The Game of Life Chapter 802

Chapter 802: Chapter 801: The Power of Orange Juice Candy Chapter 802: Chapter 801: The Power of Orange Juice Candy “`
Not every group was as smooth as Jiang Feng's.

Sun Maochai was good at dealing with children and had no trouble managing the four kids by himself. In sharp contrast was Sun Jikai, from whom Jiang Feng could read an expression of despair and helplessness with the corner of his eye.

Progress wasn't going too well for Wu Minqi either. The little girl she was responsible for wasn't as cooperative as the one Jiang Feng was handling, and her way of expressing what she wanted to eat was quite fanciful. Jiang Feng overheard a bit of their conversation and got the sense that what the girl wanted might not be food, but art and imagination.

Jiang Feng began cooking.

The first dish he was going to make was Sweet and Sour Yam. Today the restaurant wasn't open for business, and making Sweet and Sour Yam could actually produce a buff effect. It was the only sweet dish Jiang Feng could make at an S+ level, and naturally, he would put his best steel to its proper use.

He peeled the yams, washed and cut them into chunks, fried sugar, poured in the yams at just the right moment, and spun sugar threads–all these actions were extremely familiar to him, and he completed them in one fluid motion. As he was the first to start cooking, all four camera operators focused on him, which gave Jiang Feng the illusion that he wasn't cooking, but instead filming the main scene of a culinary-themed idol drama.

He was the male lead, and now it was time for the most crucial shot. All it would take was a stylish and exaggerated toss of the skillet, and the Sweet and Sour Yam would spin 3600 degrees in the air, landing perfectly on the serving plate.

Of course, he didn't actually do that. If he had, at least three people in the kitchen would have been sent to the hospital today with burns from hot oil.

The Sweet and Sour Yam was ready, and Jiang Feng was very pleased with it.

But Miaomiao was clearly not as satisfied.

Under Jiang Feng's attentive gaze, Miaomiao seemed torn and a little afraid, nibbling on her finger as she hesitantly said, “I… I also want to eat meat.”

Jiang Feng: ?

That's not what you said just now!

“Why don't you try the Sweet and Sour Yam first, Miaomiao? Although it's not meat, Sweet and Sour Yam is also sweet and deliciously crunchy,” Jiang Feng coaxed.

Miaomiao looked at the Sweet and Sour Yam in front of her and decisively shook her head.

However, Han Youxin's eyes lit up at the sight of the Sweet and Sour Yam, and he volunteered that he wanted to eat it. He picked up a big chunk with his chopsticks, briefly dipped it in cold water to break the sugar thread, and then ate it without minding the heat.

“How is it?” Jiang Feng asked expectantly.

Han Youxin seemed quite satisfied but also appeared to hold a grudge, feigning modesty, “It's just okay.”

Jiang Feng: …

Sure enough, no child was easy to deal with.

Miaomiao wanted to eat meat and wasn't willing to try the Sweet and Sour Yam, and Jiang Feng couldn't force her. Understanding the whimsical thoughts of children was indeed one of the challenges of this test.

If Miaomiao wanted meat, Jiang Feng would cook meat for her.

He made sweet and sour pork, sweet and sour ribs, and sweet and sour carp in succession. Although Miaomiao didn't seem completely satisfied after eating the three types of sweet meat dishes, Han Youxin, on the other hand, ate with more joy than anyone else.

Jiang Feng realized that Han Youxin and Han Guishan were truly father and son, cut from the same cloth–they liked anything tasty and weren't picky at all.

More than half the time had slipped away, and now only fifty minutes remained. Jiang Feng still hadn't made a dish that completely pleased Miaomiao. At this point, he finally realized that there must be a problem with communication.

Communicating with kids was not as easy as he had imagined, especially since the show's producers had strictly prohibited them from naming the dishes they wanted. This lack of clear communication made things even more difficult.

Jiang Feng even started to doubt whether Miaomiao really wanted something sweet.

With only fifty minutes left, if he couldn't figure out what Miaomiao wanted to eat, he might very well embarrass himself in front of the whole nation in two weeks.

“`
“Miaomiao, can you tell your brother what kind of sweet you really want to eat?” Jiang Feng returned to the questioning phase.

“It's… it's just sweet, sweet and silky.” Miaomiao clearly wanted to name the dish, but unfortunately, she couldn't.

“Can you tell your brother what kind of sweet you'd like, for example, if Miaomiao wants sweet meat? Although you can't say the dish name, you could tell your brother what meat you want.” Jiang Feng began coaxing the child.

“It's… it's meat, sweet meat,” Miaomiao said with difficulty, struggling for a long time before she could utter, “Sweet meat.”

Jiang Feng: ???

“Can Miaomiao tell your brother exactly what meat it is?”

Miaomiao carefully glanced at the staff not far away, as if gathering courage for Jiang Feng's cheating, and whispered into his ear: “Roasted meat.”

Jiang Feng: …

Are kids these days always this difficult?

Jiang Feng looked at Han Youxin, who was being completely ignored and was busy eating big bites of food. The sweet and sour yam was finished, and only a few pieces of sweet and sour pork ribs were left. Han Youxin's eating manners weren't good, but the only advantage was that he didn't end up with food all over his sleeves and collar.

Realizing that Jiang Feng was watching him, Han Youxin froze for a moment, then realized he had been eating a bit too heartily. He quickly sat up straight, putting on a stern face that he obviously hadn't used seldom to fool parents and teachers during homework and class.

“I was just a little hungry,” Han Youxin explained.

Jiang Feng turned his head away.

Han Youxin immediately became anxious, raising his voice, “I really was hungry, I got up late this morning and didn't have breakfast, actually, the dishes you made, I all… burp.”

Jiang Feng had a smile on his face.

Han Youxin felt utterly disheartened and began to let himself go, continuing to eat ravenously.

With only fifty minutes left, Jiang Feng figured he couldn't prepare two dishes, and no particularly clear clues were coming from Miaomiao.

Roasted meat, sweet, that was just too broad a spectrum. Chicken, duck, fish, meat–any roasted dish could be made sweet, and if Miaomiao actually wanted sweet crispy duck, Jiang Feng couldn't make it, and even if he could, there wasn't enough time.

In situations like this, Jiang Feng felt he could only make another couple of random dishes and trust his own abilities and Miaomiao's leniency.

Sigh, children's thoughts are truly hard to guess.

Just as Jiang Feng was considering whether to make some fried chicken or some other such universal favorite among children to get by, a dish popped into his mind.

It wasn't exactly a dish, but a snack.

He thought of this snack because, for some reason, the four children at Sun Maochai's were making a ruckus. With his ample experience in pacifying kids, Sun Maochai tossed a piece of brown sugar into a child's mouth and easily defused the looming disaster.

Sugar is sweet!

Most importantly, sugar has a buff.

The buff that maintains a good mood for twenty-four hours after consumption for children under nine years of age, obtaining the most primal joy–wasn't that perfect for the current situation?

If the old geezers were happy, giving out high scores wouldn't be too difficult, right?

Orange juice candy wasn't hard to make, and fifty minutes should be just about enough. After he acquired the recipe, Jiang Feng had tried making it a few times. When he grew bored with cooking dishes, making these snack-like treats was pretty interesting. Back then, Jiang Feng wasn't a tri-master chef yet, and the success rate was low with frequent failures, but now he was. He knew the steps clearly, so the likelihood of a disaster was slim.

All the raw materials are available in the back kitchen, and we have fresh oranges at the fruit bar.

Freshly squeezed orange juice can give children the best orange candy experience.

Once the idea struck, Jiang Feng quickly gathered the ingredients and started to focus on making the orange candies.

Like the method demonstrated by Sun Maochai in the video tutorial, Jiang Feng used a flat-bottomed pan.

Everyone was busy cooking, and when Jiang Feng suddenly started simmering sugar in a flat-bottomed pan, this unusual behavior naturally drew everyone's attention, including Sun Maochai himself.

Sun Maochai also realized that Jiang Feng was making candy, and he was almost certain it was fruit candy. He was a bit surprised to see that Jiang Feng's choice of equipment for melting sugar was the same as his own, a flat-bottomed pan.

“Uncle Sun, Uncle Sun, is the food ready yet?” a child urged.

“Uncle Sun, what is that brother doing?” another child inquired.

Sun Maochai patiently replied to each one: “Don't worry, we still have to wait a bit for the food. How about we all eat together when it's ready? As for that brother, he seems to be making candy. Once he's finished, you can go over there and ask him for a piece, but don't forget to say thank you when you do.”

“Okay,” the four little creatures chorused, one of them still had a piece of brown sugar melting in his mouth–he'd snagged it.

Making orange candy took longer than Jiang Feng had anticipated, mainly because the sugar took a long time to cool almost running out of time to complete it. Once the candies had cooled, Jiang Feng used a small hammer to chip off a piece.

The shape was irregular, which made it look rather unappealing.

Jiang Feng passed the candy to Miaomiao.

Miaomiao took the candy, and silently placed it in her mouth.

“Is it tasty?” Jiang Feng asked.

“Tasty,” Miaomiao whispered, looking very happy.

Although it wasn't what she wanted to eat, she liked it very much.

The two-hour taste test flew by, and soon it was time for the brutal scoring part.

The dish that Jiang Feng made was the most consumed, thanks largely to Han Youxin, who played a significant role in ensuring plates were cleaned off. The pot of orange candy he had prepared was completely shared among the eight children in the kitchen, so much so that during the scoring, most of the children had candy in their mouths, appearing very joyful.

The results came out quickly.

For reasons unknown, possibly due to his love for Jiang Feng's culinary skills and his aversion to dumplings, Han Youxin gave a score of ninety-nine, which, although high, somehow felt a bit uncomfortable.

Miaomiao gave Jiang Feng eighty points–not too high, but not too low either. Clearly, Jiang Feng had not made the dish she truly wanted to eat.

After Miaomiao finished scoring, Jiang Feng quietly asked her what she really wanted to say. Miaomiao told Jiang Feng that what she wanted to eat was red braised pork with added sugar.

Jiang Feng: …
The child had really tried her best, even mentioning the words for the meat, but unfortunately, he did not grasp her real intent.

The little girl Wu Minqi was responsible for gave her a score of seventy-two. Clearly, Wu Minqi also hadn't prepared the dish she wanted to eat.

The most unfortunate was Sun Jikai; the little boy he was cooking for only gave him a passing score of sixty. When the staff asked why he scored sixty, the boy's response was that although the dish wasn't what he wanted, the candy was quite tasty.

Jiang Feng felt that if Mr. Sun ever decided to sever ties with him, it would definitely be because of an innocent piece of orange candy.

All the children on Sun Maochai's side gave us face, with the highest scoring them a perfect hundred points and the lowest giving eighty-eight points, indirectly proving Sun Maochai's ability to communicate with children and his skills in coaxing them.

An absolute master at placating children.

After the test, the program staff safely sent each of the eight children home, and Jiang Feng and his three companions stayed at the restaurant to await the remaining staff to announce this week's points and rankings.

Actually, there wasn't much to look forward to, as the final results were as everyone expected, with Taifeng Building inevitably taking first place, smashing records with an unprecedented high score of over ten thousand points.

The second place was Taste House, with a total score of 7613 points, which wasn't low, but it paled in comparison to Taifeng Building's five-figure score.

The third place went to Top Floor Restaurant with 6888 points, very auspicious.

The fourth place was Yonghe House with a score of 4936 points, basically out of the semi-finals. Eighth-treasure House, ranked fifth, was only twenty-odd points lower than Yonghe House, and most likely out of the semi-finals as well.

Just looking at the results of the first round, the only ones with a hope of advancing were Taifeng Building, Top Floor Restaurant, and Taste House. In the second round, Taste House would undoubtedly face unprecedented disadvantages, while Taifeng Building and Top Floor Restaurant had basically secured their spots in the next round.

For some reason, Jiang Feng suddenly felt that the program group would definitely stir up some drama in the second stage of the competition. A competition with predetermined outcomes was bound to be dull, and to increase the show's watchability, the second round was surely not going to be as easy as the first.

“The first stage of the competition, which lasted two weeks, has now ended. First, I want to congratulate the four contestants from Taifeng Building for winning the first segment with the highest total points,” said the staff after announcing the second week's points and rankings, smiling as they began the summary speech.

The smile was sweet, the voice clear, and it was clear that this segment was likely to be edited into the variety show.

“In order for the four contestants to have better rest, the second stage of the competition will be held one week later. Next week is for personal adjustment and rest. The drawing for the restaurant swap in the second stage will take place three days from now, and the relevant rules will be announced within this week. I hope the contestants enjoy their holiday and make the necessary adjustments to be in the best shape for the second stage of the competition.”

Just as the staff were announcing the results, Han Youxin returned home.

Han Guishan hadn't gone to the office today, instead working from home and chatting casually with his wife. Seeing his son return, Han Guishan split the orange he was holding into two halves, offering the larger portion to Han Youxin.

“Burp.” Looking at the orange, Han Youxin couldn't help but let out a burp, feeling like the taste of the last orange candy he had eaten had resurfaced.

“Dad, I can't eat anymore,” Han Youxin expressed his refusal.

Han Guishan took back his hand and started eating the orange by himself: “How was it, what did you eat today?”

“Sweet and Sour Yam, sweet and sour ribs, sweet and sour pork, sweet and sour carp, and orange candy,” Han Youxin began listing what he had just eaten.

Han Guishan was stupefied.

Actually, it was he who had proposed today's test, initially suggesting to choose the top eight regular customers from each restaurant as the judges, mainly because he wanted to taste the food himself. But the program group rejected this proposal, changing to the children of the eight regular customers instead.

Han Guishan thought it was fine for the children to go, reasoning that if Han Youxin got to taste the food, it was still a win, so he agreed.

Now, Han Guishan was full of regrets, immense regrets.

He wasn't regretful about sending Han Youxin; he only regretted not going himself.

“So, Youxin, which dish did you find the tastiest?” Han Guishan asked.

“The orange candy!” Han Youxin stated decisively, with unwavering certainty.

Han Guishan: ???

Wang Jing, who was lying on the sofa watching TV: ???

Chapter end

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