Buddha Jumps Over the Wall

Jiang Feng, carrying his schoolbag, arrived at the restaurant at 12:40 PM. The teacher for his last class had, as expected, gone over the allotted time. This successfully solved the problem of students rushing for food during meal times, allowing everyone to enjoy the pleasure of leftovers in an empty cafeteria.

Jiang Feng spotted a lunchbox on the counter in the back kitchen.

It was blue, three-tiered, expensive, and very good at keeping food warm. It was a luxury lunchbox, common in high schools but rarely seen in universities.

"Senior, is this your lunchbox?" Jiang Feng asked. He really couldn't imagine anyone still using such a lunchbox in university.

"It's not mine, it's Zhang Wei's. He has another one, and he asked me to put rice in the first layer, dishes in the second, and soup in the third," Ji Yue explained.

Jiang Feng nodded. Good, environmentally friendly.

It seemed Zhang Wei had decided to eat their takeout every day. It was no wonder, coming from a wealthy family that sold software for tens of thousands. His monthly food expenses could probably cover most students' living costs for a whole month.

Even though it was past the usual mealtime, Jiang Jiankang was still busy in the kitchen. He had taken out his prized Shaoxing wine, and there were about twenty to thirty large and small plates on the counter.

A Shaoxing wine jar?

Jiang Feng leaned closer and saw that it contained lamb shank, pork belly, pig trotters, tendon, abalone, shark fin, sea cucumber, and dried scallop – all the precious ingredients essential for Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, and not a single one was missing. Moreover, judging by their appearance, they weren't the common kind found on the market, nor did they seem like something Comrade Jiang Jiankang could have gathered in such a short time.

Their family only ran an ordinary stir-fry restaurant; they didn't have the extensive sourcing channels of a large hotel.

Jiang Jiankang was currently scoring the deer tendon. The dried scallops were soaking, and to his left sat a piece of authentic Jinhua ham that an old friend had given him a few years ago.

Judging by this, Comrade Jiang Jiankang was really going all out.

That piece of Jinhua ham was his treasure, and Jiang Feng had never even gotten to taste it.

"Dad, where did you get so many ingredients?" Jiang Feng asked curiously.

"The customer brought them himself. It was your professor, the one who came to the restaurant for lunch on opening day. I think his surname was Chen, and he's quite old," Jiang Jiankang said, pointing to the abalone on the plate. "Go score the abalone."

Jiang Feng went to get a knife.

The abalone were four-head abalone, of excellent quality. Jiang Feng wondered how Professor Li managed to get live, fresh four-head abalone in A City, which wasn't a coastal area. Generally, dried abalone were used for Buddha Jumps Over the Wall because dried abalone had a richer aroma. However, since the customer had brought the ingredients, it was a matter of personal preference. For Jiang Jiankang, who was skilled at making excellent broth, fresh abalone suited his taste better.

Jiang Feng had never tasted Buddha Jumps Over the Wall.

It wasn't because of the precious ingredients. Nowadays, one could buy a bowl of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall at a hotel for a few hundred yuan. But Old Master Jiang had very high standards for ingredients; he disdained hormone-filled meat and pesticide-laden vegetables. Therefore, if the Jiang family were to make Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, they had to use the best ingredients.

After all, Buddha Jumps Over the Wall was once one of Tai Feng Lou's signature dishes, and Old Master Jiang would never allow his unworthy descendants to tarnish such a renowned dish of Jiang Family Cuisine.

Jiang Jiankang meticulously processed each of the 18 main ingredients and 12 auxiliary ingredients. In between, he took time to make a simple lunch for everyone. Before Jiang Feng left for class, he was still waiting for the fish maw to rehydrate.

Jiang Jiankang was no longer the head chef of a state-run kitchen. Preparing such a grand dish with such excellent ingredients was a rare opportunity for him.

The midday sun was intense, its scorching rays making one feel dizzy.

On the way to class, Jiang Feng called Old Master Jiang.

The old man had never had a habit of taking naps. According to his biological clock, he should be boiling pig feed for his beloved pigs right now.

An afternoon tea snack, truly enviable.

"Hello, Xiao Feng, what's up?" Old Master Jiang's robust voice came through the phone.

"Grandpa, our school's professor wants to invite you to make a dish of Clear Soup with Bird's Nest Slices," Jiang Feng got straight to the point.

"Not doing it," the old man flatly refused.

"Our professor is providing the ingredients himself. He came to the restaurant today to ask Dad to make Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, also with his own ingredients. I saw them, and they were very good, absolutely rare and top-quality," Jiang Feng said, still hoping to complete this side quest.

The words "very good ingredients" clearly swayed Old Master Jiang. There was a moment of silence on the other end. "Why would your school's professor specifically ask me to make this dish?"

If someone had asked Old Master Jiang to specially make a dish 30 years ago, he wouldn't have been surprised. After all, he was a well-known state-run chef back then and had hosted many people who sought him out. But now, he had been retired for so many years, and with so many good chefs in the world, he wasn't indispensable.

"Our professor's father tasted the Clear Soup with Bird's Nest Slices made by Great-Grandpa at Tai Feng Lou when he was young. He wants his father to taste it again," Jiang Feng explained.

"I'll go to A City next week," the old man sighed. "70 years, and someone still remembers Tai Feng Lou."

Jiang Feng hung up. The call had only lasted a few minutes, but his phone was already getting slightly warm. He wasn't sure if it was the sun's fault or Xiaomi's inherent tendency to overheat.

During class that afternoon, Jiang Feng was somewhat distracted.

This was the first time he had seen Comrade Jiang Jiankang make Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. He couldn't witness the entire process, and he kept thinking about it.

"Brother Feng, what are you thinking about? You've checked the time three times in the last two minutes," Wang Hao nudged Jiang Feng with his elbow.

"My dad was making Buddha Jumps Over the Wall in the kitchen at noon," Jiang Feng said.

"I've eaten Buddha Jumps Over the Wall before. Yi Pin Xuan in our city has it. It's 688 yuan a bowl, gone in two bites. It's delicious, but it's not as magical as described in novels," Wang Hao claimed to be someone who had seen the world.

Jiang Feng knew Yi Pin Xuan. It specialized in Jiangsu and Zhejiang cuisine, and Buddha Jumps Over the Wall wasn't even their signature dish.

"If you had tried the 1888 yuan one, you wouldn't think that way. My grandpa said a restaurant in Fujian has a Buddha Jumps Over the Wall that's famous for miles, with a daily limit of a hundred portions. You can't get a reservation for three months," Jiang Feng said, pretending to listen in class and turning a page of his book along with the teacher.

"Will Uncle's dish today have that effect?" Wang Hao's mouth began to water involuntarily.

"Definitely not, but it will definitely be better than the 688 one you ate," Jiang Feng said.

The former head chef of that Fujian restaurant was somewhat of a mentor to Old Master Jiang. Old Master Jiang's Buddha Jumps Over the Wall was made under his guidance.

That person now owned a renowned restaurant nationwide, while the Jiang family now owned a thriving restaurant.

There was also a soon-to-open pharmacy, a tailor shop that left things to fate, a pet store surviving on low profits and high volume, and the old man's beloved three pigs.

As soon as class ended, Jiang Feng and Wang Hao grabbed their schoolbags and rushed to the restaurant.

Comrade Wang Xiulian was sitting at the counter, propping up her double chin with her leg while watching a drama. Comrade Jiang Jiankang had pulled up a chair and was sitting in the kitchen, guarding her Buddha Jumps Over the Wall.

The chairs at the Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant were all sturdy.

The lotus leaf sealed in all the aroma, making the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall appear as just an ordinary wine jar.

"Son, cut the vegetables," Jiang Jiankang instructed, his gaze not leaving the jar in front of him for even a moment.

Jiang Feng began cutting vegetables.

Starting at five o'clock, customers began to arrive at the restaurant one after another.

Jiang Jiankang handed over the full reins of the kitchen to Jiang Feng. Although it was a bit cruel to the customers, Jiang Feng hadn't heard the pleasant chime of experience points in a long time. His experience points hadn't increased at all for two days, and he had used 1000 earlier that morning to upgrade his Physics, resulting in negative growth.

As it neared six o'clock, Professor Li and his wife entered the restaurant, supporting an elderly man who was using a cane.

"Dad, be careful," Professor Li said, helping his father to a nearby table.

Ji Yue went into the kitchen to tell Jiang Jiankang that Professor Li had arrived.

Jiang Jiankang directly brought out the entire wine jar.

He removed the lid and lifted the lotus leaf.

The aroma surged forward, filling the entire restaurant.

Customers who had been looking down at their phones couldn't help but look up, searching for the source of the scent.

"What dish is that? It smells so good!" a young man with glasses asked.

"Buddha Jumps Over the Wall," Ji Yue replied considerately.

Poverty silenced him.

Li Mingyi shook his head and shakily stood up. Professor Li and his wife quickly supported him, afraid he might fall.

"It's not the right smell," Li Mingyi said, his voice extremely hoarse.

"I'm sorry, Chef Jiang, could you please pack it up?" Professor Li said apologetically.

"It's my lack of skill."

Ji Yue hurried to find a takeout box.

"Young Jiang, may I ask about your grandfather?" Professor Li turned his gaze to Jiang Feng.

"My grandfather said he'll be arriving in A City next week," Jiang Feng replied.

"Thank you, we're very sorry to trouble you," Professor Li said repeatedly.

"Your grandfather, is he Jiang Weiguo?" Li Mingyi asked.

"Yes," Jiang Feng nodded.

"I remember him. Back then, he wasn't even as tall as my waist. When he was serving dishes, Huiqing praised him for being so handsome," Li Mingyi's cloudy eyes gained a glimmer of light.

Then, he muttered some unintelligible words and left the restaurant with the support of Professor Li and his wife.