The Game of Life

Chapter 550: 548

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On the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, it was the day for all staff at Taifeng Building to finish their New Year vacations and return to work.

It was also the day Jiang Feng ended his comfortable holiday, where he could sleep in, and dove back into his work post.

Jiang Feng was awakened by the vibration of his cell phone.

When he awoke, his mind was still a bit groggy.

Jiang Feng squinted at his phone and saw that it wasn’t an alarm but a call, he didn’t even see clearly who it was from and answered it casually.

“Hello?” Jiang Feng said weakly.

“Master, I bought you breakfast, I’m at the door now. I just knocked, and no one answered, so hurry up and help me open the door!” In sharp contrast was Ji Xia’s spirited voice.

Jiang Feng was a bit stunned. After hanging up the phone and lying on the bed to gather his thoughts for several seconds, he remembered that he indeed had a disciple. To honor Xiaxia’s kind intentions, Jiang Feng struggled out of bed, donned his pajamas, and went to open the door with his hair looking like a bird’s nest.

Ji Xia was standing outside with a pile of stuff, holding one bag and carrying two, while three more bags were by her feet.

If all these were the breakfast that Ji Xia had bought for Jiang Feng, he suspected that Ji Xia might have bought out an entire bun shop.

Jiang Feng helped Ji Xia by picking up the three bags by her feet and signaled for her to come in quickly; Ji Xia, without even bothering to take off her shoes and slip on slippers, bustled into the kitchen with her arms full.

“Xiaxia, put on your slippers!” Jiang Feng called out from the doorway.

Ji Xia could only put down her things and obediently come back to put on her slippers, handing Jiang Feng the pancake, which was still warm, that had been hidden among the many bags.

“When did you and your sister come back?” Jiang Feng glanced at the wall clock—it wasn’t even 7 o’clock yet. He remembered Ji Yue telling him the night before that Ji Xia and Ji Xue were on a train that was due to arrive at around four or five in the morning today.

“Just got back. When we arrived, it was still dark out. There were no buses or subway, so my sister and I had to take a taxi home,” Ji Xia said, “Master, taxis are really expensive!”

“Once I have money, I’m going to take taxis every day!”

Jiang Feng: ?

Ambitious indeed, though not very environmentally friendly.

“What’s in these bags?” Jiang Feng asked.

“These are things my grandma asked me to bring to you, Master,” Ji Xia said. “There are dried scallops, salted fish, dried shrimp, squid, cuttlefish, and beef balls, all handmade by my grandma.”

Jiang Feng opened the bag nearest to him, discovering it was full of dried shrimp—he could tell at a glance that these were fresh shrimp that had been dried and then salt-cured for preservation.

Jiang Feng hadn’t expected that Ji Xia would bring back so many local specialties from her New Year visit home. Her first deed after returning wasn’t to go home and sleep but to buy him breakfast. He was so moved that he even considered giving Ji Xia another red envelope.

Jiang Feng took a bite of his pancake, it had a thin crust, the inside was crunchy with added egg, tenderloin, and fried dough stick, and the sauce tasted very familiar, as if it were from the pancake place he frequented.

“Xiaxia, where did you buy this pancake?” Jiang Feng inquired.

“It’s from the place right next to the bean juice stall where you used to eat, Master,” Ji Xia replied.

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Jiang Feng took another bite of the pancake fruit and was even more touched.

The pancake fruit stall was some distance from the residential area, at least a half-hour round trip. He hadn’t expected Ji Xia to run so far just to buy him pancake fruit.

“Xiaxia, you must have had a bad night’s sleep riding the train all night. Go upstairs and get some sleep. Later at noon, your master will take you out for some delicious food,” Jiang Feng said with a loving smile.

“Thank you, master!” Ji Xia was instantly excited, “Master, I’m not sleepy, my sister and I got a sleeper berth, and I slept really soundly on the train!”

“By the way, Xiaxia, what made you think of buying me pancake fruit?” Jiang Feng casually asked.

“Because I really wanted to eat pancake fruit, there is nowhere to buy it where we live. It seems to be available in the city but not in the county. I wanted to eat it as soon as I got off the train, but I didn’t see it around the train station, so after I came back and put away the luggage, I went out to buy pancake fruit,” Ji Xia explained.

Jiang Feng: …

Your red envelope is gone.

“Alright, go back now. Around 11 o’clock, I’ll call you to come down for lunch,” Jiang Feng started to shoo her away.

Ji Xia left happily, completely unaware of what she had just missed.

Although the disciple had only casually bought him a pancake fruit, the thought still counted. Moreover, it wasn’t the pancake fruit’s fault. Jiang Feng finished the pancake fruit in a few bites, threw the wrapping into the trash, and began to examine these specialties from Mrs. Jiang’s hands that Ji Xia had brought him.

Jiang Feng hadn’t smelled the seafood from the bags at the door earlier because he wasn’t close enough, and he was still a bit sleepy at the time, his mind set on getting back to sleep, so he didn’t pay attention to it. Now that Ji Xia had left, he began to examine these items, and the unique fishy smell of the seafood became apparent.

Because he lived in an inland city before, where seafood was expensive and rarely encountered, Jiang Feng didn’t often come in contact with seafood until he moved to Beiping. However, he had usually handled live seafood, and these sun-dried shrimp and fish were a bit more unusual to see.

Jiang Feng tasted a bit of each of the sun-dried seafood Mrs. Jiang had made. Some were a bit too salty, but surprisingly, they were quite good, especially the dried shrimp. Jiang Feng couldn’t help eating one straight away. It was very chewy and had a unique flavor.

The beef balls were also hand-beaten, which Jiang Feng didn’t taste but just squeezed. The sinew in the beef balls hadn’t been removed, giving the meat a less refined texture. Making beef balls is both labor-intensive and requires precision, so Jiang Feng guessed that the elderly lady probably didn’t have the energy to do it and simply skipped this step.

It was clear that Mrs. Jiang was someone who enjoyed making food and was very good at it, probably having once been the chief cook at home, skilled in various tasks, in stark contrast to Mrs. Jiang who didn’t know how to smoke meat, pickle meat, ferment vegetables, and so on.

Of course, Jiang Feng didn’t mean to belittle his own grandmother at all, because Mrs. Jiang’s scallion pancakes were so delicious.

It’s just that she seldom made them.

Since no one had been living in the house during the New Year period, the refrigerator was empty. Jiang Feng put the specialties Ji Xia had brought into the refrigerator, categorized by type, adding a hint of the sea to a fridge that usually only held produce from the land and freshwater.

After tidying up the refrigerator, Jiang Feng also cleaned the kitchen, checked the seasoning and kitchenware, and even found a water cup in the cupboard that had been missing for half a year.

Once all this work was done, Jiang Xiaoran got up, started to wash up and get ready to pack.

“Didn’t someone come by earlier? I vaguely thought I heard some noise,” Jiang Xiaoran asked.

“My apprentice stopped by. She brought some of their family’s specialties. Oh, by the way, Xiaoran, do you want to take some back with you? The stuff is all pretty good and probably not available in the market usually. The shrimp… the beef balls are really nice,” Jiang Feng offered.

“Ah, thanks, Jiang Feng. If I can get transferred to Beiping for work before May Day, I’ll bring you some salted fish and cured pig’s trotters made by my grandma. They won’t keep in the warm weather,” Jiang Xiaoran said.

“You’re welcome,” Jiang Feng said with a smile that was master level in lies.

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