The Game of Life

Chapter 587: Chapter 585: Vanguard

Ji Yue’s acute gastroenteritis came on fast and left just as quickly. She only stayed in the hospital for one day and was back to work the next, lively as ever, and even boasted that she was going to try making egg tarts during the weekend off.

Jiang Feng suspected she just wanted to skip work and take a leave, even if it meant taking drastic measures against herself.

March 15 was a Sunday and also the grand opening day of the top-floor restaurant. These past few days, Jiang Feng had been closely monitoring the WeChat group, wanting to see if anyone had any new intel about the top-floor restaurant. To his surprise, everything in the group seemed normal, with not too much discussion about the top-floor restaurant, even Ling Guangzhao continued to send out red packets as usual.

It wasn’t until the afternoon of March 14 that Lu Sheng messaged Jiang Feng on the sly, asking if he had secured a reservation for the top-floor restaurant on March 15 and, if so, whether he minded sharing a table.

Jiang Feng: ???

A bewildered Jiang Feng felt that texting on WeChat couldn’t clear up his confusion, so he made a WeChat call to discuss in detail.

Only then did Jiang Feng find out that although everyone in the WeChat group had been silent, they had actually been openly doing one thing while covertly doing another, secretly booked their seats at the top-floor restaurant for the opening day on March 15, and decided to deploy their own scouts to check out the competition.

Lu Sheng, being an honest man and lacking such experience, was too late to make a reservation. Therefore, he called and asked Jiang Feng, with whom he had a good relationship, to see if he could join him at his table for a joint operation of both their scouts.

Although they could also just send someone to queue on the spot for meals, Mr. Lu always felt that doing so would be somewhat embarrassing.

The truly honest man, Jiang Feng: …

What the fuck, you guys actually came up with this operation.

After hanging up the phone, Jiang Feng immediately went to inquire with Mrs. Wang Xiulian, and after learning that Mrs. Wang Xiulian had also not anticipated deploying scouts as a strategy, he began to ponder whether it was still possible to send out troops in time.

Because the top-floor restaurant followed the fine dining concept, focusing on reservations, it should also be possible to get in line if one was willing, but the key question lay in who to send.

Choosing the right scout was very important.

Then Jiang Feng thought of Zhang Guanghang who was having a day off on March 15.

Although it seemed somewhat inhumane to send Zhang on a spy mission during his day off, Jiang Feng felt that Zhang would probably happily accept an espionage mission that came with an expense-paid meal.

If it were him, he’d definitely accept gladly.

So Jiang Feng went to find Zhang Guanghang in the coffee shop at the mall.

When Jiang Feng found him, Zhang Guanghang was reclining in his seat playing on his phone. His coffee on the table was untouched, with a girl sitting next to him pretending to take a selfie while actually sneaking a photo of him, and the barista, pretending to wipe glasses, was stealing glances at him.

The daily life of a handsome man.

Seeing this scene, Jiang Feng couldn’t help feeling a sense of pride. These pretty and cute girls could only sneak peeks at Zhang, while he could not only look at him openly but also boldly approach and strike up…

Spit, a conversation.

“Zhang,” said Jiang Feng as he sat down opposite Zhang Guanghang.

Zhang Guanghang put down his phone and asked in surprise, “What brings you here, want something to drink?”

“I don’t like coffee,” Jiang Feng waved it off, he was only into carbonated drinks, “Granduncle Weiming has a bit of a cold and wasn’t feeling well this afternoon, so he didn’t teach me how to make stock and just went back to rest.”

Zhang Guanghang nodded understandingly and went back to his phone.

Slacking off.

“Do you have any plans for tomorrow?” Jiang Feng got straight to the point.

“Going to the top-floor restaurant for lunch, then heading home to sleep,” said Zhang Guanghang, continuing to play with his phone.

“Oh, actually I was thinking… um, you made a reservation at the top-floor restaurant?” Jiang Feng was shocked, not expecting Zhang to be so brisk in fraternizing with the enemy.

“My grand-uncle invited me last week, and considering I was off tomorrow, I didn’t mention it to you guys,” said Zhang Guanghang, “It’s a good opportunity for me to go check out their menu and pricing.”

Jiang Feng immediately held Zhang Guanghang in high esteem.

“By the way, how is Master Jiang’s cold? He seemed to cough quite a bit this morning,” Zhang Guanghang inquired.

Jiang Feng shook his head, “It should be okay, better than the last episode before the New Year. The temperature dropped suddenly these days, probably caught a chill before, and Granduncle Weiming doesn’t like taking medicine, only drank ginger soup, seems like he only took medicine last night. Now that he’s taken it, he should recover quickly.”

“That’s right, we should be more careful. There seems to be a surge in viral flu patients recently. I saw quite a few at the hospital the other day, it looks like Ji Xia is also coming down with a cold,” advised Zhang Guanghang.

“That’s because she’s been sneakily playing with her phone at night, went to the stairwell to leech off my home WiFi and got a chill from squatting there. Getting sick might be good, she needed a lesson.”

“Ji Xue said she used to play with her phone every night until past midnight without going to sleep, so to stop her, they started turning off the Wi-Fi at home at 11:30 pm. But she just sneaked out and squatted at my doorstep to leech off my Wi-Fi. Now, we’ve changed our Wi-Fi password too, and I’ll see whom she’s going to leech off next time,” Jiang Feng said, laughing and crying at the same time.

“Then she must have quite a few options to leech from,” Zhang Guanghang laughed.

Jiang Feng: …

Yeah, he had forgotten that the several floors in the building were all occupied by the Jiang Family. It looks like he’d have to remind everyone to change their Wi-Fi passwords when he got back.

Jiang Feng and Zhang Guanghang sat in the café until the evening service began before they left. That night, after returning, Jiang Feng went to visit Jiang Weiming at Jiang Jianshe’s place.

When Jiang Feng entered, Jiang Weiming was wrapped in a blanket like a caterpillar and was watching TV on the couch, while Jiang Jianshe was brewing ginger soup in the kitchen, filling the living room with a strong scent of ginger.

“Granduncle Weiming, how are you feeling now?” Jiang Feng asked.

“Pretty good, it’s just a minor cold, nothing serious,” Jiang Weiming said with a smile, but he looked listless and spoke weakly.

Jiang Feng felt that he didn’t look ‘pretty good’ at all.

“I just took some medicine, and now I’m feeling a bit sleepy,” Jiang Weiming yawned as he explained, “I’ve noticed that getting older really takes a toll on the body. Back in the south, we didn’t have heating, and I never got sick despite the cold winters. Now here in the north, even with heating everywhere, I’ve already been sick twice.”

“Uncle, it’s because you don’t dress warmly enough. I’ve told you to wear more clothes when going out. I’m sure you didn’t wear a scarf a few days ago. With the recent drop in temperature, how can you go out without a scarf? The cold wind goes straight down your neck, how is that any different from going out naked?” Jiang Jianshe, carrying a steaming bowl of ginger soup, walked out of the kitchen and started nagging.

Perhaps because Jiang Junqing and Jiang Junlian, the two ‘Mischief Demon Kings,’ were raised by Jiang Jianshe, he was more caring than anyone else in the Jiang Family.

“If you’re sleepy after taking medicine, drink this bowl of ginger soup and go to bed. A little cold like this is best slept off. You must have been feeling terrible when you came back home coughing like that, it’s better to just go to sleep,” Jiang Jianshe said.

“Did Granduncle Weiming cough a lot when he came back?” Jiang Feng asked.

“Not just a lot, he was coughing so vigorously he could barely breathe,” Jiang Jianshe said. “I already told him not to go to the shop this morning, but he insisted on going. Feng, if your granduncle is still coughing tomorrow, you should take him to the hospital. It was the same with your grandmother, she would get a cold before the New Year and stubbornly refused to take medicine or go to the hospital until, in the end, she had to go and get an IV.”

Jiang Feng could relate because he was always the one accompanying Mrs. Jiang for IV treatments at the hospital.

Maybe the reluctance to go to the hospital is a common issue among the elderly, much like children dislike taking medicine.

Jiang Weiming silently sipped on his ginger soup, not daring to speak.

After he finished the soup, Jiang Weiming finally spoke up languidly: “Feng, don’t listen to your Uncle Jiang Jianshe, it’s not that serious. It’s just that when I coughed this afternoon, some phlegm got stuck in my throat, which made it seem like I was wheezing. It’s just a slight cold; I didn’t even need to take medicine, and after taking it, there’s surely no need to go to the hospital.”

Seeing Jiang Jianshe about to speak, Jiang Weiming hurriedly grabbed his blanket and stood up: “Ah, I’m feeling a bit sleepy now. Jianshe, Feng, I’m going to bed. You two keep chatting.”

And with that, he beat a hasty retreat.

Jiang Feng was stunned; he hadn’t expected Granduncle Weiming to beat a hasty retreat like that.

“Uncle Jianshe, do we still need to take Granduncle Weiming to the hospital tomorrow?” Jiang Feng asked.

Jiang Jianshe looked helpless: “If he’s not coughing too badly, and he doesn’t want to go, let’s not force him.”

“By the way, Feng, there’s some leftover ginger soup in the kitchen. Do you want a bowl too?” Jiang Jianshe asked.

“No, no, I’m going to sleep too. Goodbye, Uncle Jianshe, you should also go to bed early.” Jiang Feng also beat a hasty retreat.

Since it was only two floors up, he couldn’t be bothered to wait for the elevator and just took the stairs, only to find Ji Xia squatting at Jiang Jianguo’s door, trying WiFi passwords.

Ji Xia’s small face was painted with big confusion, obviously not understanding why the connection showed ‘password incorrect.’

“Xiaxia.” Jiang Feng looked at Ji Xia with a smile all over his face, a smile so sinister, he resembled every teacher standing at the back door of a classroom who had spotted a student playing with a phone.

Ji Xia: ∑(°Д°)

“What are you doing?”

“I… I… I was…” Ji Xia was so startled she almost threw her phone, “I was climbing the stairs, and just now… my legs got a bit sore halfway, so I squatted down to rest for a bit. I… I’ll head back now, good night, Master Jiang.”

Ji Xia also beat a hasty retreat.

Jiang Feng couldn’t help but shake his head; it seemed that every kid’s rebellious phase started with playing on their phone.

Ji Xia’s rebellious phase had begun.