The Game of Life

April 16th, suitable for building houses, weddings, settling disputes, travel, medical treatment, praying for blessings, taking up new posts, accumulating wealth, seeking progeny, bed placement, contract signing, engagement, planting, opening granaries, mourning, granting amnesty, sacrificial offerings, tomb maintenance, school enrollment, drilling, and bringing in sons-in-law. Jiang Feng stared at the ancient almanac in front of him, which Wang Hao had somehow acquired last year. It was a bit curled at the edges, the pages were yellowed, and it was filled with old superstitious beliefs.

After studying the almanac all morning, Jiang Feng still couldn’t find any evidence within it that suggested he would make a miraculous comeback on his birthday and advance to the finals.

“Eh, Feng, where did you dig this thing up from? I searched for so long last year.” Wang Hao came runningback, drenched in sweat, and immediately looked for clothes to take a shower in the bathroom.

“Under your bed.” Jiang Feng continued his research.

Wang Hao leaned over to take a look: “Why are you looking at last year’s almanac?”

Upon closer inspection, it indeed was from last year, no wonder it seemed a bit off.

After returning the outdated almanac to where it belonged, Jiang Feng put on his coat and prepared to leave. Wang Hao, carrying a bucket, was ready to enter the bathroom and shouted at the door, “Feng, good luck in the contest!”

Jiang Feng gave an OK sign with his hand.

In the Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant, Jiang Jiankang had already prepared Jiang

Feng’s birthday meal for this year.

This year’s birthday meal was definitely a luxurious special edition.

The dish was beef noodles, not only featuring large chunks of beef cooked overnight until incredibly tender and breaking apart at the slightest touch, but also bright green garlic shoots and spicy sauce borrowed from the noodle shop across the street. Two eggs were nestled in, soaked in the beef juices beneath, cooked to a perfect soft boil that would burst with a gentle poke, leaving a runny yolk.

Beef noodles are appreciated for their ‘one clear, two white, three red, four green’ attributes: a clear soup, white noodles, added with spicy sauce and garlic shoots – making the bowl of beef noodles Jiang Jiankang made quite authentic.

“Son come on over, the noodles have just come off the stove, and the pork knuckle is still heating up in the kitchen. I’ll bring it out for you now,” Jiang Jiankang said cheerily, suspicious sauce stains at the comer of his mouth. Jiang Feng’s favorite were the soft-boiled eggs; he could envelop one entirely in his mouth. The egg white was smooth and tender, and the warm yolk would burst in his mouth with just a light bite – a true moment of happiness for an egg enthusiast like Jiang Feng.

After swallowing down the two eggs, Jiang Feng was still a bit unsatisfied, so he ate a piece of beef, then contentedly started on the noodles.

The noodles were chewy and the broth was savory with a hint of saltiness. The spicy sauce from the noodle shop across the street was Master Huang’s own recipe, not overly spicy but nicely salted, which made the noodles taste especially good when mixed in.

By the time Jiang Feng had slurped down half a bowl of beef noodles, Jiang Jiankang brought out the rock sugar pork knuckle that had been slowly steamed overnight from the back kitchen. The knuckle was a fresh delivery from Mr. Qian’s pig farm yesterday, and although it couldn’t compare to a knuckle from a pig raised by their own hands, it was still better than most of what could be bought on the market.

Rock sugar pork knuckle is a signature dish of the Tan Family Cuisine, one of the three famous knuckles of Jinan. What Jiang Jiankang made was called the crown rock sugar knuckle, akin to Dongpo knuckle, both in name only, having little to do with the authentic version. Still, even as an imitation, after a night s worth of steaming, the knuckle’s skin gleamed a bright red, the meat was tender and crumbled easily with a prod of the chopsticks, the savory and sweet flavors mingled harmoniously, and the sauce had penetrated fully into the meat.

It could be said to be the most meticulously cooked knuckle by Jiang Jiankang this year.

The serving of beef noodles was no small portion, and the knuckle was sizeable too. Having finished the noodles and eaten half of the knuckle, Jiang Feng could only gaze at the rest of the meat and sigh.

He burped, hand covering mouth, half afraid that the noodles would come right up with the burp.

“Son, are you full?” Jiang Jiankang held the beef noodles and eyed the large leftover portion of knuckle in front of Jiang Feng, ready to move in at any moment.

“Full, burp, yes.” Jiang Feng hadn’t felt so stuffed in a long time. “I’ll go out for a walk, burp, to digest.”

“Go ahead,” Wang Xiulian said, carrying a bowl of beef noodles that had so much beef you couldn’t see the noodles underneath. She ladled a spoonful of broth from the pot of stewed beef onto the meat. “And pick up a couple of bags of paper napkins from the supermarket on your way back. We’re almost out in the restaurant.”

After wandering around the food court twice, Jiang Feng headed to China Resources Vanguard and bought two big bags of paper towels. Feeling less stuffed, he walked back carrying his purchases.

Ji Yue was already in the lobby, with a bowl of beef noodles in hand, chanting to herself, “Fating beef won’t make you fat, eating beef won’t make you fat, eating beef won’t make you fat…”

Jiang Feng:…

Ever since Jiang Feng started high school, birthdays hadn’t been anything special.

As a child, they would buy a cream birthday cake to appease the little ones, but as he grew up, even a birthday cake became unnecessary. Jiang Jiankang would prepare a bowl of noodles with two eggs and a portion of pork knuckle. Wang Xiulian would buy Jiang Feng a pair of shoes or a piece of clothing. Inviting friends out for a meal wasn’t as good as a feast at home. A perfect ending to a perfect birthday.

Heading to the kitchen at the last minute to practice making Sweet and Sour Yam, adhering to the principle of “better to sharpen your weapons at the eleventh hour than to go to battle unarmed,” Jiang Feng procrastinated until after 12 p.m. After quickly eating a bit of lunch, he set out for the provincial TV station with Wu Minqi.

This time everyone arrived quite early. When Jiang Feng and Wu Minqi got there, Gu Li was already backstage, and had finished checking the ingredients. When the staff took Jiang Feng and Wu Minqi to the small room where the ingredients were kept, Zhang Guanghang happened to walk backstage, and the three of them met in the small room.

The ingredients Jiang Feng needed weren’t much to look at-just yams, oil, and sugar. Wu Minqi paid close attention to the sprouts and Wuhua pork, nodding in satisfaction.

Over by another refrigerated cabinet, Jiang Feng spotted pig maw and chicken gizzards. As a Shandong Chef with outstanding Cooking Porridge skills, he instantly realized that Zhang Guanghang was planning to make a dish called ‘Fried Crispy Double Delight.’ Stepping out of the small room, Jiang Feng asked, “Are you making ‘Fried Crispy Double Delight’?”

“Mm-hmm,” Zhang Guanghang nodded.

Jiang Feng took a sharp breath, admiring Zhang Guanghang’s courage and skill in his heart.

As one of the most difficult dishes to create in Chinese cuisine, ‘Fried Crispy Double Delight’ had been astonishingly popular since its inception, coveted by nobility and high officials. To dare to make such a dish, with its almost pathologically stringent fire control requirements, in front of esteemed master judges, was a bold move that left Jiang Feng struggling to find words other than “masterful” and “bold.”

Jiang Jiankang had been a chef for many years and still had occasional failures when making ‘Fried Crispy Double Delight.’ However, the diners at Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant usually couldn’t tell-the non-experts were easy to deceive with no problem at all.

The three of them chatted together. Gu Li silently checked his phone, enduring the long and tedious wait. Jiang Feng felt a bit panicked, thinking he was most likely doomed this time, yet he harbored a sliver of hope. What if he turned out to be a contestant who only performed well during the competition?

Amidst anxiety and unease, time slowly passed.

Jiang Feng checked his phone, 6:20 p.m. The competition was due to start in an hour and forty minutes. He glanced at Gu Li a few times; he was expressionless, not speaking, very composed, impossible to tell whether he was confident or resigned.

Actually the contestant at the biggest disadvantage in the semi-finals wasn’t Jiang Feng, who couldn’t make porridge, but Gu Li, a White Chef who couldn’t make noodles.

Jiang Feng felt even more nervous.

As he grew more anxious, time ticked by and the staff called everyone together for the pre-competition briefing.

“To the four contestants, first, I would like to congratulate you on making it to the national semifinals. There’s only twenty minutes left before the competition starts. I believe you are all familiar with the rules and there’s no need for me to repeat them. There will be some changes in the panel of judges for this round. Judge Han Guishan has become a special guest-he will taste but not score. Our new judge is someone you all know, the founder of ‘Taste,’ Mr.

Xu Cheng.”

“Please proceed to the rest area on stage and take your seats. The competition will begin shortly.”