The Game of Life

The photograph taken by the Western photographer was the same one Jiang Feng had previously seen in the photo album.

After the photograph was taken, the New Year’s Eve dinner was also ready to be served.

The Li family had many members and thus three large tables, with the men at one and the women at two. The dishes were the same, but Jiang Feng could clearly tell that the table with several wives of uncles and relations who were more distant had noticeably inferior food quality, even the sweet and sour carp was made carelessly.

New Year’s Eve dinner was a joyous occasion for the family. The younger members would say a few playful words to make the elders laugh, and even Liu Xiuzhen gave her eldest daughter a few approving looks, which quite startled the daughter who had been feeling nervous all along.

“Mother, please try this Braised Tofu. This is Master Chen’s specialty, it’s very light, you will definitely like it,” Jiang Huiqin dutifully scooped up the softest tofu for Liu Xiuzhen.

Jiang Huiqin, sweet-tongued, grew up in Taifeng Building. Having seen all sorts of guests from near and far, she interacted with people of every social stratum. With a clever mouth and the gift of the gab, she could strike up a conversation with anyone.

She knew Liu Xiuzhen was previously upset with her for going to the kitchen to cook for the elderly madam, so she constantly flattered Liu Xiuzhen overtly and covertly, pleasing her enough to drop the matter of the kitchen visit.

In fact, Liu Xiuzhen did not have any major complaints about this daughter-in- law. If the Qing Dynasty were still in power, their family would be a lineage of officials, and naturally, she would not think highly of the sister of a cook. But times had changed, it was now New China. Her husband had become the lowest in the hierarchy of workers, farmers, businessmen, and scholars. Jiang Chengde was a renowned chef in Beiping with extensive connections. Jiang Huiqin had received education and was adept at both cooking and needlework, so Liu Xiuzhen had nothing much to disapprove of.

After chatting with other mistresses, Liu Xiuzhen also realized the times had changed. Nowadays everyone touted free marriage, filing for divorce, forsaking husbands or abandoning children, and would even publicly announce it in the newspapers. She could not comprehend the thinking of the younger generation and was even somewhat relieved that Jiang Huiqin was not one of those social butterflies who spoke of love and marriage freedom.

Liu Xiuzhen always looked down upon such people who spoke of equal love but still eagerly became someone else’s mistress, and yet had the audacity to pose as the legitimate wife in public, proclaiming themselves as the true love and the official spouse as a relic of feudalism.

Thinking this way, Liu Xiuzhen felt that Jiang Huiqin, her daughter-in-law, was actually not too bad.

“Huiqin has such a sweet mouth,” the elderly madam had eaten three pieces of Sweet and Sour Yam earlier and was almost full, thus hardly moving her chopsticks. “Find some time to make it for me again someday; it’s been a long while since I’ve tasted something so flavorful.”

“Grandma, Sweet and Sour Yam is too sweet and constantly eating it isn’t good for your health. On the Lantern Festival, I’ll make you sweet stuffed glutinous rice balls; I guarantee they’ll taste better than today’s Sweet and Sour Yam!” Jiang Huiqin smiled.

“Good, good,” the elderly madam agreed repeatedly.

“Where’s Fen?” Liu Xiuzhen turned to ask her eldest daughter, who was sitting in a corner.

“She said she was full, so I let her go outside to play,” her eldest daughter whispered.

“Such lack of discipline, and you’re her mother. She only had a few bites, how could she possibly be full already? He, go call Fen back now, and later tell the kitchen to make a bowl of steamed egg custard and send it to the eldest miss’s room. Fen will definitely be hungry later,” Liu Xiuzhen instructed.

“Thank you, Mother,” the eldest daughter still kept her head low.

On the thirtieth day of the lunar year, during the reunion dinner, no one would deliberately spoil the mood with disheartening words. Even if they were unhappy or harboring troubles, they would put on a smile, say some nice things, and talk about enjoyable topics while eating the reunion dinner and staying up to welcome the New Year.

In fact, nearly everyone was almost full, but according to tradition, they had to eat until late into the night, so they pretended to keep eating.

Without the Spring Festival Gala for entertainment, the group simply chatted among themselves. The elderly madam, being advanced in years, soon could not keep up and retreated to her room. Not long after she left, Fen began to feel sleepy.

The eldest daughter, afraid of being scolded by Liu Xiuzhen, didn’t dare to let Fen go back to her room first.

Liu Xiuzhen glanced at her and said, “Since Fen is sleepy, let her go back to her room first.”

Jiang Feng discovered that his mother-in-law, Jiang Huiqin, was a typical example of someone with a sharp tongue but a soft heart.

When the time came, everyone from all the households, men and women, old and young, were too tired to stay up, and the maids and grannies began cleaning up. The rest went back to their rooms.

Taking advantage of others’ inattention, Jiang Huiqin pulled Li Mingyi with her and ran to the kitchen.

There was no one in the kitchen, and the door was locked. Jiang Huiqin took out a key, unlocked the kitchen door, and after entering, closed it carefully behind her. Like a thief, she secretly lit a few lamps.

Li Mingyi, actually feeling a bit sleepy, said, “Huiqin, let’s go back. Actually, I’m not that fond of sweet and sour sweet potatoes.”

Jiang Huiqin replied, “I know. You like yams, and I’ll make sweet and sour yam for you. I saw some yams here earlier, and since there were no yam dishes on the table today, the yams should still be here.”

Li Mingyi was stunned, “How did you know I like yams?”

He had never told anyone about his preferences. Whenever asked, he always said he liked fish.

“A few days ago, we had yam stewed with ribs. You said you were full but you ate all the yams in your bowl and didn’t touch the ribs. Last month, you had your favorite sweet and sour carp and stir-fried yam on the table. You only had a couple of bites of the carp, but you ate almost half a plate of yam. How could I not notice you like yams?” said Jiang Huiqin as she rummaged through a basket, picked up a lamp, and selected a yam to prepare.

“Hold the lamp for me. It’s not convenient for me to hold it,” said Jiang Huiqin as she handed the kerosene lamp to Li Mingyi.

Li Mingyi, somewhat dazed, took the kerosene lamp, clearly distracted and wearing a silly smile on his face.

Jiang Huiqin, feeling the lighting was off, looked up and saw Li Mingyi not shining the light on the yam but rather grinning foolishly with the lamp. She pushed him, “Stop grinning. What are you thinking about? If I can’t see clearly and cut my hand, my mother will really scold me tomorrow.”

Li Mingyi came back to his senses and obediently held the kerosene lamp.

The process for making sweet and sour yam was similar to that of sweet and sour sweet potatoes, but this time Jiang Huiqin lit two stoves at once, frying the yams and cooking the sugar syrup simultaneously.

The kerosene lamp was placed on the stove’s edge, and Jiang Huiqin got both stoves burning well before reminding Li Mingyi, “Mingyi, when I say to reduce the heat on one side, pull out a couple of sticks of wood. If I say to increase it, stuff a handful of straw in there. Don’t pile up the wood because it might put out the fire.”

Li Mingyi nodded seriously.

Cooking on two stoves at the same time was much more difficult than doing them separately, especially at night with poor lighting. Judging the fire control for both frying the yams and cooking the sugar depended on the color.

Jiang Huiqin seemed a bit nervous, constantly monitoring both stoves, moving her hands deftly. At such times, a slight misstep could ruin both dishes at once.

It came to the most critical step.

The yams had just come out of the pot, and the sugar in the other had reached a crucial moment, its surface bubbling softly. Soon, a faint hint of burnt sugar began to waft through the air.

Jiang Huiqin poured the still-hot yams into the pot and said to Li Mingyi, “Lower the heat.”

Li Mingyi hurriedly pulled out some firewood.

Jiang Huiqin quickly stir-fried the yams, and Jiang Feng noticed that the syrup on the surface of the yams had started to create strands.

With the dish finished, they plated it.

The resulting sweet and sour yams were quite beautiful, with thin thread-like strands of sugar wrapping around the slightly yellowed fried yams, topped with a small handful of white sesame seeds. Even the previously not-hungry Li Mingyi began to feel a bit peckish.

Just as Li Mingyi picked up his chopsticks, they heard a noise at the door. Both of them jumped in fright, thinking that someone had discovered them up to no good in the kitchen.

It was Fen, who entered and seemed not at all just woken up but rather as if she had planned this all along.

“Aunt, Uncle, I want some too,” Fen stated, eyes glued to the sweet and sour yams on the stove.

Jiang Huiqin suddenly remembered that back in the rear hall, Fen had seemed fixated on the bowl of sweet and sour sweet potatoes. She might not have dared to speak up then and missed out, but how could Fen possibly know that they would be in the back kitchen at this time?

Li Mingyi lifted Fen into his arms and asked, “You can have some, but first, Fen, tell your uncle howyou knew your aunt and uncle were here?”

“I heard it. When I was going to get a photo, I heard aunt and uncle whispering behind,” Fen replied.

Jiang Huiqin couldn’t help but laugh; they really hadn’t noticed that Fen had been right in front of them at that time.

All children love sweets, and Jiang Huiqin knew that her sister was strict with Fen, rarely even allowing her to eat pastries. It was normal for Fen to crave sweets.

Jiang Huiqin picked up a piece of sweet and sour yam for Fen with her chopsticks, pulling the sugar threads so long they measured about a foot, then dipped it into cool boiled water to prevent it from burning the mouth.

With an exclamation of delight, Fen found herself with a piece of sweet and sour yam stuffed into her mouth.

Li Mingyi also took a piece, the threads stretching even longer than those Jiang Huiqin had just pulled. He too dipped it into cool water before taking a bite and finding it crispy, sweet, and refreshing.

The surroundings began to blur, and Li Mingyi looked at Jiang Huiqin, his smile sweeter than the sweet and sour yams in his mouth.

Sweet, but not cloying.

Jiang Feng returned to his room, still lying on the bed, and eagerly opened the attribute panel to look at the recipe.

[Sweet and Sour Yam C-level]

Creator: Jiang Huiqin

Dish Details: Both the choice of ingredients and the cooking technique are excellent. The high-difficulty caramelizing and syrup-drawing skills are the highlights of this dish. What is otherwise quite a common Sweet and Sour Yam becomes unforgettable for Li Mingyi due to the love Jiang Huiqin poured into it, enhancing the taste of the dish when created by someone in love.

Daily Production Limit (0/6)

Friendly Reminder: The skills required for caramelizing and drawing syrup exceed the player’s current level, and there is a high probability of failure when attempting to make this dish.

Jiang Feng: ????

What kind of crappy game is this? Is there a vendetta against single creators?

Jiang Feng clicked to view more details about Jiang Huiqin’s cooking process.

“Ding, you’ve gained 99 experience points.”

Jiang Feng: ????

“Ding, the player has leveled up to level 10. The game is now updating. The encyclopedia function will be available once the update is complete.”

The attribute panel immediately changed to the update interface, with the progress at 0%, showing a crying bun with a bite taken out of it.

But that wasn’t the main point. The main point was that the Sweet and Sour Yam recipe Jiang Feng had just opened didn’t disappear; it was just that the interface had shrunk a bit. It was still there, hanging together with the update progress bar, and he could even click on it, but he couldn’t exit it.

After toggling the attribute panel a few times and finding it the same every time, Jiang Feng came to a conclusion.

This crappy game has a bug.

Just one minute before, at Chen Xiuxiu’s place—

Chen Xiuxiu eyed Pan Ling and squinted her eyes, saying, “Pan Pan, it looks like there’s a little piece of chili skin stuck on your teeth.”

Pan Ling licked her teeth all over with her tongue and asked, “Is it gone now?”

“Yes, it’s gone,” Chen Xiuxiu replied.

Pan Ling swallowed her saliva, the newly licked-off piece of chili skin going down with it.

*1 won’t ever jinx it again. Now we have 6700 favorites. (What a happy jinx.)

Today seems to be the Little New Year, so I’ll extend an early greeting. Happy New Year to everyone!

And as for Xiaojiu’s reward of 2333 Qidian coins for her hot wine, that’s truly bold (??cro)