The Game of Life

Chapter 75 - 74 Trendy Internet-Famous Store

A night of sweet dreams.

When Jiang Feng woke up the next day, he found that Han Guishan’s message had already arrived half an hour earlier.

He said that Wang Jing was currently vacationing in Europe and probably hadn’t replied because of the time difference. They had been in touch with Jiang Yuanchao over the past few years, and Jiang Yuanchao had moved from County Yalom to the countryside a few years ago. Wang Jing has Jiang Yuanchao’s phone number, and she will send it to Jiang Feng once she sends it over.

Steady!

With that, Jiang Feng was in no rush and slowly went downstairs to eat breakfast after freshening up.

He had discovered the day before that the intestine noodles and trotter soup made by the Shu people were truly delicious!

No matter how small the shop, the technique for intestine noodles was above the national average. The homestay Jiang Feng had booked was inside a residential complex, and for convenience’s sake, he had eaten a bowl of intestine noodles at the small noodle shop at the entrance of the complex the day before, which turned out to be an amazing surprise.

Cleaning intestines is a painstaking task; the fat has to be thoroughly removed; otherwise, there will be an off-putting smell. Everyone has their own preference for braising intestines; as long as the flavor of the seasonings and the intestine itself do not clash, it’s considered a success.

The noodle shop at the entrance of the complex sold a bowl of intestine noodles for only 7 RMB. The intestines were finely chopped, and the fat was very cleanly processed, indicating it had been boiled in water at least three times before braising. The combination of spices was also quite good, with many varieties that didn’t overpower the main dish, in a well-proportioned mix that not only enhanced the aroma of the intestines but also masked their innate gamey smell.

The noodles were made from sweet potato, chewy and resilient. Coupled with soybeans, baby bok choy, and a handful of chopped scallions, topped finally with a spoonful of spicy oil – not too hot but aromatic – it was just to Jiang Feng’s liking.

Spellbound by the intestine noodles at the gate of the complex, a large bowl left him feeling refreshed and invigorated. After checking his phone and seeing no new messages, he decided to wander around.

Teahouses were everywhere in the capital city of Shu, with larger ones even sporting a stage at the entrance to attract customers. With the mindset of a spectator wanting to join in the fun, Jiang Feng watched for a while, not understanding what they were singing or even recognizing the tune. After freeloading for a bit, he slipped away quietly.

Having made it all the way to Shu, naturally he wanted to try some of the local specialty snacks. The noodle shop at the entrance to the complex had already made Jiang Feng deeply respect the capability of the Shu people, as he felt they could do no wrong. Around lunchtime, he searched for a nearby snack shop and decided to try out a popular store specializing in Dragon Dumplings.

Pure positive reviews – comments like “worthy of a viral sensation,” “a great value,” and many saying it had authentic Shu characteristics – piqued Jiang Feng’s interest, and he made his way there using GPS.

The store lived up to its viral sensation status with fine decoration, and perhaps because it was a weekday, it wasn’t very crowded, so there were quite a few empty seats when Jiang Feng arrived.

The waiter was very polite, but the prices were a bit steep; a signature bowl of Dragon Dumplings cost 48 RMB.

When the Dragon Dumplings were brought out, Jiang Feng took a careful look – weren’t these just…

Wontons?

He pulled out his phone to search, and sure enough, they were wontons – another name for them was dumplings.

The bowl was large and beautiful, the greenish-blue edges adorned with colorful painting. The dumplings were quite large, but there were only seven or eight of them in total, not to mention quite a bit of garnish visible on the surface, including chopped scallions, coriander, bok choy, peas, soybeans, and minced red chili. The soup was a reddish hue, topped with a thin layer of oil, leading Jiang Feng to suspect that the shop had poured chili oil instead of red oil directly into it.

But could you really enjoy a bowl of wontons with so many ingredients?

Holding the expectation that a wonton costing several RMB must be exceptionally tasty, Jiang Feng took a bite of a dumpling.

It didn’t taste good.

The skin was too thick, the meat not fresh, there were too many ingredients, the broth didn’t taste clean, and the spicy oil was hot but not fragrant…

Jiang Feng could find a dozen faults with this bowl of dumplings.

But the key issue was the price – it was too expensive!

48 RMB for a bowl, he would rather go eat the boxed meal on the high-speed train.

Jiang Feng rated his dining experience as extremely poor.

The Shu people were not invincible, at least when it came to their viral sensation shops.

After struggling to eat two dumplings, he just couldn’t stomach any more, so Jiang Feng paid and left dejected. The more he thought about it, the angrier he got, to the point where he even felt that this viral sensation shop was an insult to Shu delicacies. He messaged Wu Minqi on WeChat to vent about this store.

The Dragon Dumplings at the xxx place on xx Road are a complete rip-off!” Not satisfied with telling Wu Minqi, Jiang Feng copied and pasted the message and sent it to Liu Qian.

Liu Qian replied immediately.

“Dragon Dumplings, President, if you want to eat Dragon Dumplings you should go to the xxx store in the xxx place ( – a>- *)”

Five minutes later.

Eh, President, why are you in the capital of Shu QVQ”

Jiang Feng:…

She really was the last to know.

He aimlessly strolled the streets for another afternoon before he received a reply from Wu Minqi: “There are very few places in the capital that make authentic Dragon Dumplings, I’ll make some for you when I have time.” Jiang Feng looked at the time: 4:17 p.m. The Wu Family Restaurant was quite busy today, huh.

“Any news about your grandfather’s brother?” Another message came.

Yes, should be able to find him by tomorrow,” Jiang Feng replied.

“Fine, I’m off to be busy.”

Jiang Feng put away his phone and continued his leisurely stroll.

Dinner was once again settled at the small noodle shop at the entrance of the complex. A bowl of intestine noodles with an additional portion of trotter soup came to 28 RMB, a conscientious business compared to the viral sensation shop at noon.

The trotter soup contained a complete pig’s front trotter and was complemented only by strips of kelp, a bit small, but cooked until very tender to the point where the skin and meat would separate with a gentle pull, and even the tendons could be slurped out; considerately, the shop provided Jiang Feng with a small bowl of spicy oil for dipping the trotter. The soup was a milky-white color, very fresh, seasoned only with salt and no extra flavorings, purely relying on the taste of the ingredients.

A large bowl of intestine noodles and a bowl of trotter soup had Jiang Feng feeling as if he was walking on the clouds.

Gently floating back to the homestay, Han Guishan had already obtained the phone number from Wang Jing and sent it to Jiang Feng.

Jiang Feng dialed the number, and after a wait of about fifteen seconds, the call connected.

Taking a deep breath to hide any hint of nervousness, he asked softly, “Hello, may I speak to Jiang Yuanchao?”