The Game of Life-Chapter 841 - 840 Grandmaster (1)
Chapter 841 -840 Grandmaster (1)
Chapter 841 -840 Grandmaster (1)
The fog cleared rapidly, almost in a blink, and after it cleared, Jiang Feng found himself in the old Jiang Family house in Beiping.
Not the one outside the Pass, but the one in Beiping.
Initially, Jiang Feng thought the old house referred to the one sold by Jiang Hengzhong outside the Pass. He didn’t expect it to be this small quadrangle in Beiping.
The provider of this memory was the house itself. To determine his range of activity, Jiang Feng first made every effort to visit every accessible place and discovered that he could only move within this small quadrangle and couldn’t even get through the surrounding wall.
The quadrangle wasn’t large; it was a small house in a rectangular layout. It was the same as what Jiang Feng had seen in his memories before, without much change.
Due to the many children in the home, all the rooms were basically converted into bedrooms, and there wasn’t even a woodshed; the firewood was just stacked in a corner of the kitchen. Jiang Feng looked around the house and finally got a clear understanding of the house’s layout.
Upon entering, you reach the small central courtyard, where some clutter like barrels, tricycles, and uneaten cabbages were piled up. The ground was not planted with flowers but with basic seasonings like onions, ginger, and garlic. There were a few flowerpots placed against the wall, containing some pretty but unnamed flowers, which Jiang Feng could not identify.
To the left and the right sides of the courtyard, there were two relatively larger rooms. From the decor, Jiang Feng could roughly guess that these two rooms belonged to Jiang Chengde and Jiang Huiqin. The other three rooms were smaller, located in less bright corners, probably where the seven Jiang brothers lived.
The kitchen was in the farthest corner, small and dark with only two small windows, one facing outside and the other facing the courtyard. Jiang Feng had seen this kitchen more than once in his memories, and its appearance hadn’t changed—small and clean. But he felt that this memory should be earlier than the two others he had seen about the old Jiang house because the large steamer he had seen later was not in the kitchen now.
The old house was also very quiet, completely silent except for the chirping of birds and the buzzing of insects. No human voices.
Not a single person.
If Jiang Chengde and some of the older sons had to go to work at Taifeng Building, then it was strange that Jiang Huiqin and the younger kids were not at home either. This house permeated the atmosphere of life; although cluttered with many small items, there was order in the chaos. The little kids’ bedrooms still had cloth tigers and wooden toys, the older kids’ rooms had brushes, papers, and inkstones, and even Jiang Huiqin’s room had junior high school textbooks on the table.
This should not be a house without people.
It should be full of laughter and the vitality of life.
Just as Jiang Feng wondered where everyone had gone, the door opened.
Earlier than the door was Jiang Huiqin’s silvery laughter and the clearly childish voices of young children.
Paired with this house, which could not be described as delicate, luxurious, nor grand but met the appearance of a quaint and time-honored house, it instantly reminded Jiang Feng of a selection from “Dream of the Red Chamber” he had read in his high school Chinese textbook.
“Her laughter is heard before her lips are even parted.”
Of course, Jiang Huiqin was not Wang Xifeng, who would not be dressed in a school uniform, her left arm cradling the youngest nephew clearly a favorite of the old sir, flanked by two little creatures on either side, her right arm carrying a basket full of vegetables.
Jiang Huiqin had taken the nephews out shopping for vegetables.
Jiang Feng felt that at this time Jiang Weiguo must have been only two or three years old, no wonder Jiang Huiqin was still in school.
Once inside the house, Jiang Huiqin put Jiang Weiguo down to let him walk by himself, then shook her sore left arm and, carrying the basket, headed straight for the kitchen.
“Auntie, auntie, auntie, what are we eating tonight?” Jiang Weiyou and Jiang Weiping persistently followed behind Jiang Huiqin, asking what was for dinner tonight.
“We’re having stir-fried cabbage, and what’s left depends on what your dad brings back tonight,” Jiang Huiqin said as she walked into the kitchen to start washing the vegetables.
After washing the vegetables, Jiang Huiqin began cleaning the house: sweeping the floor, wiping the tables, dusting the cabinets, and tidying the rooms that the nephews had messed up. She didn’t stop for a moment until dusk fell and it started to grow darker, then went to the kitchen to steam a bowl of eggs for each of the little creatures, including one for herself. They sat in a row in the courtyard with a small bowl and spoon each, watching the stars and moon while enjoying the steaming eggs.
Up to this point, Jiang Feng hadn’t seen anything particularly memorable about this segment for the old house.
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It seemed just like a typical day in the life of the Jiang family, probably how everyone lived daily, until the days went by, the children grew up, and Jiang Huiqin talked about marriage and married into the Li Family.
After finishing the steamed eggs, Jiang Huiqin washed the bowls and spoons, and Jiang Weiyou, Jiang Weiping, and Jiang Weiguo started clamoring in the courtyard for Jiang Huiqin to tell them stories.
Without hesitation, Jiang Huiqin went to her room, fetched a Chinese textbook, and began to read from it to them.
Jiang Feng: ?
Granny, you’re quite something!
In just a few minutes, the three formerly noisy little creatures were lulled to sleep by Jiang Huiqin reading the Chinese textbook—because she was reading classical Chinese.
After subduing the three little creatures, Jiang Huiqin leaned comfortably back in her chair, quietly watching the moon and waiting for her brother and the other nephews to come home for dinner.
Jiang Feng quietly watched the moon with Jiang Huiqin, watching it rise higher and higher, hanging in the night sky and shining bright moonlight, making the surrounding stars look dim in comparison.
Jiang Huiqin yawned.
“What time is it already, why hasn’t my brother returned yet?” Jiang Huiqin muttered, evidently getting impatient. She got up and walked into the kitchen to stir-fry some cabbage and then fetched the three joyful little creatures from their room to eat.
Plain rice paired with cabbage, simple yet filling.
The three little creatures didn’t mind it, clearly very hungry, they hugged their bowls and wolfed down half a bowl of rice before starting on the bland and oil-free cabbage. Although the cabbage wasn’t much to look at, the three little creatures were supportive, eating happily and with focus.
On the other hand, Jiang Huiqin kept glancing at the door, clearly wondering why Jiang Chengde and the others hadn’t come back yet.
Finally, the door opened.
Having eaten only half a bowl of rice, Jiang Huiqin put down her chopsticks and ran to the door, all the while complaining, “Brother, why did you come back so late today? Weiyou, Weiping, Weiguo, all three of them were almost starving.”
“There were a lot of customers at the store today,” Jiang Chengde was clearly tired and didn’t want to talk much. He motioned with his eyes for his eldest son to bring out the dishes from the food container, then headed to the table to pour himself a glass of water.
“Brother, there’s no water left in that pot. I’ll go to the kitchen to get you some water, you sit down first,” Jiang Huiqin quickly walked to the kitchen to fetch water for Jiang Chengde, while Jiang Weize and Jiang Weijin concurrently took dishes out from the food container and set them on the table.
Although the dishes were specially brought back from Taifeng Building, they weren’t anything particularly special. Jiang Feng observed that out of the four dishes, three were purely vegetarian while one dish included some meat slices to add a touch of luxury. Despite being in a food container for a long time, affected by steam and thus not looking as appealing as when freshly cooked, they still looked better than the cabbage Jiang Huiqin had stir-fried.
The family began gathering together to eat.
“By the way, Huiqin, I heard a few days ago your school is planning some drama performance, are you participating?” Jiang Chengde suddenly asked.
“No, if I joined, it would take too much time daily for practice and rehearsals. I don’t have that kind of time. Besides, I don’t find acting in plays interesting at all, I’d rather the school organized for us to watch a movie instead,” Jiang Huiqin replied.
Jiang Chengde shook his head helplessly, “Lucky you, even watching movies. Aren’t movie tickets expensive?”
Jiang Huiqin made a face at Jiang Chengde, “They collect dozens of dollars of tuition each year; what’s wrong with organizing a free movie viewing for us?”
“Auntie, I want to watch a movie too. I’ve never seen a movie before!” Jiang Weiping lifted his tiny head.
Jiang Huiqin smiled and patted his head, “You don’t even understand the stories Auntie tells, you definitely wouldn’t understand movies. There’s nothing interesting in watching movies. How about, I’ll bring you some sweet fried dough twists when I come back from school tomorrow?”
“Okay!” Jiang Weiping was very excited.
After dinner, Jiang Huiqin didn’t help with washing the dishes; that was done by Jiang Weize and Jiang Weiming. With a mysterious expression, Jiang Huiqin pulled the initially intending to rest Jiang Chengde into her room, took out a small cloth bundle from the cabinet, unwrapping it layer by layer, eventually revealing a small tin box.
“Brother, didn’t you say last time that Mr. Peng gave us a box of good tea, and we haven’t reciprocated yet? Look at this!” Jiang Huiqin presented the tin box to Jiang Chengde as if showcasing a treasure. Jiang Chengde opened the box to find a box of tea.
Jiang Chengde sniffed it closely, showing a look of surprise, “Where did you get such fine aged Pu-erh tea?”
“Mingyi gave it to me today. He somehow found out you like Pu-erh, and went through a lot of trouble to get this small jar of fine aged Pu-erh. I don’t know who told him; you don’t even like drinking tea. But since he gave it, I couldn’t refuse. Take it to Mr. Peng tomorrow as a return gift,” said Jiang Huiqin.
“It’s a gift from Mingyi, it wouldn’t be right for me to re-gift it,” Jiang Chengde seemed distressed.
“I already told him; he doesn’t mind. It’s using things to their full potential,” Jiang Huiqin rewrapped the tea, “Tomorrow, I’ll put the tea in a nicer box and place it on the outside table. Remember to take it before you go to Yonghe House.”
“Okay,” Jiang Chengde nodded, agreeing, then turned to leave but was stopped by Jiang Huiqin calling him back.
“By the way, brother, I’ve been wanting to ask you. When you first started discussing culinary skills a few years ago with other masters, wasn’t it with Mr. Peng? I recall that you discussed for over two months, and Mr. Peng often came to our house. Why have you started going to Mr. Peng’s place daily to discuss again?”
“It was supposed to be finished, but I realized recently that there were still some minor flaws, so I wanted to discuss it with Master Peng again,” explained Jiang Chengde.
“Is it useful?” Jiang Huiqin was puzzled.
“It is useful.”
Seeing Jiang Huiqin still seemed skeptical, Jiang Chengde smiled and said, “What, don’t you trust your brother?”
Jiang Huiqin shook her head, “No, it’s just that everyone learns to cook from their own family, afraid that others might steal their secrets. I’ve never heard of anyone exchanging ideas like that. These days, my classmates keep asking what you’ve really been doing these years. I couldn’t really explain.”
“And I haven’t seen any difference in your cooking either,” Jiang Huiqin bluntly said.
“There will be a difference,” Jiang Chengde smiled, “and soon.”
