The Game of Life

Chapter 564: Chapter 562: Genius of the Bai Clan

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Four days later, Zheng Siyuan’s biological father, Zheng Da, arrived in Beiping.

This time, they finally didn’t have to send the skilled Jiang Feng to pick people up from the airport. Ling Guangzhao gave Zheng Siyuan two days off, and Zheng Siyuan would personally pick up his own father, and by the way, take Master Huang from Taifeng Building to entertain the two elderly gentlemen in Beiping City for a couple of days.

Speaking of Zheng Siyuan’s own father, Zheng Da, he was truly a remarkable man. The first time he appeared in front of everyone at Taifeng Building, he had an aura of wealth that was palpable.

A Valentino coat, a Givenchy base layer, Versace pants, and Casno shoes – not a single item of clothing, pants, or socks matched.

Perhaps Zheng Da’s philosophy of dressing was, “Wear what’s expensive, not what’s matching.”

After arriving, Zheng Da didn’t say much. Without a hint of doubt, he directly followed Master Huang to pay respects to his “master uncle,” “disciple brother,” and “disciple nephews.” In less than five minutes, he had added everyone on WeChat, leaving with the words “I’ll treat everyone to a meal when I’m free in a couple of days,” taking Master Huang with him.

He was quite different from Master Huang; the two didn’t seem like fellow disciples at all.

As soon as Master Huang left, Dong Shi and Dong Li relaxed quite a bit, and even their cooking became more easy-going. They no longer had to constantly worry about when Master Huang might suddenly grab the kitchen knife and spatula from their hands, nor did they have to cook with the mindset of spies anymore.

In just a few short days, the foot traffic at Taifeng Building had returned to its usual levels, even seeing a slight increase—all thanks to Master Huang.

With nothing better to do in Beiping these few days, Master Huang thought of coming to Taifeng Building daily to spend more time with the two cooks, touch base, and chat. The thing is, he didn’t just chat—possibly due to the good atmosphere in the kitchen with everyone cooking, in the midst of a conversation, Master Huang might scratch the itch to stir-fry a couple of dishes. And with two disciples in the kitchen, whose dishes were there to snag if not the disciples’?

Therefore, the customers at Taifeng Building were surprised to discover that the dishes made by the two new cooks were Schrödinger’s dishes.

In most cases, the taste and flavor of these Su-style dishes cooked by the two apprentices were very normal, and they sold for a corresponding price. But sometimes, it seemed as if the two cooks had ignited their meridians, producing dishes so delicious they did not seem like the work of the same person, yet when tasted, it felt truly as if they were.

Customers with a bit of know-how, such as Xu Cheng, Zhou Chang, and others, could even discern that the deliciousness of these dishes was on par with that of Huang Shengli, the master of Dong Shi and Dong Li. Since they didn’t know that it was actually Master Huang cooking, and knowing that Dong Shi and Dong Li were disciples of Master Huang, they were ironically misled by their own cleverness and could only marvel internally at how the real star disciples of Master Huang turned out to be these two youngsters.

Truly the full transmission of his skills, just not very stable yet. What a pity.

Although not frequent, there were always a few customers a day who hit the jackpot. After several days in a row, customers in the know inevitably ordered a dish made by Dong Shi or Dong Li when they ate.

After all, there was nothing to lose, and who knew, they might hit a big score?

The expectant customers didn’t realize that they might not lose out, but Taifeng Building was definitely making a killing.

Because the grand prize had gone out to play today.

After Zheng Da and Master Huang left, Jiang Feng thought back on Zheng Da’s behavior and attire and still found it funny.

It felt like… seeing Ling Guangzhao decades in the future.

Jiang Feng believed that Ling Guangzhao, decades from now, would probably adopt Zheng Da’s style, though perhaps not as disastrously mismatched. But then, thinking about Ling Guangzhao’s flashy red sports car, Jiang Feng started to have his doubts again.

If Ling Guangzhao persisted with his current aesthetic, in a couple of decades, people might view him as they did Zheng Da now.

“Dong Li, I think Master Zheng is quite interesting,” Jiang Feng said as he boned a pigeon.

“Master Zheng has always been like this, just the same ten years ago,” Dong Li responded. “Although his dressing style and behavior are a bit strange, Master Zheng is particularly nice and incredibly generous. The year I first became an apprentice, he gave me a super thick red envelope for New Year—it was so thick I didn’t even dare to accept it.”

Jiang Feng: …

He couldn’t help but feel that Zheng Da and Ling Guangzhao were even more alike; every time he grabbed a red envelope that Ling Guangzhao sent in the WeChat group, he sincerely wished for Eight-treasure House to thrive.

“Has Master Zheng been doing business all these years?” Jiang Feng inquired further.

In the past few days, Master Huang had always talked about himself, and Zheng Da had only been mentioned in passing, as the supporting character in his stories.

“Yes,” Dong Li nodded. “I’ve heard that Master Zheng has been doing really big business in the past few years, spreading his brand nationwide.”

“`

While speaking, Dong Li leaned closer to Jiang Feng, lowered his voice, and took a sly glance at his brother, “Last year, before Master sold the restaurant, Elder Brother Huang even thought about borrowing money from Master Zheng, but he got scolded by Master and sent packing.”

“Why?” Jiang Feng didn’t understand.

“Master said our cooking skills weren’t up to par, Elder Brother Huang’s management skills were also lacking, and the entire Huang Ji Restaurant was a mess from top to bottom. Borrowing money would just lead to more losses, and in the end, we’d have to sell the restaurant to pay off the debts,” Dong Li explained.

Jiang Feng: …

“Never thought Master Huang could be quite interesting,” Wu Minqi, who had been quietly eating her melon on the side, couldn’t help but say.

“My master has always been like that, his words are incredibly harsh. Back when my brother and I were still learning cooking, my brother was even reduced to tears by Master’s scolding,” Dong Li said mercilessly, tearing down his own brother’s facade.

“Master, I’ve finished making the water-oil dough!” Ji Xia came running over to Jiang Feng with a basin of dough, interrupting the conversation.

Because the crab-stuffed oranges were off the market, Ji Xia’s noodle-making skills and taste couldn’t match up to the buff combo meal with Jiang Feng’s crab-stuffed oranges from before. As a result, the temporary, free-of-charge pastry chef of Taifeng Building, the little friend Ji Xia, became unemployed.

Ji Xia had a natural talent for pastries and wanted to learn but Jiang Feng wasn’t skilled enough to teach her. Initially, Jiang Feng planned to let Ji Xia help out in Taifeng Building’s kitchen for a few days, to relax by mixing here and there, and wait until he had some free time to teach her how to cook congee.

But the fresh meat mooncakes Zheng Siyuan made that day inspired him.

He actually had a tutorial for fresh meat mooncakes!

Although that instructional video was recorded by Gu Li, the voice-over guidance was provided by Master Tan.

He couldn’t make them himself, but using the instructional video to guide Ji Xia was well within his capabilities.

Thus, these past few days Jiang Feng gave Ji Xia a bunch of lard, maltose, warm water, and flour to work with. He made an unimpressive demonstration on how to make the water-oil dough and then sectioned off an area for her to play with on her own.

Originally, Jiang Feng planned to let Ji Xia tinker around for a couple of days by herself until he had some free time to properly teach her in the evening at home.

Mainly because he himself needed a few days to review since his own water-oil dough wasn’t that great.

What Jiang Feng didn’t expect was that Ji Xia managed to produce something.

Although the final product wasn’t great, mainly because the proportions of the various ingredients were off. Using Ji Xia’s current water-oil dough to make fresh meat mooncakes certainly wouldn’t taste very good, but she really did it.

Without any guidance, at most, Jiang Feng only gave her a few pointers. She was just fiddling around with the dough and ingredients on her own, spoiling ten pounds of dough a day.

Yet, she produced a final product.

And it was quite an impressive product for a beginner.

Jiang Feng had never felt so deeply that the disciple he had picked up from upstairs was truly a pastry prodigy. A genius in every sense of the word, whether it was her sense, intuition, or creativity.

“Xiaxia did great, go make a few more,” Jiang Feng praised with a smile, “If the next one is better than this, Master will take you out for crispy salted chicken tonight.”

“Okay, Master, I will do it, I’m going to make it right now!” Ji Xia had originally come to Jiang Feng hoping for praise and to take a break, and maybe even score another soda.

Now, she didn’t even want the soda; her mind was filled with thoughts of crispy salted chicken.

“Fengfeng, when did you teach Xiaxia to make water-oil dough?” Wu Minqi asked curiously. Although she wasn’t proficient in pastries, she had some exposure to it.

“I didn’t teach her,” Jiang Feng said with a wry smile, “I just did it once for her a few days ago, and it seems it wasn’t even as good as this.”

“She figured it out all by herself, really.”