A Reminder

Old Master Jiang was in such a good mood that he hummed a little tune even while feeding the pigs.

Of the three pigs in the sty, Big Flower was the most enthusiastic about rooting for and fighting over food. Its sturdy body, flowing lines, and powerful hind legs constantly showed everyone that it was an excellent pig.

Old Master Jiang looked Big Flower over with satisfaction, calculating how much meat would remain after it was skinned and boned.

Big Flower kept its head down, focused on eating its feed, completely unaware that fate's butcher knife was about to fall upon its head.

Early the next morning, amid Big Flower's desperate struggles and heart-rending screams, Big Flower became meat on the chopping block. Old Master Jiang personally butchered the pig, sorting the leg meat, tenderloin, pork belly, rump, ribs, head, and offal into separate piles and packing them in ice. He left Old Madam Jiang several dozen pounds of her favorite pork belly and rump, then sent everything else straight to Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant by SF Express.

Then Old Master Jiang picked up his game and mountain delicacies and boarded a minibus into the city.

The old master got airsick, had never ridden high-speed rail, and did not know how to use a phone to buy tickets. Carrying his large and small bags, he took buses all the way to A City. By the time he arrived, the pork had already been there for three days.

When Jiang Jiankang first received the delivery, he was rather bewildered.

There were several large boxes, all radiating cold air, with fresh-food labels printed on them. He could not remember ordering any fresh groceries at all.

But when he opened the boxes and laid out all the pork, he recognized Big Flower the moment he saw the pig's head.

He was not the only one who recognized it. Comrade Wang Xiulian recognized it too.

The couple discussed it for a long time. Old Master Jiang had slaughtered Big Flower and mailed it over, but who exactly was it for? Jiang Jiankang did not dare call Old Master Jiang over such a trivial matter. If he disturbed the old master with something like this, he would definitely get chewed out.

So Big Flower remained in the cold storage until Old Master Jiang arrived in A City three days later.

Although Old Master Jiang did not know how to buy tickets on his phone, he knew how to use Gaode Maps. Following the navigation and riding the bus, he showed up at the entrance of Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant around dinnertime, dragging a large woven sack behind him.

"Dad!" Wang Xiulian, who was taking payments in the restaurant, could hardly believe her eyes. With a roar from her booming voice, every customer in the restaurant turned to look at the entrance.

"Dad, why didn't you tell us you were coming? Jiankang and I could have picked you up!" Wang Xiulian hurried eagerly to the entrance and took the sack from the old master's hand, not daring to open it. "You came all this way, why bring so much stuff? Aren't you exhausted? We received Big Flower two days ago."

"Did you touch it?" the old master asked.

"No. How would we dare touch it without your say-so? It's all in the freezer. Not a single piece of meat is missing!" Wang Xiulian quickly ushered Jiang Weiguo inside and shouted toward the kitchen, "Jiankang! Jiang Jiankang! Dad's here! Why aren't you coming out?"

"What? Dad's here?" Jiang Jiankang had not even finished stir-frying his dish before he ran out of the kitchen with his spatula in hand.

"Why are you rushing around like that?" Seeing a shred of carrot still stuck to the spatula in Jiang Jiankang's hand, Jiang Weiguo could not help scolding him. He snatched the spatula away and walked into the kitchen.

The couple hurried after him.

"So Jiang Feng's family really is that poor!" a girl in a yellow coat sighed.

"Yeah, I thought those rumors were nonsense. I never expected Jiang Feng's family to really be in such bad shape." The girl in the red hat beside her nodded in agreement.

Even Ji Yue, who knew Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant's daily revenue, could not help beginning to wonder whether Jiang Feng's family really owed an enormous debt.

It could not be helped. Jiang Weiguo's appearance at the entrance of Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant perfectly matched everyone's image, drawn from television, of an old rural father coming to the city to find his relatives: a dusty padded coat, an aged face, dark skin, weathered hands, and a battered woven sack.

That image had been entirely imagined by all the customers at Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant.

Other than being genuinely tired from the long bus ride, Old Master Jiang was neither dark nor aged nor weathered compared to elderly men his age. He was even a little plump and sturdy. Most importantly, that large padded coat, which looked dusty, unremarkable, and even rather ugly, was Valentino.

When Jiang Weiguo entered the kitchen, Jiang Feng was still making soup.

Over the past few days, even he felt that he had become a little Obsessed.

When making soup or cooking, very few outside things could affect Jiang Feng anymore. It was as though he could neither hear nor see anything, like the protagonists in fantasy novels entering a mysterious state while cultivating. His entire mind was focused on the dishes and soup before him.

He began seriously examining the game's evaluations of the dishes he made, carefully analyzing what proper Heat Control was, searching for the best ways to prepare ingredients, and truly considering the compatibility of foods and many things he would never normally think about.

These were things Jiang Jiankang could not teach him.

In just a few short days, Jiang Feng's improvement in soup-making could be described as a complete transformation.

Jiang Feng did not notice Jiang Weiguo's arrival in the slightest.

Today, he was making Oyster Mushroom, Corn, and Tea Tree Mushroom Soup.

To remove the Tea Tree Mushrooms' strange odor, he had specifically stir-fried them with scallions, ginger, and garlic first.

It was the final stage.

Jiang Feng slowly stirred clockwise with a ladle. Steam drifted upward and gradually dispersed, filling the air with the rich fragrance of mushrooms.

Drawn by the scent, Jiang Weiguo walked over and glanced into the soup pot. Besides the mushrooms and corn, there were other ingredients inside. He could identify three types just by sight and smell.

"This soup won't do," Old Master Jiang said, without lifting a hand. "Your ingredients are too numerous. Your skills aren't there yet, so you can't handle this many materials."

Jiang Feng's hand holding the ladle froze, and he turned around as if waking from a dream.

"Grandpa?" Jiang Feng was startled.

"How many days have you been making soup?" Jiang Weiguo asked.

"Half... more than half a month." Jiang Feng was still dazed. Jiang Weiguo had suddenly come all the way from the countryside to A City, and he could not process it for a moment.

"Your father told me you've been Obsessed with making Mushroom Soup lately." Jiang Weiguo picked up the ladle and stirred the pot. "It's generally fine, but you're being a little greedy."

"Do you feel that no matter what you add, the mushroom flavor seems too abrupt, so you added a bit of this and a bit of that, turning Mushroom Soup into a hodgepodge?" As expected of an old chef with years of experience, Jiang Weiguo saw right through the problem.

Jiang Feng nodded repeatedly.

"You're making Mushroom Soup, yet you think the mushroom flavor is too strong. Isn't that like farting after taking off your pants?" Jiang Weiguo cursed, tapping the rim of the pot with the ladle. "Make it again!"

Jiang Feng felt as though he had been struck by lightning.

That was right. He was obviously making Mushroom Soup, so why had he started complaining that the mushroom flavor was too strong?

So all these days, he had...

Been wasting his time?