THE GAME OF LIFE

Chapter 657: Chapter 655 Wealthy

Just as Zhou Shi was still hesitant about when to visit Beiping and wondering how to meet his beloved idol in what status, the top-floor restaurant, which had been playing dead since the announcement of the poster and discount information, finally had some new developments.

From April 21st to May 21st, for a whole month, the top-floor restaurant would randomly select 10 tables of guests to dine for free each day, and also release a daily limited edition of a chef’s set menu at 90% off. Customers with a membership card for the top-floor restaurant need to reserve the set menu one day in advance and then a random lottery would select from among these customers, with results announced at 10 p.m. the same day.

To Jiang Feng’s surprise, the chef’s set menu was not the two-person meal he had imagined, but a meal for 3-4 people. Although the specific menu items were not disclosed, the portion was expected to be substantial.

The only problem now seemed to be the membership card. Every employee of Taifeng Building, whether it was Jiang Feng who enjoyed supporting the enemy, Jiang Jiankang and Wang Xiulian who had already switched sides, or Zhang Guanghang, who was on his way to becoming an adversary, none of them had the membership card for the top-floor restaurant.

Not getting a membership card was their last act of defiance.

Just as they were pondering whom to borrow a membership card from, someone with a membership card took the initiative—they were invited by Xu Cheng. Xu Cheng invited Jiang Weiguo and Jiang Weiming, the two seniors, to join him for the chef’s set menu at the top-floor restaurant on the evening of April 21st.

As for why Xu Cheng could issue an invitation for the chef’s set menu that would not be decided until the evening of April 20th on April 19th, that was beyond Xu Cheng’s explanation.

Regarding Xu Cheng’s invitation, both Jiang Weiming and Jiang Weiguo kindly declined. The old man simply didn’t like Western food, while Jiang Weiming felt there was no need to go since he couldn’t taste anything and couldn’t eat anything too greasy now.

In the end, this special invitation unexpectedly fell on the heads of Jiang Feng and Zhang Guanghang.

Zhang Guanghang was someone who would do whatever he wanted to do immediately. When he heard that both seniors had politely refused Xu Cheng’s invitation, he directly called to inquire if he could take one of their spots. The chef’s set menu at the top-floor restaurant might have been difficult for Jiang Feng and Zhang Guanghang to obtain, but for Xu Cheng, it was a minor matter. He was originally the kind to order a large table of dishes and invite a few friends to dine with him, and he readily agreed.

As for Jiang Feng, it was more Peng Changping’s invitation than Xu Cheng’s.

Jiang Feng was also surprised that Peng Changping would invite him to dine at the top-floor restaurant. Originally, Jiang Feng had planned to ask Han Guishan’s assistant to see if he could come up with a way to reserve a set menu for him, as Han Guishan’s assistant was so capable, surely a mere set menu would not be a problem.

Whatever the reason, the result was good. Being able to enjoy the complimentary chef’s set menu at the first opportunity was, by any account, not a bad thing.

Source: AllNovelFull.com, updated on Ɲονǥ0.сο

On the evening of April 21st at 7 p.m., Jiang Feng dressed in the shoes given to him by Wu Minqi, the shirt Wang Xiulian had bought him this year, and trousers from the previous year that were not yet worn out, with earphones in his coat pocket that were more expensive than the shirt, a gift from Zhang Guanghang. He donned a birthday outfit and arrived at the top-floor restaurant in Zhang Guanghang’s Bentley.

It was Jiang Feng’s first time at the top-floor restaurant.

As the saying goes, seeing is believing. Jiang Feng had heard about the wealthy backer of the top-floor restaurant even before it opened. After its opening, through the restaurant’s various actions, he realized that their backer was indeed wealthy. Now, standing at the entrance of the restaurant, Jiang Feng truly understood that their backer was genuinely rich.

Whether the person was foolish or not, Jiang Feng didn’t know, but their money was really ample.

Jiang Feng knew exactly how expensive serious decoration could be. The original renovation of Taifeng Building had cost over 20 million, and that was a friendly cost price offered by Professor Li’s contact. The design blueprints were also a system reward; otherwise, they would have had to pay a hefty sum just for the design. Taifeng Building and the top-floor restaurant’s decorations contrasted, one retro and the other modern, one evoking the presence of a historical legacy and the other the fragrance of money.

Leaving exterior renovations aside for the moment, the restaurant had a very conspicuous piano in the center placed on an elevated platform. The piano, unplayed, was strikingly noticeable because of the lighting.

Jiang Feng’s intuition told him that this piano must be quite valuable.

Jiang Feng rarely ate Western food, usually favoring street stalls and food stands, so he wasn’t quite sure what the standard for Western restaurant décor was. After checking out the exterior and interior décor of the top-floor restaurant, Jiang Feng felt that if the Western restaurants in Beiping all decorated to this standard, it was no wonder they went out of business so quickly.

The waiter led Jiang Feng and Zhang Guanghang towards the seats Xu Cheng had reserved in advance, and Jiang Feng couldn’t help but turn around and fix his eyes on the central piano.

Seeing Jiang Feng constantly looking at the piano, Zhang Guanghang explained, “This piano is priced at around 3 million in the market. I heard people talking about it during the opening.”

Jiang Feng: …

If the top-floor restaurant ever went under, not a single piano would be innocent.

Jiang Feng glanced at the waiter leading the way, leaned in close to Zhang Guanghang, and quietly asked, “Zhang, do you know about how much money was spent on this place’s renovation?”

Zhang Guanghang thought for a moment, “Not sure, but at the very least it would be eighty or ninety million.”

Jiang Feng: …

The seats Xu Cheng had booked were located at the very back, by the window. Unfortunately, the view outside was not outstanding, merely a bustling crossroads, brilliantly illuminated, with variegated lights demonstrating quite effectively that light pollution was not merely a term found in books. Jiang Feng also noticed that the crossroads ahead had traffic congestion when looking out.

Although the scenery outside the window wasn’t much to speak of, the view inside was rather pleasant. The lighting was soft, the decor exquisite, the seating comfortable, and the strains of a violin could be heard coming from another corner. Perhaps it was because the violinist was farther away from Jiang Feng, but the music sounded somehow more lingering.

Xu Cheng and Peng Changping were already there; the dishes hadn’t been served yet, and the two were chatting idly, with a smartly dressed waiter standing beside the dining table.

Seeing Jiang Feng and Zhang Guanghang arrive, Xu Cheng said with a smile, “You’re just in time. I estimate the dishes will be served in another two or three minutes.”

Normally, the thing to do at this time would be to ask the waiter to open a bottle of wine for a perfect display, but Jiang Feng had a psychological shadow regarding alcohol, Zhang Guanghang wasn’t too interested in red wine, Xu Cheng didn’t like to drink while eating, and Peng Changping was elderly and couldn’t indulge in such things—so the four of them didn’t bring it up.

Peng Changping, who was advanced in years, liked to tell stories to the younger generation. After listening for a moment, Jiang Feng and Zhang Guanghang realized that Peng Changping was sharing with Xu Cheng how he had started a restaurant when he first arrived in America.

“When we first arrived, we took a liking to a shop with a good location, but unfortunately, we didn’t have enough money to even pay the deposit, so we had to go back to Chinatown and rent a storefront to open a Chinese restaurant squeezed into an alley. Later on…” Peng Changping was saying when he noticed a waiter coming over with dishes and stopped.

Since it was a set meal, there was a sequence to serving the dishes.

The first course was the appetizer, small in portion and aesthetically pleasing, its sole function to stimulate the appetite.

The appetizer was caviar egg pudding, made very beautifully. The vessel for the pudding was an oval container resembling an eggshell, and in the very center of the pudding lay a ring of round, plump, large-grain caviar—just by looking, one could tell it was certainly pricey.

Very much in line with Chef Arno’s style of using premium ingredients in his cooking.

The appetizer looked great, but no one was looking at the dish.

That was because everyone noticed that following behind the waiter was a big, bearded bruiser in chef’s clothing, with a stern expression—although not quite at the point of looking displeased, one could at least discern that he might not be in the best of moods.

“Master Arno,” Xu Cheng said, seeming somewhat surprised as he quickly got up.

“Mr. Xu,” Arno greeted Xu Cheng in very broken Chinese to show friendliness, then immediately switched to English, “Next, I will introduce to you the full menu of the chef’s set meal.”

Jiang Feng: ?

Is this how you Western restaurants do things? The chef himself comes out to present the dishes? That’s pretty high-end.

Jiang Feng could tell from Zhang Guanghang’s puzzled look that Zhang probably was also confused about what was going on.

Xu Cheng too was slightly taken aback, obviously this question was not within his realm of knowledge.

Peng Changping, however, remained unperturbed and did not look at Chef Arno but instead focused on the caviar egg pudding that had just been served, closely examining the dish.

Seeing this scene, Jiang Feng couldn’t help but think to himself, a big shot is a big shot indeed, truly experienced and knowledgeable.

Chef Arno did not speak.

No one else spoke.

The atmosphere remained silent until the beef and chicken fat mushroom soup was brought to the table, and Jiang Feng boldly thought that the dense soup could be served as a vegetable dish in a bigger bowl.

It was only when the soup arrived that Peng Changping realized something was a bit off.

Why hadn’t anyone started eating?

Peng Changping realized he might have missed something because of his hard of hearing.

“Did he say something just now?” Peng Changping turned to ask Xu Cheng.

Everyone: …

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!