The Game of Life

In the following ten days or so, up until the start of school, Jiang Feng painstakingly yet joyfully honed his cooking skills under the supervision of the two elders.

Jiang Weiming originally said he’d return to Shu after the New Year, but because of Jiang Feng’s momentary impulse, he no longer planned to go back. After the start of school, he would instead accompany them to Alan City. After all, Jiang Jianguo’s house had five bedrooms; one more elder wouldn’t make it too crowded to live.

And during these short ten-plus days, Jiang Feng’s culinary skills had made qualitative improvements.

Perhaps due to his improved knifework, seasoning, and fire control all reaching an advanced level, Jiang Feng seemed as if he had unlocked some hidden potential in a game, learning at more than twice his usual speed. He hadn’t felt it before while stir-frying potatoes, but over these days, he palpably noticed the change, and even the elders saw it too.

Jiang Weiguo was somewhat puzzled during this time, wondering if his grandson actually possessed outstanding culinary talent, and that he, lacking discernment, had failed to recognize it, allowing Jiang Feng’s skills to remain buried until now.

On the last day, Jiang Feng made a Babao tofu dish that satisfied both elders. Jiang Weiming couldn’t hold back and pulled Jiang Weiguo aside to whisper, “Brother, you said Feng’s talent was average, so how good must Jianguo’s talent be?”

Jiang Weiguo:”…”

“It’s… it’s alright…”

Except for Jiang Jiankang and Wang Xiulian, the other family members were sent away by the elders after the Lantern Festival, not leaving any room for them to freeload, which made Jiang Feng’s uncles lament repeatedly, only able to compliment Jiankang on having a good son.

Classes would start the day after tomorrow, and after making the last Babao tofu dish, everyone in the family gave their critique, then began packing up to take a minibus back to Zet City.

Before leaving, the elder urged Mrs. Jiang over and over again to ensure she kicked Erhua out more often for exercise, to which Mrs. Jiang didn’t take seriously.

“Alright already, those pigs we’ve raised since they were piglets do nothing but eat and fatten up every day, and I see Erhua already weighs over 400 pounds. Come Mid-Autumn, it’ll probably exceed 500 pounds when we butcher it, and you’re worried about it losing weight by moving around?” Mrs. Jiang said. “Wuhua likes to move, I’ll take good care of it, and in a few days, I’ll look for some good piglets in town and buy another one to bring back.”

“Don’t raise too many, you can’t take care of them all by yourself,” Jiang Weiguo advised. Seeing that everything was almost packed, he ordered, “Jiankang, Jiankang! Where have you run off to again? Grab the luggage, let’s go!”

Once the hustle and bustle settled and they arrived in Zet City, they wouldn’t return home since the high-speed train to Alan City was in the afternoon, and they would arrive by evening. So, they headed straight for the train station, with Jiang Jiankang busy making calls to the Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant’s suppliers.

He was a man who couldn’t stay idle; he had to open the restaurant from today to tomorrow.

No sooner had Jiang Feng boarded the high-speed train than he received a call from the organizers of the Good Taste Culinary Competition.

Good Taste had set up four competition zones across the country and, as the company’s headquarters were in Alan City, the advertising there was the most aggressive. Subway stations, bus stops, train stations — basically, wherever there was high foot traffic, there were ads for the Good Taste Culinary Competition, blanketing the city. Consequently, among the four national zones, the Alan City zone had the highest number of participants. Many who registered were not professional chefs but merely culinary enthusiasts who joined in the excitement to compete.

As a result, this zone’s competition would start the earliest.

Jiang Feng was scheduled to compete on March 11th at 9 a.m., in the very first round. The selection process was interesting: the organizers provided the ingredients and specified a dish for 100 contestants at a time, with 100 general public judges. These judges consisted of 30 elderly people, 30 children, and 40 middle-aged people. Each person tried 10 dishes, choosing five that they felt were acceptable and casting votes, with the top 50 advancing and the bottom 50 eliminated.

Not only that, but the preliminaries followed the same format up until the top thirty-two were decided, all of which would have no professional judges and be live-streamed online. The live streaming was exclusively sponsored by Point Live, turning a culinary competition into something resembling a talent show. Of course, all the seasoning products used in the competition were exclusively provided by Good Taste Company.

Starting from the top thirty-two, viewers could log into Good Taste’s official WeChat account to vote and support their favorite contestants daily. The contestant with the highest votes and support could win a year-long endorsement deal with Good Taste soy sauce.

The entire competition process was highly commercialized.

Good Taste Company placed significant emphasis on this year’s competition. If it caused a sensation and received a massive response, then it could follow the same format every year, creating huge profits from the ensuing unadvertised publicity.

After discussing the competition details with the family, the Jiangs splurged this time, with everyone buying business-class seats.

Upon hearing this, Wang Xiulian’s eyes lit up: “Son, make sure you’re at your best for the competition, dress sharp — the endorsement fee from such a big company like Good Taste must be substantial, right?”

With Wang Xiulian mentioning this, Jiang Feng also realized it, as he hadn’t paid much attention to the endorsement initially; after all, it had seemed so far out of his reach.

But if he really could become the contestant with the highest votes due to his handsome face, wouldn’t that cover the renovation costs for Taifeng Building? The main mission could then start to be tackled!

“Exactly, our son might not have the best cooking skills, and it’s unlikely he’ll win the championship, but our son is good-looking, spirited!” Jiang Jiankang thought it was a good idea, “When we get back, I’ll pay for our son to get a stylish haircut, maybe something like that TV guy who sings and dances.” Jiang Feng: ???

“You overthink things. Just go home, wash your face with facial cleanser, slap on a face mask, and you’re done, no need for a 998 hairstyle. Do you even have the money for that, a 998 hairstyle?” Wang Xiulian scolded, then turned to Jiang Feng, “Don’t listen to your dad’s nonsense, son. When we get back, just wash your face with my cleanser and use the hydrating face mask I got from the beauty salon.”

Jiang Feng:”…”

“Oh.”

Jiang Jianguo had arrived early at the train station to pick up the two gentlemen, while Jiang Jiankang and his wife had to go back to the restaurant to tidy things up. Jiang Feng also had to clean up his dormitory first, so the group split up to attend to their own tasks.

After a winter break without residents, the dormitory had accumulated a lot of dust. Wang Hao, although a local from Alan City, was unwilling to shoulder the task of cleaning the dorm by himself, so he had to wait for Jiang Feng to return. It took them nearly an hour to tidy up the dormitory, make the beds, and go to the cafeteria to eat.

Wang Hao, facing a plate of braised pork ribs and sweet and sour pork loin, couldn’t hide his frown and complained, “Feng, your family has a restaurant on the food street, yet here we are, relegated to eating in the cafeteria. How does that make sense?”

After tasting Sir’s cooking, Wang Hao could not stand the cafeteria food anymore. He had not eaten at Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant for the entire winter vacation, and despite indulging in lavish meals over the holiday, he managed to lose weight.

“The restaurant reopens tomorrow,” Jiang Feng said.

Because school wasn’t starting until the day after tomorrow, the cafeteria wasn’t very crowded. There were a few people in the same uniforms going from table to table with what appeared to be flyers or surveys.

Jiang Feng found it odd and asked, “What are they handing out there?”

Wang Hao looked up, “Those are the staff from the Good Taste Culinary Contest. Looks like they’re organizing a public jury thing, where you taste dishes. They pay pretty well too, a hundred bucks a day. A couple of days ago when I was out shopping with my grandparents, some people handed them flyers.”

“Oh? Did your grandparents agree?”

“Of course, they did. They’re at home with nothing to do every day. Just tasting a few dishes and casting a few votes. Grandma loves a good crowd; she would go even if they didn’t pay her. Feng, why don’t you join in the fun too?” Wang Hao said disdainfully, yet he ate his braised pork ribs with more gusto than anyone else.

“I’ve already signed up to compete, the preliminary round is at nine in the morning on the 11th,” Jiang Feng said.

“Feng, you’re awesome!” Wang Hao gave an unreasonably enthusiastic compliment, “If you manage to win the national championship, you’ve got a scholarship secured for this year!”

Jiang Feng: ?

Seeing Jiang Feng’s puzzled face, Wang Hao explained, “You forgot, if someone from our college wins a national competition, they add five points to our comprehensive evaluation score!”

Jiang Feng:…

This move.

“‘Our college’ probably refers to official competitions though, doesn’t it? This culinary contest seems to be privately organized,” Jiang Feng realized.

“Private contests should count too, it’s still a national competition after all. Such a large-scale event would definitely earn you some points from the college; even if not five points, they’d throw you a bone with two or three just to show some goodwill,” Wang Hao said.

Jiang Feng: That doesn’t seem wrong.

But why does it feel so strange…