The Game of Life

Chapter 635: Chapter 633: The Taste of Home

The soup was drinkable, but it wasn’t particularly delicious.

Jiang Feng sipped the half-bowl in front of him, finding no baby bok choy cooked to tenderness, only one slice of pork belly, but a fair amount of beef cubes had settled at the bottom. The minced onions had integrated with the tomato chunks to the point of invisibility, barely discernible under the overwhelming flavor of the tomato sauce, leaving only a faint hint of onion.

Due to Jiang Weisheng adding a generous amount of ketchup, the color of the soup resembled that of Borscht Soup, and the taste was somewhat similar too. Yet, with just a couple of careful sips, one could tell it was completely different from Borscht Soup.

There was an indescribable odd flavor, along with an inexplicable deliciousness.

This bowl of soup could bring warmth, and not merely from its temperature. From the moment it touched the lips, traveling through the mouth and down the esophagus to the stomach, that warm sensation followed the soup’s path straight to the stomach, spreading to the limbs and the rest of the body.

With the small bowl downed, Jiang Feng felt his entire body wrapped in warmth, as if basking in the warm afternoon sunlight, utterly comfortable, almost as if he wasn’t in the cafeteria but lying on a sunny lawn, resting with his eyes closed.

“How is it?” Jiang Weisheng awaited his response eagerly.

“It’s quite good, I feel warmly all over after drinking it,” Jiang Feng said truthfully, with only a bit of embellishment.

Hearing Jiang Feng’s comment, Jiang Weisheng couldn’t have been happier, practically wanting to record the date and details along with Jiang Feng’s words right then and there, if it hadn’t been for his journal not being at hand.

“I’ll call and ask if my wife’s master is still downstairs taking a walk; the sun is so nice today, he might not have gone back yet,” Jiang Weisheng said as he took out his phone to call Zhang Li.

After learning that Jiang Weiming was still enjoying the sun below, Jiang Weisheng rummaged through the depths of the cupboard to find a large bowl, filled it halfway with soup, grabbed a metal spoon, and went off to deliver the soup to Jiang Weiming.

Jiang Feng had never seen that type of bowl in the small cafeteria before; it must have been Jiang Weisheng’s personal purchase, stored in the cupboard for convenience’s sake, probably hidden so deep to prevent others from accidentally taking it.

Once Jiang Weisheng left, there was no one else in the small kitchen. Jiang Feng walked to the door, checked that the manager was also not around, and then relaxed and opened his attribute panel to check out what Jiang Weisheng’s recipe was.

Go to 𝘯𝗈𝘷𝘨𝘰.co

A new character had been illuminated in the recipe section.

Jiang Weisheng (1/1)

[Odd-Flavored Soup Grade B]

Creator: Jiang Weisheng

Dish Details: This is a magical soup filled with flaws but also brimming with sentiment. The marvelous combination of ingredients and straightforward, rough cooking methods conceal an incredibly precious, intense emotion, resulting in this soup that is not merely a hodgepodge of life’s flavors but a blend of life’s sweet, sour, and bitter tastes. Sweetness derived from familial happiness, tartness from care for family members, bitterness from worries for loved ones. This dish, born from and beautified by family, will be one of the creator’s proudest achievements in life. Once consumed, warmth can be felt for up to two hours. (If there is kin within four generations at the same table, the sensation of warmth will be slightly enhanced.)

There is no limit to the number of times this dish can be created.

Friendly Reminder: The original creator’s preparation yields better effects.

This is the Odd-Flavored Soup, not the Hodgepodge Soup. Hodgepodge Soup is Jiang Weiming’s, Odd-Flavored Soup is Jiang Weisheng’s.

Jiang Feng stared at the dish details, somewhat stunned.

It was his first time seeing such long and unique dish details. Where the taste fell short, emotion filled the gap. Jiang Weisheng, with his abundant, positive emotions, managed to elevate this dish to Grade B status.

There was still more than half a pot of soup, steaming and emitting a scent reminiscent of Borscht Soup, yet not quite the same.

Before tasting this soup, the aroma might have led Jiang Feng to think of Borscht Soup, but after tasting it, what came to mind first was the full-bodied warmth it brought.

If described in Wang Hao’s exaggerated manner, it was akin to being enveloped by the sun.

The sunlight filled the body, merged into the bloodstream, warm and comfortable.

Jiang Feng reconsidered, picked up the bowl he had used earlier, and filled it with another full serving of soup. Sipping it slowly, he savored the soup and heartily consumed the meat.

The oddness of Jiang Weisheng’s Odd-Flavored Soup might not have been exceedingly delicious, but it did have a particular charm. There was an incredible magic that made you want another serving after just one bowlful, to keep tasting even if you were stuffed, to keep on drinking day after day.

A complete opposite to pure meat wontons, it was simply on another extreme.

While Jiang Feng was still curled up in the kitchen sipping soup, Jiang Weisheng had already brought a bowl of it to Jiang Weiming’s side.

Today the sun was shining brightly, with a large number of elderly patients walking, chatting, and soaking up the sunlight beneath the building, and there were plenty of patient family members delivering water and fruit. But Jiang Weisheng, carrying a bowl of hot soup directly over, was the first of his kind.

An elderly patient who had just been praising his own son for bringing him an apple—a gesture of filial piety—suddenly felt that his son wasn’t so dutiful after all, and the apple in his hand lost its appeal.

Jiang Weisheng’s bowl of soup was much more fragrant than that apple.

The elderly patient expressed his desire to drink one too, the kind made by his own flesh and blood.

Formerly dutiful son: ?

“Master, there really weren’t any ingredients left, and I didn’t know what to make for you, so I made you this bowl of… weird-tasting soup,” Jiang Weisheng originally meant to say ‘hodgepodge soup’, but he felt that at his skill level he couldn’t replicate Jiang Weiming’s version, so he changed it to ‘weird-tasting soup’ instead.

Jiang Weiming took the soup and said with a smile, “I haven’t seen you make such weird-tasting soup before. Is this a recent discovery of yours?”

“Yes, I’ve been pondering over this for a while,” Jiang Weisheng unconsciously started lying.

Jiang Weiming began to drink the soup.

Since losing his sense of taste completely, eating had become a purely mechanical act. He no longer looked forward to his meals and no longer habitually critiqued every dish as he used to.

Eating and drinking shifted from work and pleasure to the most basic necessities for survival. Without the ability to taste, texture became an excessive detail rather than a delightful addition.

It might be hard to believe, but during the time he lost his sense of taste, what Jiang Weiming most wanted to eat was Jiang Feng’s pure meat wontons—just to see if they could bring back the feeling he used to have when eating.

If that failed, even Li Hongzhang’s hodgepodge would do, as long as it could give him the feeling that eating once brought him, even if it was accompanied by tears and discomfort.

Jiang Weiming began to drink the soup again.

He realized that the sun, which had been showing signs of setting, suddenly seemed revitalized. The sunlight became intense, comfortably warm on his skin, more soothing than a full-body massage in a massage chair.

He had planned to stay outside for only five or six more minutes, but now he simply wanted to linger here a bit longer, ideally until the sun set.

The sunlight became incredibly warm, so warm it made one want to close their eyes and quietly enjoy it.

Jiang Weiming happily closed his eyes.

It was only after he opened his eyes that Jiang Weiming realized there was no sunlight; the last bit of light was blocked by a cloud.

But the warmth did not fade away.

Jiang Weiming seemed to realize something, looked at the soup in his hands and took another sip.

He couldn’t taste it, but he felt very pleased.

Jiang Weiming went from sipping the soup to gulping it down, and after finishing, he didn’t forget to use the spoon to scoop up and cleanly finish every last bit of food left in the bowl.

“Weisheng, do you remember when you first asked me what level you needed to reach before you could graduate as my disciple, what I told you?” Jiang Weiming asked.

Of course, Jiang Weisheng remembered: “You said when I could make the dishes I wanted to make, I would have graduated.”

“Do you still remember what kind of dish you wanted to make?”

“I wanted to make dishes that would be memorable to the diners, just like you, Master,” Jiang Weisheng still naïvely thought this was just an everyday mentor-mentee conversation.

Jiang Weiming said with a gentle smile, “Good boy, congratulations, you’ve finally graduated.”

“Ding, side quest [Jiang Weiming’s Wish] completed, reward received: [A Segment of Jiang Weiming’s Memory].”