The Game of Life

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After eating the mooncakes from Eight-treasure House, everyone, even Ji Yue—who didn’t care much about the culinary world and was just waiting for Eight-treasure House to go bankrupt so they could poach its headwaiter, get a promotion and salary raise, and reach the pinnacle of their life—realized that this Mid-Autumn Festival, Eight-treasure House would become the brightest star among all of Beiping’s restaurants.

The very thing Jiang Feng had always worried about had finally happened—the villainous big boss Ling Guangzhao had shown his ferocious true colors.

In response, everyone expressed the same sentiment,

They would continue to order mooncake takeout from Eight-treasure House tomorrow.

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles.

There were still plenty of crabs left from the ones Professor Li had sent. Jiang Feng originally planned to divide them among the families. Unexpectedly, the two sirs were not interested in crabs. Mrs. Wang Xiulian and the eldest aunt both insisted that the crabs be left with Jiang Feng so he could make stuffed oranges with crab and bring them over. Jiang Jiandang was quite interested in the crabs. However, the second aunt recently read an article, “Parents are the Best Teachers for Children,” and was greatly inspired. She decided to lead by example and from then on, no meat or fish would ever appear on their dining table again.

As for Jiang Jianye and Jiang Jianshe, they had recently taken a fancy to a faltering cattery that was for sale and were planning to pick up their old trade, ushering in their second career spring in Beiping, the cosmic center. The second career spring they were about to embrace would also keep Jiang Feng’s fourth aunt busy since, after all, in the past few years, Jiang Jianye and Jiang Jianshe had been dedicated to breeding cats and dogs. The technical work of haggling would have to be left to the fourth aunt.

Thus, the crabs ended up back in Jiang Feng’s hands.

It was 22:17 Beiping time when Jiang Feng walked into the kitchen to turn off the heat and lift the lid.

In the pot were the first batch of stuffed oranges with crab he had made that night, a total of three, prepared for Mr. Jiang Jiankang and Mrs. Wang Xiulian.

2.8 for Mrs. Wang Xiulian, 0.2 for Mr. Jiang Jiankang (one spoonful).

As the only dutiful son of Mrs. Wang Xiulian, Jiang Feng always remembered his mother’s habit of not eating after 10:30 pm, so he deliberately divided the stuffed oranges with crab he was making tonight into two batches. There were more oranges in the second batch, which Jiang Feng planned to distribute to each household. With the help of Wu Minqi and Ji Xia, the second batch was just barely half done.

Ji Xia had evolved from her initial enthusiastic crab-peeling to a respectful distance-style peeling. Crabs are cold in nature, and the crab meat steamed out has a strong odor, especially after it cools down.

Now, Jiang Feng, Wu Minqi, and Ji Xia were no different from walking human-shaped crabs.

It was 22:18 when Jiang Feng knocked on the door of his parents’ place.

It was Mr. Jiang Jiankang who opened the door. Mrs. Wang Xiulian was lying on a massage chair getting a massage, wearing an eye massager and looking very much in enjoyment and cultivating her health.

The massage chair was a recent purchase by Mrs. Wang Xiulian, a new delight she couldn’t get enough of, unwilling to leave once she lay in it each evening.

“Did my son come?” Mrs. Wang Xiulian asked from the depths of the massage chair.

“Mom, I came to bring you the stuffed oranges with crab. Come and try them,” Jiang Feng said as he set the dish on the table and turned to see several kitchen knives laying on the kitchen counter.

Exquisite, sharp, and brand new.

Clearly recently purchased.

“Dad, did you buy…”

Jiang Feng’s words were cut short as Mr. Jiang Jiankang stuffed his mouth with nougat, his expression both fierce and embarrassed, indicating to Jiang Feng that the money used to buy the knives wasn’t clean, likely embezzled while buying the massage chair for Mrs. Wang Xiulian.

Heh, a man short on pocket money.

Jiang Feng chewed on the nougat in his mouth, noting the rich creamy taste and the distinct flavor of peanuts, very chewy just a bit sticky, a familiar taste.

“When did Grandma make the nougat?” Jiang Feng asked.

Mr. Jiang Jiankang was surprised by Jiang Feng’s reaction and asked back, “Your grandma didn’t give you any?”

“No,” Jiang Feng replied, pulling another sticky nougat from the bag and continuing to chew.

Mrs. Jiang’s nougats might stick to teeth, but they tasted so good that the children of the Jiang Family had grown up eating them without ever tiring. During the New Year, Jiang Feng and his brothers could eat nougats all day long to the point where they couldn’t even open their mouths to speak. However, in recent years, Mrs. Jiang had become less willing to make them.

Out of season, Jiang Feng was pleasantly surprised by the sudden appearance of his grandma’s nougat.

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“Your fourth aunt said your grandma started making them right after she finished her mahjong game this afternoon. She made several dozen pounds, and delivered them over an hour ago, even sending some to Zaide and Chengcheng. Didn’t she send any to you?” The implication was clear: you better reflect on how you might have offended your grandma and go apologize to her promptly.

With her hint so unmistakable, Jiang Feng suddenly found the nougat in his mouth hard to chew.

How had he offended his grandma?

In the past few days, he hadn’t really seen her much, where would he have had the chance to offend her? Didn’t Mrs. Jiang spend every day playing mahjong with Chen Suhua in turns?

Fuck, mahjong.

It hit Jiang Feng in an instant where he had gone wrong with his grandma.

He had forgotten to make a portion of the stuffed oranges for her this afternoon and then to deliver it to her.

If Chen Suhua happened to casually mention today’s stuffed oranges during her shift, Jiang Feng would be forever nailed to the pillar of shame as the unfilial child of the Jiang Family.

Jiang-the-unfilial-grandson-who-doesn’t-deserve-nougat-Feng.

Merely by thinking about it, Jiang Feng broke out in a cold sweat.

Mrs. Jiang was great in all aspects, except that she loved face, always wanting to show off something to her plastic friends, but there wasn’t much to show off at her age, so she could only show off her sons and grandsons.

Jiang Feng vaguely remembered a time before the New Year when the flu was rampant, and Mrs. Jiang had unfortunately caught it, having to visit the town’s hospital daily for IV drips.

Back then, Jiang Feng hadn’t been struck by his gaming obsession and restarted his cooking training, so during the winter holiday with nothing to do, he was recruited by his own father to accompany Mrs. Jiang to the hospital for her IV drips every day.

Jiang Feng recalled that the town hospital was as lively as a senior citizens’ club that year, with a group of 60-something year-olds convening for IV treatments, greeting anyone who entered with hearty hellos and chatting to each other, boasting and talking about their children. Without poker and mahjong, and with IV bags hanging beside them, it was practically no different from a senior citizens’ club.

All the seniors came by themselves, except for Mrs. Jiang who had her grandson’s company. Back then Mrs. Jiang shone the brightest in the whole hospital, not only receiving envious looks from everyone but also heartfelt praise, “Lanhua, your grandson is so filial, accompanying you to the hospital. Those little brats of mine won’t budge no matter how much I call them!”

That day Jiang Feng stayed in the hospital for more than an hour. Aside from the first 40 minutes, where every new arrival would praise him in front of Mrs. Jiang while he was getting his IV, the rest of the time, the seniors were engulfed in their own conversations. Jiang Feng, who lowered the average age of the IV room, could only squat in a corner playing with his phone.

There was no seat for Jiang Feng to sit on.

Seeing no new arrivals, Mrs. Jiang waved him off, indicating he should stay where he needed to be, warning him the hospital was full of sick people and she didn’t want him to catch the flu.

Ever since then, Mrs. Jiang realized her grandson was perfect for showing off. Skinny, and appearing well-behaved; when the other grandsons were brought before others, they would only say, “My, you have raised your grandson to be very sturdy!” instead of “My, your grandson is so filial.”

For a long time, Jiang Feng had been the representative of filial grandsons in the Jiang Family.

Now, his spot as the representative might disappear because of a stuffed orange.

Realizing the severity of the situation, Jiang Feng instantly became nervous and decided to rush home to make the stuffed orange for Mrs. Jiang and deliver it to her.

Time waits for no one, and if he were too late, Mrs. Jiang might already have gone to sleep.

It’s quite exhausting playing mahjong all day.

“Dad, I haven’t finished cooking my dishes yet; I’ll head back first. You and mom enjoy these stuffed oranges while they’re hot,” Jiang Feng slipped away as he spoke.

Jiang Jianshe nodded and uncovered the top of the stuffed oranges.

The aroma was captivating.

Mrs. Wang Xiulian, who had been lying in the massage chair, her face a picture of bliss, suddenly sat up straight.

“Jiankang, hand me one over,” Wang Xiulian said.

After speaking, she sank back into the chair.

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