The Game of Life

While pinching the leaves, Jiang Feng turned his head and saw the freezer next to him.

He really wanted to sneak a peek at the chocolate rose Zhang Guanghang had made and see whose initials were carved on it!

Jiang Feng’s gossipy heart was itching to act.

He stuck his head out, looked around, and saw that Zhang Guanghang was focused on making a cake, safe.

Quietly, Jiang Feng opened the freezer.

In the corner of the freezer, a chocolate rose indeed lay silently, with the leaf engraved with initials conveniently facing up, eliminating the need for Jiang Feng to even turn it over.

JY.

JY?

Ji Yue?

When did those two get together?

No, the question should be, when did they start hooking up behind our backs?

Was it that time at the hospital? Or when they were reading comics? Or some other time when he was unaware?

Having stumbled upon a gigantic piece of gossip, Jiang Feng no longer cared about shaping roses and immediately scurried over to Wu Minqi, eager to share the juicy scoop with his “wife.”

“Qiqi, Zhang Guanghang really plans to confess to a girl,” Jiang Feng said with an increasingly gossipy smile.

“Ji Yue?” Wu Minqi asked.

Jiang Feng was taken aback, “How did you know?”

“Who else could it be, Xue? Or Tang Tang? Zhang Guanghang never dates anyone from the same profession,” Wu Minqi said skillfully slicing up the grass carp.

After Wu Minqi’s comments, Jiang Feng also felt that unless Zhang Guanghang had a secret girlfriend living with him, he didn’t seem to have any other opportunities for a romance.

Zhang Guanghang’s social circle was limited and narrow, with work during the day, entertainment at night, and on his days off mountain climbing, hiking, attending concerts, listening to music halls, watching stage plays, fashion shows, and art exhibitions. Currently at Taifeng Building, he was only familiar with Jiang Feng, Wu Minqi, and Ji Yue. The reason he was familiar with Ji Yue was that Ji Yue was sociable with everyone. As for the other staff, even the kitchen crew, their relationship was the indifferent kind where they barely spoke two words to each other in a day.

With that in mind, unless he was involved in an online romance or coveting his friend’s wife, the only suspect was Ji Yue.

“Never?” Jiang Feng keenly picked up on the emphasis in Wu Minqi’s words. Maybe Wu Minqi knew a lot about Zhang Guanghang’s romantic history—could it be that my “wife” once had a secret crush on Zhang Guanghang?

“If I remember correctly, the professions of his past girlfriends include a dancer, a cellist, a screenwriter, a translator, and also a florist. These five made it into the newspapers. I’m not sure about the others who didn’t make the news. A few years back, when he was in France, many female chefs pursued him, but he turned them all down. Ji Yue draws comics, which fits his dating criteria perfectly,” Wu Minqi said. “However, I heard this from Mr. Pei during a gathering I attended with my grandfather the year before last, so whether it’s true or not I can’t say for sure. Mr. Pei’s information is usually quite accurate.”

Jiang Feng: …

Pei Shenghua was famously known as the gossip king of the chef world, not only indulging in domestic scoops but also having access to the freshest international ones. There was no chef-related gossip that he couldn’t digest, and he wouldn’t deign to touch stale gossip.

He felt that Qiqi must have secretly consumed a lot of gossip but just chose not to talk about it.

Considering this, Zhang Guanghang’s dating history was indeed rich.

There were five that had made the news.

“And there’s one odd thing,” Wu Minqi said, as if something had just occurred to her. “I read in a gourmet magazine that with every girlfriend, Zhang Guanghang was the one to confess first.”

Jiang Feng fell into silence; indeed, that was strange. With Zhang Guanghang’s good looks and the passionate nature of international women, it was surprising that he had always been the one to initiate the confession.

“By the way, why aren’t you kneading the dough at the cooking station? Why did you run off to that corner to knead?” Wu Minqi asked.

“Ah, that, well… since we’ll be opening for business soon, the cooking station will be needed by many people, right? Kneading the dough takes up so much space; doing it in the corner is just the same,” Jiang Feng began to fabricate an excuse.

Wu Minqi wasn’t suspicious and continued to deal with the grass carp.

Jiang Feng went back to the little corner and continued to mold the roses.

The noon service went on as usual, and the number of diners didn’t spike instantly because of the Qixi Festival; everyone knew the main event was in the evening.

During the lunch break, Jiang Feng kept his eyes on Zhang Guanghang, waiting for him to take out the chocolate rose that he had carved earlier from the refrigerator. But Zhang Guanghang stayed in the kitchen making cakes the whole time, as if he had completely forgotten about the rose.

The main person to blame was Mrs. Wang Xiulian. To make the set meals look less like a rip-off, she insisted on including cake in every set. But Zhang Guanghang was the only one in the entire Taifeng Building who could make cakes, leaving the rest unable to help even if they wanted to.

Zhang Guanghang was focused on making cakes in the kitchen, so Jiang Feng decided to go out and see what Ji Yue was up to.

By the time Jiang Feng found Ji Yue at the reception, she was frowning at her phone, as if she was looking at something quite serious.

“What are you looking at? You seem so serious,” Jiang Feng asked casually.

“I’m looking at my brother’s report card,” Ji Yue said. “That little rascal has really gotten bold, hacking into their school’s academic system to change his final grades. And he didn’t even cover his tracks well; the school discovered it yesterday.”

Jiang Feng: …

Indeed, it was a very serious matter.

“Your brother’s grades aren’t good?” Jiang Feng asked.

“Worse than mine back in the day,” Ji Yue said, still staring at her phone with furrowed brows.

That meant they were really bad. If Ji Yue’s academic grades had been better back then, she wouldn’t have needed to donate a laboratory to UAL University just to be admitted.

But that was all before Ji Yue’s family fortunes had declined. With their current financial condition, it was likely impossible to afford such a donation now.

“He only got 60 combined in biology and chemistry, and 40 in Chinese. How did he even manage that? Merely writing an essay in Chinese should score more than 40, right?” Ji Yue slammed the table with anger, placed her phone down, and looked as though she wanted to rush home and give her brother a beating.

Jiang Feng took the opportunity to glance at her brother’s report card and saw that it indeed looked quite dismal, although his English was quite good with 140 points, and math wasn’t bad either with over 130.

“At least your brother’s decent in English, and science grades can gradually improve,” Jiang Feng said, trying to console her.

“He used to go to an international school; if his English weren’t good, my mom would hang him up and flog him,” Ji Yue commented.

“So why doesn’t he attend anymore?”

Ji Yue glanced at Jiang Feng. “Didn’t I tell you? My dad was swindled by his business partner and racked up a huge debt. We almost had to sell our house. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been so broke last year that I couldn’t even afford food.”

Jiang Feng: …

Wow, this is like a melodramatic plot twist straight out of a romance novel.

“Things are a bit better now. That guy’s been caught and is currently in jail, but that doesn’t help much since he hasn’t repaid much of the money,” Ji Yue picked up her phone again to re-examine her brother’s report card. “He’s had it too easy these past few years, hasn’t felt the heavy hammer of socialist education. I might not have been great academically, but when I was studying art, I worked as hard as a coal miner, unlike him, who’s got nothing to do all day and dares to start dating at 14. I didn’t start dating until I was 16. In a bit, I have to call my mom and ask her to hire more tutors for him – Chinese, chemistry, biology, he needs to be tutored in all of them.”

Jiang Feng: …

Don’t you think that’s going overboard? What kind of grudge do you have against your brother?

“But why didn’t you attend an international school back in the day?” Jiang Feng asked.

“Me? Go to an international school? Speaking English all day long would be more torturous than solving math problems,” Ji Yue said as she began texting her mother. “What did you need me for?”

“That show you recommended to me last time, do you have the resources for the latest episode?”

Ji Yue’s look changed instantly as she grinned mysteriously at Jiang Feng, “I didn’t know you were into that. Wait a moment, I’ll share the cloud drive with you.”

Jiang Feng: …

_(•̀ω•́」∠)_