"Hey! If you're done over there, then come help!" Jiang Weiguo shouted. "Oh, call your great-uncle over too! How is he anyway?"
It had been quite some time since Jiang Feng last saw Li Mingyi, so he could not reply to his grandfather's question.
But w.a.n.g Xiulian could since she was the one sending food over to Li Mingyi.
"Still the same," w.a.n.g Xiulian replied. "But his symptoms are getting worse. He was in the same state when I went there the last two times."
"Dad, should we call Jianguo, Jianshe, and Jianye over too?" Jiang Jiankang asked.
Jiang Weiguo was picking out the veins in the meat when Jiang Jiankang asked that question.
He was stunned for a while before barely nodding. "Fine… Call them over too. Get a few more kilos of meat out. By the way, do you only have one worker here?"
"Xiao Feng's friends are helping out too. They are out delivering food," w.a.n.g Xiulian explained.
The Healthy Restaurant got an order that had to be sent to the city center. The customer has ordered more than 20 dishes. More than half of them were expensive ones too, which brought the receipt to a total of a few thousand dollars. But since the city center was more than 30km away from the restaurant, there was no way a mere e-bike could reach it. In the end, Jiang Jianguo had Liu Zixuan, w.a.n.g Hao, Qiu Chen, and Zhao Yang take the subway to reach the city center.
"This just reminds me. Xiao Feng! Can you ask your friend to alter the app a little?" w.a.n.g Xiulian asked. "There's no way we can deliver foods to such faraway places. We were lucky that this was a huge order."
Jiang Feng had never thought of the problem before. He always thought that since the ordering app was linked to the official university account, only students of A University would use it. It seemed like he had to contact Zhang Wei to set a limit distance for food ordering.
Jiang Feng nodded and cut the scallions into long strips.
The four students who went out on the delivery did not return until Jiang Weiguo had finished making his Braised Pork Meatball in Gravy.
The moment w.a.n.g Hao stepped into the restaurant, he was eager to share the experience with Ji Yue. "Hey! Did you know that the person who made that order actually lives in the Sky Garden? We couldn't even get into the area and have to leave the food at the guardhouse!"
"But that was too tiring!" Liu Zixuan grumbled. "Why the h.e.l.l would he order from all the way over here to Sky Garden anyway? He even added our official account after he made the order."
While Liu Zixuan was complaining, Qiu Chen and Zhao Yang both had the expression of I wanna die. Don't talk to us.
The Sky Garden was the most expensive residential area in A City, located in the actual heart of the city center. It was marketed as a zen area in the busy city landscape. When w.a.n.g Hao and co. saw that the person wanted the food to be delivered to the Sky Garden, they thought that someone was pulling a prank. But it turned out that the person actually lived there.
"Where's Auntie w.a.n.g anyway? Is she helping out in the kitchen too?' Liu Zixuan asked as he sat down. "Liu Qian? You're staying here to help out too?"
"Do you think I can handle the customers on my own?' Ji Yue scolded. "Jiang Feng's grandfather is here. They're all helping out in the kitchen.'
"Feng'ge's grandpa?" w.a.n.g Hao exclaimed. "Feng'ge always said that his grandpa's food is the best in the world."
Too bad for w.a.n.g Hao, he was known to be boasting most of the time, and the others didn't believe him.
In the kitchen, Jiang Feng stored the fake bird's nest soup in the steamer so that it wouldn't go cold. He then cleaned the area before informing his uncles that Jiang Weiguo was going to make dinner. Since Jiang Weiguo still thought that Jiang Feng's chopping skill had room for improvement, Jiang Feng was only allowed to help cut the onion, ginger, and garlic.
Jiang Feng coming out from the kitchen when it wasn't lunchtime or dinner time was a rare sight.
Jiang Feng's life for the past few days only occurred in two different locations. The kitchen or his room. Even when w.a.n.g Hao tried to talk to Jiang Feng back in the dorm, Jiang Feng would only ask him questions about mushroom soup.
"Feng'ge, is your soup experiment finally over?" w.a.n.g Hao asked.
"Yup. Dinner's ready too."
When Jiang Feng told them that his experiment was over, they were overjoyed.
The ones that had to suffer the most when Jiang Feng was making pots and pots of soup weren't his parents but the people who were helping out at the restaurant. They would always have to finish the soup after dinner, but what they drank was so bad that they couldn't even recall what they had for dinner.
Liu Zixuan and Qiu Chen even once thought that mushrooms were starting to grow on their heads.
"My grandpa is making dinner tonight, why doesn't everyone join too? You can try my new dish at the same time. Liu Qian, you…"
Even though Jiang Feng wasn't sure of what Liu Qian just had for dinner, he could tell that she already had her fill.
"I can still eat!" Liu Qian quickly said.
After making sure everyone was joining for dinner, Jiang Feng went to make a call.
Professor Li was out of town at a conference, and Chen Suhua was the one who picked up. Chen Suhua told Jiang Feng that Li Mingyi was awake, and she would bring him over soon.
Jiang Feng then called his three uncles that were in town, and all of them gave the same answers.
"Of course we are coming! Isn't it a coincidence that we haven't had our dinner yet?"
Jiang Feng then heard his uncles shouting the same thing in their calls.
"Hey! Dad's here! We're going to Jiankang's restaurant for dinner! Where're our children?"
When it was dinnertime, two round tables were set up for them. One big and one small. When Li Mingyi sat among the brothers of the Jiang family, it made him seem like he was on a lonely island, weak and helpless. In contrast, when w.a.n.g Hao sat among his friends with his Jiang family-like body, it made him seem like the most normal one out of them, tall and strong.
Jiang Weiguo had prepared dinner according to what a village would serve in its dinner party.
There were Fried Pork in Scoop, Steamed Pork with Preserved Greens, Braised Pork Meatb.a.l.l.s in Brown Sauce, Stir-fried Pork with Scallions, Braised Pork Intestine, and Stewed Pork Ribs with Carrots. Jiang Weiguo also prepared some congee and vegetables for Li Mingyi.
The Fake Salix Leaf-shaped Steamed Bird's Nest Soup that Jiang Feng has made was also on the table that Li Mingyi was sitting at.
Liu Qian looked at the table full of food and exclaimed. "They are the same! They smell like the Stir-fried Eggplant with Minced Meat I just had!"
"Little girl, can you tell the difference just by smelling them?" Jiang Weiguo asked.
"Dad, she's really something else. Qianqian doesn't even need to taste the food to tell if it was made by Jiankang or Xiao Feng," w.a.n.g Xiulian said.
"That's amazing!" Jiang Jiankang exclaimed.
Jiang Weiguo was shocked as he looked at Liu Qian with a smile on his face.
"This dish…" Li Mingyi said as he looked at the fake bird's nest soup that Jiang Feng had made, the one that was hidden by the other delicacies.
"Xiao Feng made it. This is what he's been up to for the last few days," Jiang Jiankang grumbled even though he was satisfied with his son's improvement. "Come on, try it."
Jiang Jiankang then scooped up a variety of ingredients from the soup. He got at least a bit of everything for Li Mingyi.
Li Mingyi slowly reached for the snow mushroom in his bowl.
Jiang Jianguo was the first to try the quail egg in the soup and compliment. "Xiao Feng's skill has definitely improved!"
Even though the dish wasn't outstanding, there weren't any mistakes either. The only thing that could be called a mistake was the ratio used of the ingredients, but Jiang Feng managed to pull out the original flavors from each of the items he'd used.
Jiang Weiguo also took a bite.
"Ding! Secret Quest [To Pa.s.s on Knowledge] completed. Quest reward: [A Fragment of Jiang Weiguo's Memory]."
Li Mingyi also ate the snow mushroom in his bowl.
"Ding! Side Quest [Li Mingjun's Wish] completed. Quest reward: [Land t.i.tle]."
Two quests at the same time?
"Huiqin? Huiqin! Where are you?" Li Mingyi suddenly shouted. "Today's not my birthday…"
Li Mingyi then grabbed Jiang Weiguo's hand and asked, "Have you seen Huiqin? She must've left without telling me again. What should I do? She's still sick from falling into the river last time…"
"Dad's acting up again," Chen Suhua said as she ran to help Li Mingyi. She was strong, but her movement was soft.
After taking Li Mingyi's hand away from Jiang Weiguo, she said in a soft voice to the old man. "Dad, mom's still at home. Did you forget that your birthday is in two days? She's preparing food as we speak. Why don't we go find her?"
"But… But… Huiqin has already made the food," Li Mingyi said as he pointed at the fake bird's nest soup. "Where is Huiqin? She must've mixed the date up again."
Chen Suhua did not know the story of the soup, but she followed the flow of the conversation. "Yes, mom's at home waiting for us. Why don't we go back?"
"Let's go…" Li Mingyi murmured.
"I'm sorry, but I'll have to take him home first," Chen Suhua said to everyone apologetically.
"I'll help you," Jiang Feng offered as he helped Li Mingyi to his feet.