The Game of Life

During the game update, Jiang Feng couldn’t see the dish display, but his intuition told him that among all the hot dishes on the table, except for the unnamed soup at the old man’s table, it was this “glutinous rice-stuffed duck” that was the best.

The duck was plump and yellow in color, with a thin layer of oil on the skin, which Jiang Feng guessed was probably melted pork fat, making it look golden and shiny, very appetizing.

The duck’s back was split open, and its belly was hollowed out, inside of which were stuffed torn strips of duck meat, glutinous rice, shiitake mushrooms, and winter bamboo shoots. Jiang Feng picked up a piece of the duck meat with his chopsticks. After being stuffed into the duck belly, the meat had been marinated in cooking wine and ginger juice, and soaked in cooked pork fat, giving it a uniform and shiny color. It had been steamed with the mushrooms and bamboo shoots for so long that it was tender and flavorful, not overpowered by the mushrooms but instead enhanced by the fresh taste of the bamboo shoots.

Jiang Feng chewed carefully for a few bites, his eyes brightened, and he picked up another chopstick-full of duck meat at a leisurely pace, also scooping up a spoonful of glutinous rice, and took a sip of cola.

Jiang Zaidi saw Jiang Feng eating the duck and casually asked, “Feng, how is the glutinous rice duck Grandpa cooked today?”

“It’s ‘glutinous rice-stuffed duck,’ and it’s alright,” Jiang Feng said, tasting a bite of the glutinous rice, “The glutinous rice is pretty good.”

Jiang Feng was well aware that his cousins were meat-lovers and would definitely not be interested in glutinous rice.

Sure enough, upon hearing this, Jiang Zaidi lost interest and continued eating the oil-braised prawns on his plate, which were not many left.

The Spring Festival Gala hadn’t even started yet, and the pork hock was already gone. The last bit of sauce had been poured into the bowl by the aunt who was determined to lose weight and soaked her rice in it.

The fact that she was willing to eat white rice on New Year’s Eve showed just how firm her resolve to diet was.

Continuing in his unhurried pace, Jiang Feng scooped up a spoonful of tofu, picked up a piece of duck meat, a slice of fish head, another piece of duck meat, another spoonful of glutinous rice, and then another spoonful, added a small piece of braised bamboo shoot, and grabbed a large piece of duck meat.

Under Jiang Feng’s strategy of creating a diversion and outflanking maneuvers, not a soul at the table realized that the ‘glutinous rice-stuffed duck’ was actually the star dish of the table.

Jiang Junqing almost picked up a piece, but before her chopsticks could reach it, Jiang Feng called out to her, “Junqing, you’ve been studying hard recently. Have some fish eyes to brighten your vision.”

As he spoke, Jiang Feng went to pick up the fish eyes for Jiang Junqing. JiangJunqing, interrupted by Jiang Feng, replied, “Thanks, little brother.” And for a moment, she forgot what she had originally intended to pick up. “Grandpa’s preserved vegetable pork belly is good today; the fatty meat has been simmered until tender, it’s not greasy, and the vegetables are soft too. It would go well with rice. Here, Junqing, have a few more pieces of pork belly,” Jiang Feng quickly suggested.

“I can save the preserved vegetables for rice tomorrow,” JiangJunqing, led astray by Jiang Feng, started picking up the preserved vegetable pork belly instead.

Jiang Zaidi was somewhat puzzled, “Since when has Feng been so concerned about Junqing? Wasn’t he avoiding the two sisters these past few days?” Jiang Ran was solely focused on his food: “He’s just buttering her up so he won’t be dragged into tutoring sessions tomorrow! Here, Junlian, you’ve been studying hard too. Come on, have some fish eyes to brighten your eyes.” Jiang Zaidi: …

Heh, a sycophant.

“Come on, Junqing, Junlian, have some ‘Four Joyful Meatballs.’ This piece is good, this one has lots of sauce and is flavorful!” Jiang Zaidi eagerly served his cousins the meatballs.

The Spring Festival Gala started, and Jiang Junqing was visibly excited. Even the opening hosts’ chatter couldn’t dampen her enthusiasm as she repeatedly exclaimed, “The very first song is sung by my idol, my idol!”

Then a group began singing the first song, and nobody knew who Jiang Junqing’s idol was.

That song, well…

It felt like it had no tune or lyrics; despite a group of handsome guys on the stage singing cheerfully, the Jiang family members watching in front of the TV were just confused.

Everyone even forgot to eat and stared blankly at the TV.

“What the heck is this they’re singing!” Sir was the first to start cursing.

Jiang Junqing had no comeback.

“Let’s stop watching the Gala. Let’s find something else to watch. Wait a moment, Grandpa, I’ll pick out the video appforyou, and you can choose,” Jiang Zaidi came to smooth things over and handed the remote control to the old man.

Jiang Feng picked the last piece of duck meat from the belly of the duck.

There was not much duck meat in the belly to begin with, but Jiang Feng, with his ruse of diversion, ate quickly and hungrily. Not having as big of an appetite as the others at the table, he was almost full after about twenty minutes into the meal.

After two more spoonfuls of glutinous rice, Jiang Feng finished his meal and put down his chopsticks.

Wang Xiulian found it odd to see her son put down his chopsticks and asked, “Feng, why have you stopped eating? Tired of eating?”

Jiang Feng: “…Mom, I’m full.”

“Full!” Wang Xiulian was shocked. She had only just started eating, but after considering her son’s physique, she relented and still placed two more pieces of deep-fried pork on Jiang Feng’s plate. “Feng, if you want soup, just askyour dad to scoop it for you. Keep the chicken soup for tomorrow morning to have with noodles, you can skip it now.”

Jiang Feng had this in mind; after two pieces of deep-fried pork, he really felt full. He passed his bowl to Jiang Jiankang at the next table, saying, “Dad, help me get some soup.”

“Alright, my boy, are you done eating?” Jiang Jiankang took the bowl and lifted the lid of the clay pot containing the soup.

As soon as he lifted the lid, a rich aroma filled with mountain delicacies and seafood wafted out.

Shark fin, shrimp, sea cucumber, Chinese broccoli, ham, winter bamboo shoots, fish maw, and entire shiitake mushrooms were neatly arranged inside theclay pot, with a display of yellow, black, green, orange, and white—five colors together—topped off with a creamy soup that was a feast for the eyes just by looking at it.

No one had ever seen this soup.

With such precious ingredients, no one had ever tasted it either.

“Dad, what, what kind of soup is this?” Jiang Jiankang asked.

It was just a pot of soup, yet it required luxurious ingredients like shark fin and sea cucumber; and the shark fin wasn’t just shreds but whole fins, and the sea cucumber was of excellent quality, undeniably exquisite.

” Dad, isn’ t this sea cucumber the one I got someone to buy foryoutoboost your health in June? Why did you use it to make soup?” Jiang Jiandang was startled.

“It seems like the shark fin is the one I bought for Dad at the start of the year.” Jiang Jianshe recognized it too.

“And the ham looks like it was sliced from the Spanish ham I bought for Dad before,” Jiang Jianguo said.

“You don’t even know how to buy sea cucumber properly. I was afraid the sea cucumber you got would spoil my soup,” Jiang Weiguo said. “None of you recognize what this is?”

Nobody made a sound.

“Alright, little brother, don’t make it hard for them. Nowadays, even banquets rarely see such dishes; how could they have ever come across it?” Jiang Weiming said. “This is ‘Clear Soup Whole Family Blessing.’ It used to be Taifeng’s signature dish for banquets, considered a fine dish back then, made only with the best and most luxurious ingredients. The quality of these sea cucumbers and shark fins could be better, though.”

Jiang Jiankang wasn’t sure how to scoop the soup now; the ingredients were so expensive, and they were health supplements bought by his brothers for their father, even the ham.

After some thought, he just scooped the soup with a slice of winter bamboo shoot.

Jiang Feng:…

With such a huge pot of soup, couldn’t his dad have given him a couple of shiitake mushrooms and a slice of fish as well?

Upon the first sip, freshness was the primary sensation.

The winter bamboo shoots were fresh and tender, the ham had its unique salty fragrance, the collagen from the fish maw had seeped into the broth, and the flavors of the fish and chicken had completely merged into the stock.

So many ingredients blended together without any conflicting flavors, managed harmoniously instead. The mountain treasures and sea flavors, each with their distinct taste, all gathered in this soup, paired with a stock carefully seasoned by Jiang Weiguo all day— ‘delicious’ was not enough to sum it up.

“Does it taste good?” Jiang Shoucheng asked.

“Delicious, delicious,” Jiang Feng nodded repeatedly.

Jiang Shoucheng, craving the soup, wanted to try it too.

“You can only have soup after finishing your meal,” Li Mingli said.

Jiang Shoucheng could only stuff his mouth with food in a frenzy.

On the other side, Sir had chosen the TV program he wanted to watch.

“I support the 358th Regiment; we must win today!”

While engrossed in the soup, Jiang Feng suddenly looked up to see Comrade Lu Bu on the TV, playing the role of the regimental commander of the 358th Regiment.

Watching a war drama during the Chinese New Year feast…

Very… it’s quite an atmosphere!

*Ding, an update warning.

It’s New Year’s; I need to give New Year’s greetings and collect lucky money (yes, I’m still a child C :   »)), so starting from tomorrow, there will be one

update daily (‘-m-‘J