The Game of Life

Ever since Jiang Feng discovered that his spirit would become highly concentrated when teaching others to cook and that the crab-stuffed oranges he made were foolproof, Ji Xia became an essential part of making crab-stuffed oranges.

As long as Ji Xia was in Taifeng Building when Jiang Feng was making crab-stuffed oranges, he would have her stand by his side to help pick crabmeat and such.

Jiang Feng felt that by mid-November, when the Ganzhou Navel Oranges came to market, Ji Xia would be able to start trying to make crab-stuffed oranges on her own.

In September, when Jiang Feng practised making crab-stuffed oranges, he always used Australian oranges, but now he had switched to using locally produced oranges. However, in his heart, the type of oranges best suited for making crab-stuffed oranges was always the Ganzhou Navel Oranges.

Sour, sweet, juicy, large, and plump—they were simply the best choice for making crab-stuffed oranges.

The Ganzhou Navel Oranges were famous, but Jiang Feng had never eaten a particularly authentic one before going to college. He had always thought that descriptions like large, perfectly shaped, brightly colored, with an edible rate of 85%, crisp and tender flesh, dregs-free, rich, sweet aroma, and containing more than 55% juice were all made up by fruit shops to deceive students like him who didn’t know how to pick fruit.

After all, Ganzhou Navel Oranges were much more expensive than other locally grown oranges.

After going to college, Jiang Feng realized that he had been too narrow-minded.

One of Jiang Feng’s college classmates came from Ganzhou and had an orchard at home. In their freshman year, this classmate’s mother sent him two boxes of oranges to the school, and he shared one with each of his classmates.

After Jiang Feng tasted the authentic Ganzhou orchard-produced Ganzhou Navel Oranges for the first time, he was astounded. He quickly sent a private message on WeChat and found that the price was even more heavenly, being only half of what the fruit shops charged, and he thus became a long-term, stable customer of their orchard.

While other classmates ordered 20 pounds at a time, Jiang Feng’s orders were always in increments of 200 pounds.

The 200 pounds were just the norm; by the end of the year, when the express delivery was about to stop for the holiday, Jiang Feng’s last order was usually so large that it made others suspect he was in the fruit wholesale business.

During the New Year, they could enjoy the grand meals personally cooked by Sir every day, mainly consisting of big and hearty dishes. After a meal full of fats and carbohydrates, eating two oranges that were sweet and tangy would help the Jiang Family members better welcome the next meal.

“Master, the crab meat is all picked clean,” Ji Xia’s words pulled Jiang Feng out of his reminiscence of Ganzhou Navel Oranges.

Looking at the orange in his hand, Jiang Feng even felt a bit picky.

Last year, because the Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant had just opened and Sir had gone to Alan City, allowing everyone to frequently taste Sir’s cooking, all Jiang Family members but the great-aunt were somewhat neglectful of the navel oranges.

This year, with the unique dish of crab-stuffed oranges making its appearance, Ganzhou Navel Oranges were sure to shine once again on the Jiang Family’s dining table.

While explaining to Ji Xia, Jiang Feng proceeded to make crab-stuffed oranges, but because he was initially distracted thinking about Ganzhou Navel Oranges, the final product did not achieve an A grade and was somewhat disappointing.

It was definitely too late to start over, and Jiang Feng saw that Ji Xue had already started to focus intently on the pottery jar Hua Diao Chicken, which was obviously about to be ready.

If it’s grade B, then let it be grade B. It wasn’t too much of a letdown.

Thinking this, Jiang Feng re-covered the steamer lid to ensure the temperature inside would keep the crab-stuffed oranges from cooling down in the meantime.

“Xiaxia, start the noodle pulling,” Jiang Feng said.

The dough was ready-made, and after kneading it again, Ji Xia took out a small portion and began to pull noodles.

Ji Xia looked different while pulling noodles compared to her usual self.

Though her appearance was more mature than other children her age, and she was tall with healthy dark skin, the first impression she gave was still that of a child. Ɽá₦οᛒƐṩ

At first, she was a shy child who didn’t dare to talk much, therefore coming off as aloof; now, she was a child known for her uncontrollable snack cravings and love for carbonated drinks.

But when she was pulling noodles, she seemed to grow up in an instant.

Focused, serious, and even devout.

People who are serious about their work always seem to exude a maturity beyond their years.

Ji Xue’s noodle pulling movements were beautiful, her hands steady, slip-stretch-slamming the dough in one smooth sequence as if tracing the flow of clouds and water. Her gestures were grand, opening and closing like a dancer, the noodles becoming the ribbon in her hands, obedient and compliant.

If Ji Xia insisted on opening a breakfast shop back in her small town or county later, she might as well sell noodles too. The way she pulled noodles alone was enough to draw a crowd of kids into her shop.

Within a short period, the noodles were ready, and just as Jiang Feng was cooking them in the pot, Ji Xue’s clay pot chicken with Huadiao wine was also done.

The clay pot was heavy with a whole chicken inside; it was unstable to carry on a tray, and Ji Xue, who wasn’t used to serving dishes, tried several times but couldn’t find the right balance.

“Ji Xue, don’t worry about this one, I’ll serve it. You’re probably not used to serving. Xiaxia’s noodles will be ready shortly; you can carry the Zhajiang noodles and the Crab Stuffed Oranges then,” Jiang Feng said.

“Mm,” Ji Xue nodded, heading towards Jiang Feng.

There weren’t many noodles in the pot, and after Jiang Feng took them out, he divided them into two small bowls, each looking like it only had two bites worth of noodles—miniature bowls intended to let Ji Xue and Tan Wenwen taste Ji Xia’s skills.

Jiang Feng dressed the plain noodles in the two bowls with toppings and drizzled them with the fried sauce. With his superb presentation skills, two exquisite and beautiful bowls of Zhajiang noodles were quickly ready. They were rich in color and well-coordinated; green cucumber strips alternated with brightly colored carrot strips, and the fried sauce, like a little round cake, sat centered on the noodles, which were uniformly thick and looked very resilient.

Those two bowls of Zhajiang noodles looked even more appealing than the carefully photoshopped images on the Eight-treasure House menu.

[Zhajiang Noodles Grade C]

Jiang Feng stared at the Zhajiang noodles, slightly dazed. These noodles were clearly not made by him. He only prepared the sauce and toppings; the main component, the noodles, was pulled by Ji Xia. But somehow, he could still see the display on the Zhajiang noodles.

Could it be that he was considered to have made a dish just by participating in some parts of it, without having to do the main part?

“Can we serve the Crab Stuffed Oranges now?” Ji Xue asked.

“Yes,” Jiang Feng nodded, handing over the Crab Stuffed Oranges and Zhajiang noodles to Ji Xue, then went to serve the clay pot chicken with Huadiao wine.

Tan Wenwen was sitting at table 37, waiting for her meal—a pretty good spot, since it was by the window and had excellent natural light.

Tan Wenwen sat calmly at her table without playing with her phone, smiling and waving to Ji Xue as she approached.

Compared with the Tan Wenwen Jiang Feng remembered from junior high, the current Tan Wenwen was transformed, having shed all vestiges of immaturity.

Her makeup was subtle; her hair tied back in a single ponytail, and her lipstick shade soft. Her outfit was simple yet trendy. The current Tan Wenwen reminded Jiang Feng of the extremely astute and capable vice president of the student council who had a significant conflict with Ji Yue, simply because she refused to fund the Chess Club’s activities.

She was indeed a frighteningly strict woman with herself and others, whom one couldn’t easily dislike, and even held a certain sense of fear towards.

Jiang Feng placed the clay pot chicken on the table and said to Ji Xue, “You go ahead and dine with your friend; take your time. If time is up, I will have Ji Xia come out to call you.”

“Okay, thank you,” Ji Xue nodded, sitting opposite Tan Wenwen.

Tan Wenwen also smiled and nodded at Jiang Feng as a way of acknowledgement.

Jiang Feng glanced at the table.

[Crab Stuffed Oranges Grade A (pseudo)]

[Zhajiang Noodles Grade B (pseudo)]

It seemed the time had come to introduce a limited set meal of Zhajiang noodles and Crab Stuffed Oranges.

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