The Game of Life

Jiang Feng had barely stepped into the kitchen of Taifeng Building when he was greeted with a luxury supreme version of pickled vegetables, abalone, and sea cucumber fried rice, filled with Jiang Jiankang’s paternal love.

Jiang Feng had been eating Jiang Jiankang’s fried rice for years, but this was the first time he had seen such extravagant fried rice. Although he had already had a big bowl of bone broth noodles just before, Jiang Feng felt that with a little squeezing, he could probably fit in a serving of fried rice into his stomach.

After all, in the Jiang Family Members’ theory, the capacity of a stomach is like the water in a sponge—it always has more room when you squeeze it.

It wasn’t service time yet, and the prep work had entered its final stage. Jiang Feng, not wanting to be in the way, intentionally moved a small stool to the door to eat his fried rice, where he could also keep an eye on both the kitchen and the dining area, fulfilling his duty as the behind-the-scenes owner of Taifeng Building.

People always relax when they eat, and once relaxed, they like to chat about some gossip. Zhang Guanghang happened to be picking out plates near the door, and Jiang Feng, having been kept awake by the noise on the train last night and scrolling through WeChat group messages, casually asked a question.

“Old Zhang, I saw everyone in the head chefs’ group chat talking about some mall opening, do you know about this?” Jiang Feng asked. Because Ji Yue would always refer to Zhang Guanghang as Old Zhang, it had influenced everyone else to do the same.

“Are you talking about SJ?” Zhang Guanghang picked up a plate with a blue base, looked at it, wasn’t satisfied, and put it back. “That mall is pretty close to us, just about 5 kilometers by car. I pass by there on my way home, and it seems it’s about to open.”

“Are you guys talking about the mall that’s opening on the 8th of next month?” Tang Tang, who was manning the cold dishes station, wanted to join the conversation.

“Do you know about that mall?” Jiang Feng asked.

“Of course, I’m very familiar with that area. There used to be a small mall there, not very big and not many shops, so the business was never great. Some boss came out of nowhere last year and bought up all the land around it to build a new mall, bigger even than the one next to us. I heard all the brands moving in are luxury ones and upscale restaurants, consumption there must be especially high,” Tang Tang explained.

“I’ve heard about that too. Apparently, a Michelin two-star restaurant is going to open a branch there, but it’s going to be just another branch. These past years, quite a few Michelin restaurants have opened branches in Beiping, but they seem to struggle to adapt, so I doubt they’ll affect us much,” Zhang Guanghang said, reaching for the highest shelf to pick a plate with a yellow border, but withdrawing his hand before touching it.

Jiang Feng nodded, as if he had an epiphany, and shoveled another mouthful of fried rice into his mouth.

Zhang Guanghang continued to pick plates, unsatisfied with any of the colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue, or purple, and started looking at the plain white plates. Seeing that it was almost time to open, Jiang Feng sped up his eating and swiftly finished off the fried rice on his plate.

In the end, Zhang Guanghang finished selecting plates, and Jiang Feng finished his fried rice. Still curious, Jiang Feng asked, “Those restaurants that don’t adapt well, what exactly is their problem?”

Zhang Guanghang thought for a moment, then said, “Maybe because they’re too expensive.”

Jiang Feng: …

He found no words to refute.

Jiang Feng had a relatively easy shift this afternoon. Considering his exhausting journey and that he had come straight to work, the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon preparation, including stuffing and pine needles, had been taken care of by Zhang Guanghang and two sirs, so all he had to do was to adjust the sauce and thicken it at the end.

After the midday service ended, Jiang Feng suddenly realized a very serious issue.

His Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon was recognized as excellent, and since it was not a buffet item, it could be provided without limit; therefore, even though this dish had not yet made it to the menu, it was already recognized by everyone as another signature dish of Taifeng Building, following Ji Xue’s Tile Pot Hua Diao Chicken.

Now the question was, Jiang Feng had made quite a few Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeons these days, but it seemed they were always given away as complimentary items.

“`

Giving away premium items didn’t seem quite fitting for the nobility of Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon.

Jiang Feng found Mrs. Wang Xiulian, who was ready to sneak into the surveillance room for a nap, and brought up this issue.

Mrs. Wang Xiulian fell silent.

“Yeah, why should it be given away as a premium?” Mrs. Wang Xiulian, looking at her own son, fell into deep thought.

After thinking for a while, she figured it might be because whenever she wanted to give something away, she would involuntarily think of giving away dishes made by Jiang Feng. Just like the pickled vegetable dumplings that were bundled with every Tanabata set meal before, Mrs. Wang Xiulian often neglected the intrinsic value of Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon.

Mrs. Wang Xiulian felt that the main reason for this consequence was still Jiang Feng’s fault. Back in the days of Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant, due to Jiang Feng’s insane practice of making Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon for a period, it resulted in the dish’s constant surplus; everyone got tired of the pigeon taste, as if they had reincarnated from pigeon spirits. Sometimes, even selling it at a discount wouldn’t clear the stock.

It was the memory of that period that left a profound impression on the shrewd Mrs. Wang Xiulian, leading her to believe that Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon would always be hard to sell, which is why she would unintentionally want to give it away whenever it was time to hand out freebies.

But as a loving mother who adores her son, how could Mrs. Wang Xiulian bear to say such a reason out loud?

“Son, this is called marketing strategy!” Mrs. Wang Xiulian said earnestly.

“Although your Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeons are given as premiums, the recipients are all high-end customers, mostly senior VIPs. Your dish made it onto the menu in October; Mum is helping you build a good reputation among the customers before October to ensure sales volume. Mum wouldn’t harm you, rest assured!” Mrs. Wang Xiulian said, patting Jiang Feng on the shoulder, “When has Mum ever harmed you? I haven’t even deceived you in all these years!”

Jiang Feng was convinced on the spot, even a little moved, that Mrs. Wang Xiulian would actually forego making money for his sake.

“Thank you, Mum.”

“As long as it’s for you, my son, Mum doesn’t mind working harder, getting tired, or losing a bit of money.” Mrs. Wang Xiulian got carried away with her act, almost as if it were really the case; she then abruptly changed the topic, “But son, in this regard, you really should learn from your father.”

“Look at your dad; even something like pickled vegetable fried rice can be turned into abalone and sea cucumber pickled vegetable fried rice. Dad makes a serving in a few minutes, we price a slightly smaller portion at 168 per serving, and the profit margin is there. Your dishes… I’m not saying they’re not good, your Eight Treasures Porridge is very nice, but even the best tasting porridge is still just Eight Treasures Porridge and can’t be sold at a high price! Aren’t you recently learning sea cucumber dishes from Grandpa? Why don’t you try using sea cucumbers to make porridge? Keep those leftover trimmings from your daily practice and use them to make porridge; it’ll give you more practice.” Mrs. Wang Xiulian’s mind was racing with calculations.

Jiang Feng: ???

Mum, you’re shifting topics a bit too quickly.

Our pure mother-son relationship, how did it suddenly get tainted with the filthy smell of money?

“I’ll work hard,” Jiang Feng began to blather.

He did want to make dishes that could fetch a good price, whether it was Braised Lobster in Broth or Bi-Color Prawns; irrespective of any special effects buff, which one wouldn’t fetch a good price?

It wasn’t because he lacked the ability.

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