Chapter 876: Extra Story 3: The Rise of Jiang Feng (Part 1) Chapter 876: Extra Story 3: The Rise of Jiang Feng (Part 1) Jiang Weiguo first realized he might lose his authority over the family’s New Year’s Eve dinner when it was just two hours before the dinner on the eve of the Lunar New Year.

Due to the experience last year when they couldn’t buy pork during New Year’s, Mrs. Jiang had called their neighbors, the Li family in October, asking them to keep an eye on the good pork in the village and to reserve half a pig in advance.

The pig was slaughtered on the afternoon of the eve of Lunar New Year.

The Jiang family members’ flight arrived at eleven o’clock the night before the eve. Fortunately, everyone was wealthy enough to afford first class plane tickets. If they had taken first class on the high-speed train as before, they might not have made it to city z by the time the pig was slaughtered.

Apart from Jiang Weiming, Jiang Weiguo and Mrs. Jiang rushed back to their hometown to handle the pork on the day of the eve, while the rest had to stay in city z for two days. They cleaned up the house that hadn’t been lived in for a year to make it feel like home again before returning to the countryside for the New Year.

By the way, originally, Jiang Weiming was supposed to spend New Year’s with the family of Jiang Yong in Magic City. However, Xu Cheng got so inspired by Jiang Feng and Chef Arno’s dishes during the finals that he decided to go find his original passion; “Taste” magazine staff had to work overtime for the New Year and would take their holiday after the Lantern Festival, so Jiang Yong could only have Jiang Weiming spend New Year’s with the Jiang family first and then meet up in Magic City after the Festival.

On the other hand, due to the rush in time, everyone decided not to get together on the eve, and each family would eat whatever they wanted. The feast and dumplings were to be reserved for the official celebration of the New Year.

Although the old Sir and two others were in a hurry to go back to the countryside, due to the exhaustion of travel, they didn’t rise early in the morning., By the time they bumped along in a van to the village entrance, it was already three in the afternoon, and the pig was already being slaughtered.

The trio could hear the pig’s heart-wrenching screams from the village entrance.

“They’re not slaughtering the pig we reserved, are they? Oh dear, Sir, I told you to leave earlier, leave earlier! It’s so late now, they’ve started slaughtering, quick, quick, quick, go home and get a basin to catch the pig blood, just in case Cuihua keeps our pig for herself. Last time I asked her to buy me roasted goose, she kept the goose butt for herself,” Mrs. Jiang hurriedly said as soon as she heard the pig, not even bothering with her luggage as she ran toward the house.

“What’s the rush? Didn’t we already say last time? She didn’t keep the goose butt, if she kept anything, it’d be the legs, who would want the butt?” the old Sir reluctantly followed with two suitcases in tow.

As they reached the door, Mrs. Jiang bumped into Li Cuihua who was directing her grandson to hurry with a basin.

“Liangliang, hurry up, today you and your Mrs. Jiang will be sharing the pig with Zhang Tuzi, that guy always loves to take advantage, if you’re late, he might hog all the pig blood. Then, Zhao LanHua is going to accuse me of stealing their family’s pig blood again.”

“Cuihua!” Mrs. Jiang acted as if she hadn’t heard Li Cuihua just now.

“Lanhua!” Li Cuihua pretended as if it wasn’t her who just spoke.

“Liangliang, hurry up, when you’re done collecting the blood sausages tomorrow, Mrs. Jiang will give you a strand!”

Exhilarated, Zhao Liang ran quickly with the basin, his slightly chubby body bursting with endless energy.

While the youngsters took care of collecting the pig blood, the older people stopped to have light-hearted chats.

Li Cuihua first nodded at Jiang Weiming and Jiang Weiguo, then impatiently pulled Mrs. Jiang aside, bursting with excitement, and spoke with an extremely exaggerated tone:
“Lanhua, your Jiang Feng has really made something of himself now, he’s even been on TV, won the world competition. I watched that competition live stream you told me about, it was quite interesting, but it lasted too long, over several hours. I started in the afternoon and watched till evening, I was even listening to it while playing mahjong, that anonymous host talked way too much, and it made me mess up a lot of my plays, causing me to lose all afternoon.”

Mrs. Jiang immediately caught the important point: “Who were you playing cards with that afternoon?”

“Who else but Wan and the others. I’m telling you, after they went back, they also watched the competition, and seeing Jiang Feng winning the championship, they kept telling me that they must come to your house for the New Year to bask in the world champion’s good fortune,” Li Cuihua happily said.

“That’s no problem at all, I’ll have Jiang Feng make tea for you guys then,” Mrs. Jiang firmly chose not to mention having Jiang Feng prepare snacks and desserts.

Listening on the side for a while, the old Sir realized they were only chatting about trivial matters. His mind was on the pig being slaughtered, and he wanted to put down the luggage at home before checking on the slaughter.

Seeing Jiang Weiguo about to leave, Li Cuihua quickly stopped him: “Jiang, you can relax now, no need to hustle during the New Year. From now on, it’s definitely Jiang Feng who will be in charge of the New Year’s Eve dinner, right? After all these years of hard work, you can finally rest.”

Jiang Weiguo was startled.

Mrs. Jiang was startled too.

Indeed, although Jiang Feng’s culinary skills had already surpassed the old Sir’s and he had been helping since last year, it had never crossed their minds that the authority for the New Year’s Eve dinner should be handed over to Jiang Feng.

Somehow, it felt like Jiang Feng was usurping a position.

Seeing their expressions change, Li Cuihua thought she had spoken out of turn and was about to correct herself when the old Sir nodded in agreement:
“Yes, I can indeed rest this year.”

Mrs. Jiang looked at the old Sir as if he were an alien.

“That’s good, this year’s New Year’s Eve dinner can be handled by Jiang Feng, we two old ones can finally relax and enjoy some peace,” Jiang Weiming said with a smile.

“Hmph,” the old Sir snorted softly, dragging his two suitcases clumsily inside, his face filled with happiness.

Li Cuihua: ?

Was Jiang happy or not? Did she say something wrong just now?

Meanwhile, in city z, Jiang Feng, who was completing New Year’s gatherings with old friends and classmates from whom he had grown distant, was unaware that he had successfully seized control without even realizing it, though his ascendancy was not yet complete.

This year, Jiang Feng was quite the sensation.

First, he topped the trending searches, then appeared on a few more, participated in a popular live culinary competition show and won the championship. Even those completely unfamiliar with culinary arts somehow knew that this young chef was currently very impressive, and the names Taifeng Building and Jiang Feng seemed vaguely familiar.

Even strangers who had no connection to Jiang Feng found him familiar, let alone those who had been his classmates for years.

On the eve of the Chinese New Year’s celebrations, Jiang Feng attended two class reunions.

He had a reunion with his elementary school classmates at noon and with his middle school classmates in the evening. There was another reunion with his high school classmates scheduled for the next noon. The timings were quite packed, and the purpose of these reunions was very clear.

Everyone wanted to chat with this classmate who had shined brightly this year, and hopefully, taste the legendary dish that had made it to the trending searches.

Since it was the Chinese New Year’s eve reunion, not many people attended. Each gathering had only about ten people. Some classmates hadn’t started their holiday yet, while others who were on holiday had already gone back to their hometowns. Jiang Feng did not disappoint them. He symbolically fried two plates of S+ Grade Sweet and Sour Yams to wow and whet everyone’s appetite.

It could also help boost the business for Taifeng Building.

Jiang Feng didn’t believe that after tasting the Sweet and Sour Yam he personally cooked and explicitly told everyone was priced under one hundred yuan, his old classmates working in Beiping could resist visiting Taifeng Building next year.

Of course, he didn’t tell everyone that “under one hundred yuan” meant ninety-eight yuan.

He also didn’t mention that getting a taste of Sweet and Sour Yam really depended on one’s personal efforts.

In general, the class reunions were somewhat boring since everyone truly hadn’t stayed in touch over the years and didn’t have much in common. The conversations were mostly about fishing for topics. However, it wasn’t all that dull. After all, meeting old classmates was definitely a joyful occasion, not to mention that Jiang Feng was the center of these gatherings.

How could anyone find it boring to be praised by others?

Jiang Feng had even reread “Taste” again this morning.

The middle school reunion ended quite early in the evening, maybe because of the New Year’s Eve. Many people came out for a meal and had to go home to have another with their families, so the gathering disbanded very early, a little after seven.

The dinner location was very close to Jiang Feng’s residential area. It was unnecessary to take a bus or taxi, so he walked home and happened to meet Pan Ling and Chen Xiuxiu, who were returning from shopping at the supermarket.

Chen Duxiu would usually be extremely busy around the New Year, often on business trips out of town, sometimes even returning only on the very day of the Lunar New Year itself. It was pretty normal for Chen Xiuxiu to be alone at home, buying groceries and cooking by herself on New Year’s Eve, but why was Pan Ling with her?

“Jiang Feng, you’re back too? When did you come back? I don’t think I saw you yesterday,” Pan Ling greeted Jiang Feng with enthusiasm.

Jiang Feng glanced at the vegetables Pan Ling was carrying, wilted bok choy, slightly spoiled white radishes, half-dead fresh shrimp, and unevenly cut ribs, obvious leftover cuts.

Indeed, even after two years, Pan Ling’s grocery shopping skills had not improved at all.

It remained to be seen whether her cooking skills had improved since the nightmarish mutton soup from two years ago was still vivid in Jiang Feng’s memory.

“I just got back last night,” said Jiang Feng. “Isn’t today New Year’s Eve? Why aren’t you going home for dinner?”

“My parents were sent abroad by their company this year, and I didn’t want to go back to my grandparents’ place in the countryside so soon. Since Xiuxiu’s family isn’t around, I’ve been staying with her these past few days,” Pan Ling explained.

Jiang Feng glanced at the hotpot balls and a packet of hotpot base ingredients in Chen Xiuxiu’s hands, asking, “Have you two been cooking for yourselves these days?”

“No, neither of us is good at cooking. We’ve been ordering takeout, but since today is New Year’s Eve, we thought of having a hotpot at home,” Pan Ling replied.

Jiang Feng: ?

Eating spoiled radish slices, half-dead shrimps, and wilted bok choy?

Jiang Feng looked at Chen Xiuxiu.

Chen Xiuxiu responded with a glance that said, “I’m an overworked office drone,” her eyes even held a bit of resentment as if blaming Jiang Feng for her overtime.

Jiang Feng: ?

“Why have hotpot on New Year’s Eve? My family has made dumplings. I’ll ask my dad to save some for you two. Come over to my place for dumplings, and we can have hotpot tomorrow,” Jiang Feng invited them to his home to eat dumplings.

Pan Ling was about to decline, saying they had already bought the ingredients and it would be fine for them to have hotpot at home without bothering anyone.

Chen Xiuxiu quickly decided, stuffing the hotpot balls back into Pan Ling’s arms, “That’s great, we won’t be polite then. Lingling, take these back and put them in the fridge. I’ll go to the supermarket outside and buy some vinegar; Mr. Jiang’s place might not have any.”

“Jiang Feng, do you have vinegar at your house?”

Jiang Feng paused, instinctively pulling out his phone to text his dad to ask if they had vinegar at home, because Chen Xiuxiu might be right about them not having any.

Sure enough, just as Jiang Feng took out his phone, he saw a message from Jiang Jiankang, sent an hour ago, asking him to buy vinegar at the supermarket–Jiang Jiankang and Wang Xiulian had forgotten to buy vinegar that morning.

“No…”
Chen Xiuxiu immediately walked out.

“Also buy two preserved eggs; my mom wants to eat preserved eggs!”

Chen Xiuxiu: <(**)ng