The Game of Life

After the last exam ended, Jiang Feng packed his luggage and rushed to the train station.

Grandpa Jiang and the others had taken the morning train, leaving early, which left Wang Hao feeling particularly aggrieved, as he thought he could still score a free breakfast. Jiang Feng left him a jar of pickles made by Mrs. Wang Xiulian to console his wounded heart.

Jiang Feng’s Uncle, Jiang Jiandang, met them in Zet City, which was odd because the final settlement of the demolition compensation had been dragging on for nearly half a year without resolution. The pharmacy next to the Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant had already been renovated, but Jiang Jiandang was stuck in Zet City because of this last payment.

Before boarding the bus, Jiang Feng even took the time to send Han Guishan a WeChat message, reminding him that the pickled cabbage dumplings in the freezer could only be kept for up to twelve days.

Jiang Feng was heading to Shu today, and for the past few days, he had made 60 pickled cabbage dumplings each day. Han Guishan had even purchased an expensive large freezer to store them, intending to eat these dumplings until the New Year.

During these days, the income from selling carved radishes and making pickled cabbage dumplings for Han Guishan added up to nearly a hundred thousand RMB. At this rate, Jiang Feng would have enough money saved for renovations before the next New Year. However, neither of these were long-term sources of income. The number of people seeking his carved radishes had been declining, and the UAL University market was almost saturated. If Jiang Feng wanted to ’ earn another couple of million, he would have to find another way.

But Jiang Feng was not in a rush. In just over ten days, the registration for Good Taste would begin, with the competition starting in March, leaving only two months. There was still a vast gap between his and Wu Minqi’s culinary skills. His immediate priority was to go home for the winter vacation and hone his cooking skills under Sir’s guidance, aiming not to lose too embarrassingly. On the bright side, if he got lucky and managed to defeat Wu Minqi and win first place, the prize money was a substantial one-hundred thousand RMB, not even considering the reward of a kitchen knife.

One hundred thousand!

That would cover one-thirtieth of the shortfall for the renovations!

After waiting at the station for more than an hour, he finally saw his train approaching. It wasn’t the peak travel season yet, and the colleges in Alan City had staggered holidays, so the station wasn’t very crowded. Jiang Feng smoothly wheeled his 24-inch suitcase onto the high-speed train without having to jostle through a crowd.

After quickly securing his suitcase in the overhead compartment, Jiang Feng checked his ticket to find his seat. His seat was 14F. As he approached, he saw a girl, already seated in 14D, bundled up in a mask, hat, scarf, and down jacket. Jiang Feng tapped the girl’s shoulder,

“Excuse me, classmate, could you let me through?”

"Oh.” The girl stood up, looked up at Jiang Feng, and said,

“Jiang Feng?” After removing her mask and scarf, it turned out to be Wu Minqi.

“Wow, look at that, we’re seatmates,” Jiang Feng remarked.

"Isn’t your family from Alan City? What are you doing on this train?” Jiang Feng and Wu Minqi’s relationship had progressed exponentially to close confidantes after a couple of weeks of camaraderie in the kitchen.

In other words, a guy best friend.

"I’m going to the capital of Shu to meet someone,” Jiang Feng replied, stepping into the row,

“Did you finish your exams today too?”

"I finished my exams yesterday. Couldn’t snag a plane ticket and there were no high-speed train tickets for the evening. I just wrote whatever since it all didn’t matter much. If I wasn’t so reluctant, I would’ve just dropped out and gone home,” replied Wu Minqi.

For her, a diploma truly wasn’t important-after all, she was a winner in life with a skill in hand and a family ‘mine’.

"Who are you looking for in Shu? Someone in the capital? I’m familiar with the capital. Whether it’s a classmate or teacher, wherever you’re staying, I could take you there,” Wu Minqi offered.

‘Tm looking for a relative of mine. I recently heard they might be in the capital of Shu, and they used to be a chef at a state-owned restaurant. Do you know where the original state-owned restaurants in the capital of Shu are?” Jiang Feng was indeed hoping to ask Wu Minqi for some directions once he arrived in Shu.

Wu Minqi shook her head,

“There were quite a few state-owned restaurants in the capital, seven or eight large and small ones. Except for one, the rest have closed down. Do you have any other information, like a surname or name?”

“His name is Jiang Weiming, and he is likely my grandpa’s elder brother,” said Jiang Feng. He had not expected the capital of Shu to have so many state-owned restaurants.

Wu Minqi suddenly felt energized. During her time helping in the kitchen of the Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant, she had witnessed Sir’s cooking skills and came to admire him greatly. In her own words, apart from her grandfather and her grandfather’s most senior apprentice, no one else in the Wu Family could compare to Sir. Now that she was helping her idol find his brother, she was naturally very attentive.

Wu Minqi took out some paper from her bag and drew the locations of several state-owned restaurants for Jiang Feng to see if he could recognize which one it might be.

Sure enough, Jiang Feng didn’t recognize them.

What he knew was the state-owned restaurants from 1987, a time before Wu Minqi was even born.

"Once you get to the provincial capital, go to our family’s restaurant first. My grandfather was also a chef at a state-owned restaurant before, the biggest one. If Grandpa Jiang’s brother really was a chef at a state-owned restaurant, my grandfather would definitely remember him. Don’t worry, you’ll definitely be able to find him,” Wu Minqi offered comfortingly.

"By the way, Jiang Feng, I’ve always wanted to ask, was your family also in the restaurant business before?” Wu Minqi asked.

"Also?” Jiang Feng asked, somewhat surprised.

"Your family’s model is almost identical to mine: a son inherits his father’s business. My family too. The Wu Family Restaurant has been around since The Northern Song Dynasty era, and now it’s been in my father’s hands for eight hundred years,” Wu Minqi said, then thought for a moment and added a qualifying word,

“allegedly.”

Jiang Feng:…

Compared to the Wu Family Restaurant, the Taifeng Building that the Jiang Family was so proud of seemed a bit less significant.

"My great-grandfather was the head chef at the Taifeng Building in Beiping during the Republican era,” Jiang Feng said.

No one knew the history of the Jiang Family any further back than that; when Sir was young, he had never heard Jiang Chengde boast about it, and no one knew whether the Jiang Family were cooks eight hundred years ago.

"No wonder,” Wu Minqi said in realization,

“My grandfather told me that the head chefs at the state-owned restaurants were basically the head chefs from the restaurants during the Republican period.”

Jiang Feng agreed with this point. At that time, everyone was struggling to get enough to eat. Aside from the few who had been in the cooking profession for generations, no one had the luxury to research culinary arts while hungry.

The two of them chatted all the way about various topics, mostly about UAL University, Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant, culinary insights, and the like.

It was also because of this conversation that Jiang Feng discovered that Wu Minqi was only skilled in Sichuan cuisine.

Or rather, the entire Wu Family was only skilled in Sichuan cuisine.

The Wu Family Restaurant, apart from Sichuan cuisine, barely sold dishes from other culinary styles. This model was reminiscent of feudal times, when various regions were inaccessible and there was little communication.

The Wu Family had stayed in the Shu area for generations, conducting their business solely there. A Michelin one-star restaurant, they didn’t even open branches, sticking to a very traditional business model.

They had been studying Sichuan cuisine for generations, with very clear strengths and weaknesses.

Jiang Feng seemed to understand why the game had given him the [Challenge of the Same Trade] task.

If it were Sichuan cuisine, Wu Minqi could beat ten Jiang Fengs with one hand.

But with other cuisines.

Winning would be way too easy.

A gift of points, really!