The Game of Life

In the past few days, Jiang Feng had made more than 50 dishes of Yun Chicken. Now that he came to his senses, not to mention the sight of chicken meat made him want to vomit, just the smell of sour and sweet dishes also made him feel nauseous.

Jiang Feng decided to change his mood and cook something spicy.

Jiang Feng absolutely did not eat spicy food in the past, and spicy dishes were rarely seen on Jiang Family’s dining table. The appearance of stir-fried pork with chili peppers or stir-fried eggs with chili peppers was the limit. Dishes like boiled fish, boiled meat slices, or boiled beef, which looked red all over and were spicy and aromatic, would never appear on the Jiang Family’s dining table.

Except for spicy fish head with chopped chili peppers, since Jiang Feng had gotten the recipe for it before the New Year.

But after he started dating Wu Minqi, everything changed. As a girl who grew up soaked in a jar of chili peppers, Wu Minqi would feel uncomfortable if she didn’t eat spicy food for a few days, and she would take to the kitchen every now and then to cook a special version of Mapo tofu, fish-fragrant shredded pork, or Kung Pao chicken for herself.

Proximity to spice makes one savory, and living by the sea makes one salty. Jiang Feng had been dating Wu Minqi for four months, during which time not only was Wu Minqi diligently learning to cook Shandong cuisine, but Jiang Feng was also trying to learn to cook Sichuan cuisine.

It was just that he never ate the Sichuan dishes he made himself.

Since he hadn’t decided what to make yet, the first thing Jiang Feng did upon arriving at Benevolent Doctor was to head straight to the emergency department, planning to ask Jiang Shoucheng what spicy dish he wanted to eat.

It was still early, not even time for outpatient registration, and the emergency department was quite relaxed. The nurses were gathering in small groups to eat breakfast and discuss which bakery had the best buns.

“Huihui, look, I saw you post on your Friends Circle yesterday that you wanted to eat the green bean buns from that popular internet-famous bakery, so I got up early today and bought them for you. They’re still warm!” Sun stood next to the nurse’s station, holding two bags of buns, a face full of earnestness.

Jiang Feng stood in the distance and thought the buns in Sun’s hand looked very familiar, but he was too far away to hear what Sun was saying to Huihui.

“One bag is for me, and the other?” Huihui asked.

“I finished mine on the way here, this other bag is for Mr. Zhong,” Sun said, turning his head to see Jiang Feng. “Isn’t that Jiang’s younger brother? It seems like Jiang hasn’t arrived yet, right?”

“Dr. Jiang wasn’t on night duty last night, and it’s not time yet, of course, Dr. Jiang hasn’t come,” Huihui said, taking a cup of soy milk from the nurse’s station’s cabinet to give to Sun, “You must have only eaten buns this morning and didn’t drink soy milk. This soy milk is unsweetened and freshly ground from the orthopedics canteen, it’s good for your health.”

Sun happily began to drink the tasteless soy milk.

Jiang Feng walked over to Sun.

“Dr. Sun, has my brother arrived yet?” Jiang Feng asked.

“Not yet; it’s not time. Maybe another 10 minutes. Do you need me to get you a chair?” Sun asked.

“No need, I’ll just wait for him here. By the way, Dr. Sun, do you have any favorite spicy dishes? I’m planning to cook something spicy for my brother today,” Jiang Feng said.

“You’re asking me? You’ve specially come to cook for Jiang, and I feel embarrassed to butt in. As for spicy dishes, I think spicy crawfish would be nice.”

Jiang Feng: ???

“Just kidding, how could our hospital’s small kitchen possibly make spicy crawfish? Let’s go with boiled meat slices then—spicy and appetizing, it’s satisfying to eat!” Sun said.

Jiang Feng nodded and took note.

“By the way, Jiang, why don’t you go sit in the break room and wait for Jiang? The air conditioning in the break room is stronger and cooler! Wait a moment, I’ll go pour you a glass of water.” Sun put down his soy milk and prepared to get a cup to pour water for Jiang Feng.

Just as he found a disposable paper cup, a nurse rushed in from the door, and upon seeing Sun, she quickly asked: “Dr. Sun, has Dr. Jiang arrived yet?”

“Dr. Jiang hasn’t come yet, whatever it is, you can tell me just the same,” Sun replied.

“This matter can only be handled by Dr. Jiang. When will Dr. Jiang be here?” the nurse asked.

Sun, unperturbed, said, “A few more minutes, I guess. What’s the matter? Why the rush? Which area’s patient is causing trouble again?”

“It’s not the patients acting up. We just received a call. There’s a patient, a white-collar worker, male, 27 years old, who fainted under unclear circumstances and was discovered by his colleagues this morning. They called 120, and according to his colleagues, he has been working overtime in the office for three days straight. The ambulance is about to arrive,” the nurse explained.

Sun couldn’t help but be astonished, working overnight for three consecutive days was a formidable record even for their emergency department.

“Why would you need Dr. Jiang for a fainting episode caused by chronic sleep deprivation? As long as the patient doesn’t have any other special medical history, there shouldn’t be any major problems,” Sun mused.

“The medical staff on the ambulance initially also felt that the patient didn’t have any significant issues, but the key point is that the patient’s weight is at least over 230 pounds. They’re worried about accidents happening during the transfer without Dr. Jiang’s help,” the nurse stated.

Sun: …

“I’ll give you a call to check,” Sun said as he took out his mobile phone to call Jiang Shoucheng.

“Hey Jiang, there’s a patient here with quite a heavy weight that needs your help. Yeah, that’s right, just as you’re thinking. You’re just one stop away, right? Okay, hurry up!” Sun hung up the phone.

“Dr. Jiang will be here in two minutes; let’s go outside and wait,” Sun said, and he didn’t forget to turn back to Jiang Feng, “Sorry Jiang, I need to step out for a bit.”

“You go on, I’ll be fine,” Jiang Feng said with a smile.

A few minutes later, Jiang Shoucheng, leading a few medical staff, rushed in with a stretcher bed.

Upon seeing Jiang Feng, Jiang Shoucheng quickly said, “Little bro, go register for De first.”

De?

Jiang Feng took a closer look and realized that the office worker who had fainted due to staying up for three consecutive nights, mentioned by the young nurse earlier, was actually Jiang Zaidi.

“Is De okay?” Jiang Feng immediately became anxious, and his mind flashed with news headlines he had seen online about young men dying suddenly after multiple nights of staying up, or having a stroke, or fainting on the side of the road due to exhaustion.

He definitely didn’t want his dear eldest cousin to become the protagonist of a societal news story!

“It should be nothing serious, not epilepsy. It’s probably just low blood sugar caused by staying up for an extended period and not eating much,” Jiang Shoucheng said. “I’m here, so you go ahead and register.”

Jiang Feng hurriedly went to register.

After Jiang Feng finished registering and came back, Jiang Zaidi had already been put on an IV, and he was awake. Dr. Cao was giving a diagnosis and simultaneously warning Jiang Zaidi.

“It shouldn’t be a big deal, but to be safe, let’s still do a cardiac echocardiogram and a brain CT. If everything is okay after the checks, you can be discharged. Just be a little more careful with your diet the next few days. You young people, feeling strong, stay up late; after three all-nighters, how can your body take it? You’re lucky this time, but don’t do it again,” Dr. Cao left to write up the medical records in his office.

“De, how did you get yourself into this state?” Jiang Feng said helplessly, feeling very heartbroken.

It was well-known that Jiang Zaidi had been busy with work lately, not even having time to eat at Taifeng Building and had rented a single room near the company, so they seldom saw each other.

When Jiang Feng first arrived in Beiping, Jiang Zaidi appeared to be over 260 pounds. Now, he looked like he wasn’t even 240 pounds.

“Ah,” Jiang Zaidi sighed weakly, “I was rushing to meet a deadline.”

“Even if you are making money, you can’t gamble with your life!” Jiang Feng said.

“I wasn’t expecting it either. I thought staying up one night would fix things, but it didn’t, so I thought two nights should do it. But after two nights, it still wasn’t enough. I thought since I’d already stayed up, I might as well stay up for three nights. Actually, I didn’t even stay up three nights; I had finished by 3 a.m. today and slept on the desk for a few hours. I just didn’t expect to blackout while going downstairs to buy breakfast,” Jiang Zaidi explained.

Jiang Feng didn’t know what to say. Even back in their school days, it was Jiang Zaidi who had worked the hardest, and it seemed nothing had changed now that he was working.

After this lesson, Jiang Zaidi realized that earning money shouldn’t cost him his life. After all, he needed to stay alive to enjoy the dishes his little brother would make in the future. The plan to buy a house outright within five years had to be abandoned. He decided to get a mortgage instead; it’s safer, after all, life is more important.

“De, is there anything in particular you want to eat for lunch today?” Jiang Feng asked.

Jiang Zaidi’s spirits instantly lifted, and even his pale lips seemed to regain some color: “Four Joyful Meatballs!”

“Dr. Cao said you need to be careful with your diet these few days. Four Joyful Meatballs are too greasy,” Jiang Feng said.

“Steamed bass?”

“Fish is not advisable.”

“Braised mutton in brown sauce?”

“Mutton is also not advisable.”

“Crispy apples?”

“Apples are deep-fried, even worse.”

“Then what can I eat?” Jiang Zaidi utter despair.

“Egg custard and Eight Treasures porridge. I’ll go back to Taifeng Building and get some osmanthus sugar,” Jiang Feng said. “Anyway, Cheng is here, he will accompany you to get the cardiac echocardiogram and brain CT later.”

Jiang Zaidi: (｡•́︿•̀｡)

“Oh, and little bro, don’t tell mom and dad about me being in the hospital,” Jiang Zaidi said.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell them. It’s just us three brothers who know,” Jiang Feng replied.

.

PS: (No money involved)

The event to send blessings to Da Hua is ending today, I’d appreciate it if those who haven’t sent their blessings yet could lift a finger and send some. There’s only 900 blessings short of the target, I can’t bear to fail by such a small margin (｡•́︿•̀｡)

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