The Game of Life

In the following period, Jiang Feng was immersed in figuring out how to braise A-grade crab-stuffed oranges.

Throughout the process of researching braising, Jiang Feng constantly focused on the central tenet: conserve natural gas, always recalling the mantra of saving charcoal. It was less about how to braise the crab-stuffed oranges and more about saving natural gas. In this regard, he truly inherited Mrs. Jiang’s expertise, filling over a dozen pages of notes. Not just writing, Jiang Feng also did the math, using up a stack of scratch paper. The results from the game appraisals combined with his calculated numbers allowed him to precisely control the braising time.

Sometimes, while mopping the floor, Ji Xia would observe Jiang Feng furiously writing formulas at the dining table that she couldn’t understand, muttering data she couldn’t grasp, and she couldn’t help but feel a sense of alarm.

Being a Red Chef is too tough!

One even needs to learn math.

And such difficult math at that!

Ji Xia, who had never passed a math exam, decided that she might as well learn some basic skills from her master and save money to open a breakfast shop later on.

And so, writing and calculating away, Jiang Feng welcomed National Day.

Golden Week.

This seven-day holiday is a genuine golden week for the catering industry, raining gold from the sky. Back when Jiang Jiankang was running a healthy snack shop in Z city, the National Day golden week would tire out Jiang Feng, who was temporarily roped in for deliveries, so much he’d want to be overthrown. Not to mention the current Taifeng Building, where Jiang Feng was relieved that they didn’t offer delivery services like Eight-treasure House; otherwise, they as furnace chefs might be too exhausted to even write the word “death.”

Just thinking about it made Jiang Feng feel sympathy for that White Chef from Eight-treasure House, who had been poached and was especially good at making Suzhou-style mooncakes. The poaching demon Ling Guangzhao had specifically brought in a white chef from Gusu not to only shine during Mid-Autumn Festival, as even long past it, Jiang Feng could still see Suzhou-style mooncakes on Eight-treasure House’s delivery menu on Ele.me, just with sales not as high as during Mid-Autumn.

Recently, Eight-treasure House launched quite a few pastry products, just like Jiang Feng’s Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon, which was for delivery only, not for sale. Within a mere week, they had built a solid reputation, and Ling Guangzhao probably spent quite a lot of money on hiring fake reviewers for promotion, which Jiang Feng sometimes came across scrolling through his social media feeds.

Of course, those posting such messages were basically from Ling Guangzhao’s social circles, and Jiang Feng recently considered blocking him. His nice social media feed was turning into something akin to a marketing account, and the products being marketed were from his rivals.

Right before National Day, Eight-treasure House was shining brightly, but Taifeng had its own trump card for the holiday – Jiang Feng’s Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon would officially hit Taifeng’s menu on October 1st and need to be reserved a day in advance, just like the Wazan Huadiao Chicken. As the chestnut pigeon had been given to VIP customers a few times before, the news that the Taifeng chef making them was fully inheriting Master Sun’s craft had already spread far and wide. Consequently, when Jiang Jiandang released the announcement of the new October dish on WeChat and Weibo, the entire National Day period’s reservations were filled within a day.

This also foretold that Jiang Feng might be the busiest employee in Taifeng during National Day.

The heartless merchant Mrs. Wang Xiulian had filled Jiang Feng’s schedule much more than for Ji Xue.

For Taifeng employees, National Day was destined to be a flurry of activity, filled with the promise of overtime pay.

On September 30th at 10:11 PM, Jiang Feng picked up his phone intending to check WeChat one last time before going to bed.

This was already his fourth time picking up the phone.

Sleep was the best rest, and being well-rested was key to energetically facing the next day’s grueling work.

Knowing this, Jiang Feng had gone to bed at 9:30 PM intending to sleep, but knowing is one thing and doing is another. Just like every school kid knows that studying diligently is the wisest choice, the few that study relentlessly to the point of exhaustion like the Jiang kids are rare, none of them having a grandfather like Jiang Weiguo to aid their success.

Having a good grandfather is so important.

Every time Jiang Feng picked up his phone, he would forget his original intention of a quick glance; he’d go from QQ to WeChat to the browser, and even Alipay’s Ant Forest was so interesting. As long as his phone had battery, he could keep browsing endlessly. ⱤÀ𝐍Ồ฿Ęṣ

If his phone ran out of battery, Jiang Feng could continue while charging, and even answer an elementary school Olympiad question. Given that the current battery life is 3%, Jiang Feng uses 2% per minute, and charges 4%, under the condition that he doesn’t play “King of Glory” or “PUBG,” after how many minutes can he fully charge the phone?

On the fourth time picking up his phone, Jiang Feng reminded himself to really go to sleep after checking WeChat this time.

But wasn’t it just now that the phone vibrated? Maybe he would already be asleep if it hadn’t.

Ah, who could it be, messaging him at 10:11 PM without sleeping – truly troubling.

Inhaling deeply, Jiang Feng tapped WeChat open.

His phone seemed to have been dropped too many times or used for too long, possibly a bit senile, often vibrating without displaying messages, not even showing who sent them, causing Jiang Feng to miss messages sent by others.

After opening WeChat, the first thing Jiang Feng saw was the chefs’ group chat.

Ling Guangzhao was talking in the group.

With the mindset of “Let’s see what nonsense you’re spouting besides advertising and headhunting,” Jiang Feng entered the group chat.

The group was bustling, with Ling Guangzhao alone giving the impression of ten people’s worth of chatter.

Ling Guangzhao: Tomorrow is National Day, and our Eight-treasure House will launch brand new Suzhou-style pastries. I welcome everyone to come and try them out if you have the time, and let’s share our thoughts. [smiley face]

Ling Guangzhao: [Image]

Ling Guangzhao: [Image]

Ling Guangzhao: [Image]

Ling Guangzhao: [Image]

Ling Guangzhao: [Image]

Ling Guangzhao: We’re starting with these pastries at Eight-treasure House. If any of you are interested but can’t find the time, feel free to message me privately, and I can have an employee deliver it to your doorstep. [smiley face]

Lu Sheng: Looks really nice [smile]

Pei Shenghua: Yo, that does look good.

Pei Shenghua: I’ve also taken some pictures of good dishes recently, let me send them over for you guys to see.

Pei Shenghua: [Image]

Pei Shenghua: [Image]

Pei Shenghua: [Image]

Jiang Feng, who just got bombarded as soon as he opened WeChat: …

Forget it, I might as well block Pei Shenghua for now, compared to him, Ling Guangzhao’s marketing accounts don’t seem too bad.

Jiang Feng was about to shut down the computer and go to sleep when he suddenly remembered that he hadn’t checked who had messaged him just now; he scrolled down a bit and saw Wang Hao beneath a bunch of blocked group chats.

Wang Hao: Feng bro, Feng bro, are you there?

Wang Hao: Feng bro, Feng bro, have you gone to sleep?

Wang Hao: Your Majesty, have you retired for the night?

Just look at this attitude!

Jiang Feng: I have not retired yet.

Wang Hao: Your Majesty, save your son, please!

Jiang Feng thought for a moment and typed a question mark.

Wang Hao: You see, I’m about to start my internship in Beiping soon, right? I’ve got a task right now that can be easily solved with just a tiny bit of your Majesty’s effort.

Wang Hao: Our company does some advertising, right? Sometimes we get some promotional business, and these minor promotions are thrown to us interns. It’s for a failing author’s public WeChat account, called: “Starting Point Ton Ton Ton Ton Ton.” The author writes about food, and I was thinking, doesn’t your Taifeng Building’s official WeChat and Weibo have a lot of followers? Could you give me a hand and promote it?

Jiang Feng: ???

Normally when I post on moments, you don’t even give me a like, but now you think of me.

Ha, roommates.

Jiang Feng: I’m not in charge of the official account and Weibo.

Wang Hao: [Image]

Wang Hao: Your Majesty, please save your child, it’s two hundred bucks a task!

Jiang Feng: Not saving, scram.

Jiang Feng waited two minutes holding his phone, but Wang Hao didn’t reply; the screen kept showing that the other party was typing but no message came.

After another two minutes, Jiang Feng got a direct WeChat call from Wang Hao.

“Hello? Feng bro?” The familiar voice of Wang Hao came from the other end of the phone.

“What is it?” Jiang Feng asked, still immersed in the emperor’s script and not yet out of character.

“Well, this, I mean, you see, since I’m interning, right? Our company is in Beiping, isn’t it? I’ve been talking online recently, I wrote some stuff and sent it over, and our company is pretty satisfied with it, so after the National Day, I might be going over to your place in Beiping,” Wang Hao said.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Feng thought it was good news and relaxed his guard, “Do you want me to help you find a place to live?”

“That’s not an issue, our company has employee dormitories. The problem now is that my dad won’t give me my living expenses until the 15th.”

“The tickets to Beiping are just too expensive, I had only 9.67 left after buying the ticket yesterday.”

“Feng bro, can you cover meals for me until the 15th?”

Jiang Feng: …

He felt that blocking Pei Shenghua could wait, blocking Wang Hao was the priority.

“What do you call me?” asked Jiang Feng.

“Your Majesty, my most beloved Majesty!”

“I’ll cover meals.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty! Your son takes his leave.”

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