THE GAME OF LIFE

Chapter 732: 731

Arriving at the familiar station, Jiang Feng looked at the not-so-busy crowd, breathed in the slightly murky air due to the congestion of people, wiped the sweat from his neck, and felt an odd sense of nostalgia.

It had been a long time since he had come to pick someone up at the train station/airport, and he had almost forgotten his role as the designated pick-up expert of the Jiang Family.

In mid-August, Beiping was frighteningly hot.

Jiang Feng glanced at his phone. Jiang Junlian had messaged him eight minutes ago saying the train had arrived and they would probably be coming out soon, as they had a lot of luggage it might take a bit longer.

Jiang Feng felt like having an ice pop.

He reckoned he hadn’t had an ice pop for about a year; he had had iced milk tea in the summer, but he seemed not to have had ice cream or ice pops, at least not this summer.

The convenience store was right behind him, just a two-minute walk away. Jiang Feng thought that since Jiang Junlian and the others had a lot of bags, likely wouldn’t come out right away, so he might as well go buy a delicious chocolate-coated ice pop with a core filling to enjoy while he waited.

Just when Jiang Feng was about to turn around and go back to buy the ice pop, Jiang Junlian emerged, lugging two large suitcases, one in her left hand, another in her right, with a red backpack on her back and holding something unknown in her hand.

Jiang Junlian had grown quite a bit taller, from a chubby kid to just chubby.

But not as chubby as he’d imagined.

Jiang Feng remembered seeing Jiang Junlian looking much chubbier during the New Year’s festivities. The pressure of high school must be intense; it could also be that summer tutoring made her thin out. Anyway, she definitely seemed to have lost weight. Jiang Feng quickly spotted Jiang Junqing and Aunt Wuhua behind her. Jiang Junqing looked even thinner than Jiang Junlian, and perhaps because of the shoes, she appeared a bit shorter.

Jiang Feng hadn’t seen the two sisters for half a year, and now to see them, he actually felt a bit excited.

“Big Brother!!!!” Jiang Junlian, upon seeing Jiang Feng, excitedly dragged her suitcases toward him. Before she even reached him, she let go of the suitcases so that they’d roll on their own, extended her right hand to pass something to Jiang Feng, and patted the large suitcase beside her.

It was then that Jiang Feng realized she was holding the exact kind of ice pop with a chocolate shell and filling that he had been craving!

“Big Brother, I checked the weather and Beiping is really too hot, much hotter than Alan City. You must feel hot picking us up, so I bought you an ice pop right when I got out of the station,” Jiang Junlian said enthusiastically. “This suitcase is filled with snacks I brought for you, and Junqing brought you half a suitcase worth. I told Mom we could’ve shipped them, but she insisted the postage was too expensive and it wasn’t worth it since we were taking the high-speed train and there’d be space to put them. I had to look for space to fit them when I got on!”

Jiang Feng: ?

Is this my sister?

“You have no idea how heavy your box of snacks is. A bunch of cookies, shortbread, and chocolates, I kept telling you not to bother bringing them, but you insisted. And this ice pop—Feng, you don’t know, I told them not to pack too much as it would be hard to carry. It’s better to buy them later, but she and Junqing insisted on buying them,” Aunt Wuhua complained.

“If we can’t eat them, Big Brother can!” Jiang Junlian said.

Jiang Feng: ?

Is this really my sister?

Jiang Feng took the ice pop and casually took one of the suitcases from Aunt Wuhua, leading them out.

Because there were so many suitcases, Jiang Feng ordered two Didi rides; Aunt Wuhua in one car and he with the two sisters in another. Jiang Feng sat in the passenger seat while the two sisters sat in the back. From the moment they got in the car, the sisters reverted to their chatty nature and started an endless conversation.

“Big Brother, we saw your Weibo a couple days ago, you’re awesome! Junqing and I could have come a few days earlier, but Mom wouldn’t let us. She said we had to finish all the math sheets before we were allowed to come over. Junqing and I almost puked doing those sheets in the last few days,” Jiang Junlian, with her mother not around, began to rail against her relentlessly.

“Yeah, we did more than twenty sheets these past two days. Mom also made us write a mistake notebook and wouldn’t give us the new Wi-Fi password until we finished,” Jiang Junqing said with a sorrowful face.

Jiang Feng: …

Aunt Wuhua would go to great lengths to make the sisters do their homework.

“Also, our math tutor gave us tons of homework every day, more than the school’s summer assignments. Every day we…” Jiang Junlian started to rattle off about her miserable summer tutoring life, and if she wasn’t exaggerating or making things up, she and Jiang Junqing had a pretty rough summer.

Jiang Junlian would comment and Jiang Junqing would chime in; the sisters tag-teamed a somber recollection of a poor student’s tragic summer tutoring life.

They kept talking until they reached the entrance to their residential complex and only stopped because they had arrived home and needed to get out and move the luggage. Jiang Feng was a little late getting out of the car because he had to pay the fare, but as he was preparing to help move the luggage, the driver commented with a smile:

“Young man, your two sisters sure are talkative.”

Jiang Feng: …

“Not too bad, as long as they can talk, they can eat. The more they talk, the more they eat,” Jiang Feng replied.

Driver: ?

Jiang Junlian’s train had arrived right around mealtime, and by the time they got home, it was almost one o’clock. Everyone was hungry, but it was too hot for Jiang Feng to consider going out to eat. He suggested he could whip up a couple of dishes. There were dumplings in the fridge from Wu Minqi that could be boiled, and the rib soup he had stewed in the morning should be ready to drink by now.

Pure rib soup, with nothing added. Don’t ask Jiang Feng why he made a pure rib soup; if asked, it was because he forgot to bring a daikon radish back from the store the day before.

With too much luggage to deal with, Aunt Wuhua went back first to sort it out, while Jiang Junlian and Jiang Junqing followed Jiang Feng around like two little tails. Jiang Feng thought they were hungry and eager to eat, so he said, “The rib soup should be ready. If you’re hungry, just scoop yourselves a couple of bowls to drink.”

The sisters shook their heads like rattle drums and said in unison, “Not hungry, it’s hard for you to cook alone, Big Brother. We just want to help you out!”

Jiang Feng: ?

Help me blow up the kitchen?

Jiang Feng was well aware of the sisters’ cooking skills. Sir had been tough on them for a while last year, but to no avail. The veggies they chopped could only be stir-fried, boiled, and fed to Da Hua. Their basic knifework was mediocre, let alone anything else.

Jiang Feng didn’t mind though, and started to think about what dishes to prepare.

There wasn’t much food at home, mostly just breakfast ingredients. In the fridge was a slab of Wuhua pork, some beef, and only potatoes and carrots for vegetables. There were plenty of sauces and staples though, various chili sauces, a variety of sauces and pickles sent by Ji Yue’s mom, Wu Minqi’s homemade chili oil, ready-made Liangpi and Shao Mai, dumplings from Ji Xue, beef patties from the day before yesterday, and frozen Hand-grabbed pancakes that had been purchased a long time ago and were still unopened in the freezer.

Jiang Feng fell into deep thought.

Seems like there wasn’t much to make.

Maybe just fry some shredded potatoes, cook some Shao Mai, and each have a bowl of that delicious pork rib soup with everything but meat? Just make do with that?

“Junlian,” Jiang Feng said, “It seems we don’t have much in the way of vegetables, go to our uncle’s house and borrow some, and if there is chicken soup, bring a bowl of that too.”

When it came to a well-stocked fridge, nobody beat Jiang Jianguo’s household.

Jiang Junlian happily trotted off.

“Big bro, what are we having for lunch?” Jiang Junqing asked expectantly.

“Don’t know, have to see what Junlian manages to borrow,” Jiang Feng candidly replied.

Jiang Junqing: …

A few minutes later, Jiang Junlian came back empty-handed. Nobody was home at Jiang Jianguo’s place; she knocked for a long time to no avail and even her WeChat messages went unanswered. They were probably out on some errand.

“Big bro, what are we having for lunch?” This time it was Jiang Junlian asking with full anticipation.

Jiang Feng & Jiang Junqing: …

Jiang Feng thought about it, eating Shao Mai didn’t seem too appealing, mainly because he had Shao Mai for breakfast and really didn’t feel like having it again for lunch. He’d been eating Shao Mai for a week.

“Let’s have beef patties and dumplings. Both were made by Ji Xue. There are plenty of pickles in the fridge, eat more of those and have a bowl of pork rib soup. Oh, and there’s also the peach pastry Xiaxia made yesterday on the cabinet. Xiaxia’s peach pastries have gotten a lot tastier than before. You guys should try them later.”

Jiang Junlian, who had been looking forward to lunch all morning: QAQ

Aunt didn’t mind what was for lunch. Jiang Feng boiled the dumplings and refried the beef patties. Along with the pickles and pork rib soup, the four of them wolfed down the food that had been accumulating in the fridge for two days. Jiang Junqing and Jiang Junlian even finished the peach pastries from the cabinet.

After lunch, Jiang Feng and Aunt picked up the bowls. Aunt wanted to wash the dishes, but Jiang Feng, thinking she hadn’t yet finished unpacking, told her to go and finish up; he said he could wash the few bowls himself.

No sooner had Aunt stepped out than Jiang Junlian entered the kitchen, snatching the dishcloth from Jiang Feng’s hands.

“Big bro, let me wash the dishes. You’ve worked hard cooking, how can we let you do the washing too!” she said, as though Jiang Feng had toiled for two hours cooking, rather than just spending a few minutes tossing dumplings in a pot and casually frying some beef patties.

Jiang Feng: ?

Is this person really my cousin?

Maybe someone had body-swapped with Jiang Junlian, or perhaps she had been playing a game titled ‘Be the Good Younger Sister’. Say nice things for a two-dollar reward, wash dishes for five, with a bonus of a ‘hunk’ if big cousin’s goodwill maxed out.

Jiang Junlian had already begun to enthusiastically wash the dishes.

Jiang Feng started to feel that such a casual lunch was somewhat inappropriate, considering the cousins had traveled all the way to see him and brought him an ice pop and so many snacks they might not like. They’d gone through all that trouble just for a good meal, and now here they were, having only had some dumplings, beef patties, and pork rib soup to eat. It did seem a bit pitiful on reflection.

That was really not right!

Jiang Feng felt he should make something tasty for his cousins.

What could he make?

What could he make with what was left?

All of a sudden, Jiang Feng thought of the Wuhua pork in the fridge.

“Junlian, can you still eat?” Jiang Feng asked.

Jiang Junlian, who had already burped, suddenly lit up, dishcloth still in hand, and shouted out to the corridor, “Junqing, where are you? Get in here and clean the pot, don’t delay big bro’s cooking!”

“Big bro is going to cook!!!”

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