The Game of Life

Jiang Feng could only heave a sigh that love at first sight truly required the right time, place, and harmony of people and then silently clicked open his attribute panel to view the menu.

[Fried Sauce Noodles B-grade]

Creator: Cao Guixiang

Dish Details: This is originally a common home-style noodle dish, but thanks to the creator’s excellent noodle pulling skills and meticulous noodle boiling process, it stands out significantly. Furthermore, the emotions of a young girl’s longing, fear, and anticipation contained within it made it an unforgettable dish for Zhang Chu, becoming the warmest light to illuminate his youthful years. When this dish is used in combination with the special dish Crab-Stuffed Oranges, its flavor is greatly enhanced.

Friendly Reminder: Since the player’s skill in noodle making is far lower than the dish requirements, there is a 100% chance of failure in making it.

Daily production attempts (0/10)

Jiang Feng: …

Are you kidding me?

He had actually forgotten that he didn’t know how to pull or press noodles, and he wasn’t even very good at hand-rolled noodles. How could he have thought making fried sauce noodles would be an easy task before?

Looking at a B-grade dish, the outcome was still the same, unable to make it.

Filled with grief and indignation, Jiang Feng closed the familiar panel and prepared to go to the balcony to breathe some fresh air. Just as he took a step, a familiar and long-lost piercing pain, spicy yet with a hint of numbness, rapidly climbed up his spine to his scalp.

After spending half a day in his memories, he had forgotten his current condition.

The sudden impact just now felt rather intense.

Jiang Feng stood in place to recover for a while, feeling that one must face reality. If you’re sick, you need treatment; when it’s time to go to the hospital, you have to go. Jiang Feng remembered that there was a community hospital near his neighborhood. Aftermath from spicy food wasn’t a big deal, so he took his keys and phone and went downstairs to the community hospital.

The community hospital was very quiet that morning, with only an old granny sitting in a chair receiving an IV drip while two nurses sat beside her, chatting.

The doctor prescribed Jiang Feng two boxes of medication and advised him not to sit for too long, to watch his diet, and to drink plenty of water. With a few words, he sent Jiang Feng away.

Whether it was psychological or not, Jiang Feng felt much better after coming out of the community hospital without even taking the medicine. With thoughts of fried sauce noodles on his mind, he passed by the noodle shop at the entrance of the community, his brain heated up, and he walked in.

“Boss, a bowl of fried sauce noodles,” Jiang Feng said, carefully taking a seat.

It didn’t take long for the noodles to be served. It was the familiar recipe, the familiar taste, the familiar hand-rolled noodles, and the familiar julienne cucumber topping. The portion was very generous, a big bowl full of noodles with fried sauce spread across the surface, cucumber strips covering half the bowl, the whole dish exuding a hearty and satisfying air.

Jiang Feng picked up his chopsticks to grab some noodles and mix the sauce. As he dug in, the noodles clumped together.

After struggling to coat the noodles with the sauce, Jiang Feng stared at the large clump of noodles he had picked up and momentarily didn’t know where to start.

After some effort, Jiang Feng finally found an opening, separating a small clump from the large one, and took a bite.

Sudden.

The end of the text.

.

Pheh, he settled the bill, paying 17 yuan for the noodles, then slipped into the neighboring 24-hour convenience store and paid 2 yuan for water, totaling a loss of 19 yuan.

That was the consequence of a momentary impulse.

Up until an hour later, as Jiang Feng lay on the bed following the doctor’s instructions after taking his medicine, quietly contemplating life while concurrently checking the detailed recipe for fried sauce noodles, he deeply regretted his impulsive decision from an hour before.

It cost him both money and heartache.

In Zhang Chu’s memory, Jiang Feng hadn’t seen the process of making the fried sauce; the sauce in Zhang Chu’s bowl of fried sauce noodles wasn’t made by Cao Guixiang, but by Master Peng that very morning.

Even though Master Peng’s process of making fried sauce didn’t appear in the memory Jiang Feng had previously reviewed, it was included in the recipe’s instructional video. The game even divided the video into parts for Jiang Feng, similar to watching segmented videos on a video app, simple and convenient.

p1 is for making the noodles, p2 for making the fried sauce.

Master Peng used pork belly to make the sauce. As an essential part of fried sauce noodles, with Beiping’s method emphasizing plenty of oil and soybean paste, not a drop of water is allowed. The yellow bean and sweet flour sauces are stir-fried over low heat until they are fully cooked, aromatic, and fragrant.

Making fried sauce is a long process that must be done in small amounts, oil is a must, and it should be slow-fried on low heat without any water. As a fermented food, the paste always has a certain smell that can only be completely removed under high temperatures, which also release the sauce’s full aroma and richness.

This is also why frying in small amounts is crucial. If there is too much sauce, it’s difficult to reach the right temperature, and the full fragrance can’t be released. The charm of dry frying is allowing the sauce’s flavor and aroma to slow-release over time, merging with each other to become an even more delicious creation.

Just from watching the video, Jiang Feng could see the slowly jumping and splashing oil in the pan and the fried sauce bubbling like breath, nearly able to smell the fragrance that was almost tangible.

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The blend of soybean paste and sweet flour sauce, seasoned with scallions, ginger, and other spices, while the diced pork belly was the finishing touch. The finished sauce, fragrantly rich with an oily sheen and a sticky luster, appeared moist but epitomized the perfect harmony of oil and water.

Jiang Feng had watched Cao Guixiang make fried sauce noodles before without much interest, but now watching Master Peng, he felt hungry.

He wanted to eat fried sauce noodles.

The fried sauce should be dry, moist, and sweet in just the right proportions, with a proper blend of soybean paste and sweet flour sauce. Clumps don’t stick together when grasped with chopsticks, allowing one to see the distinctly gleaming bits of meat. Just one bite could make one forget all troubles and lingering worries, lost in the taste.

The noodles must be finely hand-pulled, soft yet chewy, and after being cooked, they should be rinsed in water for a refreshing and smooth texture that fits the summer vibe.

There’s no need for too many toppings – just shredded cucumber, carrot tops, shredded carrots, and bean sprouts are enough. Garlic can be omitted since, although theoretically its spicy fragrance would meld beautifully with the rich flavor of the fried sauce, Jiang Feng really couldn’t stand it, finding his limit at the occasional pickled garlic eaten during Laba Festival.

Just thinking about it made Jiang Feng’s mouth water.

He was even tempted to patronize Eight-treasure House for their fried sauce noodles.

Although Eight-treasure House’s reputation had declined over the years, it seemed their fried sauce noodles were truly exceptional and, despite being pricey, were validated by the palates of Beiping’s residents.

He had been in Beiping for quite a while but had yet to taste a really good bowl of authentic fried sauce noodles.

The sauce was easy to handle and not too difficult to master with a bit of practice. However, noodles were a big issue. Jiang Feng knew his limitations in White Chef skills and hadn’t he tasted his own noodles at Morning Wind Primary School?

Probably 80% of northern mothers who could make noodles would outclass him.

Jiang Feng took out his phone and decided to browse his social feed to calm down.

Opening the feed, the first thing he saw was his great aunt’s selfie from the gym.

The familiar round face, the familiar robust figure, the familiar gym equipment, and the recognizable selfie angle.

Jiang Feng did a quick calculation – something wasn’t right with the date. His great aunt went to the gym on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, did yoga on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, and rested on Sundays. According to theory, today should be a yoga day, and yoga was in the evening. So why was his great aunt at the gym during noon time?

Jiang Feng scrolled on and saw his great aunt’s post from the night before.

Great Aunt: Happy 99th birthday to granduncle, wishing you good health and a life free from worries!

[Photo][Photo][Photo]

The three photos were of zongzi, cake, and hotpot respectively.

Beneath were rows of likes. Jiang Feng quickly glanced over them. De, Cheng, Jiang Ran, Jiang Junlian, Jiang Junqing, even his real parents, uncles, and aunts had liked it, as well as Ji Yue, Ji Xue, Wu Minqi, Zhang Guanghang, and Sang Ming who had, at some point, added the great aunt on WeChat.

As a result, Jiang Feng, who had not liked the post, seemed like an unfilial descendant.

Feeling like an unfilial descendant, Jiang Feng hurriedly hit the like button and even hastily wrote a comment.

Jiang Feng: Wishing granduncle good health and happiness! [Cheering][Cheering][Cheering]

As he browsed his social feed, Jiang Feng suddenly realized – if his great aunt was at the gym today, then by theory, Comrade Jiang Jianguo should be downstairs preparing her post-workout special of chicken breast and lettuce salad.

Jiang Jianguo was an excellent hand-pull noodle maker. Judging from the longevity noodles he made last night, his skills were surely above Cao Guixiang.

Jiang Feng immediately felt excited, opened his contacts, found Jiang Jianguo, and sent him a message.

Jiang Feng: Great uncle, are you there?

Jiang Jianguo: Yes [Smart]

Jiang Feng: Are you at home right now? I want to learn how to make hand-pulled noodles!

Jiang Jianguo, holding his phone: ???

What’s with his nephew and his whims? Just a few days ago he was mulling over how to cook chicken, and now he wanted to learn noodles?

However, considering Feng’s natural talent in cooking porridge, perhaps learning how to make pastry would come easily to him.

If Feng discovered his real talent was to be a White Chef, and decided to switch from Red Chef to White Chef, would Sir end up splitting him in two?

Jiang Jianguo found himself deep in thought.

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