Chapter 382: Chapter 381: Ji Xia Arrives in the Capital (Extra for 20-year-old Shen Xiaochen, Alliance Hierarch!)
September 14, suitable for removing, offering sacrifices, taking on apprentices, repairing walls, leveling paths, building animal pens, avoid other activities, refrain from marrying, starting work, trading, moving into homes, school entrance, and burial.
Occasionally checking the yellow calendar when getting up is a lingering habit from the Good Taste cooking competition that Jiang Feng just can’t shake off. After looking at the yellow calendar for September 14, he felt like the lousy website was mocking his lack of education.
As a joke, he, Jiang Feng, was someone who had genuinely examined the old yellow calendars, which would never include options like taking on apprentices.
Silently closing the webpage, Jiang Feng mentally blacklisted this website.
Today was the day Ji Xue brought her younger sister, Ji Xia, to Beiping by train, arriving in the afternoon. Considering Ji Xia’s history as a troublesome girl and her extensive experience in running away from home, Ji Xue might be overwhelmed upon arrival. Therefore, Jiang Feng dispatched the two most robust young men he knew—Jiang Shoucheng and Jiang Zaidi—to pick them up.
Since Jiang Shoucheng was off today and Jiang Zaidi had just finished a small job with nothing else on his hands, they were free anyway. Given their height and weight, it would be a waste not to send them to the train station to be a little intimidating.
“Is it really okay to have De and Cheng go pick them up?” Wu Minqi asked while slicing tofu strips.
The heat of noon had passed, and while Jiang Feng was practicing sea cucumber dishes in the back kitchen, Wu Minqi was practicing Wen Si tofu. What Wu Minqi really wanted to practice wasn’t actually Wen Si tofu; she just used it as a pretext to work on her knifework. After all, tofu was cheap, and if it got messed up, it could still be turned into soup, making it cost-effective and not wasteful.
“It’s fine, De will drive, and as long as they don’t hit rush hour and are fast, they’ll definitely make it by 5 pm. Cheng has a rare day off today. My aunt said she would give him a break to come and eat at the restaurant. He’s never even tasted the fried rice my dad makes before. They’ll drop them off at home first and then come to the restaurant together, just in time for dinner; the timing is perfect,” Jiang Feng said as he spoke, and then the phone rang.
Jiang Feng’s hands were full with handling the sea cucumber, so it wasn’t convenient for him to answer the phone. Wu Minqi put down the knife, washed her hands, and answered for him, turning on the speakerphone.
“Little bro, we’ve already picked them up. We’re heading straight home and then going out to eat together, right?” Jiang Shoucheng’s voice came through from the phone.
“Right, Cheng, tell De to drive slowly and be careful on the road. Do you guys have any dishes you specifically want to eat? I can make them for you now. Grandfather and Granduncle Weiming said it’s been a long time since you’ve had a meal here, so tonight each of them will cook a dish for you,” Jiang Feng said, conveying the two elders’ care as well.
Jiang Shoucheng’s eyes moistened. He hadn’t expected his grandfather and granduncle to love him so much.
Having eaten so many ‘loving meals’ from his mom, now anything he saw made him want to take a bite, including the stir-fried Chinese cabbage and vinegar-slathered potato strips he once looked down upon. It even made Zhou, who was dining, have to avoid him for fear of being noticed by Jiang Shoucheng drawn by the scent of the vinegar-slathered potato strips.
“I want to eat…” Jiang Shoucheng opened his mouth, as if he was about to list dishes like in a crosstalk routine.
I want to eat steam lamb, steamed bear paw, steamed deer tail, roasted duck, roasted chick, roast gosling, stewed salty duck, soy sauce chicken, cured meats, pine flower, tripe, air-dried meats, sausage, assorted pickled dishes, smoked chicken, white tripe, steamed Eight-Treasure pig…
Jiang Shoucheng felt he could devour it all, but grandfather might end up serving him his favorite large-mouth bass.
“Little bro, what dishes has grandfather been cooking that are really tasty lately?” This time Jiang Shoucheng asked a smarter question.
“Tasty?” Jiang Feng sank into thought.
Truth be told, with the two old men having stopped cooking recently, the whole family had been relying on Mr. Jiang Jiankang’s pickles and fried rice for sustenance.
When Jiang Shoucheng met silence on the other end of the phone, he realized that Jiang Feng probably couldn’t offer any constructive advice and that he had to rely on himself.
Having mentally run through the flavors of chicken, duck, fish, and beef, and after triple filtration, Jiang Shoucheng loudly voiced his true craving, “I want to eat pork knuckle and spicy fish head with chopped chili.”
He wanted meat, big chunks of meat, meat rich in fat, with layers of complexity, tender yet chewy and juicy with each bite, full of savory soy flavor.
He wanted fish, spicy fish, the kind drenched with hot oil from head to tail, sizzling when served, the whole head smothered in chopped chili, the tender flesh tinged red, smooth and stimulating upon taste, the sort that makes one break out in sweat, devouring with gusto.
After consuming tasteless broccoli and boiled vegetable leaves for so long, Jiang Shoucheng felt he was about to forget what meat even tasted like.
“Okay, I’ll tell Grandpa,” Jiang Feng agreed, “By the way, Cheng, which kind of fried rice do you want? The mixed pickles with seafood, meat, and chicken fried rice, or the abalone and sea cucumber pickles fried rice?”
“I want the mixed pickles with seafood, meat, and chicken fried rice!” Jiang Shoucheng expressed, do abalone and sea cucumber have the allure of big pieces of meat?
“Alright, do you want to drink Eight Treasures porridge? Or how about preserved egg and lean pork congee? I specially made only five servings of Sweet and Sour Yam today, saving one for you to have tonight,” Jiang Feng said.
“Cheng, do you want to eat Mapo tofu and chrysanthemum fish?” Wu Minqi also began to inquire, as everyone felt that Cheng had been suffering from the enforced dieting.
“I want both,” Jiang Shoucheng stated, only kids choose, I’m 200 pounds, I want all of it.
“Good, we’ll wait for you here,” Jiang Feng gave Wu Minqi a look, and she instantly knew what to do, ending the call for him.
Because he had to prepare a loving dinner for Cheng from his brother, Jiang Feng finished the green onion braised sea cucumber at hand and then knocked off work to head to the teahouse to find the two old men, to pass on the dishes ordered by Jiang Shoucheng.
The two old men visited the teahouse daily, meeting a group of fellow older men who, like them, loved to boast. A gang of octogenarians convened every day at noon and afternoon in the teahouse to brag about their sons, grandsons, and the good old days. They not only praised their kin but also flattered each other, essentially forming a senior admiration group.
After Jiang Feng conveyed Jiang Shoucheng’s heartfelt craving to the two old men, Jiang Weiguo merely smiled and said, “The kid sure knows how to eat, not missing a single dish of meat and fish.”
“Young Cheng has had a hard time lately, anyone would struggle with daily broccoli. Wanting something good to eat today is only normal,” Jiang Weiming said with a smile, speaking up for Jiang Shoucheng.
“And his brother’s wife too, where does it happen that a young man can’t find a wife because he’s fat? In our days…” Jiang Weiguo began but then paused, realizing that it wasn’t the era where chubbiness was in demand, and besides, back in the day, they were sturdily built, not the unhealthy overweight of Jiang Shoucheng’s type. He quickly corrected himself, “Back in our days, we were hefty, not fat. If we’re afraid Cheng won’t get a wife, we could just make him exercise, right? Eating broccoli and leafy greens, his sister-in-law really came up with that one.”
“Young people should be active; back in our days, if the enemy attacked, you couldn’t even outrun them,” Jiang Weiming still smiled in agreement, making his perilous remarks even in times of peace.
“Enough, having many children is a liability, each one of them a reincarnated starving ghost, fixated on food all day with no ambition.” Jiang Weiguo stood up, ready to head to Taifeng Building to make pork knuckle for Jiang Shoucheng.
“To be able to eat is a blessing,” Jiang Weiming said, always making sense no matter what he said.
At 5:17 in the afternoon, Jiang Zaidi and Jiang Shoucheng successfully escorted Ji Xue and Ji Xia to Taifeng Building.
Upon returning to Taifeng Building, Ji Xue’s first reaction was work. She glanced at Ji Xia, who was silently trailing behind her, thought for a moment, and instead of going to the changing room, she took Ji Xia to the kitchen.
During this time, everyone had tried their best to offer advice and help for her family’s situation; she felt she should first take Ji Xia to the kitchen to greet and thank everyone.
“Tang Tang,” Ji Xue called out to Tang Tang, who was doing preparation work at the cold dish counter as they reached the kitchen entrance.
Tang Tang, surprised to see Ji Xue back, glanced casually at Ji Xia, who was following with her head down and back slightly hunched, reluctant to make eye contact, realizing this was her sister. She smiled and said, “Ji Xue, you’re back! This must be your sister, right? Do you want some fruit? I can cut some watermelon for your sister.”
“No need, I just wanted to bring my sister over to thank you all. Can we enter the kitchen now?” Ji Xue asked.
Ji Xia still looked reluctant, trailing behind Ji Xue with a face of unwillingness.
Tang Tang noticed Ji Xia’s reluctance and said, “We haven’t opened for service yet, so it should be fine to go in. However, your sister seems quite shy, and we didn’t really do much help. It was mostly Jiang Feng and the others who were more concerned. How about I call them out for you instead?”
“Thank you,” Ji Xue nodded.
Ji Xia was still looking down as if she could spot flowers on the ground.
It didn’t take two minutes for Jiang Feng and Wu Minqi to come out. Today, Zhang Guanghang had the day off and was probably on his way to the concert by now.
Zhang’s sophisticated hobbies were not something Jiang Feng, who could breeze through an art exhibition in ten minutes, could understand.
As soon as Jiang Feng emerged, his first reaction was to look at Ji Xia, and then he froze.
Mainly because Ji Xia, no matter how one looked at her, didn’t fit the image of the rumored delinquent girl; she seemed more like a shy, introverted young lady.
Her hair was very long, reaching past her waist, unstyled and just hanging down. But it was clear that she hadn’t taken good care of it; the ends were dry and frazzled.
Ji Xia wore a simple white shirt and jeans, very thin and with slightly dark skin. She was hunched over as if she was used to it, giving the impression of someone used to not standing up straight, yet even so, she appeared to be over 1.65 meters tall. Jiang Feng estimated that if she stood up straight, she would be at least 1.7 meters tall.
For a 16-year-old girl from the south who still had room to grow, her height was definitely not short.
“Since you’re here, take your sister upstairs to the private dining room on the second floor to eat with my brother and the others. Qiqi and I will be coming up to eat later too. We’ll take turns, or the kitchen won’t be able to cope,” Jiang Feng called out.
“I’d better start working. It’s the same if I eat after the business hours are over,” Ji Xue said.
“No rush, you’ve been on a twenty-something-hour train ride, so you should eat first. Otherwise, it would be awkward for your sister to eat with my brother and the others since she doesn’t know anyone. Eat first, then switch with Qiqi, and I’ll be the last. My grandfather is cooking today, a rare opportunity, so hurry up and eat,” Jiang Feng began to usher them, “It’s just up and down the stairs, we can talk more later.”
“Yeah, Xue, take your sister to have a meal first, don’t let her go hungry,” Wu Minqi nodded in agreement.
“Alright, I’ll be back soon,” Ji Xue was persuaded.
As Ji Xue was leading Ji Xia to go upstairs and Ji Xia was still looking down while passing by Jiang Feng and Wu Minqi, she murmured, “Thank you guys.”
Jiang Feng and Wu Minqi exchanged glances and both smiled.
“This Ji Xia kid really doesn’t look like a delinquent girl,” Jiang Feng remarked after the two had gone upstairs.
“Not at all,” Wu Minqi and Jiang Feng said in unison, sharing the same expression of disbelief.
“What doesn’t look like it?” Ji Yue, holding the shift schedule and looking for people, saw Jiang Feng and Wu Minqi standing by the kitchen door with similar expressions and saying something strange. She casually asked.
“Ji Xue’s sister doesn’t quite match the rumors,” Jiang Feng rubbed his nose and, seeing Ji Yue still in her uniform, asked, “Why haven’t you left yet? Aren’t you off tonight to go to a concert with Old Zhang?”
“The concert doesn’t start until 7:30. I’m helping Sister Fan with the scheduling and then leaving when Old Zhang comes to pick me up,” Ji Yue explained, “Did Xue bring her sister over?”
“They went upstairs to eat,” Wu Minqi said. “Her sister seems pretty well-behaved.”
“Every little brother and sister behaves well in front of their elder sister,” Ji Yue affirmed with certainty. “My brother does, he’s especially well-behaved in front of me.”
Jiang Feng: …
Don’t you think it might be because you’ve disciplined him into behaving?