Memory

Did Jiang Feng's life change after learning that Professor Li was his relative?

It did. Jiang Feng got many more chances to be called on by Professor Li in class.

There were so many that some people in the class suspected Jiang Feng had offended Professor Li and was being deliberately picked on. After all, Jiang Feng's image as a poor student was deeply ingrained, and it was hard for anyone to imagine Professor Li simply valued his talent.

More than half a month had passed since the semester began. Jiang Feng could now effortlessly juggle honing his cooking skills, helping out at the restaurant, and muddling through his studies. Ji Yue had successfully secured this year's club funding from the Student Union, Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant had begun attracting regular customers, and the main quest's completion rate was slowly rising day by day.

Still, Jiang Feng felt that spending every day chopping away in the kitchen, occasionally working the wok, and loafing around at the club on weekends was a little too dull.

"Xiaofeng, the porridge should be ready. Take it over to your granduncle," Jiang Jiankang called from the kitchen.

Jiang Feng went into the kitchen, lifted the lid off the small pot on the gas stove, and stirred it with a spoon. It was about done. He ladled the porridge into a lunchbox and carried it to Professor Li's home.

Professor Li's home was less than ten minutes from the food street. It was a teachers' apartment assigned by the school twenty years ago. The residential complex was old, and the cement plaster on the walls was pitted with holes.

Jiang Feng had been delivering porridge these past few days. Once, when he arrived, Li Mingyi had been half-conscious. He grabbed Jiang Feng's hand and called out, "Chengde, why did you only come now? Huiqin and I have been looking for you for over ten years..." Though he was a frail, skeletal old man, his grip was exceptionally strong. Jiang Feng did not dare struggle for fear of hurting him, so he could only listen as the old man muttered indistinctly about the past.

Fortunately, it did not last long. Li Mingyi soon stopped recognizing him again, released his hand, and began searching everywhere for Huiqin.

Professor Li was not home. It was his wife, Chen Suhua, who opened the door for Jiang Feng.

"Auntie, is Granduncle doing all right?" Jiang Feng asked.

"He's doing quite well. He's lucid right now, so go in and keep him company for a while." Chen Suhua took the lunchbox and headed for the kitchen. "He hasn't been muddled these past two days. When I went grocery shopping this morning, I saw some especially nice dates. I'll wash some for you. Sit down first."

Chen Suhua was the daughter of a village party secretary whom Professor Li had married while he was sent to the countryside as an educated youth. She was not well educated and had not even finished elementary school. Though she was already in her fifties or sixties, she did everything briskly and energetically, the type who could never sit still.

Li Mingyi was sitting by the bed, wearing reading glasses and looking through a photo album. When he saw Jiang Feng enter, he smiled and beckoned him over.

"Xiaofeng, you're here to deliver porridge." Li Mingyi invited Jiang Feng to sit beside him, then pointed at a black-and-white photograph in the album. "This is my wedding photo with your great-grandaunt. It's a pity there were no color photos back then, so it couldn't capture the colors. Your great-grandaunt's wedding clothes were beautiful. I said we should only take Western-style wedding photos, but she refused. She absolutely would not wear a wedding dress. In the end, I wore a suit and she wore her wedding clothes for the picture..."

"Dad, it's time to eat." Chen Suhua carried a bowl of porridge in her left hand and a plate of dates in her right. She placed the dates on the bedside table. "The porridge is still a little hot, so I'll stir it for you. Oh, Xiaofeng, have some dates. They're very sweet."

"No need, I'll do it myself." Li Mingyi slowly put down the photo album, took the bowl, and moved to sit at the desk, slowly stirring the porridge with his spoon.

Jiang Feng looked at the album spread open on the bed. It held an old, slightly yellowed black-and-white photograph. There was a man and a woman in it, both very young, looking about the age of middle or high school students. The man wore a suit and had a blank expression. The woman wore a phoenix crown, with a square veil partially covering her face, a mirror hanging from her chest, and a full set of wedding clothes. They were not touching at all. If Li Mingyi had not said it was his wedding photo, Jiang Feng truly would not have been able to tell.

Li Mingyi scooped up a spoonful of porridge and blew on it gently.

Jiang Feng noticed a short grayish-white hair stuck to the photograph.

Li Mingyi opened his mouth.

Jiang Feng reached out.

The porridge entered his mouth.

His hand brushed away the hair.

"Ding! Side quest The Last Medicine completed. Quest reward obtained: An Memory of Li Mingyi."

"Ding! Item obtained: A Memory of Jiang Huiqin."

Huh?

The stingy game had given him two items at once?

That generous?!

Jiang Feng pinched the hair he had brushed away and threw it into the trash.

Perhaps because he had looked at the photograph, or because he had once again found a younger relative to share stories of his youth with, Li Mingyi was in especially high spirits today. His appetite was good as well. After drinking a bowl and a half of porridge, he pulled Jiang Feng over and rambled on about many things from his younger days with his late wife.

Wontons from a stall in the east of the city, Jiang Huiqin's wontons, a dress with a hole in it—he talked about whatever came to mind. In the end, it was only because an old man's energy could not keep up and he grew sleepy while talking that Jiang Feng left, carrying a bag of dates Chen Suhua had forcibly stuffed into his hands.

He had spent more than an hour delivering porridge. By the time Jiang Feng returned, Liu Zixuan had already gone to the library. Only Ji Yue remained in the restaurant, sitting at a table and drawing on a graphics tablet.

"The restaurant is closed, so I'm watching the place. Uncle and Auntie went out to buy groceries. They said a batch of good stuff had arrived and rushed off," Ji Yue said. "Go catch up on some sleep. I'll be fine on my own."

Once Ji Yue said that, Jiang Feng really did feel a little sleepy and in need of an afternoon nap. There was no need to return to the dorm, though. He could just go upstairs and sleep.

He closed his room door, opened his attribute panel, and found two balls of mist in the item inventory.

A Memory of Li Mingyi: A memory that could be entered repeatedly.

A Memory of Jiang Huiqin: A memory that could only be entered once.

A one-time item?

Out of curiosity, Jiang Feng clicked on Jiang Huiqin's memory and selected yes when asked whether he wished to enter it.

The next second, Jiang Feng found himself in a woman's bedroom.

A young woman dressed in the uniform of a female student from the Republican era was holding a bright red padded jacket and carefully embroidering patterns onto its cuffs. Looking at her features, she was unmistakably Jiang Huiqin from the photograph Li Mingyi had been viewing today.

However, Jiang Huiqin did not seem able to see Jiang Feng. Her entire focus was on the jacket in her arms. Jiang Feng tried picking up the teacup on the small table beside her, but his hand passed straight through it like a ghost's. He then tried walking through the wall, only to be blocked by an invisible barrier. Once he realized he could only stay by Jiang Huiqin's side, he began examining the room.

It was a very small room with simple furnishings: a bed, a wooden cabinet, a small table, and a chair. Though small, it had everything it needed.

The bed was an ordinary wooden plank bed covered with dull gray bedding. The wooden cabinet was as tall as a person and very new, seemingly newly made. Its brass clasps were brand-new, its paint evenly applied, and it even had carved decorations. It looked rather expensive.

The room was very clean. A copy of "National Language" sat on the table, while a tin can filled with soil rested on the windowsill, with two scallion plants growing inside.

"Little sister, little sister!"

Someone was calling from outside the door.

"Yes, Brother, wait a moment! Don't come in, I'll come out!" Jiang Huiqin put down the jacket and opened the door. Jiang Feng hurriedly followed her.