The Game of Life TGOL

5 Chapter 5 Nourishing Stomach Porridge
Translator: Larbre Studio
Editor: Larbre Studio
Eating breakfast, Chen Xiuxiu couldn’t wait to run home to burn off the calories from that sinful cage of steamed dumplings she’d just eaten.

“You can’t do intense exercise after a meal,” Jiang Feng refused without a second thought.

“What should I do then?” Chen Xiuxiu, looking at the empty cage on the table, flashed a hint of annoyance across her face.

She initially planned to eat only two but unconsciously ended up devouring the whole cage.

She even regretted listening to Jiang Feng’s nonsense about coming to run today.

“Take a slow walk, how about going to my family’s shop later?” Jiang Feng suggested.

“Not going!”

Her little plan had fallen through, but this was within Jiang Feng’s expectations. It was easy to trick Chen Xiuxiu once, but harder to continue luring her out for meals.

Having walked not too long, Chen Xiuxiu started to feel stomach pain.

Because of excessive dieting, stomach aches were a common issue for Chen Xiuxiu, but this time it was severe. Soon, she turned pale and broke into a cold sweat due to the pain.

“Jiang Feng, my stomach hurts. Can you help me buy some stomach medicine? I’ll wait for you here,” Chen Xiuxiu couldn’t endure the pain any longer, found a tree to support herself, squatted down, and held her stomach.

“Go to the hospital,” Jiang Feng decisively helped Chen Xiuxiu and insisted.

There was a private hospital nearby which the local students frequented for minor ailments like headaches or fevers.

Jiang Feng knew the doctor on duty that day.

Back in high school, Chen Xiuxiu had a stomach of steel, dragging Jiang Feng out to eat and drink recklessly without any issues, while Jiang Feng was the one who often got a stomach ache and became a super VIP customer at Dr. Chen’s clinic.

Dr. Chen clearly remembered Jiang Feng too. Seeing him, she lifted her eyelid: “You’ve been out eating and drinking recklessly with your little childhood sweetheart again?”

“Doctor, it’s me. My stomach hurts,” Chen Xiuxiu said, holding her stomach.

After a checkup, Dr. Chen turned to Jiang Feng and scolded him: “What kind of boyfriend are you? Your girlfriend has such a serious stomach condition and you still let her eat like this. She’s eaten too much.”

Jiang Feng: ???

There was no time to explain that Chen Xiuxiu wasn’t his girlfriend, Jiang Feng hurriedly defended himself: “She only ate a cage of steamed dumplings and a glass of soy milk.”

“A cage of steamed dumplings?” Dr. Chen didn’t believe Jiang Feng’s words, “How big was the cage?”

“Just a normal size cage,” Jiang Feng felt it was a case of karma. In high school, it was him who got stomach aches and Chen Xiuxiu who accompanied him to the hospital and was scolded by Dr. Chen, and now it was his turn to be scolded.

“Besides, Dr. Chen, don’t you recognize her? She’s Chen Xiuxiu!” Jiang Feng felt deeply wronged.

How could he have guessed that a cage of steamed dumplings would cause Chen Xiuxiu such stomach pain?

“Xiuxiu?!” Dr. Chen was shocked, then frowned, “Have you been dieting to lose weight?”

Chen Xiuxiu reluctantly nodded her head.

“Nonsense!” Dr. Chen’s eyebrows knitted together, and Jiang Feng sensed trouble brewing.

Sure enough, the next second, Dr. Chen launched into a health education lecture on healthy dieting.

During the summer vacation, Dr. Chen didn’t have many patients, so when an old client came by, she seized the opportunity to give them a thorough health and mindset education.

“Drink more porridge at home and return to a normal diet. It’s foolish to develop a stomach condition just because of dieting at such a young age. You’ll regret it in the future.” Half an hour later, Dr. Chen said the only useful phrase, “Now, go get the medicine. Take the medicine and eat your meals on schedule.”

Chen Xiuxiu looked utterly miserable.

Jiang Feng guessed she might be reminded of the fear dominated by Dr. Chen’s nagging in high school.

With her stomach condition acting up, exercise was out of the question. Jiang Feng and Chen Xiuxiu took the bus home, and after taking Chen Xiuxiu upstairs, Jiang Feng went to pick up some groceries at the shop.

He explained the situation to Wang Xiulian and Mr. Jiang Jiankang and then took a carefully selected bag of vegetables to Chen Xiuxiu’s place.

When Chen Xiuxiu opened the door, she had already changed into new clothes, and a purple yoga mat was spread out in the living room, seemingly prepared to do yoga.

“Is your stomach not hurting anymore?” Jiang Feng placed the groceries in the kitchen and saw the same bowl of cold porridge on the table. He asked, “What are you planning to eat for lunch?”

“Medicine.” It seemed she was planning to skip eating.

Jiang Feng didn’t say much and simply started to prepare porridge.

“I’m not eating lunch,” Chen Xiuxiu tried to stop him.

“I just messaged Dr. Chen on WeChat. She only works in the morning, and if you don’t eat anything, I will call Dr. Chen right away,” Jiang Feng bluntly threatened her with the ultimate weapon, knowing that Dr. Chen lived in their same residential complex.

Perhaps the memories of Dr. Chen’s high school lectures were too profound and still held sway, she immediately kept silent.

“I’ll only have a small bowl,” Chen Xiuxiu emphasized, and curiously asked as she saw Jiang Feng take out japonica rice, glutinous rice, red dates, black beans, millet, and two small bags of meat from the bag, “What porridge are you cooking?”

“Stomach-nourishing porridge.” Jiang Feng’s stomach had been weak since he was young, and Mr. Jiang Jiankang would cook him this stomach-nourishing porridge every so often. Additionally, the porridge that Mr. Jiang Jiankang cooked carried the Jiang Family’s signature style: ham, chicken, shrimp, and beef were all indispensable ingredients.

Jiang Feng remembered that as a child, he didn’t like to drink the stomach-nourishing porridge, and he would take it to Chen Xiuxiu as soon as Mr. Jiang Jiankang left.

“I don’t eat meat!” Knowing full well the richness of the Jiang Family’s stomach-nourishing porridge ingredients, Chen Xiuxiu immediately emphasized.

“Mm.” Jiang Feng chose to compromise, as for what the stomach-nourishing porridge would turn into without ham, chicken, shrimp, or beef under his less-than-stellar cooking skills…

Anyway, it wasn’t him who’d be eating it.

The porridge was cooking in the pressure cooker, with still a long time until it was done. Jiang Feng glanced at the remaining ingredients, pouring the corn kernels, chicken, and ham into the pan to prepare a dish of mixed corn kernels.

As for the rest, they could be taken back to the shop later that afternoon.

Inside the bag, there was also a plump, yellow-green cucumber with an unbroken skin, which he had meticulously picked out from seven or eight cucumbers and washed himself.

As for why he specifically chose a cucumber…

Perhaps smashing cucumbers was really addictive!

Smack smack smack!

Chen Xiuxiu, who had initially only wanted to drink a bowl of porridge, was drawn by the sound of smashing cucumbers. She couldn’t help herself and picked up a piece with chopsticks to try it at the sight of the smashed cucumbers on the kitchen counter.

“Ding, you’ve gained 2 experience points.”

“It’s too sour,” Chen Xiuxiu said with a look of disgust.

Jiang Feng: …

[A plate of cucumbers smothered in way too much vinegar]

[A plate of mixed corn kernels with incorrect fire control]

The Garbage Identification Skill would never be able to tell how much excess vinegar was used!

Chen Xiuxiu was uninterested in the plate of mixed corn kernels next to the smashed cucumbers: “Since when did you like eating corn kernels?”

“Just threw something together,” Jiang Feng explained, how could he tell Chen Xiuxiu that he himself didn’t dare touch the porridge in the pressure cooker.

After waiting another half an hour, Jiang Feng figured the porridge was probably ready, turned off the heat, opened the pressure cooker, and served up a bowl of porridge.

[A bowl of weird-tasting stomach-nourishing porridge]

Quietly placing the porridge on the table, Jiang Feng began to eat the corn kernels.

“You’re not drinking?” Chen Xiuxiu asked.

I wouldn’t drink it if you killed me!

“I don’t like drinking porridge.”

“Ding, you’ve gained 1 experience point.”

Chen Xiuxiu silently put down the spoon and after quite some time, asked, “Did you add salt?”

Jiang Feng: …

“Eating too much salt is bad for the stomach.”

Chen Xiuxiu: ???

Out of consideration for her friend’s hard work in cooking, Chen Xiuxiu managed to swallow down a small bowl of the weird-tasting nourishing porridge. Looking at the pressure cooker on the stove, she asked, “Are you really not going to have any?”

“I don’t like drinking porridge,” Jiang Feng said steadfastly.

“Then what are we going to do with this pot of porridge?” Chen Xiuxiu pointed out this very serious problem.

Jiang Feng thought for a moment and came up with a brilliant idea, “I’ll take it to the store in the afternoon as a freebie.”

Having said this, he went into the kitchen to cover the pressure cooker.

“Ding, you’ve gained 9 experience points.”

Turning around, Jiang Feng saw only the plate of mixed corn kernels on the table, and Chen Xiuxiu was looking down at the empty bowl.

Is she… sneaking bites?