The Dish Is Ready

Jiang Weiguo noticed that Jiang Feng's dishes were ready too.

"Since you're done, come help out. Oh, right, call your grandaunt's husband's family and tell them to come over for dinner tonight. How has your grandaunt's husband been lately?" Jiang Weiguo asked.

Jiang Feng had not visited Professor Li's home in a long time, so naturally, he knew nothing. Recently, Comrade Wang Xiulian had been delivering their lunches.

"His health is about the same as before, but he's been getting terribly confused lately. The last two times I went over, I saw him having episodes," Wang Xiulian said.

"Dad, should we invite Eldest Brother's family and Fourth and Fifth Brother's families over too?" Jiang Jiankang asked.

Jiang Weiguo was picking blood vessels out of the pork. His hands paused briefly at the question before he reluctantly nodded. "Invite them. Go get another twenty-odd pounds of meat from the freezer. Can the one helper at your restaurant handle everything?"

"Xiaofeng's classmates are helping too. They went out to deliver food and haven't come back yet," Wang Xiulian added.

Earlier that afternoon, the app had suddenly received a delivery order from the city center. The customer had ordered over twenty dishes, more than half of them major dishes, totaling several thousand yuan. The crucial point was that the city center was at least thirty kilometers from Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant, and they had to take the highway on the way. It was completely impossible to get there on an electric scooter. Left with no choice, Jiang Jianguo had sent Liu Zixuan, Wang Hao, Qiu Chen, and Zhao Yang, the four students who had come to help, to deliver the order by subway. None of them had returned yet.

"By the way, Xiaofeng, you need to change that WeChat program of yours. If we deliver orders that far away, are we even going to be able to run this restaurant?" Wang Xiulian complained. "Luckily, this was a big order. If someone only ordered a ten-yuan rice bowl and we had to take the subway all the way over there to deliver it, how could that possibly work?"

Jiang Feng had not considered this before. Since customers needed to follow the Official Account to order through the app, he had subconsciously assumed that all the customers were A University students. It looked like he needed to contact Zhang Wei that evening and have him add a delivery-range restriction.

Jiang Feng nodded and sliced the scallions into sections.

Once Jiang Weiguo's Four Happiness Meatballs had all come out of the wok, the four of them finally returned, travel-worn and dusty.

The moment he entered, Wang Hao impatiently shared the news with Ji Yue. "Ji Yue, you have no idea who ordered today's food. They actually lived in Tianfu Garden! They made us leave the dishes with the security guard and wouldn't even let us through the gate."

"I'm exhausted to death. Tell me, why would someone living in Tianfu Garden travel all the way near A University to eat, follow the Official Account after finishing, and then insist on ordering delivery? What the hell is wrong with them?" Liu Zixuan complained as well.

Qiu Chen and Zhao Yang wore lifeless expressions, making it clear they did not wish to comment on the matter at all.

Tianfu Garden could be considered A City's most upscale villa district. It had forcibly carved out a plot of land in the city center, and its original advertisements had described it as a peaceful retreat amid the bustling city. When the delivery location had first shown Tianfu Garden's security gate, Wang Hao and the others had assumed someone from a shop in the city center had randomly set the location there. They had never expected the person ordering delivery to actually be a Tianfu Garden resident.

"Huh, where's Auntie Wang? Why did she go into the kitchen too? Hey, Junior Sister Qianqian stayed to help today too?" Liu Zixuan sat down to rest for a while, only then noticing that Wang Xiulian was not in the dining hall.

"How could I possibly handle everything by myself when none of you were here? Jiang Feng's grandfather came, and they're all in the kitchen helping cook. Don't go in and make trouble," Ji Yue said.

"Brother Feng's grandfather!" Wang Hao's body trembled. "Brother Feng said his grandfather's cooking is unmatched in the world!"

Unfortunately, Wang Hao told far too many tall tales normally, so no one believed him at all.

In the kitchen, Jiang Feng placed the Clear Soup with Bird's Nest Slices he had prepared earlier over the steamer to keep it from getting cold. After washing his hands at the sink, he went out to call each family and notify them to come over for dinner. Jiang Weiguo despised his inadequate knife skills and would not let him touch anything except scallions, ginger, and garlic.

It was quite a rare sight for Jiang Feng to come out of the kitchen outside meal hours.

These days, he had lived a two-point routine every day: the kitchen and the dormitory. Other than those two places, he barely went anywhere else. Sometimes, after returning to the dorm at night, Wang Hao would try to chat with him, only for Jiang Feng to open with, "What do you think would taste good in mushroom soup?"

That one sentence would choke off the countless words Wang Hao had wanted to say.

"Brother Feng, is your soup done?" Wang Hao asked tentatively.

"Yeah, it's done. The dish is ready too."

The moment those words came out, everyone grew excited.

Who had suffered the most from Jiang Feng's soup-making obsession lately? It was not Jiang Jiankang and Wang Xiulian, but these people who had come to help and eat! A free bowl of horribly unpleasant Mushroom Soup every day—even one sip was enough to make them forget the flavor of every dish they had eaten before.

Not to mention Liu Qian, even Liu Zixuan and Qiu Chen felt as though mushrooms were about to sprout from their heads.

"My grandfather is cooking tonight. Everyone stay for dinner, and you can also try the new dish I made. Um, Liu Qian, you..." Although Jiang Feng did not know what Liu Qian had eaten earlier, he assumed that since she was at the restaurant, she had probably already eaten.

"I can eat, I can eat!" Liu Qian immediately declared.

Only then did Jiang Feng start making calls.

Professor Li was not in A City at the moment. He had gone out to attend a conference. Chen Suhua said that Li Mingyi was lucid at the moment and that she would bring him over soon.

When he called Jiang Jianguo, Jiang Jianshe, and Jiang Jianye, they all gave the same answer: "Okay, okay, okay, I'll be right over. Xiaofeng, isn't that a coincidence? Our family just happens not to have eaten yet!"

Then he could hear three booming voices shouting from the other end of the calls, "Wife, Dad's here! He told us to go eat at Third Brother's place! Where the hell did that little brat run off to fool around/work overtime again?"

At dinnertime, they set two tables, one large and one small. The frail Li Mingyi sat amid the Jiang Family's large, stout crowd, looking so isolated and helpless that he even seemed small, pitiful, and defenseless. In contrast, Wang Hao sat among a group of normal people with his uniquely Jiang Family-like build, looking exceptionally tall and burly.

The old man had cooked in the style of a countryside banquet: generous portions, rich ingredients, and basically an all-pork feast.

Guo Bao Rou, Preserved Vegetable Pork Belly, braised pork, Four Happiness Meatballs, lion's head meatballs, Scallion Stir-fried Pork, Nine-Turn Large Intestine, and Radish Stewed Pork Ribs. Li Mingyi's table also had vegetables Jiang Weiguo had specially stir-fried for him, along with porridge.

The Clear Soup with Bird's Nest Slices Jiang Feng had made was placed on Li Mingyi's table.

Liu Qian looked at the table full of dishes, thrilled. "This is the smell! The Minced Eggplant I ate today smelled just as good!"

"Little girl, you can even smell the difference?" Jiang Weiguo asked from across the table.

"Dad, don't underestimate her. Qianqian usually doesn't even need to taste it. Just by smelling it, she can tell whether Jiang Jiankang or Xiaofeng made the dish," Wang Xiulian said.

"That's impressive!" Jiang Jianye praised involuntarily.

Jiang Weiguo froze for a moment, then gave Liu Qian another look, a little more amusement appearing in his eyes.

"This dish..." Li Mingyi was slow to react. Jiang Feng's Clear Soup with Bird's Nest Slices sat between one large bowl after another and looked rather inconspicuous.

"Xiaofeng made it. This is what he's been tinkering with lately." Jiang Jiankang's words sounded like a complaint, but his expression was full of pride. "Come on, everyone, try Xiaofeng's cooking."

As he spoke, he served Li Mingyi some food, making sure not to miss the quail eggs, tremella, or luncheon meat.

Li Mingyi slowly reached his chopsticks toward the tremella in his bowl.

"Xiaofeng's cooking has improved quite a bit!" Jiang Jianguo was the first to eat a quail egg, and his eyes lit up.

This dish did not seem to have any particular strengths when eaten, yet surprisingly, it had no obvious weaknesses either. Although the ingredient proportions were terrible, it brought out the original flavors of each ingredient to the greatest extent possible.

Jiang Weiguo also picked up some tremella and put it into his mouth.

"Ding, hidden task Teach and Impart Knowledge completed. Task reward obtained: A Memory from Jiang Weiguo."

Li Mingyi shakily brought the tremella to his mouth.

"Ding, side quest Li Junming's Wish completed. Task reward obtained: deed."

Both tasks had been completed at once?

"Huiqin, Huiqin." Li Mingyi suddenly slipped into confusion.

"Huiqin, it isn't my birthday today. Where did you run off to?"

"Huiqin, Huiqin." Li Mingyi grabbed Jiang Weiguo, clutching his hand tightly. "Have you seen Huiqin? It's so late, she must have snuck out again. She hasn't recovered from the chill she caught when she fell into the river last time. Have you seen Huiqin? Tell me where Huiqin is."

"Oh dear, Dad's confused again." Chen Suhua hurried forward. She was strong, but her movements were gentle. She quickly got Li Mingyi to let go and softly comforted him, "Dad, Mom is at home. Isn't your birthday in a couple of days? Mom is preparing to cook for you. Shall we go home and find Mom?"

"But... but... but Huiqin's dish is already ready." Li Mingyi stretched out a hand, trying to point at the Clear Soup with Bird's Nest Slices on the table. "Where is Huiqin? She must be confused and remembered the wrong day."

Chen Suhua did not know the reason for the dish on the table and merely followed Li Mingyi's words. "That's right, Mom is waiting for us at home. Let's go home."

"Go home, go home," Li Mingyi murmured.

"Sorry, my father and I should be going back," Chen Suhua said to everyone.

"I'll come with you." Jiang Feng hurried after her, supporting Li Mingyi together with Chen Suhua.