The Game of Life

The night had deepened, and Qin Wan, still chattering away with Jiang Chengde about trivial matters, finally lay down to sleep. Jiang Chengde turned off the light, and the room returned to its former darkness.

When the eyes can’t see, other senses become unusually sharp. Jiang Feng could hear steady breathing sounds—it must have been Qin Wan. Pregnant women are prone to sleepiness, and despite the late hour, Qin Wan had fallen asleep almost the moment her head touched the pillow. Jiang Chengde lay beside Qin Wan, surprisingly making no sound at all, not even his breathing was audible.

Jiang Feng’s intuition told him that at this moment, Jiang Chengde must be lying with his eyes open, staring into the darkness.

Jiang Feng silently moved through the wall to sit outside. It was a bit brighter there with the moonlight, as he always felt uncomfortable staying in the pitch-dark room.

Earlier, Jiang Chengde and Qin Wan had talked about Jiang Chengde’s father—a man whose name Jiang Feng didn’t even know, but knew he was the entire Jiang Family’s sinner, a character akin to a villain in a novel.

The old man had once mentioned Jiang Chengde’s father in passing when he was explaining the origins of Jiang Family Dishes to Jiang Feng and his cousins when they were children.

Jiang Family Dishes weren’t founded by Jiang Chengde, but they reached their glory in his hands. If they had reached glory, it meant there had been a decline, and the catalyst for the decline of Jiang Family Dishes was Jiang Chengde’s father—the man unworthy of a name.

Whether it was the old man, Jiang Weiming, or the already-deceased Li Mingyi, none seemed to know his name. Such a character, who could be called the sinner of the Jiang Family, was only ever referred to by the elders as “your great-grandfather’s father”.

According to what Jiang Feng knew, one of their ancestors who had been an Imperial Chef in the palace for some unknown reason left the Forbidden City and ran back to Outside the Pass, never again daring to step foot in Beiping. This ancestor of the Jiang Family had used his savings to open a restaurant back in his hometown, which was Taifeng Building.

Since this ancestor of the Jiang Family was illiterate, he left no written recipes for future generations. It was all taught orally, from father to son or grandfather to father and then to son—success depended entirely on talent. By the time it had been passed down to Jiang Chengde’s father’s generation, the family had already amassed considerable wealth.

At that time, the Jiang Family had houses, fertile fields, and businesses, but they couldn’t withstand the prodigal ways of Jiang Chengde’s father.

How exactly Jiang Chengde’s father managed to squander all the wealth accumulated by generations of the Jiang Family in just a few years, Jiang Feng wasn’t sure, but it was said to involve eating, drinking, prostitution, gambling, and opium. Any one of these vices, if indulged in, could deplete even a vast fortune. Jiang Chengde’s father was hollowed out by opium, dying prematurely in his early forties.

Sitting outside, Jiang Feng coolly analyzed and concluded that Jiang Chengde’s father must not be far from death at this point.

In the context of this era, being seriously ill enough to need hospitalization often meant not having many days left to live.

The nights in summer weren’t long, and after sitting quietly outside for a few hours, Jiang Feng saw the first hints of dawn on the horizon. Not long after, he heard movement inside the house.

Qin Wan had gotten up.

By the time Jiang Feng saw Qin Wan at the doorway, she was already neatly dressed. Due to lack of sleep, her complexion was a bit pale. She wore plain, simple clothes with her hair casually tied up, looking just like an ordinary housewife.

Qin Wan walked slowly towards the room at the back with her left hand braced against her waist. Jiang Feng wanted to follow, but since Jiang Chengde had not awakened, he couldn’t reach the mysterious room at the rear.

Jiang Feng waited outside for a while longer, and as the sky began to lighten, Jiang Chengde got up.

Compared to Qin Wan’s simple and ordinary outfit, Jiang Chengde was dressed much more formally, in a long robe with the buttons neatly done up. His clothes were smooth without a wrinkle, and his hair was combed meticulously, as if he was going to meet someone important.

Jiang Chengde walked along the path to a row of rooms at the back. Jiang Feng hurried to follow.

The row of rooms at the back turned out to be a series of single-story houses that looked rather simple, resembling storerooms more than living quarters. There were two of them, one large and one small. The smaller one, with its door wide open, was the kitchen where Qin Wan was cooking porridge. The larger one was most likely the children’s bedroom. Despite the tightly closed doors and windows, Jiang Feng could still hear the noise of children coming from inside.

Jiang Chengde went straight into the children’s bedroom.

Jiang Weize, Jiang Weijin, and Jiang Huiqin were all awake. Jiang Huiqin, who was probably staying in the inner room, ran down from her bed without even putting on shoes to play outside with her two nephews. Judging by their ages, Jiang Huiqin and Jiang Weize seemed to be around two or three years old. They could run, jump, and speak, but their pronunciation was unclear, and they sounded like two children babbling noisily.

Jiang Weijin was at the age of learning how to walk and talk, lying on the bed babbling along with the others. The three children were so noisy that Jiang Feng wondered if he had entered a kindergarten.

“Brother, cake!” Jiang Huiqin saw Jiang Chengde coming and excitedly ran over, pulling at the hem of his clothes, “Cake.”

“Daddy, cake!” Jiang Weize followed suit.

“Melon!” Jiang Weijin also started to call out nonsensically.

The room instantly turned into chaos with a symphony of “daddy,” “brother,” “cake,” and “melon” blending together.

Hearing the commotion next door, Qin Wan quickly stopped what she was doing and came over to check. Seeing that it was Jiang Chengde playing with the children, she sighed with relief and asked, “Bohe, why did you wake up so early today? Did I make too much noise when I got up and wake you?”

“Mr. Lu has something for me this morning; I woke up early because it was on my mind,” Jiang Chengde explained. “You take care of the kids here, I’ll go to the kitchen.”

With that, Jiang Chengde went to the kitchen to make breakfast.

The breakfast was simple: porridge and steamed bread. Although Jiang Chengde was only a little over 20 years old, his culinary skills were already quite advanced, and he made the porridge with not much rice very smooth.

Jiang Huiqin and Jiang Weize were able to eat on their own, slurping their porridge from their little bowls, needing no help. Jiang Weijin still needed Qin Wan to feed him, but he was very obedient, opening his mouth wide and waiting for Qin Wan to spoon the porridge into his mouth, and after each mouthful, he would even “ah” to remind his mother to feed him the next bite.

After breakfast, Jiang Chengde left the house. Jiang Feng followed him on the street, which was probably so empty due to the early hour. The shops were open without much business, looking quite desolate.

After about a half-hour’s walk, Jiang Chengde stepped into Taifeng Building.

Jiang Feng did not immediately follow him inside but stood outside, examining the Taifeng Building located outside the Pass.

The sign was an exact replica; Mr. Lu must have brought the sign with him when he relocated to Beiping. From the outside, it looked very similar to the Taifeng Building in Beiping, although the one in front of him was slightly larger.

After examining it for a while, Jiang Feng entered Taifeng Building and saw Jiang Chengde talking to a middle-aged man with a smiling, friendly face that made him look very approachable.

“Bohe, I know that your family’s Qin Wan is due to give birth next month. We can wait for Qin Wan to have the baby and recover before leaving, but we need to move these things over first. Come and see what furniture in the building needs to be moved; I also don’t know about the utensils in the back kitchen. I’ve heard that some plates and jars get better with use. You take a look and make a list, and I’ll start arranging for these things to be sent to Beiping in the next few days,” Mr. Lu said. “Beiping is not like the areas Outside the Pass; it is full of nobility and notable restaurant brands. You can’t count them on your fingers, and there are even chefs from Suzhou and Yangzhou.”

Mr. Lu gestured toward the furniture and benches in the hall, chattering away. He would talk about the kind of wood something was made of and then go on to say how many years another shelf had been in use.

Jiang Chengde stood next to Mr. Lu, quietly listening to him talk, then suddenly, as if he had thought of something, turned to look outside and asked, “Mr. Lu, when will we take down the signboard?”

“The signboard?” Mr. Lu also looked toward the door. “In the next few days, I suppose. The signboard needs to be the first thing we send over. It’s the symbol of Taifeng Building, after all, it needs to be…”

Suddenly, as if realizing something, Mr. Lu stopped mid-sentence.

“Bohe, when we remove the signboard, should we…” Mr. Lu looked at Jiang Chengde.

“I’ll ask my father,” Jiang Chengde replied, looking out the door as if he could see through the door and window to the signboard hanging outside. “He wasn’t here when we sold it, but he should be here when we take down the signboard.”

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