The Game of Life

The day before the final exams commenced, Li Mingyi died.

When Jiang Feng received the phone call, he was cramming for his political theory exam in the dormitory, his mind filled with materialism and dialectics. Suddenly, the shocking news left his brain in a complete glitch.

Li Mingyi had passed away.

This was the first time Jiang Feng had to face the death of a relative head-on.

Even though Chen Suhua had already informed him that Li Mingyi didn’t have much time left, death seemed so surreal and distant to Jiang Feng. As if to defy the doctors, Li Mingyi held on for 16 days, although he was given at most half a month to live, and passed away peacefully at ten o’clock in the morning.

The funeral home had already been contacted, and the funeral was scheduled for six days later, with the Jiang Family helping to manage the affairs.

The Li Family was already sparse; there were a few relatives, but they had severed ties during a special period and there was no further contact. Professor Li had no children, few relatives, and even fewer close friends. Plus, with the passing in the family, it all seemed even more desolate.

After the political theory exam, Jiang Feng went to help at Professor Li’s home.

The old man, Jiang Jiankang, along with several of Jiang Feng’s uncles, had gone to the funeral home. Jiang Feng’s other cousins were either out of town or busy with work or school, leaving him alone to help Chen Suhua sort through Li Mingyi’s belongings.

The staff at the funeral home had asked Chen Suhua to select some photos from Li Mingyi’s life. As Chen Suhua looked through the old photos, the more she looked, the sadder she became, her eyes reddening until she could not stop crying. She had to sort through the clothes instead, leaving Jiang Feng to pick out the photos.

The photos were all in a thick photo album, the one that Li Mingyi loved to browse the most. Most of them were his and Jiang Huiqin’s joint photos. After Jiang Huiqin’s death, apart from family portraits, Li Mingyi took no other photos.

"Dad was actually quite spirited yesterday; he even had a small bowl of porridge in the morning. Then he got in the mood and asked me to bring out the album to show him. He was sitting on the sofa flipping through the photos, and as he was flipping, I thought he fell asleep. At noon, I wanted to wake him for lunch but didn’t expect…1‘ Chen Suhua choked up again as she spoke and cried for a long time before calming down.

"Feng, pick more photos of your great-uncle and great-aunt together. It’ll make your great-uncle happy to see them down below,” said Chen Suhua.

Jiang Feng didn’t know how to respond, nor did he know how to feel about this album.

He was too unfamiliar with death to really feel its reality, and even though everyone told him Li Mingyi had died and he had seen the cold body at the funeral home, Jiang Feng couldn’t believe he was gone.

The room was still filled with his presence, and Jiang Feng remembered clearly his life with Jiang Huiqin. Turning the pages of the album at Chen Suhua’s request, he looked only for the photos of Li Mingyi and Jiang Huiqin together.

"How about this one, Aunt?” Jiang Feng found a suitable photo and held up the album for Chen Suhua to see.

In the black-and-white picture, a young Li Mingyi and Chen Suhua stood in front of a Western-style building, both wearing smiles that seemed a bit forced, and they both looked exhausted.

"No, your great-uncle didn’t like this one,” Chen Suhua rejected it after just a glance.

“This photo was taken in San Francisco in front of your great-uncle and great-aunt’s new home during the war. Your great-uncle didn’t like that place, and neither did your great-aunt.”

No wonder they both appeared unhappy despite it being an occasion for joy.

Jiang Feng was about to turn to the next page.

As he turned the page, his palm covered the photo.

"Ding, you have received an item: [A Piece of Li Mingyi’s Memory].” The system’s prompt suddenly rang out.

Jiang Feng was stunned.

Had he just done something?

He quickly realized he had touched the photo with his hand.

On a whim, Jiang Feng remembered the previous side quest,

“The Last Good Medicine,” when the game had given him two memories at once. He had thought the game had suddenly become generous. Now, it seemed that wasn’t the case.

He seemed to remember touching a wedding photo of Li Mingyi and Jiang Huiqin at that time.

To confirm his guess, Jiang Feng felt every photo in the album from beginning to end and finally received another [A Piece of Li Mingyi’s Memory] from a black-and-white family portrait.

Receiving two memories at once was quite a bountiful harvest. Jiang Feng looked through the album again and selected nine photos that Chen Suhua was satisfied with, including the marriage certificate of Li Mingyi and Jiang Huiqin.

Half of the photos in this album were black-and-white old photos taken during the Republican era, and many even retained their negatives. It was not easy to have preserved them in good condition until now.

Chen Suhua meticulously sorted and stored all the old items and clothes Li Mingyi had used, while Jiang Feng helped on the side. After a whole day of work, they finally got everything sorted out.

There was another exam for Jiang Feng the next day, so after bidding farewell to Chen Suhua, he returned to school.

The memorial service was very simple.

It was a small service with few attendees, most of whom were Professor Li’s old friends. Li Mingyi’s old friends from his time in Beiping had either passed away or could not be contacted, and those still alive couldn’t attend due to health reasons, so their younger relatives came on their behalf.

Jiang Feng noticed that Professor Li had aged overnight.

The only close relative he had left in this world was Chen Suhua.

Sir had wanted to invite Professor Li to spend the New Year with them in Zet City, but Professor Li refused on the grounds that there was a death in the family, so Sir had to drop the idea.

As soon as his final exams were over, Jiang Jiankang closed the Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant, halted business, and booked the earliest ticket home he could find, eager to return as if he were an overseas Chinese who hadn’t visited his homeland in over a decade.

It was for this reason that Jiang Feng’s ticket to Shu was discovered.

What awaited him was a tribunal.

In the evening, Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant was closed for the day. Jiang Jiankang, Wang Xiulian, Jiang Weiguo, three formidable figures, sat in front of Jiang Feng, scrutinizing him under the shadowy gaze of three dark silhouettes, invisible and tangible pressure overwhelming him from all sides.

"Speak, son. We are just curious and concerned about you. Why didn’t you come home for the holidays and secretly booked a ticket to Shu without telling us?” Jiang Jiankang played the role of the good cop first.

"I just… just think Shu is fun and I’ve never been there, so I want to take advantage of the holiday to have some fun,” Jiang Feng began to make up nonsense.

Ever since Li Mingyi passed away, Jiang Weiguo had been in low spirits. He was hoping to find someone in Shu to give Sir a surprise and make him happy for the New Year; there was no way he could spill the beans now.

A surprise isn’t a surprise unless it’s found.

"Why can’t you have fun during the summer break? Running off to have fun right before the New Year? And deliberately keeping it a secret from us, tell me the truth, what are you going to do in Shu!” Mrs. Wang Xiulian was furious without even trying to be.

"It’s too hot during the summer break, isn’t it much cooler during the winter break? Mrs. Wang Xiulian, what are you thinking? I’ve just been too busy lately and forgot to mention it. There’s still more than ten days until New Year’s, I was just thinking of having fun for a couple of days before it starts,” Jiang Feng said.

"That’s right, it really is too hot in Shu during the summer break. It’s better to go there to have fun during the winter break,” Jiang Jiankang was immediately convinced by Jiang Feng’s rhetoric.

"You believe that nonsense he’s saying? Don’t you know what your own son is like?” Mrs. Wang Xiulian gave Jiang Jiankang a fierce look, showing her disdain for such an unreliable ally,

“Son, it’s not that your parents are forbidding you from going, but you have to tell the truth. Even if you are twenty, in our eyes, you’re still a child. Running off to Shu without a word and not telling us why, isn’t that making us worry?”

Jiang Feng was shocked; he hadn’t expected Mrs. Wang Xiulian to so cunningly put him between a rock and a hard place.

"I’m really just going to have fun, Mom, you’re really overthinking it,” Jiang Feng insisted adamantly.

How could Wang Xiulian possibly believe Jiang Feng’s lies? He wouldn’t talk, so she started guessing,

“Son, are you in love?”

Jiang Feng: ???

How did Mrs. Wang Xiulian come to the conclusion that he might have romantic issues from the fact that he was secretly planning to go to Shu?

All he did every day was deal with kitchen knives and pots, so what was he in love with, knives or one of those three pots in the kitchen?

"Mom, what are you talking about? I’m with you all day in the kitchen, who would I be in a relationship with?” Jiang Feng said, dumbfounded.

"Just because you’re under my eyes all day doesn’t mean you can’t be in a relationship. High school students still fall in love even though they’re under their teachers’ watch. Tell the truth, are you going to Shu with your girlfriend?”

"No, wait, you’re going alone, is your girlfriend from Shu?”

"Is it Qianqian? She’s from Shu! Is it her?” Wang Xiulian stated with conviction, as if she had cracked the case.

Jiang Feng: ???

Mrs. Wang Xiulian and her otherworldly logic!

For a moment, Jiang Feng didn’t even know where to begin his rebuttal.

"Qianqian? Even though Qianqian can eat a lot, she doesn’t put on weight. Son, when you pick a girlfriend, it’s better to choose someone sturdier,” Jiang Jiankang miraculously followed Wang Xiulian’s line of reasoning.

Jiang Feng:…

"I’m not! I’m not in a relationship! I’m just going to have fun, I really am just going there to play! Liu Qian is heading straight back to her hometown at County B in Shu; I’m going to the provincial city, they’re not even the same place,” Jiang Feng exclaimed loudly,

“Mom, Dad, please don’t overthink it. I’m not a high school student, if I were in a relationship it wouldn’t be early love, why would I hide it from you?”

"If it’s not Qianqian, I remember Wu Minqi is from the provincial city of Shu, right?” Jiang Jiankang completely ignored Jiang Feng’s words.

Jiang Feng:…

"Impossible, that girl’s family is wealthy, she’s good-looking and has excellent cooking skills – there’s no way she would fancy our son,” Wang Xiulian dismissed outright.

Jiang Jiankang nodded in agreement.

Jiang Feng: ???

Where did I…

Well, it does seem that I’m not a match.

The couple, completely disregarding Jiang Feng, went through their own analysis and realized the possibility of Jiang Feng having a secret relationship behind their backs was actually very slim, and finally dropped the subject.

"Alright, we might have wronged you this time. What are you going to do in Shu?” Wang Xiulian asked.

Jiang Feng:…

After going in circles, they were back to this question.

"I really am just going there to have fun.”

"You…”

"Alright, Feng is grown-up now; there’s no need to worry so much. Let him go wherever he wants, just leave the kid alone if he’s happy,” Sir, who had been watching the drama for a while, intervened and cut Mrs. Wang Xiulian off with a final decision,

“How many days will you be there?”

"Five days.” Jiang Feng felt that if he couldn’t find any leads in five days, spending more time would just be a waste.

"Remember to make up for the practice you miss when you get back,” Sir stood up, mentioning it was getting late, and it was time for him to rest at Jiang Feng’s fifth uncle’s house.

After Sir had left, Jiang Jiankang still wasn’t satisfied and pulled Jiang Feng aside to whisper,

“Son, just tell Dad, are you really in a relationship with Qianqian? I’m just asking; I have no objections.”

"Dad, I really am not!”

Jiang Feng was on the verge of tears.

He was just a twenty-year-old kid; why did he have to suffer through the same New Year’s marriage pressure as his older cousin?