The Last Medicine

By the time Ji Yue found the plastic takeout container Wang Xiulian had stuffed into a corner of the storage room, Professor Li and his wife had already helped Li Mingyi out of the restaurant.

"Wh-what about the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall?" Ji Yue held the container, at a loss.

The people had left, but the dish remained.

"How about we try some?" Wang Hao had practically been drooling over the smell. Even with the lid on now, the fragrance still lingered in the restaurant.

"No!" Ji Yue glared at Wang Hao and stepped in front of it.

"Haozi, I remember you wrote Professor Li's number in your textbook yesterday morning. Check if your Signals and Systems textbook is still in your bag," Jiang Feng suddenly remembered.

"Right, right, it's in my bag!" Wang Hao hurried behind the counter to grab his bag. From among three or four books, he pulled out his Signals and Systems textbook and opened it to the first page. Written there in plain sight was: Li Junming: 1xxxxxxxxxx.

It was said that the instructors of A University's Marxism classes received calls from more than ten shop owners every week telling them, "Student, you left your book in our store."

The rumor was true after all.

Jiang Feng took out his phone and dialed the number on the page.

About twenty seconds later, the call connected.

"Hello, Professor Li. This is Jiang Feng. Your dish is still at the restaurant—you forgot to take it with you," Jiang Feng said.

"I'm sorry. I'm getting old, and I forget everything easily. My wife and I will come back to get it shortly." From the other end of the call came an elderly person's cough, along with the uneven tapping of a cane against the floor.

Jiang Jiankang silently carried the jar back into the kitchen. Wang Hao regretted not getting to taste the delicacy, so he helped Ji Yue carry the trash to the garbage station. The other students all had five classes that afternoon and would not be able to swim out of the sea of knowledge until six o'clock.

Though Jiang Jiankang did not show it on his face, Jiang Feng, as his son, keenly sensed that his father was feeling dejected. Every piece of fat, every bit of flesh, revealed a deep sense of disappointment.

"Dad, what's wrong?" Jiang Feng followed Jiang Jiankang into the kitchen and saw him silently chopping vegetables.

Slice after slice, painfully slowly. Every cut was forceful, as though he had an irreconcilable grudge against the green peppers before him.

"I ruined something good." Jiang Jiankang looked rather forlorn.

"I thought it was pretty good." Jiang Feng lied through his teeth. The notes on that Buddha Jumps Over the Wall had been so long he had not even wanted to read them—cooking time too short, too much shark fin, abalone sliced too thick, fish lips not soaked long enough. There was a whole list of problems.

But Buddha Jumps Over the Wall was an extremely difficult dish to begin with. Jiang Jiankang could not really be blamed.

"My poor ham." Jiang Jiankang sniffled.

"Today's pork knuckle wasn't stewed either." Jiang Jiankang even sounded a little aggrieved.

Jiang Feng: ...

Sorry for bothering you.

The kitchen was handed back to Jiang Jiankang. The aroma of the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall had drawn in many customers earlier, but everyone had been too busy watching the commotion to order anything. Now, the first floor was nearly full, and order slips flew into the kitchen one after another like snowflakes. Jiang Jiankang seized his spatula again and returned to the front lines of cooking.

Jiang Feng became a kitchen hand once more, washing vegetables, peeling, chopping, and plating without gaining any experience points.

Before long, four Chess Club members who claimed they had come to help rushed into the kitchen without even putting down their backpacks. They took out the Sour Plum Drink and Mung Bean Soup that had been chilled in the freezer all day, each gulped down two bowls like starving wolves, then set down their bags and began helping.

Seeing the four of them, Jiang Feng suddenly felt worried about next week's club recruitment.

Other clubs either had talented members, special strengths, or at the very least handsome boys and pretty girls to lure freshmen in. But the Chess Club had nothing—not even funding.

When it came time to recruit new members, what were they supposed to perform?

In previous years, two lousy chess players would sit there pretending to play chess. Were they supposed to give everyone a pot of Sour Plum Drink today and put on a performance of gulp gulp gulp gulp gulp?

Jiang Feng worried silently about the club's future as he shredded carrots.

Were carrots on sale these past few days? Why did Wang Xiulian buy so many carrots every day?

After Jiang Feng had shredded all the carrots, Professor Li and his wife returned to the restaurant.

Professor Li held an envelope in one hand and carried a lunchbox in the other.

Taking the entire wine jar away would have preserved the original flavor best, but setting aside how heavy it was, it was not right to make a customer carry off a whole wine jar. Ji Yue carefully ladled the dish from the jar into the lunchbox. At this point, the dish was worth more than her annual salary, so she had to handle it with care.

"Student Jiang Feng, I'd like to ask you for a favor." Professor Li handed the envelope to Jiang Feng. "My father has terminal stomach cancer and has had no appetite for a long time. I'd like to ask you to be responsible for his lunch and dinner."

Faced with such an important task, Jiang Feng felt somewhat flustered. Just as he was about to refuse, the system prompt sounded in his mind.

"Ding. An optional side quest has appeared. Please make your choice."

Another side quest.

Jiang Feng was startled. That meant there were now two side quests related to Old Master Li Mingyi. The game actually valued the old man so highly that it had given him two side quests.

Jiang Feng accepted the envelope but was still curious. "Actually, you should be looking for my dad. His cooking is much better than mine."

"My father specifically asked for you just now. He likes you very much." Professor Li smiled gently. "My father was very happy today. He hasn't been this happy in a long time."

Jiang Feng unconsciously touched his face.

He did not seem to have the kind of face that made people happy just by seeing it.

Though he considered himself fairly handsome, he should not have been handsome enough for everyone to adore him, right?

"Please," Professor Li said.

"Of course, of course." Having been treated so gently these past few days by the notoriously strict Professor Li, Jiang Feng could not help feeling uneasy.

Ji Yue had already packed all the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall into the lunchbox. Professor Li's wife carried the lunchbox away with him, and before leaving, she gave Jiang Feng a gentle smile.

"Your professor seems to like you quite a bit," Ji Yue remarked.

"Huh?"

"When he came at noon today, he was pretty stern. He was on par with the foreign teacher I had in my freshman year." Ji Yue looked up, seemingly recalling the serious Filipino female teacher from her first year. "That old woman relied on my poor English and yelled at me in English every day."

Women really held grudges.

Jiang Feng opened the envelope. Inside were more than a dozen banknotes and a sheet of letter paper.

He took out the letter paper and unfolded it. The fountain pen handwriting was vigorous and forceful, and it contained a recipe for Stomach-Soothing Congee.

The ingredients were nearly identical to the Stomach-Soothing Congee Jiang Jiankang made, with only a few slight adjustments and an additional serving of pork liver.

Although Jiang Jiankang had learned how to cook congee from an old master at a congee shop, the recipe for Stomach-Soothing Congee had been given to him by Old Master Jiang.

Why did Professor Li have the Jiang Family's recipe for Stomach-Soothing Congee?

"Dad, was the recipe for the Stomach-Soothing Congee you used to make for me given to you by Grandpa?" Jiang Feng even began to doubt his own memory and ran into the kitchen to ask Jiang Jiankang.

"It was passed down through our family." Jiang Jiankang was tossing food in the wok.

Could Professor Li... possibly be related to our family?

Jiang Feng's imagination ran wild. Could it be that one of the six brothers Grandpa had back then had not died, survived by concealing his identity, changed his name and surname, and became a Li?

If Wang Hao had this material, he could probably make up an even more complete story.

Jiang Feng went to the storage room and opened his status panel.

The Last Medicine: Li Mingyi had terminal stomach cancer, loss of appetite, and anorexia. The long, painful chemotherapy treatments had made him wish he were dead. As a chef, the only thing you could do was offer him comfort through food. Please give him the last medicine. Please help him eat normally for 15 days. Choice: Yes/No

He clicked Yes.

The Last Medicine: Li Mingyi had terminal stomach cancer, loss of appetite, and anorexia. The long, painful chemotherapy treatments had made him wish he were dead. As a chef, the only thing you could do was offer him comfort through food. Please give him the last medicine. Please help him eat normally for 15 days. Quest Progress (0/15)

Quest Hint: Follow the recipe provided by Li Junming to complete the quest.

Quest Reward: One memory of Li Mingyi.

So it was terminal stomach cancer. No wonder Li Mingyi looked unnaturally thin. At first, Jiang Feng had thought the old man was simply advanced in age.

Moreover, this was the first time the game had given a clear quest reward, yet the reward was actually a memory.

Could this memory... be related to Tai Feng Lou?