Recognizing Kin

It wasn't until closing time that Jiang Feng remembered the side quest had rewarded him with an item. He opened the game panel and saw a Promotional Standee sitting conspicuously in his inventory.

Promotional Standee: An utterly ordinary promotional standee that can attract the attention of passersby.

Jiang Feng took the standee out of his inventory, pretending he had just dug it out of the storage room. He placed it by the entrance and said to Ji Yue, who was taking out the trash, "Senior, I just found a standee. Your handwriting is nice, so tomorrow, write any discounted dishes on it and put it outside."

"Sure." Ji Yue grabbed three plastic bags in one hand. "You should head back first. I remember you have class on Saturday too."

Jiang Feng checked the time. It was nearly ten, so it really was getting late. He helped put the chairs back in place before returning to his dorm.

Weekends were happy times for most stay-at-home nerds.

Aside from the few majors that still scheduled weekend classes, most A University students were happy to stay in their dorms and laze around. When Jiang Feng went to help at the restaurant, Ji Yue rode her little electric scooter out to deliver takeout. With a commission of forty cents per order and A University's dorm buildings packed so closely together, as long as Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant's business was good enough, Ji Yue would soon become a little rich girl.

Though an average of twenty takeout orders a day did not seem enough to make her rich.

When Jiang Feng entered the restaurant, he deliberately glanced over. The standee had been placed prominently at the entrance, with fluorescent marker writing on it: Stir-fried Tomatoes and Eggs, Special Price: 17 Yuan.

There were hardly any customers in the restaurant, and nobody else was around. Only Liu Zixuan sat inside playing Honor of Kings. When he saw Jiang Feng, he looked up and said, "Brother Feng, where's Brother Hao?"

"He went to buy supplies." Jiang Feng glanced at the clock. It was almost one. "Have you eaten?"

"Yeah. They all went back." Liu Zixuan's hands never stopped moving. "I was too lazy to go back. I'm heading to the library later."

Jiang Feng was just about to head into the kitchen and fry himself some rice when two customers came in. He took one look and thought, Well, if it isn't my two nominal roommates who moved out right after the semester started!

The two were also stunned when they saw Jiang Feng, both looking bewildered. How did I end up walking into Jiang Feng's restaurant without realizing it? What was I planning to eat today again?

Wait, wasn't I going to the Sichuan Restaurant up ahead for Mapo Tofu? Why did seeing the sign outside suddenly make me want Stir-fried Tomatoes and Eggs?

For once, the two of them were thinking the same thing.

"Stir-fried Tomatoes and Eggs," they said in unison.

Grandfather came in a hurry and left just as quickly.

He had not cooked anything, yet he had gained the Jiang Family a new relative.

Professor Li's father was actually Grandfather's paternal aunt's husband!

Not only was the Jiang Family astonished, even Professor Li himself had known nothing about it before this. Li Mingyi had become terribly muddled in recent years, lucid at times and confused at others. When confused, he would mutter about his eldest son, his late wife, Beiping City, and Tai Feng Lou. Yet when lucid, he would say nothing at all.

It was Professor Li's wife who told him that Li Mingyi had recently kept muttering about Tai Feng Lou and Clear Soup with Bird's Nest Slices. That was why he had searched everywhere for someone to make the dish for Li Mingyi. Before finding Jiang Feng, he had already sought out quite a few people, but each time Li Mingyi merely shook his head and refused even to taste it.

If Grandfather had not arrived in A City while Li Mingyi happened to be lucid, the two of them could never have recognized each other.

After Beiping fell when Jiang Weiguo was young, he fled south with his father and several older brothers. Along the way, they suffered through man-made disasters, military chaos, floods, and plagues. His father and brothers fell ill and died one after another, leaving his memories of his relatives extremely vague. He only vaguely remembered that he had a younger paternal aunt who had married the young master of a wealthy family in Beiping City.

Li Mingyi, meanwhile, had been a refined young master from a wealthy family in his youth. He had not suffered much during the War of Resistance. He and his wife had two sons and a daughter, and their family had been happy and whole. Yet during those turbulent years, he suffered the loss of his sons, his daughter, and his wife in succession. By middle age, only his youngest son remained.

After more than half a century, the two elderly men met again.

All Jiang Feng knew was that he had gone to class for a day, Grandfather had come and gone, and his family had somehow gained another branch of relatives.

But there was one thing Jiang Feng did not understand.

"Why didn't Grandpa finish cooking before he left?"

"Grandfather said there was no need." Jiang Jiankang said, "The two old men were both so happy that whether the dish was cooked or not no longer mattered."