The Game of Life

Chapter 553: Chapter 551 Pot

He Yueru’s family donkey meat sandwich shop looked no different from before the New Year; the heating still functioned intermittently, and Jiang Feng even suspected it was broken when he first stepped into the shop.

A chill breeze gusted, pouring straight into his neck.

“Boss, three bowls of donkey offal soup, 4 sandwiches,” Jiang Feng said, paying with a scan of his phone.

The lady boss, or He Yueru’s mother, had long forgotten about Jiang Feng and company, cheerfully scooping up three bowls of donkey offal soup for Jiang Feng: “Young man, the heater nearer the door isn’t good; you go sit inside, I’ll call you when your sandwiches are ready.”

“Okay.”

Jiang Feng, Ji Xia, and Wu Minqi each carried a bowl of donkey offal soup and headed inside.

Since it was a weekday and past mealtime, the only other patrons were at the very back of the shop, a fat man and woman, who didn’t seem to be eating but were instead laying out several diagrams, apparently discussing business.

Because of the shop’s peculiarly elongated structure, it was warmer the further inside you went. Jiang Feng and the others sat down at the second-to-last table, and they each took a hearty sip of donkey meat soup simultaneously.

Ji Xia even let out a burp.

“Xiaxia, if you can’t finish it, don’t force yourself; if you can’t eat the donkey meat sandwich later, don’t eat that either,” Jiang Feng admonished.

Ji Xia felt she could still salvage the situation.

“I’m telling you, the best method is to take over the shop next door as well and combine the two. That way, the shape and structure will be much more appealing. And I asked your parents about it the other day; they really are considering acquiring the next-door shop. If we stick with the current structure, it will be hard to achieve a minimalist, elegant, and clear design. Look at the two proposals I gave you; if we aim for stylish, it will come off as pretentious and unfit for a donkey meat sandwich shop, while simple and elegant will end up looking odd and even less appropriate for the shop’s style.”

“Right now, the shop’s structure looks like a long, narrow corridor. Making it seem bright and spacious is tough; lighting is one issue. Then there’s the color; your mom wants white, your dad wants yellow, you want green. These three colors can’t be combined, so you guys need to come to a decision, otherwise, isn’t this just becoming a colorful mess?”

Jiang Feng, who had been happily enjoying his donkey offal soup, found himself distracted by the voice of the fat man sitting behind him, which sounded eerily like his beloved De.

He turned around and after a careful look, sure enough, it was De.

De had again taken advantage of work to sneak off to the donkey meat sandwich shop.

Wait, why did he think ‘again’?

Jiang Feng tapped De on the shoulder: “De.”

Jiang Zaidi turned his head and was surprised to see Jiang Feng, Wu Minqi, and Ji Xia sitting behind him; He Yueru was also thrilled to see the trio.

“Little bro, you’re here for sandwiches too? I thought we had business to run at the shop today,” Jiang Zaidi inquired.

“We’ll head back after eating,” Jiang Feng replied, taking another big sip of his donkey offal soup.

Seeing Jiang Feng’s enthusiasm for the soup, Jiang Zaidi felt as if the food he had eaten an hour ago at the office had digested completely. He turned to He Yueru: “Yueru, let’s put our discussion on hold for a bit, shall we? I haven’t had lunch yet. Let me grab something to eat, then we’ll continue with the design proposal.”

He Yueru quickly stood up, apologetic, “Ah, De, you haven’t had lunch yet? Why didn’t you say so earlier? I’ll have my mom whip up a few sandwiches for you. Do you want to have the donkey meat soup or the donkey offal soup? Do you want to try some donkey meat, offal, skin, or tendon as well?”

“Just bring a bit of everything,” Jiang Zaidi said with a laugh.

He Yueru rushed to the front desk.

After He Yueru left, Jiang Feng asked in a low voice, “So, are the design plans not going smoothly?”

“There’s no issue. Yueru’s parents are thinking of acquiring the shop next door. If they do, we’ll have to rethink the layout since they’ll be combined. There’s just a bit of disagreement about the color choice, but other than that, they’re very easy to talk to—much easier than some of the home designs I’ve worked on,” Jiang Zaidi explained, “And their donkey meat sandwiches are delicious, so it’s worth it.”

Jiang Feng: …

It wasn’t long before He Yueru returned with two plates of food, and she also brought over the four donkey meat sandwiches that Jiang Feng had ordered.

Ji Xia, who had been eating the whole time, could only nibble a little of the donkey meat sandwich; Jiang Feng ate three, and Wu Minqi ate one. By the time the three of them finished eating, Jiang Zaidi was still feasting. They stood up to bid farewell to Jiang Zaidi and He Yueru and left the donkey meat sandwich shop to return to work at Taifeng Building.

According to Taifeng Building’s regulations, the lobby staff were required to clock in before 9:30 am, and the kitchen staff had to clock in before 2 pm. By the time Jiang Feng and his companions arrived at Taifeng Building, it was past 2 pm. The impeccable Mrs. Wang Xiulian would deduct the wages of even her own son and future daughter-in-law without mercy, and both Jiang Feng and Wu Minqi were coldly marked for the deduction.

Jiang Feng also did not forget to explain the special circumstances of the brothers Dong Shi and Dong Li to Mrs. Wang Xiulian, sparing them the dismal fate of having their wages docked on their first day back at work after the New Year.

Because it was only a half-day of business on the first day of the New Year, many ingredients that needed to be prepared in advance couldn’t be handled in time. Items like Ji Xue’s ceramic pot flower-sculpted chicken, Jiang Feng’s Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon, Li Hongzhang’s hodgepodge, and Jiang Weiming’s Roasted Pig were temporarily taken off the menu, indicating they were out of stock.

After the long New Year holiday, everyone returning to their work positions inevitably felt a bit slack, and conversations during work revolved around what they had done at home during the New Year.

Wu Minqi worked as usual during the New Year, Zhang Guanghang expanded his social network while gathering intelligence just like a scene from Mission Impossible, Dong Shi and Dong Li spent their days eating and sleeping at their hometown in a drunken stupor, Sang Ming was hopelessly addicted to Mahjong, and Zhang Weiyu ran away from home and didn’t return for the New Year.

“Hmm? You ran away from home during the New Year’s?” Jiang Feng, who was chopping vegetables next to Zhang Weiyu, was taken aback after hearing his unique way of celebrating the New Year.

“Yeah, if I didn’t start working again, I would have been dead broke in a strange place by now,” Zhang Weiyu said with a listless expression, though his hands moved swiftly and cleanly as he chopped.

Jiang Feng roughly calculated Zhang Weiyu’s salary from the previous year, confirming that he was exaggerating, but still couldn’t help probing, “Why did you run away from home during the New Year’s?”

“Forced marriage?” Han Yigu came over with a carrot, his curiosity piqued.

“There are still two carrot peels you haven’t cleaned off properly in that bowl,” Jiang Feng pointed out the bowl in front of Han Yigu and directed him to redo the job.

While redoing the job, Han Yigu didn’t forget to continue craning his neck towards Zhang Weiyu.

“It’s not about forced marriage, I just graduated from university, what marriage are they going to force?” Zhang Weiyu pushed the julienned carrots on the cutting board into the bowl, “It’s about work. At first, they thought I was working at a securities company or somewhere related to finance. But, when I went home for the New Year, I couldn’t hide it anymore, and I told them I was working as a chef here. My dad exploded immediately, insisting that I quit and come home.”

“I haven’t even told them I’m just a prep cook, not qualified to be a Furnace Chef yet. Anyway, I didn’t go home this year, just stayed in other places.”

Jiang Feng: “Your parents… have a prejudice against the chef profession?”

Jiang Feng thought about it and felt Zhang Weiyu’s parents being upset made sense. Zhang Weiyu, a talented graduate from Capital University’s finance department, running off to Taifeng Building to be a prep cook, and not even a Furnace Chef at that, seemed…

Wait, Zhang Weiyu’s salary increased more than his own, so he wasn’t losing out!

“It’s not really prejudice or looking down upon it, it’s just that he never approved of me studying finance in the first place. My dad thinks that if I’m willing to stay in Beiping to be a chef, I might as well go back home and help him with ironing and selling pots,” Zhang Weiyu said.

Jiang Feng nodded: “Yeah, indeed, you might as well go back and help your dad with ironing… Ironing?!”

“Ironing?” Jiang Feng repeated, hardly believing his own ears.

“Yeah, my family’s ancestral ironworking skills, specializing in selling iron pots, Zhang’s Iron Pots, ever heard of it?” Zhang Weiyu said, “It’s pretty famous in our area, and the pots my dad personally forges are hard to come by.”

Jiang Feng: …

Who would have thought, the ironing skill listed in Zhang Weiyu’s employee profile was actually this kind of ironing.

“Are your dad’s iron pots any good?” Jiang Feng asked.

“They should be pretty good, something about heating evenly or something like that, definitely better than those sold on the market,” Zhang Weiyu said, “A lot of chefs from our local restaurants go out of their way to buy pots from my dad.”

Jiang Feng was tempted.

He didn’t know why he was tempted, perhaps it was a chef’s instinct. Just like Jiankang got excited seeing a cleaver, Ji Yue got excited seeing a new skirt, Ji Xia got excited seeing meat, and Wu Minqi got excited seeing high-quality fresh ingredients.

In a nutshell, just one thought: Buy it!

“Um, your dad, no, I mean, would your uncle be busy lately?” Jiang Feng flashed a smile.

“Feng, these carrots are peeled,” Han Yigu said as he approached Jiang Feng with the bowl.

“Then go check if the potatoes are peeled yet,” Jiang Feng said while looking at Zhang Weiyu with an expectant look, “If he’s not too busy, could he make a batch of pots for me?”

“I’ve heard that iron pots handcrafted by skilled artisans are much better than those sold commercially. You know, it’s a rare opportunity, and there’s no overnight feud between father and son.”

“Get in touch, will you?”

Zhang Weiyu: …