The Game of Life

“Miss Wu, didn’t you just have your hair treated the day before yesterday? Why are you here today…”

“I brought my sister to get a haircut; please give her a nice hairstyle,” said Wu Minqi.

It was then that the manager turned his attention to Ji Xia, clucking his tongue. “Such long hair must have taken years to grow; it would be a shame to cut it off.”

As he spoke, the manager leaned in to take a closer look at Ji Xia’s hair. “The hair quality is a bit poor. How about just trimming the ends and then I’ll give it some treatment? A few months of care should improve it.”

“Cut it short,” Ji Xia insisted.

“Right, cut it short, just about shoulder length should do,” Wu Minqi gestured to her own shoulder.

“Just cut it short, to this length,” Ji Xia interrupted, pointing to a hair model in the salon sporting a short wig, “just like this style.”

“Are you sure you want to go short?” Jiang Feng asked with a hint of surprise. “You don’t have to cut it that short; trimming it to your sister Wu’s length would be fine.”

Jiang Feng knew at least a bit about how deep a teenage girl’s attachment to long hair could be. In his high school, there was a rather plain-looking girl who, forced by her parents to get a haircut on a weekend, ended up with a short cut that didn’t suit her at all—in fact, it looked quite ugly at first sight. After the haircut, she had a breakdown at home, crying uncontrollably for days and missing school.

When she returned to school, her unattractive haircut inevitably earned her the roaring laughter of the whole class.

There’s truth to the saying that it takes three days to get used to a new haircut, especially when going from long to short hair.

“Cut it short, short is convenient,” reiterated Ji Xia.

Half an hour later, thanks to Mr. Tony’s expert hair-cutting skills, a fresh new Ji Xia with short hair emerged.

With sharp, profound features complemented by a neat and clean short haircut, this combination did look more comfortable and pleasing to the eye than when she had long hair. Moreover, Mr. Tony’s cutting skills were decent, and Ji Xia’s new hairstyle didn’t end up like that disastrous cut he remembered from high school. It avoided the jinx of looking hideous for three days after a cut.

So sometimes, you really do have to spend where it’s necessary.

Due to a tight schedule, Jiang Feng’s group had to return to Taifeng Building before the start of the noon service. Ji Xia had no time to become familiar with her new short-haired reflection in the mirror before being whisked away by Jiang Feng and Wu Minqi to shop for clothes.

Ji Xia’s clothes actually didn’t fit well.

It might have been because she was still growing, or perhaps because her relatives didn’t have a clear idea of her size when buying clothes for her since she didn’t often come home. Ji Xia’s clothes were either too big or too small. For instance, the attire she was wearing now was a bit too large, looking somewhat loose and baggy on her, yet inexplicably fashionable.

Shopping for clothes was never Jiang Feng’s forte. His taste in clothing, especially women’s apparel, was quite peculiar. Anything he judged as looking nice invariably turned out hideous when actually worn.

Jiang Feng had three major tactics when it came to accompanying someone on shopping trips: praise, follow, carry.

These were the simple truths he had distilled from accompanying Mrs. Wang Xiulian on shopping trips as a child and from dating Wu Minqi. After countless shopping experiences, he had learned these tricks well.

Praise meant he just needed to offer compliments on how well the clothes fit and how nice they looked at the right moment, while keeping silent and withholding any opinion at other times.

Follow: it was crucial to match the pace of the shopper, which could involve playing with his phone along the way, but he had to keep up to avoid looking up and losing sight of them.

Carry: this generally applied only to shopping with Mrs. Wang Xiulian. She didn’t shop very often, but when she did, it was a spree. She wouldn’t go home until the hands of Jiang Feng, Jiang Jiankang, and herself were filled and could carry no more.

On this shopping trip, Jiang Feng still adhered to these three principles: silent and reticent, offering praise at the right time, playing with his phone during dull moments, and ready to pull out Alipay for payment when necessary. Before they knew it, Wu Minqi and Ji Xia were holding several shopping bags.

All the clothes were picked by Wu Minqi, and they were all practical for daily wear. As it was the season for fall fashion releases, the women’s fashion displays in the mall showcased mostly dresses or coats, with few tops or pants. Considering Ji Xia would be apprenticing with Jiang Feng—who in theory worked without a day off all year—she likely wouldn’t have the chance to wear dresses, so Wu Minqi refrained from selecting any for her.

At 11:11 AM, shopping concluded.

As long as they walked fast enough, making it to the morning opening would not be a problem.

Wu Minqi led them towards the elevator, and in a display window beside it there was a very pretty dress, pink in color. Its long skirt extended all the way to the ground, and the dress’s wavy, ruffled hem cascaded in layers, angling down from the waist all the way to the end, dreamy like a Disney princess’s gown.

It was impractical for everyday wear but incredibly girlish, causing many young girls to slow their steps or even stop to gaze at the dress as they passed by.

Ji Xia was one of them.

“Like it?” Wu Minqi turned back and saw Ji Xia staring dreamily at the dress, and asked with a smile.

“Yeah.” Ji Xia nodded slightly, glanced at the price tag next to her, and the five-figure sum shattered her sense of value, making her exclaim in surprise, “So expensive!”

“If you study hard with your master, in the future you can buy as many dresses like that as you want, enough to fill a closet, even a whole room,” Wu Minqi said cheerfully.

Ji Xia was stunned.

“Your future is in your hand.” Wu Minqi said, “This sentence was especially useful when I was in junior high. It worked for any letter’s ending and guaranteed high scores for English compositions.”

“Your…”

“Your future is in your hand. Your future is in your own hands.” Wu Minqi rephrased the sentence with emphasis.

“It’s a very useful and versatile sentence, isn’t it?” Wu Minqi said with a smile as she took Ji Xia’s hand and headed into the elevator.

Jiang Feng followed behind, cheering in his heart for his dear Qiqi.

Indeed, my Qiqi knows just how to deliver the perfect dose of chicken soup for the soul at the right moment.

When the elevator reached the first floor, Ji Xia followed Wu Minqi towards the shopping mall exit, and suddenly, she turned back to look at Jiang Feng.

“Master, what should I do today?” Ji Xia asked.

“Wash vegetables,” Jiang Feng said, waiting expectantly behind her for her to ask why she was assigned to wash vegetables.

Instead, Ji Xia just nodded and kept walking forward with Wu Minqi.

Jiang Feng: …

Apprentice, not asking such questions really undermines your master’s authority.

Even if Ji Xia didn’t ask, Jiang Feng could insist on explaining. He cleared his throat and with a face full of composure began, “Today you start by washing vegetables, get familiar with the various kinds of work at the back of the house. Pay attention to how others work, and most importantly, recognize the ingredients and understand what dishes each person is preparing.”

Ji Xia, who had spent years in a small town, was more familiar with seafood due to locality, but there were still many ingredients she did not recognize, such as sweet and sour yam, which Ji Xia had trouble reciting the name of even after eating.

“Mhm.” Ji Xia nodded solemnly.

“In the next couple of days, familiarize yourself with the ingredients and seasonings, how each ingredient is handled, as well. Watch and learn as much as you can, and ask if you don’t understand. The day after tomorrow, I will test teach you, and if you pass, you can start practicing knife skills.” Jiang Feng was now teaching Ji Xia just as Sir had taught him all those years ago.

However, Sir’s teaching level…

Jiang Feng suddenly thought of the employee information, where Sir’s mentoring level was intermediate, while Granduncle Weiming’s was master level.

It was time to ask Granduncle Weiming for some advice on how to teach an apprentice.