The Game of Life-Chapter 831 - 830 Enlightenment
Chapter 831: Chapter 830: Enlightenment
Chapter 831 -830: Enlightenment
Jiang Feng had slept all the way until evening.
It was still deep in the night.
It wasn’t just physical rest he needed, mentally he also needed to fully recharge. The excitement and concentration from the evening were as effective as a buff-enhanced braised pork. If Jiang Feng was still feeling groggy and disoriented before going to sleep, he definitely woke up full of energy and with a clear mind.
Yes, he had woken up.
And he realized that capturing inspiration was not about racing against time, the faster you run, the tighter you grasp.
There still needed to be a plan, unlike at night when he incessantly cooked without a thought of how to conclude, and ended up having to pour a perfectly good soup down the sink because he had no idea what to do with it.
After waking up, Jiang Feng felt a bit hungry and got up to search for something to eat in the kitchen. Unfortunately, nearly all edible ingredients had been ruined by him, leaving only an empty fridge and a kitchen that had been tidied up by Wu Minqi.
There were noodles but no eggs or chopped green onions, not even the possibility of making a simple bowl of egg noodles.
Jiang Feng could only silently take out his phone and order some takeout, specifically instructing the delivery person not to knock or call—he didn’t want to wake up Wu Minqi.
After ordering the takeout, Jiang Feng sat on the sofa and started scrolling through his social media feeds.
It was yet another mundane day.
Ling Guangzhao was incessantly advertising new dishes at Eight-treasure House like always, Wang Hao hadn’t updated his social media as usual, the auntie was regularly checking in at her fitness meal, Chen Suhua as usual was sharing the latest cute photos of Da Hua—Da Hua had gotten fatter again.
Da Hua used to be just a fat pink pig, but in the past two years, under the careful feeding of Chen Suhua, it had turned into an even fatter, yet robust-looking, large pink pig. Whenever everyone thought Da Hua couldn’t possibly get any fatter, Chen Suhua managed to put a bit more weight on him.
Earlier this year, influenced by who knows whom—probably having seen too much of auntie’s social media—out of the blue, Chen Suhua started talking about raising healthy pigs.
Just as Jiang Feng was about to give a small ‘like’ to Chen Suhua’s social media post, he suddenly realized he had a perfect spot for finding inspiration and practicing his cooking skills.
Li Mansion!
Li Mansion was large, with a big kitchen and all the basic kitchenware, but most importantly, Li Mansion had Da Hua.
Cook it fresh, eat it fresh.
He could also level up his experience.
Perfect!
Suddenly, Jiang Feng stopped scrolling, started drafting a message to Chen Suhua about his plans to practice cooking at Li Mansion over the next few days, when his phone rang—it was the delivery of his takeout. After collecting his order, he would wait for Chen Suhua’s response the next day.
After eating the takeout, Jiang Feng watched TV for a while, then around 4 AM went back to his room for some more sleep, and woke up to find a response from Chen Suhua.
Chen Suhua and Professor Li were very welcoming about him practicing his cooking in Li Mansion, even inviting him to stay over at the mansion to avoid the hassle of commuting; Jiang Feng thought this made sense and packed his clothes, dragging his suitcase to Li Mansion.
It had been nearly half a year since his last visit to Li Mansion.
The house was still the same—large, spacious, affluent. If there was anything different, it was that Da Hua was no longer staying in the pigpen but was wandering around the yard as if inspecting his own garden.
In this day and age, even a pig could have its own garden in the second ring.
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Numerous office workers, including Jiang Feng, shed tears of jealousy.
The photo did not do justice, Da Hua looked much bigger than in the pictures Chen Suhua had shared—perhaps she had used beautifying filters to slim down Da Hua’s face and body.
Jiang Feng remembered that when Da Hua first arrived in Beiping, he had weighed about 300 pounds. Sir and Mrs. Jiang didn’t usually raise pigs to be particularly heavy, slaughtering them when they reached about 270 to 280 pounds, which they saw as the most suitable weight for consumption.
Now, Da Hua, in Jiang Feng’s estimate, weighed at least 500 pounds.
Truly an enormous pig.
From a chef’s stance, Jiang Feng merely by looking began to ponder what dishes he could prepare with it. Of course, that was just thought, for he was still waiting for Da Hua to live out its full length of days to complete his hidden mission.
“Feng has come, ah, long time no see, you look much more spirited,” exclaimed Chen Suhua warmly as she came out from the main hall with a kettle, and immediately went up to greet him, scrutinizing Jiang Feng from head to toe.
“You’ve lost weight.” That was Chen Suhua’s conclusion.
In reality, Jiang Feng had gained 10 pounds this year—he had been eating too well.
“I haven’t slimmed down, but you seem to be in good health, really spirited,” Jiang Feng said with a smile.
Hearing this, Chen Suhua couldn’t stop smiling, “You always say the nicest things, unlike my Li, who just reads those journals and magazines all day, can’t even speak a few nice words.”
“Is Professor Li at home now?” Jiang Feng asked, following the flow of the conversation.
“He went out early in the morning, to meet some student of his who is now teaching at some university, I can’t even keep track anymore. He’s quite happy lately, always someone looking for him, always busy; unlike me, stuck at home with only Da Hua for company, right, Da Hua?” Chen Suhua looked at Da Hua.
“Hmmph,” surprisingly, Da Hua actually responded.
It really was getting spirited.
Jiang Feng could only marvel silently, “I’ll put my luggage in my room. Don’t worry about Da Hua’s main meal today, I’ll take care of his feed for the next few days.”
“I know, Feng, your cooking is definitely tastier, and Da Hua enjoys it too,” Chen Suhua took the suitcase from Jiang Feng, “I’ll put it in the room for you. I remember you have a competition in a few days, you must be running short on time to practice. Your room is next to mine and Li’s, I won’t disturb you anymore.”
Jiang Feng indeed was short on time, with the semifinals approaching, he wanted to master the method of thickening sauces before then.
It wasn’t that the semi-finals required it, but rather that practicing thickening for a few days and then being interrupted to compete for one day meant Jiang Feng would lose his feel for it when he returned to practice.
For three consecutive days, Jiang Feng stayed at Li Mansion from morning till night, tirelessly practicing thickening.
He didn’t even need to eat braised pork to stay focused. The pleasure of getting closer to success with each thickening was enough to make Jiang Feng more serious and more focused than the last time, every time.
Around and around, without feeling exhaustion.
Finally, at 9 am on December 28, three hours before the competition, Jiang Feng felt like he understood.
The perfect thickening is the simplest thickening.
Thickening itself isn’t a difficult technique. The purpose of thickening is to utilize the water absorption and smoothing properties of starch in a gelatinized state to thicken the sauce, increase the sauce’s adhesion to the ingredients, make the soup thicker, and improve its color and taste.
But often, the absence of difficulty is the greatest difficulty.
Just like chopping vegetables is simple, but mastering it is hard, seasoning and fire control are also simple, but mastering them is like scaling a great height.
The repetitive, mechanical thickening of these past few days had led Jiang Feng to understand why, in the “Heavenly Dragon Slaying Saga,” Zhang Sanfeng told Zhang Wuji that it’s best to forget the sword techniques.
It really is best to forget.
Forget the techniques, forget Cao Guixiang, forget what you want to chase, just remember thickening, over and over, the primitive simplicity of repetitive thickening.
Forget all there is to forget.
Understand all there is to understand.
At this moment, Jiang Feng could proudly and firmly tell everyone that he understood, that he mastered thickening, a thickening that wholly belonged to him.
“Feng, I remember you told me yesterday that your competition today was at noon,12 pm, right? It’s over 9 now, shouldn’t you be going?” Chen Suhua, who had been keeping track of time for Jiang Feng, entered the kitchen and saw three bowls of steaming soup on the cooking bench, ready to take them to the pigpen to pour into Da Hua’s trough.
“It’s time to leave, Grandma Chen. I’ll call a car now. It’s been quite a hassle these past few days staying here with you and Professor Li, and I’ll pack up and move back home after the competition is over. Look, the car is just at the door; I’ll leave first. Oh, the bowl in the farthest end is freshly made lean meat soup; you should try it,” Jiang Feng pointed to his latest creation, hurriedly slipped away.
“Why is this boy so formal with us? There’s nothing troublesome at all; it would be nice if he stayed a few more days,” Chen Suhua hadn’t realized Jiang Feng’s enlightenment yet and smiled, shaking her head, took a spoonful of the hot, slightly scalding lean meat soup, and sipped a bite.
Chen Suhua’s eyes brightened.
“Ah.”
She had eaten various soups made by Jiang Feng over these few days, and they tasted quite good. Both Chen Suhua and Professor Li were not seekers of culinary delights; their demands for food weren’t high, and correspondingly, even when tasting delicious food, they wouldn’t show much reaction.
But this lean meat soup made her utter an “ah.”
Chen Suhua could tell that this lean meat soup was slightly different from what she had two days ago.
She couldn’t specifically point out what was different, as it looked much the same, but this one was tastier than the previous ones.
Better in texture, better in taste.
Exceptionally good.
Standing in the kitchen with a spoon, Chen Suhua, even after having breakfast, ate half a bowl of lean meat soup in one breath, then satisfyingly and somewhat regretfully belched.
It was a pity, she couldn’t eat the remaining half.
Chen Suhua, carrying the lean meat soup, hurried towards the study, encountering Da Hua, who was strolling in the yard and whimpering at Chen Suhua, clearly still hungry and wanting some more breakfast.
Having kept Da Hua for two years, Chen Suhua naturally understood what Da Hua’s whimpers meant.
“Piggy, let’s wait a bit, okay? Grandma will go and get you some food in a bit.”
“Li, Li, you old man! Come to the living room and eat this half bowl of lean meat soup, don’t eat in the study and make me clean up the table again. I’m telling you, the soup Feng made today was really tasty, very flavorful. You should taste it quickly, if you don’t come now I might just feed it to Da Hua!”
Professor Li reluctantly walked out from the study.
Then he couldn’t stop eating once he started.
Beside him, Chen Suhua laughed, “See, I told you it was tasty. You still hesitated to come out.”
“It’s not like you made it, what’s there for you to show off about?” Professor Li said irritably.
Chen Suhua pretended not to hear, continuing to reflect, “I have to say, Jiang Feng really has a talent for cooking. I remember even two years ago when my father was still around, Feng made stomach-nourishing porridge. Wasn’t I afraid of not finishing it and you had to eat it all, and then you got sick of it after eating it day after day?”
“If I could eat this every day, I’d never get enough of it!”
“Dream on, Feng’s dishes now require booking one or two weeks in advance, and you want to eat it every day,” Professor Li laughed, “Did Feng go to the competition?”
“Yes,” Chen Suhua nodded, “I was actually thinking of going to cheer him on, but then he told me their competition actually doesn’t have a spectator’s area.”
“Oh, it would have been nice if there was a spectator’s area. I could have gotten someone to make a banner, hang one to cheer Feng on,” Chen Suhua said disappointedly.
Professor Li: …
For some reason, he suddenly felt quite relieved that the cooking competition Jiang Feng was participating in had no spectator’s area.
