor of Yonghe House suddenly broke. Manager Zhang thinks it may have broken because of last month’s rain that went on for a whole month, causing it to be damp, but that shouldn’t be the case. The windows of Yonghe House were all made personally by Master Qiu, and it’s not like it rained for a year; one month shouldn’t have caused it to break like that,” the Golden Carpenter muttered to himself and became lost in his own world.

Zhang Chu was already accustomed to this and kept sawing wood, waiting for his master to snap out of it before continuing the conversation.

After a while, the Golden Carpenter regained his focus and continued, “Nevertheless, since the window frame of Yonghe House conveniently broke, you will accompany me there after we eat the watermelon. You’ll fix the window frame, and once you’re done, come help me. Your senior apprentice brother will stay here to hurry the rest of the work, as Manager Yin is pressing us. From now on, apart from our regular clients, we won’t accept any other orders, so remember to inform the others about this when the time comes.”

“Understood, Master,” Zhang Chu nodded.

“Keep on sawing the wood here; I’ll go to the front silk shop and buy some silk for your mistress. Women truly are troublesome; last time it was just the wrong pattern I bought, the color was clearly right, but she still got angry, sigh,” the Golden Carpenter sighed deeply and left.

Zhang Chu continued to saw the wood in the courtyard, expression unchanged and movements monotonous, utterly dull and tedious. Jiang Feng only watched for a while before wandering off elsewhere.

Jiang Feng wandered around within his limits and roughly figured out the layout of the Golden Carpenter’s home. The house wasn’t large, with the front and back courtyards occupying half of the area, and only a few rooms, two of which were heaped with miscellaneous items and lumber.

The courtyard where Zhang Chu was working was the backyard, a bit smaller than the front yard. His senior apprentice brother was in the front yard making a cabinet, looking to be about ten years older than Zhang Chu and much less good-looking. With his ordinary appearance, he seemed very honest and hardworking, fully concentrated on his work, just like Zhang Chu.

As time went by and the sun began to engulf the entire city, raising the temperature gradually, Zhang Chu finished sawing the wood in the backyard and went to the front yard to assist his senior apprentice brother. Both were soaked in sweat, needing to take frequent breaks to fan themselves with large palm-leaf fans and cool off.

After some time, which might have been noon with the sun becoming more scorching, the Golden Carpenter returned from the silk store with two pieces of silk and a large watermelon.

“Aiguo, Chu, you must be tired, stop working for now. Aiguo, go slice the watermelon; let’s eat watermelon first. Chu, after eating, take a short rest, then come with me to Yonghe House,” the Golden Carpenter put the silk back in the house and came out with a large palm-leaf fan in hand.

“This damned weather, getting hotter by the day, it was better last month when it rained,” the Golden Carpenter complained.

“Master, last month you were complaining about the rain causing the wood to be damp,” Aiguo retorted while bringing out the sliced watermelon, still teasing.

“Off with you, you’re the talkative one. Your mistress has gone back to the countryside to visit relatives today. I’ll take Chu with me to Yonghe House later. If you get hungry, just heat up the leftovers from yesterday, don’t wait for us,” the Golden Carpenter said. He sat at the doorway fanning himself, not going for the watermelon, watching as his two apprentices devoured the entire watermelon, leaving only the white rind, before standing up.

“Let’s go, Chu. Take your things, and we’re off to Yonghe House.”