The Game of Life

Chapter 781: Chapter 780 Holding Back

At 7:10 AM on October 15, just like any other day, Jiang Feng was rudely awakened by the annoying alarm clock. Clad in his pajamas, hair looking like a bird’s nest, he stumbled out of his room bleary-eyed—only to freeze on seeing the conspicuous camera hanging in the corridor, which jolted him wide awake.

In a flash of realization, Jiang Feng was acutely aware of his current appearance.

Almost instantaneously, Jiang Feng darted back into his room and shut the door firmly. Two minutes later, with only slightly dishevelled hair, he emerged wearing the handsome yet dignified, vibrant yet youthful birthday suit he had carefully picked out the night before. Striding lightly and carrying the burden of a star, he entered the bathroom to wash and freshen up.

He even spent three minutes blow-drying his hair.

When he arrived at the living room, he found Wu Minqi, like himself, not only carefully dressed but also with her hair ends curled with a curling iron and sipping porridge.

This showed that no matter the gender, no matter the personality, everyone becomes image-conscious in front of the camera.

“Fengfeng, hurry up and eat. Master Sun just messaged in the group that he’s driving us there this morning,” said Wu Minqi, waving her phone to urge Jiang Feng to sit down and eat instead of fussing over his style.

For this reality show, Jiang Feng, Wu Minqi, Sun Maochai, and Sun Jikai had even created a special chat group just for the four of them.

Not expecting such a good fortune as a ride, Jiang Feng quickly sat down to eat. The Xiaomi porridge had been on the table for a while and wasn’t as hot as when it was fresh from the pot, so he directly picked up the bowl and gulped down the porridge before starting on the pancakes.

Seeing how Jiang Feng drank his porridge, Wu Minqi seemed to remember something and asked, “Fengfeng, why didn’t you include porridge in the menu when you reported it the day before yesterday?”

When Taifeng Building first opened, Jiang Feng’s porridge sold fairly well—cheap and tasty.

“Didn’t you see the additional terms? The show’s producers don’t allow porridge to be listed on the menu—they probably think porridge doesn’t count as a dish since it’s cooked in a large pot,” Jiang Feng explained.

Wu Minqi nodded in understanding.

Hurriedly finishing breakfast, Jiang Feng checked his phone and found that Sun Maochai and Sun Jikai were already waiting downstairs, so he hurried down. Waiting for them, aside from Sun Maochai and Sun Jikai, was a cameraman. Sun Maochai informed them that the other three cameramen were already at Taifeng Building.

In fact, Jiang Feng’s question to the director about cameramen the day before was somewhat overwrought, as the show did assign one cameraman to each person. However, these cameramen were not tasked with one-on-one following; Taifeng Building was outfitted with cameras in various places. Only one or two cameramen needed to follow the chefs, while the others filmed the customers or other people. Moreover, the cameramen who continuously carried their heavy cameras got tired, and everyone would take breaks in turns.

“I got some news last night; it seems that the contestant from Eight-treasure House might be Tong Deyan,” Sun Maochai revealed.

“Master Tong?” The three in the back seat exclaimed in unison.

“Isn’t Master Tong already long gone from Eight-treasure House to open his own private restaurant? Why would he represent Eight-treasure House in the competition?” Jiang Feng asked, shocked. What he really wanted to say was how could Tong Deyan possibly represent a restaurant affiliated with Ling Guangzhao.

Were they not always at loggerheads whenever they met, tearing into each other like a scene straight out of hell?

“It seems Ling Guangzhao specially brought him back for this competition,” Sun Maochai said, “I’m not sure whether the news is true or false. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ling Guangzhao asked Tong Deyan to come back, but I find it somewhat incredible that Tong Deyan would agree. I’m not very familiar with him. I remember our show is recorded and broadcasted concurrently. Whatever we film this week will be aired next week, so we’ll know the truth when we watch the episode.”

Jiang Feng: …

Who would have thought that to learn about the contestants, they would have to keep up with regular updates just like the regular audience?

Although he wasn’t sure whether the information was true, Jiang Feng felt there might be some credibility to it. This could also explain why Ling Guangzhao was so confident, even daring to spend a huge sum of money to buy a contestant spot through the back door.

Now, with Tong Deyan in Eight-treasure House’s Red Chef and Zheng Siyuan in White Chef, the restaurant that was once the least likely contender suddenly became a promising powerhouse. Jiang Feng had thought that the worst-case scenario for the first week was having Eight-treasure House at the bottom, but now, with no sure loser, Taifeng Building was in danger.

Although in novels and TV shows, it’s quite common to see the protagonist climbing from the very bottom to the top, step by step gaining strength amidst the jeers and disdain.

But if one could be first, second, third, or even second-to-last, who would want to be last? After all, nobody can guarantee whether they are the protagonist, a cannon fodder, or the antagonist.

Sitting in the back seat, Jiang Feng suddenly felt very anxious.

The cameraman sat in the passenger seat. He didn’t understand Chinese very well, but he could tell that Jiang Feng’s mood had shifted dramatically. The camera immediately focused on Jiang Feng, leaving him unsure whether to feel more nervous or not.

No matter how anxious he was, the draw was already determined. Apart from hoping that a customer would accidentally order Sautéed Shredded Potatoes, Jiang Feng was powerless.

After arriving at Taifeng Building, everyone, as usual, went to the changing room to change their clothes, then to the kitchen to prepare the ingredients. Initially, the production team had wanted to install cameras in the changing room—perhaps this was the norm for reality shows in the democratic United States with their larger-than-life scales—but it was refused and resisted by all the staff of Taifeng Building—nobody wanted to be caught on camera with their belly fat and beer guts.

Facing cameras everywhere and the reserved, professional cameraman, everyone felt a bit nervous, but they still had to work. At first, everyone was self-conscious with the extra cameraman in the kitchen, chopping vegetables as if trying to produce special effects for a TV drama. But soon, they all entered the work mode and gradually began to ignore the cameraman, even finding him somewhat in the way at times.

Jiang Feng noticed that the cameraman’s favorite subject was Zhang Guanghang.

Jiang Feng was cutting meat, the cameraman was filming Zhang Guanghang.

Wu Minqi was picking Sichuan peppercorns, the cameraman was filming Zhang Guanghang.

Sun Maochai was discussing menu changes for Taifeng Building with the two sirs for the following two weeks, the cameraman was filming Zhang Guanghang.

Sun Jikai was despairingly counting the beef ho fun Comrade Wang Qiulian had prepared for him, the cameraman was filming Zhang Guanghang.

Jiang Feng: ?

He understood all too well, but Zhang wasn’t even a contestant!

Just as Jiang Feng was considering whether to remind the cameraman of who the contestants were in the kitchen, Sun Jikai walked over to him, face full of despair and carrying a basin of beef ho fun.

“Do you think there’s a bit too much beef ho fun in this pot?” Sun Jikai felt he might not be working at a high-end hotel, but at a roadside stall specializing in stir-frying beef ho fun.

Jiang Feng glanced at the large pot, “Too much? I specially asked my mom to prepare two pots; how come there’s only one?”

Sun Jikai: ?

Sun Jikai, still in doubt about his life, carried the beef ho fun back, while Jiang Feng, after having dealt with his own ingredients, began cheerfully washing potatoes, peeling them, and slicing them into shreds.

He could think of no other way to promote his sautéed shredded potatoes but to personally handle them from peeling to frying. A chef ranked in the top 10 of master chefs frying a dish of stir-fried shredded potatoes, priced at only 12 yuan, was akin to Peng Changping personally setting up a stall outside Yonghe House to sell roasted cold noodles for 8 yuan a portion.

Jiang Feng was even moved by himself.

At 11:30 AM, Taifeng Building opened for business on time.

From this moment on, everyone in Taifeng Building’s kitchen had to make way for Jiang Feng, Sun Jikai, Wu Minqi, and Sun Maochai. For this, they specially assigned Sang Ming, who had the loudest voice, to stay by the ordering system and call out the orders loudly.

“Master Sun, 3 portions of Ding Lake’s Supreme Vegetarian, 4 portions of Broth-Braised Lobster, another portion of Ding Lake’s Supreme Vegetarian, 1 order of Dragon Well Tea Emperor’s Bone, 2 portions of Mustard Flavored Fruit Pulp Shrimp Balls.”

“There’s an order for Broth Steamed Baby Cabbage!”

“Master Sun, your queue is getting too long; I might as well stop taking orders for you,” Sang Ming shouted.

The dishes Sun Maochai was responsible for all took time, especially the broth-braised lobster, as the lobsters were all freshly killed.

Sun Maochai nodded in agreement. He was already quite content to have one order of broth-steamed baby cabbage; clearly, there was no shortage of customers with a slipping hand.

“Qiqi, 4 portions of Mapo Tofu, 2 portions of Chrysanthemum Fish, 6 portions of Kung Pao Chicken, two servings of Boiled Sliced Meat. Do you need me to stop taking orders for you?”

“No need,” Wu Minqi began gathering her ingredients.

“Sun bro, 12 servings of dry fried beef ho fun!”

Everyone: !!!

At that moment, Sun Jikai seemed to be surrounded by a glow.

Sun Jikai immediately brought the big pot of beef ho fun to the cooking station closest to him, grabbed a handful, and suddenly felt that something was amiss. He turned his head and asked, “Is there more?”

“Nope, oh, there’s one more order of beef ho fun and one order of choy sum.”

Sun Jikai: ?

Even though he had the best performance, why couldn’t he feel happy about it?

“Feng, you…” Sang Ming was finally about to mention Jiang Feng’s dishes but suddenly stopped, counting on the ordering system with his finger.

“All the usual items are lining up, 17 orders of Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon, 10 portions of Chicken Tofu Pudding, 9 portions of Crab Stuffed Orange, 2 sets of Matchmaker’s Combo, 6 portions of Braised Eel Segments, 10 portions of Shredded Intestines in Sauce. Feng, your queue is full; the waiting time is up to two hours, you must stop taking orders now.”

“Not even one shredded potato?” Jiang Feng asked.

Sang Ming counted again.

“None.”

Jiang Feng: …

“Stop taking orders then.” Although Jiang Feng didn’t want to, with a two-hour wait, if any customers insisted on ordering despite the wait, it was likely he wouldn’t finish his orders by the end of the lunch shift.

There was no way around it, the orders he had pre-booked and the regular orders for the day were simply too many.

Wang Xiulian had already cut down a lot of the reservations for Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon, but it was of little use.

Indeed, he was still holding everyone back.

The Qing Dynasty shredded potatoes were indeed too suffocating.

Jiang Feng sighed.

Sang Ming, who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, was already at Jiang Feng’s side.

“Feng, it’s okay. You’ve got a lot of dishes at noon, Sweet and Sour Yam, Li Hongzhang’s Hodgepodge, Matchmaker’s Combo, Tofu Pudding Chicken were all scheduled for noon when the business hours are shorter, it will be fine by evening,” Sang Ming consoled him.

“Yeah,” Jiang Feng nodded, showing a forced smile.

The camera teacher in the distance suddenly turned around, aimed the camera at Jiang Feng, and captured this moment.

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