The Game of Life

Chapter 580: Chapter 578 Ji Xia’s Future Planning

Ji Xia returned with the rolling pin and Jiang Feng and Wu Minqi sat down at the dinner table facing each other, biting into the just-baked peach pastries.

Although the D-grade peach pastries didn’t taste particularly great, possibly even below the average sold on the market, they had the advantage of being fresh from the oven and fragrant; plus, they were made by Ji Xia herself, adding an emotional touch. Jiang Feng and Wu Minqi ate them with great relish.

As he nibbled on the peach pastries, Jiang Feng pondered in his heart which Master White Chef to find as Ji Xia’s teacher.

Even though they couldn’t force Ji Xia to go down south to learn if she wasn’t willing, they still needed to decide on a teacher. What if the chosen Master White Chef ran off to the north or was poached by Eight-treasure House?

Jiang Feng had confidence in Ling Guangzhao.

“Fengfeng, Xiaxia doesn’t want to go to the south, what do you plan to do now?” asked Wu Minqi, suddenly realizing after nibbling on seven or eight peach pastries that the small pastry in front of her was in fact laden with a terrifying amount of calories, and promptly stopped eating to start a conversation.

“We can only take it one step at a time and ask Grandpa and Uncle to teach Xiaxia,” Jiang Feng said.

“Xiaxia needs a professional teacher,” Wu Minqi looked at Jiang Feng, “Just like when we were learning as kids, Xiaxia needs an absolutely professional teacher with many years of experience as a Master White Chef to guide her.”

Jiang Feng certainly knew that every chef learned this way, following a master closely for years, even decades, learning the craft in steps. It took a long time and extreme patience to cultivate an excellent disciple in the culinary field, something that couldn’t be measured with money.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t say a master was like a second father.

“We’ll see. In fact, I haven’t figured out which master to send Xiaxia to learn from. The key is to see if they will accept Xiaxia, considering she is my disciple. It’s a bit… Originally, I was thinking of asking Xiaxia first, and if she agreed, I would then ask Mr. Xu Cheng for help,” Jiang Feng said with a wry smile.

Given Ji Xia’s talent, even if her master didn’t teach wholeheartedly, she could learn better than the average person.

“Actually, if Xiaxia is willing, it’s not difficult,” Wu Minqi said softly, “Just find Mr. Zang Mu.”

“Zang Mu?” Jiang Feng was surprised, having almost forgotten about Zang Mu.

Since the Good Taste culinary competition ended, Jiang Feng hadn’t seen Zang Mu and Zhu Chang again.

These two were masters of Huaiyang cuisine, unlike Pei Shenghua, also a Huaiyang master who loved to gossip and, as the head chef of the riverboat restaurant, often neglected his business to roam around the world; these two scarcely left the province.

Unless it was for business activities, like serving as judges for the Good Taste culinary competition, they usually stayed in their restaurants, quietly being excellent head chefs, giving the owners and the patrons peace of mind.

However, Jiang Feng didn’t understand why Wu Minqi would suddenly mention Zang Mu; Zang Mu spoke little and had few friends, with his social interactions generally handled by his disciple, Zhu Chang.

“Have you forgotten? Teacher Zang Mu has always had a good relationship with several of the Master White Chefs in Taste House,” Wu Minqi reminded him.

Jiang Feng immediately understood, “You mean to send Xiaxia to Taste House to learn? But aren’t those masters there old? Would they still teach disciples?”

“Taste House still takes apprentices,” Wu Minqi said, “Not the kind doing odd jobs, but those who truly learn the craft.”

“Taste House is one of the few high-end restaurants in the country where the level of white chefs are stronger than that of red chefs, with numerous white chefs and an overall great atmosphere. With Xiaxia’s talent, even without formally apprenticing under anyone, just staying in the restaurant and learning on her own for a few years could result in her achieving high proficiency.”

“Moreover, to my knowledge, Taste House is still using the old model, recruiting apprentices every five or six years, eliminating the lowest ranking, and picking out the best for possible discipleship. Under normal circumstances, Taste House would not take someone like Xiaxia because they train apprentices to become excellent white chefs for Taste House in the future. But, if Teacher Zang Mu steps in and we at Taifeng Building talk to Taste House’s owner, it shouldn’t be a problem to have Xiaxia stay at Taste House.”

“However, by doing this, Xiaxia might face more issues than she would simply apprenticing under other masters. Taste House may not take the same care in training Xiaxia as they would with their own apprentices; she might become an anomaly or even face exclusion. Of course, this is just a possibility and a hypothesis; no one knows the exact situation.”

“But the benefits are obvious. Taste House has lots of talented white chefs, each with their unique skills, so if Xiaxia really applies herself to learning, she could master things that many white chefs spend their whole lives unable to learn. However, all this depends on whether Xiaxia is willing. If she isn’t, we have to follow what she wants and chooses to do. We can’t force her; we can only offer her options we think are suitable and let her learn on her own,” finished Wu Minqi.

Listening to Wu Minqi, Jiang Feng couldn’t help but sigh deeply.

“Does it feel like raising a child?” Wu Minqi laughed, “We don’t have to rush, after all, Xiaxia’s white pastry skills are just beginning. Grandpa Jiang and the others should be able to teach her for now.”

“But only for a year. After a year, whether Xiaxia is willing or not, whether we can bear to let her go or not, a choice will have to be made.” Wu Minqi had actually made quite a few plans for Ji Xia’s future quietly.

Jiang Feng rubbed his head, feeling a bit of a headache.

Ji Xia was actually a strange child, very different from children of her age.

Her survival skills were far superior to those of her peers; in this respect, she was even stronger than the vast majority of adults. She was resilient, could endure hardships, and even fight; disregarding the quality of life, she could survive anywhere under any circumstances.

But on the other hand, due to her upbringing, she was far less mature mentally than other children her age and appeared to be a strong, precocious child, but she was, in reality, quite vulnerable.

When nobody loved her, she could be an adult who wrapped herself in indifference to face the indifferent society. When someone loved her, she turned into a highly dependent minor.

Jiang Feng felt he couldn’t be that cruel.

He couldn’t bear, under the guise of it being for her good, to send Ji Xia to an environment that might ostracize her, full of negative unknowns, but somehow seemed to truly be for her own good.

“I think it’s not right for us to make this decision unilaterally. Xiaxia doesn’t want it, so why don’t we ask Ji Xue?” Jiang Feng suggested.

“I think it’s better not to tell Xue,” Wu Minqi said.

“Why?”

“Because if Xue finds out Taste House is the most suitable place for Xiaxia, even if Xiaxia doesn’t want to go, she will send her there,” Wu Minqi explained. “At least for now, in her eyes, Xiaxia is still a child who cannot make the right decisions. Xue is Xiaxia’s sister, so she will make the decisions she thinks are right for her.”

“But the decision should be made by Xiaxia herself.”

Jiang Feng fell silent and could only continue biting into the already cold peach crisp.

“Let’s talk about it later.”

Wu Minqi stood up. “It’s an issue for the future anyway. Maybe in a year’s time, we could offer Xiaxia a better choice.”

“It’s nearly midnight, Fengfeng, go to sleep early after you finish the peach crisp,” Wu Minqi said, then went to the bathroom to wash up.

In the bathroom, Wu Minqi brushed her teeth while looking at her reflection in the mirror, which had become noticeably thinner than before, only able to sigh inwardly about the headaches of raising children.

Especially since her Fengfeng was so unreliable and might spoil the children excessively in the future.

Wu Minqi shook her head and rinsed her mouth.

It was a headache; what would she do if she really had a child in the future?

Elsewhere, Jiang Feng sat at the dining table, finishing all the peach crisps with a troubled look, slowly letting out a sugar-filled belch before walking into the bathroom to wash up.

The originally happy five minutes of playing with his phone before bed had also become less joyful because of the uncertainty surrounding Ji Xia’s future.

Since playing with his phone couldn’t bring him joy, Jiang Feng decided to look at some memories for some happiness.

Though sometimes looking back on memories could bring discomfort instead of joy, what if two negatives made a positive?

Jiang Feng tapped on the inventory bar, hesitating between [A Memory of Jiang Xiaoran] and [A Memory of Tian Lin] before choosing [A Memory of Jiang Xiaoran].

With everything happening lately, he had forgotten he still had two memories he hadn’t seen, which he had noticed while looking for a rolling pin in his inventory earlier.

For some reason, Jiang Feng’s intuition told him that this memory of Jiang Xiaoran was probably from the New Year’s Eve when his father had beaten him severely.

There’s a saying that one’s happiness is often built on others’ pain; you wouldn’t know how happy and fulfilling your life is without comparison.

As a child, whenever Jiang Feng saw Grandpa Jiang beating up his cousins, he always thought washing pig intestines was a pretty good punishment—it was smelly but not painful.

Jiang Feng clicked “Yes” on the option, and in an instant, he was enveloped in mist.