The Game of Life

“The other day it rained, and mushrooms started growing on the beams in the old house’s storeroom again. They looked good, so I picked them all and brought them over,” Jiang Weiguo walked up to the kitchen doorway, opened the burlap sack he brought, and began taking out items one by one, “Wild pheasant, hare, deer meat, wild boar legs, they’re all cured-Jianguo, make sure to store them properly. Tea tree mushrooms, wild and sun-dried, just right for making soup, and this too.”

Having dealt with mushrooms for more than half a month, Jiang Feng recognized at a glance that the mushrooms in the sack Jiang Weiguo was holding were shiitake mushrooms.

By coincidence, Jiang Huiqin was also using shiitake mushrooms to make her soup.

“Use these for the soup, and don’t add any other messy stuff,” Jiang Weiguo placed the sack on the table, and the plump mushrooms rolled out from it.

“How do I cook it…” Jiang Feng asked blankly.

-You’ve been making soup for over half a month and you’re asking me how to cook it?” Jiang Weiguo scolded with strong vigor, “Do I really need to teach you how to do this? Can’t you just add some water and salt on your own? Do I need to hand-hold you through it?”

Jiang Jiankang was all too familiar with this scene. When he and his brothers were learning to cook as kids, Sir would scold them just like that. If you thickened your skin and asked for specifics on how to do it, Sir would curse while showing you how, step by step.

However, what happened next was beyond his expectations.

“Oh,” Jiang Feng reacted, taking the shiitake mushrooms out of the sack.

The shiitake mushrooms hadn’t been washed since they were picked; their roots were still caked with mud, and the folded parts were grubby, probably taking some time to clean.

Jiang Feng trimmed the roots off, soaked the mushrooms in water, and meticulously washed and scrubbed each one, changing the water three times.

Then he started making the soup.

Since Jiang Huiqin was using shiitake mushrooms, the shiitake mushroom soup was actually the type Jiang Feng made the most during this period. He had tried nearly every combination he could think of, except the first time when he added only green onions to the soup. The abundance of other ingredients in later attempts made one wonder if it was still shiitake mushroom soup.

There was no helping it, the shiitake flavor was so rich.

Following Jiang Weiguo’s instructions, Jiang Feng didn’t add anything but shiitake mushrooms, using only salt for seasoning.

Like countless times before, Jiang Feng stood by the pot, watching the water boil, ingredients tumble, skimming off the foam, and stirring gently.

Jiang Weiguo was watching by the side, unable to hide a smile.

Jiang Jiankang was stunned to see Sir smile.

It wasn’t that Jiang Weiguo didn’t like to smile, but that Jiankang seldom saw him smile while someone else was cooking. With Weiguo’s standards, not getting scolded while cooking in his presence was already high praise. The last time Jiankang saw Sir smile in the kitchen was when he himself had improved the method for preparing Kung Pao chicken.

That was also the only dish he had ever altered.

The soup was almost ready.

Jiang Feng felt that this was the most successful pot of soup he had made in

this period.

The shiitake flavor was still rich but not overpowering.

That pot of soup on the stove clearly told Jiang Feng,

I am shiitake mushroom soup; this is my flavor.

[A pot of shiitake mushroom soup that’s nearly flawless]

Jiang Feng had a taste.

Indeed, it was faultless.

Just shiitake mushroom soup.

Ordinary shiitake mushroom soup.

Ordinary, very delicious.

Better tasting than all the previous fancy concoctions.

Jiang Weiguo didn’t taste it but just looked at the soup in the pot, looked at Jiang Feng’s expression, and nodded with satisfaction. Then, he turned his head to ask Jiang Jiankang, “How many dishes do you still have to stir-fry?

Jiang Jiankang, who was tossing the wok, almost flipped the Kung Pao chicken out of the pan, “This one, and an eggplant with minced pork.

“I’ll stir-fry them. You go get the pork I sent over and thaw it out, two and a half pounds of belly, four pounds of ribs, and cut some lean meat too.” Jiang Weiguo took over the wok and continued stir-frying the Kung Pao chicken, while Jiankang hurried off to the cold storage for the meat Sir had requested.

Jiang Feng was preparing a clear soup with willow leaf-shaped swallow vegetables.

He made one dish a day, and every step was already second nature.

The last portion of eggplant was Liu Qian’s additional order.

She had run eight hundred meters during PE class this afternoon and, as usual, felt that two dishes weren’t enough, so she ordered an extra serving of minced meat with eggplant. Just now, she had used the last bit of tomato and scrambled egg soup to mix with her rice, and now that her mouth was free, she was chatting with the audience in her live stream.

Her channel now consistently had over a thousand followers daily, and there were many active viewers as well. Everyone had gotten used to her suffocating angle of the live stream, which gradually became one of her characteristics. After signing with the live streaming platform, she made a few hundred yuan a month. Although it wasn’t enough to cover her food expenses, she enjoyed it immensely.

“Annoyingly cute anchor, you ate a lot today!” Yan Xiaoyu’s conspicuously yellow comment floated across the top of the phone screen.

Today, she had three bowls of rice and two large plates of dishes, which wasn’t much for a professional eater, but it certainly was a lot more compared to her usual amount.

“Yeah, I had PE this afternoon, ma’am. Burned a lot of energy, so I ate more, right!”

“Annoyingly cute anchor, why haven’t we seen your club president lately?¹ Someone remembered Jiang Feng.

“The president has been in the kitchen making soup every day recently, and it has been horrible. The soups that were delivered recently were all made by him, and I think I could make a tastier soup than his. Yesterday’s mushroom, bok choy, and tofu soup was the worst!” Liu Qian complained indignantly, “It’s surprising because the porridge he cooks is pretty good, but his soup is terrible.”

“But now that you mention it, I really haven’t seen the president around for a while. He hasn’t attended any club events recently.”

The screen was flooded with laughter.

Not long after, Ji Yue came over with the eggplant.

Liu Qian took a sniff and exclaimed, “Smells wonderful.”

Yan Xiaoyu seized the moment to send a barrage of comments: “Annoyingly cute anchor says everything smells nice.”

“No, really, today’s eggplant smells different, exceptionally fragrant!” Liu Qian said earnestly.

Ji Yue presented the eggplant to Liu Qian: “I just saw that Grandpa Feng was the one who fried this eggplant; it smelled particularly good.”

“I also heard him say that he would cook tonight’s dinner.”

Liu Qian immediately caught on and indicated that she would stay to help and also take advantage of the free meal.

The freshly cooked eggplant with minced meat was still steaming, oily, and appeared very appetizing.

-Why do I feel like today’s eggplant looks extra delicious (?.w.?)”

“This eggplant looks amazing.”

“It’s so oily, it can’t taste good.” “Annoyingly cute anchor’s eyes are glued to it.” Liu Qian glanced at her phone, picked up a chopstickful of eggplant, and put it in her mouth, exclaiming, “Oh my god, this is ridiculously delicious!” On the other side, Jiang Feng’s clear broth with willow leaf and swallow greens was also ready.

“Ding, congratulations to the player for improving the Clear Broth Willow Leaf Swallow Greens (Pseudo).”

Jiang Feng opened the attributes panel without caring that Jiang Weiguo and Jiang Jiankang were still handling pork nearby.

[Clear Broth Willow Leaf Swallow Greens (Pseudo) D-grade][Improved]:

Creator: Jiang Huiqin

Improver: Jiang Feng

Improvement Evaluation: Returning to simplicity, the ultimate simplicity. Using the simplest ingredients to bring out the original flavor.

Details of the dish: Even with the poor combination of materials and seasonings, this food appears precious due to Jiang Huiqin’s extraordinary cooking skills and special circumstances. It was a shining light during the darkest moment of Li Mingyi’s life, helping him to survive. No special bonuses.

Number of times it can be made per day: 1 time. (1/1)

It was improved successfully?

Still D-grade?

Jiang Feng was somewhat incredulous and even hesitant to taste it.

This simple?

How could it be!