The Game of Life

Chapter 606: Chapter 604 Sensation (4000+)

Sun Jikai led Jiang Feng to the second floor bathroom, and Lin Cuihua (Sun Jikai’s mother) spotted them when they came out of the back kitchen.

“What’s wrong with that boy Kai? He vanished last night, and now he’s hanging around with those bad influences. It’s such an event, and he’s still dragging his friends around aimlessly,” Lin Cuihua complained.

Sun Changping said nothing.

He was always easygoing, and the last time he had argued with Lin Cuihua was quite rare. With Sun Guanyun’s funeral over and everything having gone smoothly, he had returned to his usual demeanor.

Lin Cuihua gave Sun Changping an annoyed look, hating his weak character yet grateful for it at the same time. If it weren’t for that, she wouldn’t have been able to hold him tightly in her grasp all these years.

Truth be told, Lin Cuihua had actually been a bit afraid when Sun Changping got angry yesterday, so much so that she had to rehearse what she would say in her mind beforehand. But seeing Sun Changping returning to his usual self today, she dismissed him from her thoughts and reverted to her usual way of treating him.

“Why are you standing there like an idiot? Your brother has been around Mr. Chang for so long, and even if you can’t speak up, you should at least be there listening. Get over there now!” Lin Cuihua said softly, her voice low but tone very assertive.

“I’m not familiar with Mr. Chang, and it has always been Chang Ning who liaised with Mr. Chang on the company’s behalf. What would I do there? I wouldn’t understand what they were talking about,” Sun Changping muttered, dragging his feet.

“Wait, who’s sitting at that table? Why are there only three people?” Lin Cuihua pointed to Jiang Weiguo’s table.

Sun Changping glanced over and, seeing the three generations represented by Jiang Weiguo, Sun Maochai, and Wu Minqi, assumed they were a family.

After some thought, Sun Changping said, “They must be regular customers, probably a family that came over especially for this.”

“I used to see that middle-aged one when I managed the restaurant. He frequented the place,” Sun Changping added. His greatest asset was his memory; once he remembered something, he rarely forgot it.

Lin Cuihua nodded without much interest, grumbling, “Assistant Wang really could have been more selective with the invitations. Why invite just anybody, and even set aside a separate table for them?”

On the other side, Sun Jikai returned after seeing Jiang Feng to the bathroom door.

He was right; there weren’t many service staff on the second floor. They hadn’t encountered a single one on their way.

The lights were on but no one was there, giving off a vibe similar to a horror movie. If the lights had been dimmer, the atmosphere would have been even more pronounced.

Jiang Feng quickly entered the bathroom stall, shut the door, opened his attribute panel, and started the side quest that had just been issued by the game.

[Beautiful Memories] For Sun Maochai, a master of Cantonese cuisine, Jubao Building wasn’t just a place where he had lived and grown up; it was also filled with fond recollections of his childhood and youth spent with his master and fellow apprentices. As time passed, even if Sun Maochai had numerous memories, they began to fade. Memory loss is difficult to retrieve, just like the past we can’t return to. The player is tasked with helping Sun Maochai recover at least one missing memory.

Quest Progress (0/1)

Quest Hint: There are multiple ways to complete this quest, with a high level of freedom. Players are encouraged to be creative and avoid any dangerous actions.

Quest Reward:

A memory of Sun Maochai

A memory fragment of Sun Maochai

Jiang Feng: ?

One quest, two rewards.

But what is this memory fragment?

Part 1?

A memory with an installment?

Jiang Feng was somewhat taken aback, resting his chin on his hand as he read through the task details again from the beginning, feeling it was different from what he had initially thought.

According to the general pattern of how the game issues side quests, they are usually triggered by specific characters. In other words, whatever he did with whoever just now could have triggered this related quest.

Before going into the bathroom, he had thought this side quest was going to be about helping Sun Jikai complete the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon. The quest might have required him to win back a certain number of customers or earn the affirmation and praise of numerous regulars – the kind of straightforward, pie-from-the-sky task.

The game told him that the dropped side mission was to help Sun Maochai find his memory.

What does this mission have to do with the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon?

By the time Sun Guanyun made the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon, Sun Maochai had been away from Jubao Building for almost 20 years; the two were virtually unrelated.

Jiang Feng felt he had lost out and shouldn’t have agreed so readily. His relationship with Sun Jikai wasn’t strong enough to secretly work in the kitchen of Jubao Building under the guise of an anonymous worker on behalf of the hidden owner of Taifeng Building.

With a heart feeling a loss of a hundred million, Jiang Feng descended the stairs with some sadness and slipped into the back kitchen of Jubao Building.

The Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon was almost ready.

Although he had lost out, he naturally intended to complete the task promised to Sun Jikai properly.

Not to mention, last night Sun Jikai had treated him and Wu Minqi to dinner; although they only ordered five dishes, the meal was quite expensive, and after rounding the numbers, he hadn’t lost out much.

Ever since Jiang Feng became the real owner of Taifeng Building, it was usually he who paid for meals, and it had been a long time since he had enjoyed the pleasure of being treated by someone else.

The Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon was served.

Before thickening the sauce, the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon, although it looked similar to after the thickening, was not the same in terms of fragrance and taste. The thickening was the soul of the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon; without it, the dish lacked soul.

A dish can be not delicious, but it can’t be without a soul.

If the chefs at Jubao Building cooked sincerely, their culinary skills were actually quite impressive.

At least the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon in front of him was impressive.

The thickening sauce was still simmering in the pot, and even though the squab was out of the pot, it was not yet time to thicken it. Jiang Feng still had the leisure to chat with Sun Jikai for a bit, praising the craftsmanship of their chefs as being even better than he had expected.

“Wow, who is responsible for making this Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon? The deboning technique is even better than mine!” Jiang Feng exclaimed.

“The pine needle technique is good too!”

“The fire control is also well managed!”

“Just not sure about the stuffing inside.” Jiang Feng was tempted to slice open the pigeon’s belly to see the ratio of stuffing inside.

“Anyway, there will be leftovers; once all the thickening is done and it’s served, you can take one out to analyze it separately. No, wait, you will have your chance to eat at the table shortly anyway, and you will know once you taste it,” Sun Jikai said with a laugh, suggesting that the quality of a chef’s skills can be immediately known by tasting.

Jiang Feng nodded, ending the casual talk and started to focus on thickening the sauce.

The dishes of Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon were thickened one by one and were also served one by one by a dedicated person.

According to Jubao Building’s rules, if a table ordered Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon, it would be the first dish served. That is to say, the serving of the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon marked the beginning of the banquet.

Those seated were mostly regular customers of Jubao Building, and they could tell the dish being served by the waiters was Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon, even before the lid was lifted, just by the shape of the container.

“Ah, back in the day when Master Sun was still cooking, how could we have witnessed such a scene? Each person at a big table getting a portion of Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon, that was something we wouldn’t even dare to dream of,” remarked a former regular customer of Jubao Building with a touch of regret and wistfulness.

“Each person gets a portion? If a table had as many people as ours and got two or three portions, that would be great. How many servings of Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon did Jubao Building sell a day back then? It was harder to get than Buddhas Jumping Over the Wall!” someone next to him chimed in, “What a pity, though, Master Sun has passed away, and we can’t taste it even if we want to.”

“But I’ve heard that Taifeng Building in Beiping also sells Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon, and the taste is quite authentic. But it’s hard to get too; I don’t go to Beiping often and never managed to get it. I have a friend from Beiping who told me that if you live there and are keen to try, you can still manage to get it,” another person said.

“I’ve tasted the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon from Taifeng Building in Beiping, and the flavor is quite authentic, but it’s just not the same as the one Master Sun made; it’s missing something. No, it’s just not that flavor; it’s different,” the first reminiscing person insisted, “It’s just not the same as what Master Sun made.”

“How could it be the same? They’re not made by the same master, so it’s impossible for the dishes to taste identical,” another person laughed, turning to the one who mentioned Taifeng Building, “Since I’m planning to go to Beiping next month, could you ask your friend how to reserve the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon at Taifeng Building? I want to see if I can get a reservation.”

As the conversation became more animated among the group, the waiter came to serve their table.

“Gentlemen, I apologize, but because each Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon needs to be thickened individually, there will be intervals between servings. We will serve the dishes in a clockwise order, please don’t mind,” he said.

Then he served the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon to the closest lucky one, which was the former regular customer of Jubao Building, who first expressed his opinion and felt that the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon made by Jiang Feng was not the same as the one made by Sun Guanyun back in the day.

“`

Former regulars at Jubao Building had no interest in the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon, after all, they were all too familiar with the quality of the dish that Jubao Building had been serving over the years.

Originally, he had merely wanted to attend the simple memorial service for Sun Guanyun; he hadn’t intended to come to the banquet. But just now, at the funeral, he had run into some old dining companions with whom he used to share tables at Jubao Building. Having not seen them for a long time, he had wanted to catch up. Moreover, he was free that evening, so he decided to join the banquet.

He took a small knife from the waiter and cut open the pigeon’s belly himself.

The aroma was both enticing and familiar, as if it were the very scent from his memories.

The former patron of Jubao Building doubted his own nose.

But he quickly rationalized it. Today was Sun Guanyun’s funeral, and seeing such a familiar dish, he became emotionally stirred, feeling nostalgic. Thus, believing that it smelled like the flavor he loved was only natural.

Thinking this way, he scooped up a spoonful of the stuffing inside.

The patron from Jubao Building was stunned.

Could there be something wrong with the nose, and with the tongue too?

If it really was a problem, he would gladly have that problem for the rest of his life.

“Hey, the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon looks good today, how does it taste?” someone asked.

The former diner from Jubao Building, too preoccupied to answer and with no time to respond, was far too busy eating. Even eating was hardly keeping pace, where would he find the time to respond to such idle talk?

So he kept eating, bite after bite, each one smaller than the last, picking at his food like a chicken pecking at grains of rice, slowly emptying the round, stuffed pigeon belly with his spoon.

As dish after dish of Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon was served, the conversation dwindled. Everyone was busy eating, simultaneously doubting and feeling fortunate about the taste on their tongues.

The room fell into silence, leaving only a crowd of people burying their heads in their food.

Even Sun Changping and Sun Channing, the sons of Sun Guanyun, were caught in astonishment.

They knew all too well the caliber of Jubao Building’s chefs; the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon was well made, with every step before the thickening phase accomplished to perfection, a true legacy of Sun Guanyun. Not to mention that today’s dish was made by Sun Guanyun’s chief apprentice, who had been preparing Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon for over a decade. Except for the thickening, everything else was flawless.

But everyone knew that if the thickening wasn’t right, then it simply wasn’t right.

Without the thickening, Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon was just a common dish, a stewed pigeon with stuffing that tasted okay.

With the right thickening, it would truly become the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon.

In previous years, what Jubao Building had been selling was just stewed pigeon.

Today, the stewed pigeon had suddenly transformed into the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon.

As Sun Changping ate, tears streamed down his face. An utterly absurd suspicion crossed his mind.

Today was the day his father was laid to rest; could it be that his father had manifested himself this evening to prepare these Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeons?

Jiang Feng, in the kitchen, suddenly felt a little uneasy and shivered.

The Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon needing thickening had now all been finished by him, and he was devouring the portions alongside Sun Jikai.

Jiang Feng declared that he would eat two portions of Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon today.

No, three portions!

He felt that these were probably the best Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon he had ever cooked in his life.

Of course, these dishes weren’t actually made by him; he was just responsible for the thickening. All the previous steps were completed by Sun Guanyun’s chief apprentice, Qiu Fu.

Qiu Fu was not only Sun Guanyun’s chief apprentice but also the most skilled chef in Jubao Building’s kitchen at present. In terms of culinary skills, he far surpassed Jiang Feng.

“`

These years, he had always wanted to create the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon at the same level as his master, Sun Guanyun. He was quite diligent in perfecting every step before thickening the sauce, his skills reaching a level of mastery.

Regretfully, he never succeeded, and Sun Guanyun didn’t teach him, so he never mastered the final step of thickening the sauce.

With Qiu Fu’s cooking skills and Jiang Feng’s sauce thickening, the original taste of the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon was accidentally restored this way.

Of course, neither Jiang Feng nor Sun Jikai, who were feasting in the kitchen, realized this.

Jiang Feng had only eaten it once, and it was a modified version, so he didn’t quite remember the original taste.

Sun Jikai had eaten it since he was young and had become numb to the flavor; he simply thought the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon tasted exceptionally good this time.

Unbeknownst to them, there was already an earthquake in the main hall.

The Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon was made with squab, which, no matter how stuffed, remained a small portion. Those who ate quickly had already finished their serving, not only the filling but the scarcely meaty squab as well, almost licking the sauce clean.

The first diner to finish had a “where am I, could it be heaven? I seem to float among the clouds” look as he raised his head, only to find he was the only one finished, prompting a feeling of sudden melancholy and sadness.

He was indifferent to why Jubao Building had suddenly produced the original Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon again; after all, he was a diner whose only job was to spend money, eat, and enjoy.

The first diner to finish heaved a sigh.

With this flavor, Jubao Building might very well return to its former glory. The question was, after this meal, when would he be able to snatch the next one? Those who didn’t attend the banquet tonight really missed out big time.

Wait, those who didn’t attend the banquet!

A lightbulb went on for the diner who finished first; he felt like he had discovered a boulevard leading to enlightenment.

At the end of that boulevard, the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon seemed to be flapping its wings at him.

He waved over a waiter and whispered, “Do you have any leftover Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon in the kitchen? I don’t mind if the flavor’s changed or if it’s cooled down. Could you bring me another serving if you have any?”

The waiter was surprised and said, “I think we do have some left. Let me go ask.”

“Waiter, another serving for me too!” someone nearby hurriedly said.

“You haven’t even finished your own serving yet!” a person further away complained.

The man then demonstrated to everyone what “gobbling down a pigeon in one bite” meant.

Fellow diners: …

The waiter took note of how many people wanted a second serving and ran to the kitchen window.

The junior worker went to find Sun Jikai.

“Little boss, some customers outside want another serving of the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon. We have requests from 11 customers, no, 12 customers, no, 16 customers, 19 customers, 23… a total of 27 customers want a second serving. Could you have a look…”

Sun Jikai glanced at the remaining Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon: “We have 32 servings left. Tell the waiter to make sure they get an accurate count and explain the situation properly, so as to avoid any conflicts later.”

Then Sun Jikai turned to look at Jiang Feng, who was devouring a pigeon.

Jiang Feng: ?

Working for free and having to do overtime, Master Sun, that’s a bit much!

Jiang Feng slowly swallowed the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon in his mouth, looking serious: “There are only 30 servings left.”

Sun Jikai: ?

“I want three servings!”