The Game of Life-Chapter 650 - 648: Birthday Gift

Chapter 650 -648: Birthday Gift

A group of people stood atop the Great Wall, eating, drinking, and shooting the breeze. Professor Li had a chat with Jiang Feng before turning to discuss matters with Wang Xiulian. Jiang Feng immediately shared the good news about the final draft of his paper with Wang Hao, and as expected, got several voice messages within three minutes from Wang Hao, which he knew, without listening, would be full of weeping and wailing, calling him “Dad.”

Anyway, ever since Wang Hao’s income stabilized, he never “recognized” any more “dads.” The number of new “dads” he acknowledged took a cliff dive. According to insiders, Wang Hao turned over a new leaf, singing “I am my own dad” — his Steam account was still very popular though.

By one o’clock, everyone had slowly made their way to the cable car station. Just about everyone took a rest before struggling up to the highest point, snapped a picture to prove they were there, then happily bought cable car tickets to head down, including Ji Xue without exception.

The bus was parked where it usually was, and since everyone came down by cable car, they finished earlier than expected. When they arrived at the barbecue restaurant Wang Xiulian had reserved, it was just past three. The restaurant staff were still getting things ready, and Sang Ming, unable to wait any longer, took out three decks of playing cards from his bag and started the card game that was a tradition at every Taifeng Building event.

Visit frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓ for the b𝘦st novel reading experience.

Those who wanted to play cards played, and those who didn’t, watched. Wu Minqi pulled aside the restaurant manager to ask a few questions, then walked over to Jiang Feng, “Fengfeng, I just asked the manager and they said the restaurant only has apples, dragon fruits, and pears. If we’re just eating barbecue tonight, this selection of fruits is too limited; Grandpa Jiang and the others definitely won’t be able to handle it. How about we go to a supermarket outside and buy some fruit?”

Since there was still plenty of time, Jiang Feng naturally agreed and also called on Zhang Guanghang and Zhang Weiyu, the two men among them who weren’t playing cards, to join them.

...

Walking in the bustling street alongside Zhang Guanghang, Jiang Feng couldn’t help but feel like he was a super handsome guy himself. After all, with the increased number of glances from passersby, it was hard to tell whether they were looking at him or at Zhang Guanghang next to him.

Jiang Feng, who had been frequenting teahouses with Zhang Guanghang and others almost every day recently, had already grown accustomed to these easily misunderstood glances. This was, however, Zhang Weiyu’s first time, and he was so affected that he started to swagger, almost as if he were burdened by his idol status.

It wasn’t until they reached the supermarket and Zhang Weiyu noticed even the middle-aged ladies around them assessing Zhang Guanghang with in-law evaluating eyes that he finally couldn’t hold back.

“Zhang, doesn’t it bother you to be stared at by everyone whenever you are in a crowded place?” Zhang Weiyu asked curiously.

“I’m used to it. I’ve lived in Beiping since I was young, and back then even more people used to look at me.” Zhang Guanghang said while picking a few dragon fruits and turned to Wu Minqi, “How many dragon fruits should we get?”

“Get a few more, Xiaxia loves them,” Wu Minqi said, putting several pineapples into the shopping cart. “Fengfeng, take two less bunches of bananas; they fill you up too much.”

Jiang Feng obediently put the bananas back and then went to select persimmons.

As Jiang Feng was focused on choosing persimmons, Wu Minqi suddenly tugged at his sleeve. He looked up, and she pointed towards a middle-aged man in the corner, “Fengfeng, do you see the man choosing dates? Is that Mr. Lu?”

Since Yonghe House was nearby, it wasn’t strange for Lu Sheng to come to a close supermarket to buy some fresh fruit. Wang Xiulian often went to the mall next to Taifeng Building for snacks like curry fish balls.

Glancing over, Jiang Feng thought he looked somewhat familiar; he couldn’t see the man’s face, but from his body shape alone, it definitely seemed to be Lu Sheng. He put down the persimmons and approached to greet Lu Sheng.

“Mr. Lu?” Jiang Feng asked tentatively.

Lu Sheng looked up with a laugh, somewhat surprised, “Mr. Jiang, what brings you here?”

“Taifeng Building is having a team building today, and we’ve booked the evening session at the barbecue restaurant across from your place. They don’t have much variety in fruits, so I’m here to buy some,” Jiang Feng said. “But what about you, Mr. Lu? Buying so much fruit — didn’t the fruit supplier for Yonghe House make their delivery today?”

Jiang Feng looked at the shopping cart next to Lu Sheng, filled to the brim with fruit, containing all sorts of varieties. Anyone would think he was there for some sort of supermarket quality inspection.

“Ah, the buffet barbecue place across the street that charges 112 per head, right? Yeah, their fruit selection is quite limited, but the quality of their meat is okay. I remember their black pepper pork is a specialty; it’s just that their vegetables aren’t very fresh. Mr. Jiang, do you want to come to our place and get some vegetables?” Lu Sheng wasn’t surprised at all that Taifeng Building was forgoing good business to do team-building; after all, the Jiang Family had done things like take more than ten days off for Chinese New Year without serving New Year’s Eve dinner. A mere team-building event was nothing in comparison.

“Thanks for the kind offer, Mr. Lu, but there’s no need for such trouble,” Jiang Feng smiled and declined.

“The lychees today are really fresh; you might want to buy more of those. However, the freshest ones have already been picked by myself. How about I share some with you?” Lu Sheng said, preparing to divide some lychees for Jiang Feng.

Jiang Feng hurriedly refused, but Lu Sheng’s sudden burst of enthusiasm took him by surprise, which made Jiang Feng suspect that Lu Sheng must have encountered something happy, hence his eagerness to offer gifts without a second thought.

“Mr. Lu seems to be in a good mood today—you even went climbing the Great Wall this morning. Did you happen to come across something good?” Jiang Feng asked.

Seeing that he couldn’t keep it a secret, Lu Sheng spoke with a cheerful grin, “It’s nothing major, just that an elder I haven’t seen in many years has come, and that makes me happy. I came to the supermarket to pick some fruit for this elder who loves it.”

Hearing Lu Sheng say this, Jiang Feng did not want to disturb him further: “Then I won’t keep you from picking fruit.”

“When you’re doing the barbecue, if you find you’re missing anything just come to our shop and take it, after I have a word with the manager,” Lu Sheng said.

After buying the fruits and checking out, the four of them returned holding bags big and small, but Jiang Feng and Zhang Weiyu’s bags were relatively heavy, slowing their pace and making them lag behind. The only downside of plastic bags is that when the contents are too heavy and you’ve been holding them for a while, the wide handles turn into thin strings cutting into your hands.

There was some distance from the supermarket to the barbecue store, and the bag in Jiang Feng’s right hand was the heaviest. To avoid cutting into his hand, he had to stop and alternate hands, which left him trailing even further behind.

“Boss, how about we take turns carrying it?” Zhang Weiyu suggested.

“No need. It’s just a few minutes’ walk—we’ll be there soon,” Jiang Feng said, not some delicate lady who couldn’t carry or hold weights; he was a ‘King’ who could rack up thousands of proficiency points in a day.

“By the way boss, I might have to give you your birthday gift next month,” Zhang Weiyu said, “I thought my dad would have finished forging the pot by April, but when I called him yesterday, he hadn’t started on yours yet, so it’ll probably be May.”

It took Jiang Feng a moment to remember that there was indeed something about a pot; he had asked Zhang Weiyu’s father to forge a legendary handcrafted iron pot for him.

“It’s all the same without a birthday gift. I haven’t received birthday gifts for many years,” Jiang Feng suddenly realized that he hadn’t even had noodles today.

Indeed, a working son is worse than a dog; last year Mr. Jiang Jiankang at least made him a bowl of noodles and cooked a pork knuckle, although Jiang Feng had barely eaten any of it.

Hearing Jiang Feng say this, Zhang Weiyu wore a mysterious expression: “How could there not be one? There definitely is one; you might see it when you get back.”

“Someone actually prepared a gift for me specifically?”

“Of course, I heard two head chefs discussing it in the kitchen a couple of days ago,” said Zhang Weiyu.

Jiang Feng: !!!

Grandpa prepared a birthday gift for him!

A gift!

Though he didn’t know what it was, Jiang Feng had already begun unconsciously salivating.

Suddenly, Jiang Feng felt that the bags weren’t heavy at all, and his hands were no longer hurt; he could breathlessly run up to the fifth floor and then run a marathon without feeling tired.

Jiang Feng quickened his step, almost as if flying toward the barbecue store.