THE GAME OF LIFE

Chapter 742: Chapter 741 Farewell (Part 1)

The fog this time was exceptionally long-lasting and noisy. Jiang Feng felt that he had stayed inside the room for about 3 or 4 minutes, long enough to grow somewhat impatient and want to reach out to part the fog, but to no avail.

It was very noisy.

Exceptionally familiar noise.

In the fog, Jiang Feng heard many sounds: footsteps, voices, the clashing of objects, and among them, the sound of bowls and dishes colliding was particularly clear, as were the chopping of vegetables and the hissing of stoves, one after another, blending together.

Jiang Feng was certain that he was now in a very large and busy kitchen.

This puzzled Jiang Feng.

In Han Guishan’s memories, he had seen the state-owned restaurant where Jiang Weiming worked, which was quite large, but only to the extent of an ordinary state-owned restaurant, not on the scale of a grand restaurant.

That state-owned restaurant’s kitchen could not possibly hold so many noises, Jiang Feng thought. A kitchen generating such a variety of sounds, alongside the voices and footsteps of so many people, had to be that of a grand independent building like Taifeng Building or Yonghe House.

Finally, the fog dissipated.

The scene was very familiar.

This was the back kitchen of Taifeng Building, but not the Taifeng Building of the present. It was Taifeng Building from a hundred years ago.

The one Jiang Feng had previously seen in Jiang Huiqin’s memories.

There were a lot of people in the kitchen; Jiang Feng quickly scanned and estimated there were over 20. Plus, with the stoves, cabinets, and a hodgepodge of miscellaneous items, the originally spacious kitchen seemed extremely crowded. People had to sidestep or wait for others to make way as they moved around.

The only two spacious places in this crowded kitchen were where Jiang Chengde and Master Chen stood.

Both men were cooking: dressed in thick cotton-padded jackets, their heads drenched with sweat from staying too close to the high-temperature stoves, further exacerbated by the kitchen’s lack of ventilation. Everyone was bustling about.

At this time, Jiang Chengde was still a middle-aged man, and given that Master Chen was still at Taifeng Building, Jiang Feng guessed that Jiang Huiqin may not have yet married Li Mingyi.

Jiang Feng made his way through the crowd to Jiang Chengde’s side.

Jiang Chengde was beating eggs.

With two chopsticks and a bowl of egg mixture, he stirred rapidly. The egg mixture clung to the chopsticks as if it had a life of its own, utterly smooth. In the pot were some things Jiang Feng couldn’t identify, which looked like small lumps made from a mixture of several ingredients and were not very appealing.

Jiang Chengde seemed unconcerned about the pot, letting those small lumps fry in the hot oil while he focused on beating the eggs, as if the bowl of egg mixture in his hands was the most important thing.

“Weiming, stoke the fire and make it hotter,” Jiang Chengde said.

Only then did Jiang Feng notice that the boy who looked like a drudge stoking the fire across from Jiang Chengde was actually Jiang Weiming.

Before Jiang Feng could take a closer look at Jiang Weiming, Jiang Chengde sprang into action.

He poured the beaten egg mixture over the lumps in the pot in an arc, like a waterfall, evenly coating each one. Then he quickly used a spatula to flip them, ensuring each lump was evenly enrobed with egg before it fully settled in the hot oil at the bottom of the pot.

Within moments, a thin, tender layer of egg enveloped each lump.

“Pull out all the firewood,” Jiang Chengde ordered.

The fire-stoker, Jiang Weiming, promptly removed the wood, with swift actions.

Using the remaining heat in the pot, Jiang Chengde thickened the sauce quickly, making the small lumps glossier, while the delicate egg coating looked even more appetizing.

After flipping the spoon twice in quick succession, executing a perfect 180-degree turn each time, the lumps were neatly arranged on the plate. The outer egg shell remained intact, shiny, and tempting. Jiang Chengde casually grabbed a small handful of white sesame seeds, rubbed them, then sprinkled them over the dish as a garnish before moving on to prepare the next dish without much attention to the completed one.

Just as Jiang Feng wondered why the dish was not being served now that it was ready, two individuals who had been standing by the door looking idle, like minor servants, suddenly dashed to Jiang Chengde’s side with incredible speed. One served the dish while the other washed the pot, their movements brisk and efficient, leaving Jiang Feng dumbfounded.

The one responsible for serving moved with fast and steady hands. With almost a blink of an eye, he placed the dish into a food box and ran out, the most astonishing part being that the food box did not shake much even while he was running, remaining remarkably stable.

The other, cleaning the pot, seemed less impressive—after all, washing a pot couldn’t produce anything novel. But his timing was impeccable.

Just as Jiang Chengde decided on the next dish and picked up the ingredients waiting beside him, his pot was already clean, seamlessly ready for use.

Jiang Feng was struck dumb.

He had never imagined that being a chef could carry such prestige.

Having someone dedicated to stoking the fire was one thing, even if that person was his son, and in the future, everyone would have stoves with natural gas and no need for a fire-stoker. That didn’t seem like much.

But to have someone specifically for serving and plating dishes, and another solely for washing pots, that was quite startling.

Jiang Feng had never heard of chefs having someone exclusively for washing pots. Usually, they just rinsed their woks with water and considered it cleaned.

This was what prestige looked like!

Not to mention, there was also someone dedicated to chopping and prepping. It was still unclear whether the one marinating and cutting the meat was also specialized.

Jiang Feng observed intently and noted that Master Chen on the other side did not have quite the same level of prestige; while he also had someone to serve the dishes, he had to wash his own pot.

However…

Jiang Feng watched Jiang Chengde and Master Chen for almost half an hour. During this time, several dishes were served, none of which were for dine-in customers; they were all takeaway, carried out in food boxes.

Perhaps at that time, serving dishes at Taifeng Building was done with particular flair, not by simply carrying them out, but by taking them outside in food boxes.

It had become completely dark outside, but since it got dark early in winter, Jiang Feng couldn’t determine the exact time. However, judging by the bustling activity in the kitchen, it was certainly mealtime. Both Jiang Chengde and Master Chen had been working non-stop from the beginning, having to catch their breath while cooking without a moment to pause just for that purpose.

As more and more dishes were fried up, the variety of food boxes also changed, but most importantly, each time, the servant rushing over was different, which started to make Jiang Feng feel something was not quite right.

If he remembered correctly, at this time, the owner of Taifeng Building should be Mr. Lu, the same man from his earlier memories—not exactly a good person, but not exactly a major villain either. Whether he was a qualified capitalist or not, Jiang Feng wasn’t sure, but he was definitely no philanthropist.

Even if a restaurant’s business was good and big, they shouldn’t need so many food delivery servants.

At this point in time, companies like a certain团 and a certain饿 weren’t established in the motherland yet, and Jiang Feng figured there likely wouldn’t be any specialized delivery boys taking and delivering orders either.

Jiang Feng glanced at Jiang Chengde.

Jiang Chengde’s cooking skills could truly be described as magical.

Previously, he had only seen Jiang Chengde prepare the clear soup lychee, and it wasn’t even completed. Although the clear soup lychee dish was very difficult, he hadn’t actually witnessed the hardest part of the dish, and moreover, the clear soup lychee didn’t have much room for showing off skills.

Unlike now, with frying, tossing the spoon, and thickening the sauce—whenever Jiang Chengde wished, he could make cooking look like a magic show, both delicious and cool.

Watching him cook was more exciting than watching an ordinary TV drama; if it were a child, they could definitely spend an entire day watching Jiang Chengde cook with rapt attention, hardly blinking at all.

A seemingly ordinary middle-aged uncle managed to pull off the effect of Zhang Guanghang strutting down a runway while cooking.

Although Jiang Feng had never actually seen Zhang Guanghang walk a runway.

Jiang Feng hesitated for a moment, somewhat curious to go outside and see what was going on.

Not for any other reason but to find out why Taifeng Building had so many food delivery servants.

After waiting for another ten minutes or so, Jiang Chengde seemed a bit tired. After completing a dish that Jiang Feng had never seen before but looked very delicious, he stopped and rubbed his wrists.

Then, a moment that Jiang Feng would never forget occurred.

A seemingly ordinary young man who had been cleaning cabinets in the corner, appearing like a kitchen cleaner, suddenly walked briskly over to Jiang Chengde and began massaging his wrists and arms.

Jiang Feng: !!!

This is true showmanship!

What’s with having a dishwasher coming with cooking? Having a personal masseuse with cooking is what real showmanship is about!

Taking advantage of the break Jiang Chengde was taking, Jiang Feng quickly walked to the door. Testing the distance, he found no invisible wall and figured he could walk a bit further, so he stepped out.

The door that was open at the moment in the kitchen was the back door, and the servants had all entered through that door. The back door didn’t lead to the main area of the restaurant. Jiang Feng’s memory of what Jiang Huiqin had said before was somewhat fuzzy, but he vaguely remembered that there should be a small courtyard outside if entering from the back door. And if not a courtyard, then there was no building, just an open space.

Jiang Feng braced himself to step out and see nothing at all, since there were no streetlights on the roads at that time.

Yet, it was brightly lit.

The true blaze of lights made it seem like everywhere one looked there were lanterns.

The back door was crowded with people.

It wasn’t just crowded, but also very noisy; however, the noise from the kitchen was so loud that it drowned out the noise from outside, so Jiang Feng hadn’t heard anything before.

A long line had formed at the back door, which Jiang Feng estimated at a quick glance to be at least thirty or forty people. The person at the very front seemed to be in charge, possibly responsible for maintaining order, not standing in line but wearing a thick cotton-padded coat, hunching his hands and feet in the cold wind with his back straight, conversing with the person who was sixth in line.

Though everyone was holding lanterns and the outside was truly not dark, it was by no means bright. You could see there were people outside and the lanterns provided enough light to illuminate the path, but that was about it. To expect to see the expressions on the faces of those people by the light of the lanterns held at waist height would be a fool’s dream.

It wasn’t until Jiang Feng had walked several steps forward, almost face to face, that he could make out the expression of the man in front who looked to be in charge.

His face was all smiles, the look of someone who was opening for business.

“Sir Hu, you guys need to hurry up, too. What time is it already? You know how far our Prince Mansion is from Taifeng Building. Even if I take the dishes and hurry back, it will still take half an hour. If I return late, the steward will surely penalize me. It’s fine if I don’t get any rewards or lucky chances on New Year’s Eve, but it would be really bad luck to get scolded for no reason,” the slightly chubby page boy who was fifth in line and wore a slightly finer fabric than the others complained.

“Steward Qian, look at what you’re saying. How could I, a mere errand boy, deserve to be called Sir Hu? Besides, who else but Old Prince and Old Princess could penalize you, Steward Qian? They are among the most amiable people in Beiping City; how could they possibly penalize you over a dish? If I remember correctly, the Old Princess’s 50th birthday celebration is in April, right? I hope you can put in a good word for us so that her birthday banquet can be hosted at Taifeng Building. That way, I’d have some face when I’m out and about,” Sir Hu said with a smile.

Steward Qian seemed to be genuinely in a hurry, “Don’t tease me with all that nonsense, will you? Our Old Princess’s birthday banquet will surely be held at Taifeng Building. Who in Beijing doesn’t know about Master Jiang’s skills? Please, I’m begging you, go push them a bit from my side. If these three dishes are late, it really will be too late.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve already pushed them for you a moment ago. It’s in the works. Everything has an order, and I know the time when the Prince Mansion’s New Year’s Eve dinner starts. Rest assured, it absolutely won’t be late,” Sir Hu stated confidently, “Look behind you; there are so many people waiting. I told you the other day when you placed the order that if Master Jiang was too busy, you could reserve dishes by Master Chen or the other chefs, but you insisted on ordering Master Jiang’s dishes. Master Jiang is only one person with two hands; he’s not a god, he can’t be that fast. Don’t worry, it will definitely not be late and won’t delay you. We have a sense for these things. It’s precisely because we want the Old Prince and Old Princess to have fresh, hot dishes straight from the kitchen without having to wait too long that we arranged this spot for you,” Sir Hu reassured as he glanced inside.

“Assistant Minister Zheng’s order is next, right? The dishes are almost ready; please step forward to wait.”

The page boy who was first in line quickly set aside his lantern and stood at the doorway with his food box, waiting.

Jiang Feng was astounded as he watched from the doorway, listening in disbelief.

On one hand, he thought this Sir Hu really had the gift of the gab; he could comfort people with a lengthy speech, not pausing for a moment, well-organized thoughts, a quick tongue, and most importantly, never forgetting to drum up business for the restaurant. With such outstanding service staff, Taifeng Building need not worry about doing well.

On the other hand, he also felt that Jiang Chengde’s fame in Beiping might have been even greater than he had imagined.

On New Year’s Eve, every household would eat at home, surely not coming to a restaurant for dine-in service, but the amount of takeout was truly a bit excessive.

It was all about face!

Jiang Feng suddenly thought that the dishwashing and massaging inside were nothing in comparison.

Here were references to princes and ministers; not even TV dramas would dare depict such scenes.

What could surpass the transitional period of the old and new societies, just after the end of the feudal dynasty, where remnants of feudal etiquette lingered and numerous former dignitaries (of course, they were former dignitaries) bowed their heads, sending their pages out in the cold wind with lanterns to wait for dishes, and only starting the New Year’s Eve dinner when the dishes arrived for the sake of face?

This was truly a display of face!

Source: .com, updated on N𝘰vgo.co

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