The Game of Life

The next night at 10:40 PM, Jiang Feng appeared at Jiang Jianguo’s front door.

This time he didn’t come empty-handed; he had brought a crab-stuffed orange, a B-level dish made from the only crab left over from the day before!

B-level!

Last night, as Jiang Feng watched Ji Xia eat the crab-stuffed orange, he realized from the lengthy descriptive adjectives that not only was the steaming time for the three servings of crab-stuffed orange too long, but the selection of white vinegar was also off. Therefore, he made a special trip that afternoon to consult two seniors on which type of white vinegar was more appropriate to use with crab meat and orange flesh.

Jiang Weiming lived in Shu all year round and was only very familiar with Sichuan and Shandong cuisine. He had never even heard of crab-stuffed orange. However, Sir had traveled all over the country in his early years, learning all kinds of cuisine though he had only scratched the surface of most and had not delved deeply, his broad experience allowed him to recognize what Jiang Feng intended to make when he asked about it.

Sir was already used to his grandson not sticking to his business, not practicing the dishes he should be practicing, and often going off to learn unrelated things (such as noodle pulling and crab-stuffed orange).

Sir had come to terms with it, reasoning that young people have their rebellious phases, no matter their age.

Take Jiang Jianguo, for example. When he was young and directed to learn Red Chef, he refused and insisted on learning White Chef, and later when he was asked to learn White Chef, he refused and wanted to become a tailor.

Just thinking about it made Sir feel his long-unused hand itching to hit someone again.

Though reluctant, Sir supported Jiang Feng’s rebellious behavior and pointed out several types of white vinegar that might be suitable, sending him off to experiment on his own, which led to the B-level crab-stuffed orange that evening.

Of course, Jiang Jianguo was unaware of everything that happened today and had no idea his father had been reminiscing about past grievances and wanting to hit him again.

Right now, Jiang Jianguo was wondering if Jiang Feng was coming over to borrow sesame oil or green onions this time.

“Uncle, I’ve brought you some dishes,” Jiang Feng took the initiative, holding out the crab-stuffed orange to Jiang Jianguo with both hands.

Jiang Jianguo was a bit stunned.

In his memory, when Jiang Feng made a special trip to bring him dishes, they were always significant dishes or distinctive ones, like Ji Yue’s mom’s pickles. Now, suddenly presenting an orange as a dish left Jiang Jianguo somewhat unable to react.

Nonetheless, the orange did have a pleasant aroma.

Upon closer inspection, it seemed to have a hint of wine fragrance.

Jiang Jianguo immediately understood that Feng had used the orange to create a new dish and had made a special trip to let him have a taste.

“You came all this way so late at night to bring this, really thoughtful of you,” Jiang Jianguo warmly welcomed Jiang Feng into the house, “Your Aunt and I were just making a special fruit juice. Try some!” He went off to the kitchen to pour Jiang Feng some juice.

The Aunt was sitting on the living room yoga mat doing yoga following a video tutorial, but still managed to give Jiang Feng a smile as he came in.

Jiang Feng’s aunt had always been a mysterious woman.

Most of the time, everyone could hardly sense her presence. If it weren’t for Jiang Feng’s frequent nightly visits to borrow seasoning from Jiang Jianguo, which might result in encounters with his aunt, Jiang Feng would think she was not in Beiping like Aunt Wu— apart from at night, Jiang Feng never saw his aunt, and sometimes even Jiang Jianguo had trouble finding his wife.

As the Eldest Daughter-in-Law of the Jiang Family, Aunt had a passion for health, fitness, and sharing health and fitness updates on her social circles. Every time Jiang Feng saw the posts, he felt like he was looking at a WeChat business feed.

Aunt always gave the impression that she was on a perpetual diet, yet her weight never actually changed. Even Mrs. Wang Xiulian sometimes got the urge to lose weight, would go all out for a month or two, and manage to fluctuate her weight by a good ten or twenty pounds, but even though Aunt was constantly dieting, her weight remained remarkably stable.

Now, this enigmatic woman had taken a great interest in the crab-stuffed orange that Jiang Feng had brought.

“Feng, what is this?” Aunt asked from her position on the yoga mat.

Jiang Feng suddenly felt overwhelmed with surprise.

His aunt actually asked him a question.

His aunt asked him a question!

He got asked a question by his aunt!!

“This is crab-stuffed orange, a dish made from crab meat and orange flesh,” Jiang Feng explained.

“Crab meat and orange flesh?” Aunt’s interest piqued immediately, and she stopped her yoga routine to come and inspect the orange on the table.

Aunt sat down and lifted the top off.

The fragrance hit her senses instantly; she narrowed her eyes and leaned in for a closer smell.

Jiang Feng had never seen his aunt show such intense interest in anything before.

Jiang Jianguo walked out from the kitchen, a glass of juice in his left hand and a spoon in his right. Observing his wife focused on the crab-stuffed orange, he smoothly handed her the spoon, intuitively understanding her interest.

“Here, Feng, try the new fruit juice I concocted today; it’s got fresh squeezed orange juice in it,” Jiang Jianguo said as he handed the juice to Jiang Feng.

Aunt scooped up a spoonful of the crab-stuffed orange.

Upon tasting.

“Ding, you’ve gained 799 experience points.”

Jiang Feng was shocked.

Although it wasn’t a whopping 999 points of experience, the person receiving these points was his great-aunt!

Someone who had been eating Jiang Jianguo’s cooking for decades, someone who had experienced the old man’s skills—his great-aunt.

But it was just a Grade B crab-stuffed orange. That’s not worth so much, is it?

Looking at the juice in front of him, which clearly had a lot more fresh orange juice added, turning the overall color towards orange, Jiang Feng had a guess.

As far as he knew, Jiang Jianguo didn’t like oranges, but he had seen oranges at Jiang Jianguo’s house a few days ago, and it wasn’t even the season for oranges yet, which meant those oranges weren’t bought casually; they were deliberately purchased. Jiang Jianguo’s juice was usually specially prepared for his great-aunt, and the fact that so much orange juice was added to this particular cup indicated his great-aunt liked oranges.

His great-aunt liked oranges, so by extension, she also liked crab-stuffed orange.

“Ding, optional hidden quest discovered,” the game notification tone sounded again.

Jiang Feng was a bit at a loss and looked subconsciously towards his great-aunt, only to see her scooping up a second spoonful of crab-stuffed orange with a satisfied look on her face.

Upon tasting.

“Ding, you’ve gained 721 experience points.”

It seemed that his great-aunt truly loved oranges.

Jiang Feng tried a sip of the juice; it was a bit sour, so he silently set it down.

“Jianguo, go pick some crabs for Feng,” his great-aunt suddenly spoke up.

“Alright.” Jiang Jianguo went to the balcony to pick crabs for Jiang Feng.

“Great-aunt, how’s the taste? I’ve just learned to make this dish recently,” Jiang Feng asked, fully knowing the answer.

“Very good,” his great-aunt smiled contentedly, “Feng has really grown up, and so has his cooking.”

Then she continued eating the crab-stuffed orange.

Before long, Jiang Jianguo came out with a bag of crabs.

Jiang Feng was going home fully loaded and didn’t forget to tell his great-aunt that he would come over the next evening to bring more crab-stuffed oranges.

His great-aunt smiled reassuringly and nodded at Jiang Feng, unable to speak with her mouth full.

When Jiang Feng got home, he took the crabs from the bag given by Jiang Jianguo and put them in the sink to keep, while Wu Minqi stood by, overwhelmed by the amount of crabs in the bag.

“So many!” Wu Minqi felt that even for a close uncle, one shouldn’t rob so many at once.

One must be sustainable.

“Great-aunt loves crab-stuffed oranges,” Jiang Feng explained, “It’s my first time seeing her enjoy something so much.”

“Maybe it’s because she loves crabs,” Wu Minqi completely missed the mark with her answer.

After settling the crabs, Jiang Feng immediately went to the bathroom to shower. Once inside, he couldn’t wait to open the mobile phone panel and accept the hidden quest.

[Heavenly Surprise]: Mei Yuelan has cherished oranges since childhood, aspiring to discover a hundred ways to enjoy oranges, but her journey halted at the 17th method. She has made no progress for many years. Today, a crab-stuffed orange made by her nephew Jiang Feng opened the door to a new world for Mei Yuelan, thrilling her immensely. The player is tasked with creating a crab-stuffed orange that will amaze Mei Yuelan, fulfilling her desire.

Quest Tip: The dish level must reach Grade A to succeed.

Quest Reward: Recipe: [Suzhou-Style Mooncake]

Jiang Feng: …

Who would’ve thought his great-aunt once had such grand ambitions to explore a hundred ways to eat oranges.

Jiang Feng felt that in a few more years, his great-aunt could publish a book—the title he had already come up with, “Hundred Ways to Taste Oranges.”

Honestly, Jiang Feng wasn’t all that interested in Suzhou-style mooncakes. He was more curious about which 17 methods of eating oranges his great-aunt had explored.

Being able to come up with 17 different ways to prepare oranges, his great-aunt was quite impressive.