The Game of Life

How early, exactly? It was probably the earliest Jiang Feng had gotten up since graduating high school, where at his school everyone was required to do morning exercises at 6:30 a.m. It was because of this policy that Jiang Feng spent most of his high school years contemplating how to nonchalantly, without causing a stir, propose a transfer request to Mrs. Wang Xiulian.

Until the end of his college entrance exams, he never did figure out a plan that wouldn’t get him beaten up.

While most office workers on a 996 schedule were still asleep, Jiang Feng was already at Taifeng Building’s kitchen, energetically checking the oranges and crabs he had brought over.

The oranges he picked were meticulously chosen, round, full, and shiny. Before coming to Taifeng Building, Jiang Feng had scrubbed the wrinkled orange skin over and over again, cleaning every crevice of dirt. Now, these two oranges were definitely the shiniest ones in the orange community.

Jiang Feng knew he had arrived early; this was probably the most eager he had ever been about cooking in his life. Even he didn’t know why, perhaps because he felt like the correct answer was within easy reach, the instructor was on the way and would arrive any minute, and as the only lucky contestant, feeling a bit excited was normal.

The two seniors hadn’t arrived yet, so Jiang Feng decided to start prepping the oranges.

This time, Jiang Feng was especially careful while segmenting the oranges, akin to a surgeon performing an operation.

It took Jiang Feng a while to completely trim the flesh from the two oranges into a bowl, leaving behind just a thin layer of orange juice, when the two seniors finally made their belated entrance.

Having enjoyed some scallion pancakes made by Mrs. Jiang herself, Sir was in a good mood, humming an off-tune melody as he walked into the kitchen, which Jiang Feng thought sounded a bit like the Huangmei opera that Mrs. Jiang often listened to.

“Carry on, don’t mind us,” Sir said upon noticing Jiang Feng stopping his work to look up at them, instructing Jiang Feng not to be distracted while cooking.

All that came out was the aroma of scallions and sesame oil.

Jiang Feng: …

Grandma made pancakes?

Since the two seniors had arrived, Jiang Feng began to steam the crabs. Steaming crabs took only a few minutes, and in this brief time, Jiang Feng was not idle, gently scraping the inside of the oranges with a small knife to make them smoother and more rounded on the inside for a more pleasant appearance.

After steaming the crabs, Jiang Feng began to process them in front of the seniors, from cleaning to making the stuffing and steaming. The two seniors remained silent throughout the entire process.

They had never made Crab-Stuffed Orange before, and it was their first time watching Jiang Feng make this dish. They really had no say on Crab-Stuffed Orange and could only offer Jiang Feng some suggestions based on their years of cooking experience after tasting it.

Half an hour later, two Crab-Stuffed Oranges were done.

Jiang Feng performed very steadily this time, with almost no mistakes, and because he was extra meticulous and dedicated in the preparation, the evaluation was higher than any Crab-Stuffed Orange he had made before.

But it was still Grade B.

Between Grade A and Grade B dishes lay an impassable chasm.

Jiang Weiguo did not speak. Although he felt the Crab-Stuffed Orange made by Jiang Feng this time was a bit better than the one from the night before, the dish was simply not to his taste, and he couldn’t understand why Jiang Feng was so enthusiastic about it.

In his view, this peculiar dish was nowhere near as good as the scallion pancakes made by Mrs. Jiang.

Mrs. Jiang’s scallion pancakes that morning were really delicious; it’s just that there wasn’t enough sesame oil used, even though he had told her to use more. She insisted on using less oil because they were getting older.

Don’t think he didn’t know that his wife indulged in sweet, heavy-oil braised pork last night.

“Feng, do you think it’s the fire control that’s not right?” Jiang Weiming finally spoke up.

“Yes, I felt very comfortable with the steps before, but the final product after coming out of the pot always seemed a bit off,” Jiang Feng nodded.

“Something is indeed off,” Jiang Weiming nodded and turned to Jiang Weiguo, “Little brother, what do you think?”

The Sir, who was still savoring the morning’s scallion pancakes and suddenly got cued: …

“The final taste is a bit odd; it feels like the orange and crab don’t really go well together,” the Sir said.

He had never made a similar dish, and didn’t have much authority to speak on using oranges in cooking, but personally, he thought the flavors of orange flesh and crab didn’t quite match, making the dish feel like one of those legendary cafeteria foods.

Sir, who kept up with news on his phone, often fell for sensational stories, and to this day believed college cafeterias served dishes such as cherry tomatoes stir-fried with cucumbers, blueberries stewed with yams, or strawberries cooked with potatoes – truly, epic dishes.

“People in the Song dynasty often used oranges to neutralize the fishiness of crabs; the main use of orange flesh in Crab-Stuffed Orange should also be to ease the crab’s fishiness. Since Xiangxue Wine was chosen to eliminate the fishiness, it implies that the orange flesh should also enhance the flavor, but now…” After calmly analyzing it with Jiang Weiming, he realized he couldn’t continue his analysis.

The whole kitchen fell silent.

Suddenly, Jiang Weiming spoke up again: “Feng, did you just steam on low heat for 5 minutes?”

“Yes.”

“Can’t find the feeling?”

“Can’t find it.”

“Not a single feeling?”

“None.”

Jiang Weiming fell silent again and after a long time, he said, “If that’s the case, you have to trust your own feeling. Since low heat isn’t working, why not try using a very low heat.”

“Very low heat?” Jiang Feng was stunned.

“This is just my opinion,” Jiang Weiming said with a smile, “If you don’t think it’ll work, you can disregard it. As a chef, you must trust your own instincts. Our opinions are secondary. The knife is in your hands, and now that you’re a mentor, you should have the confidence of a mentor, you know.”

“Your grandfather and I are going to take a walk outside, you take your time to think it over here.” After saying that, Jiang Weiming put down the crab-stuffed orange in his hand.

Sir followed closely behind.

Both of the crab-stuffed oranges were empty.

With both of the elderly gentlemen gone, the kitchen was left with only Jiang Feng quietly contemplating the suggestions Jiang Weiming had just made.

Very low heat, huh?

Jiang Feng felt it was worth a try.

Oranges are a delicious fruit, rightly sweet and sour, with a unique, natural fragrance. It is this fragrance that makes crab-stuffed oranges extremely tempting when the cover is removed.

But steamed oranges are different, although the flavor is roughly the same, they lack a bit of sweetness, gain a touch of sourness, ruining the perfect balance of sweet and sour, plus there’s an indescribable strange taste.

Creativity is good, but the flavor is insufficient.

Perhaps very low heat could preserve more of the original flavor of the orange.

Jiang Feng felt as though he had just opened the door to a new world.

Meanwhile, the two elderly gentlemen slowly made their way out of Taifeng Building and went their separate ways at the entrance.

“Third brother, do you know where the seafood market is?” Jiang Weiguo asked, unsure.

“I know, Jianye took me there before,” Jiang Weiming answered, “You know how to pick oranges, right?”

“Yes, I know. My old lady loves these fruits. Back when I was in the village, I had to go to town every day to buy them for her,” Jiang Weiguo replied. “Feng doesn’t know how to pick oranges. How can he cook something tasty with those that are neither sour nor sweet?”

“Little brother, did you bring your bus card?” Jiang Weiming asked, concerned.

Jiang Weiguo took out his bus card from his pocket, and as he was about to leave, suddenly remembered something important, “Third brother, did you bring cash with you?”

Now it was Jiang Weiming who was momentarily stumped, and upon checking his pockets, he could only produce 16 yuan.

16 yuan, probably enough to buy a couple of crab legs.

“Isn’t there that thing, mobile payment? You know how to use it, right? Teach me,” Jiang Weiming took out his mobile phone.

Jiang Weiguo, in his eighties, began to instruct Jiang Weiming, in his nineties, on how to make mobile payments, only to realize that he wasn’t quite sure himself.

“Isn’t it just clicking on this payment thing?” Jiang Weiming noticed the two big characters on the phone screen.

“That’s not right. I saw Feng and the others, they always scan some thing with their phones, then enter the amount, and after that, their password. Isn’t this the, what’s it called? That thing, the code right?” Jiang Weiguo became confused.

Jiang Weiming was even more confused than Jiang Weiguo.

The two elderly gentlemen stood at the entrance of Taifeng Building, staring blankly at the Alipay payment code.

A passerby, a 996 worker, hearing their conversation and taking a glance at Jiang Weiming’s old-fashioned cell phone, enthusiastically pointed at the phone and explained to them, “Grandpas, you use this to make the payment. This is the payment code. You just have to scan this at the store, and if you can’t manage, show your phone to the shop staff, and they’ll help you with it.”

“Young man, thank you so much,” Jiang Weiming said with a grateful smile.

After the worker left, Jiang Weiguo couldn’t help but sigh, “Ah, we’re really getting old.”

“So we’re old, what’s wrong with that? We’ve been old for so many years, and only now you’re realizing it? Isn’t your reaction a bit too slow?” Jiang Weiming said, laughing.

“Let’s not talk about it anymore. Third brother, be careful on the road. If you can’t find your way back, call Feng or Jiankang to come and get you.”

With that, the two elderly gentlemen parted ways.

Jiang Weiming walked a few steps forward, but couldn’t help looking back at the signboard of Taifeng Building.

He remembered very clearly that his father had told him, the signboard was brought to Beiping from Outside the Pass the year he was born.

From Outside the Pass to Beiping, over a hundred years, wherever that signboard hung, that was Taifeng Building.

He was old, but the signboard was still young.

Forever young.

Immortal.