Life is a Game

After Jiang Feng left, Ji Xue and Tan Wenwen looked at each other, neither of them spoke, and they seemed a little embarrassed for a while.

In fact, Jiang Feng didn't know that Ji Xue and Tan Wenwen hadn't been in touch for many years.

This time, Ji Xue also received a call from Fang Mei's manager two days ago saying that a woman named Tan Wenwen who claimed to be her friend wanted to contact her, so she reconnected with Tan Wenwen.

When an old friend visited Ji Xue, she was pleasantly surprised and nervous. When she went to pick her up at the train station, she didn't actually say much to Tan Wenwen, but simply greeted and exchanged pleasantries.

"you……"

"Can you take off the cover now?" Tan Wenwen asked.

"Of course." Ji Xue nodded.

Tan Wenwen uncovered the cover, and the rich and overbearing aroma of Huadiao wine that only belongs to Watan Huadiao Chicken came to his face, and soon occupied this area and spread rapidly to all sides.

The waiters and sisters who returned to Taifeng Building one after another couldn't help but look towards Table 37, feeling strange in their hearts, why did the Watan Huadiao Chicken be served so early, isn't it the customers who came before the business hours? ?

Tan Wenwen narrowed her eyes slightly intoxicated the first time she smelled it, and opened it soon, looking at the pottery chicken in the casserole with nostalgia on her face.

"I haven't smelled this smell for many years."

"That...how about...you try it?" Ji Xue looked at Tan Wenwen nervously and carefully.

Tan Wenwen picked up the chopsticks and quickly picked out a piece of chicken with good parts. The meat was firm and the skin was shiny. It was extraordinarily dazzling because it was brushed with honey.

At the entrance, eyebrows and eyes are curved.

"It's delicious, but it's not as good as what grandpa made." Tan Wenwen said with a smile.

Ji Xue was relieved to hear Tan Wenwen say this: "I don't have the skills of Master Tan."

"But it's already very good." Tan Wenwen seemed very happy.

Ji Xue looked at Tan Wenwen, bit her lower lip nervously, and took a deep breath: "Wenwen, don't you find it strange? Why do I cook this dish?"

"You don't think..."

"What do you think? You stole it when you were an apprentice in the back kitchen of my house?" Tan Wenwen spoke very directly.

Ji Xue stopped talking.

"You were originally an apprentice, so it's nothing even if you learn it." Tan Wenwen suddenly remembered something, raised her neck, and looked at Taifeng Building again, "I took care of my grandfather in the hospital during the last period of time. He kept nagging me that he regretted it. He should have directly accepted you as his apprentice and taught you the original recipe of Watan Huadiao Chicken. He said that you are very talented in cooking, but you are insensitive. Stupid, he often asks you to work next to him on purpose, just to let you see how Hua Diao Ji is cooked at night, but you always work with your head down and don't look around."

"How wonderful it is now, everyone is happy. You have learned the dish of Grandpa Watan Huadiao Chicken and it has not been lost. He must be very happy under the nine springs."

Ji Xue looked at Tan Wenwen, a little excited: "But...but this is your family's food, I'm just a..."

"Fatty, what are you worried about?" Tan Wenwen smiled, "If you really want to talk about it, everyone in our family is guilty of you, why do you act like a guilty conscience?"

Ji Xue's nervousness and fear were instantly calmed down by the title of fat.

She hasn't been called by this nickname for a long time.

When Ji Xue was young, she liked round things, round pandas, round cats, round dogs, or birds that were fed round. She liked them all. When Ji Xia was very young, she even tried to make her younger sister round. , give Ji Xia snacks all day long.

That's why she got such a fat nickname that didn't match her appearance and figure.

"Do you know how I contacted you all of a sudden?" Tan Wenwen asked.

"How did you get in touch?" Ji Xue was also curious.

"It's just a coincidence. Am I not a senior this year? I haven't been home since I went to college. The tuition fee is a loan, and the living expenses are earned by myself. I am so busy every day that I don't have time to go Watching variety shows or doing other things. During the summer vacation this year, I found an internship job in a good unit, which was relatively stable. During the National Day holiday, I wanted to relax by seeing Chinese medicine in the dormitory, and then my roommate recommended you The variety show of the chef competition that I participated in."

"I originally went for Zhang Guanghang, but I didn't expect to see you on the show. I called the Haowei company that held the competition, but they said they couldn't disclose the players' information. I thought there was no other way, but suddenly I thought You made Watan Huadiao Chicken in the show, maybe you have already worked in other restaurants, so I searched for this dish on the Internet, and then I found Taifeng Tower." Tan Wenwen laughed as he said, " At first I went to find the official account of Taifeng Building, but the official account staff ignored me at all. Before I called your front desk, I was thinking, if the front desk ignored me, I would just run to Come to Peiping and block people at the gate of your Taifeng building, I don't believe I can't block you."

Tan Wenwen made it sound like Ji Xue was a heartless person.

Ji Xue burst out laughing: "Then you're not afraid that you won't be able to stop me and be arrested by the police?"

"I'm blocking the door and I'm not coming in to make trouble. What are you doing to call the police?" Tan Wenwen's eyes widened.

After some laughter, the atmosphere between the two of them was much better, as if they had returned to their childhood.

"Fatty, do you remember the last time we met?" Tan Wenwen supported her head, looking at the pottery chicken in the casserole.

"Actually, it was two years ago." Ji Xue said, "I went to Master Tan's funeral, but I didn't dare to go in and just watched from the door. I saw you, but I didn't dare to go over to say hello when your parents were nearby."

Ji Xue remembered very clearly that Tan Weizhou's funeral was very grand and even very beautiful. She easily found out that the funeral time had passed early, but she only dared to look at it from a distance, not daring to go in, for fear of being recognized by Tan Lin and his wife.

Tan Lin and his wife, Tan Wenwen and Tan Rui were all standing at the door that day, and she could clearly see the expressions on their faces even though they were far away. Only Tan Wenwen and Tan Rui are really sad, and what Tan Lin is sad is only he himself knows.

She hid outside during the funeral that day and dared not go in. She even waited for everyone to leave before she dared to go to the cemetery and put a bouquet of flowers in front of Tan Weizhou's tomb.

"Actually, I also went to look for you later. I went to your house to look for you after I graduated from high school and got the admission letter, but after I rang the doorbell, the family told me that your family had sold the house a long time ago." Tan Wenwen said , "I don't know where you moved to, and I don't have your phone number, neither of us even added QQ."

Ji Xue was stunned, obviously she didn't expect that Tan Wenwen would go to her house to look for her after she left the Tan's restaurant.

Once it was opened, the chatterbox couldn't be contained. Tan Wenwen was so full of words in her heart that she didn't dare to say it when she got off the train.

"Actually, my mother told the police that you stole that tuna to frame you. I always knew that. I really wanted to tell the police that my mother was lying, but after my mother gave me a stare, I didn't dare to say it." .” Tan Wenwen smiled wryly.

"tuna?"

"You really don't know, how could the police come to the police for a yellow croaker? My mother reported that you stole a bluefin tuna from our store." Tan Wenwen said, "Actually, I saw it that day. My mother went into the kitchen to throw it away that night. I picked up a yellow croaker on the kitchen counter and told me to throw it away, and I saw it when you took it home later.”

"My mother called the police. I wanted to tell the truth to the police, but my mother stared at me, and I didn't dare. My mother lied to you. She asked you if you stole a fish and you were stupid in front of the police. I admitted it. Later, when I saw that you had nothing to do, I still deceived myself and comforted myself in my heart. Anyway, you were just fired by my mother, and my mother wanted to fire you when my grandfather expressed that he wanted to take you as a disciple."

"But I didn't expect them to go so far!" Tan Wenwen became excited as she spoke, and even gritted her teeth a little, "She let you have a criminal record at the police station, but she still wanted to continue to pursue responsibility and let you be arrested. Sentenced to prison, if it wasn't for grandpa who sent it and found someone to get angry at home, she might have..."

Ji Xue took Tan Wenwen's hand and comforted her, "You didn't dare to say that I understood, and I never blamed you. Although I never stole any bluefin tuna, it is a fact that I stole yellow croaker."

"What kind of fact is that? The yellow croaker she said she didn't want, and you took it away is my acquiescence. If it's called stealing, then why is it not stealing!" Tan Wenwen said angrily.

Tan Wenwen calmed down: "At that time, I didn't dare to say it. Later, when I went to high school, I knew a lot. After I realized how terrible it is for a person to leave a criminal record, I have always had a guilty conscience. At that time, I really wanted to go to Your family asked you to apologize to you, and dragged you to tell grandpa that you didn't steal anything and went to the police station to retract your confession, but I still didn't dare."

"After you left the store, my grandpa was actually angry for many years. He thought you really stole the fish. I went to your house to find you during the summer vacation of my third year of high school and found that you had been in a bad mood after you moved out. I was helping in the store. At that time, my mother always liked to hold on to that matter, telling my grandfather that he had a bad eye at the beginning, and wanted to take someone with bad conduct like you as a disciple. Once I couldn't bear it anymore, so she told me in front of my grandfather. Mom started arguing, saying that you never stole tuna back then, but my mother reported to the false police to frame you."

"My grandpa was furious and went to the police station to overturn the case. As a result, my parents knelt down and begged him that if my grandpa went to overturn the case, they would be sentenced to prison if they reported false police reports and framed people like this. We quarreled like this for several days. Dad made my grandpa fall ill, and he has been in the hospital since then until he died."

"It was my father who came up with the idea of ​​calling the police and framing you. He was afraid that grandpa would take you as his apprentice and pass on the practice of pottery chicken to you, so he came up with this trick. At that time, my grandpa scolded him as a wolf-hearted dog. Aside from that, they are all black beasts."

While talking, Tan Wenwen became excited again: "My grandpa didn't scold me wrong at all, my dad is not even a beast. After my grandpa fell ill, there was no chef in Tan's restaurant, and my mother invited him outside again. A chef's business is not as good as before. My father hated me and threatened that without me, my daughter would never give me a penny. If it wasn't for that time, my brother would secretly give me the pocket money and New Year's money he had saved for so many years , Maybe I’m really going to starve to death outside.”

"In the end, he didn't go to the hospital to see his grandfather. Basically, my younger brother went. I asked for leave from the school during the last period of my grandfather, and stayed with him in the hospital for more than two weeks until he passed away."

"Fatty, at first I didn't believe in the way of heaven and reincarnation, and the heavens spared no one, but now it seems that karma is retribution, tried and tested, and if you do too many evil things, you will be struck by lightning." Although Tan Wenwen said it to relieve her anger, she never It could be seen from her expression that she was actually not very happy.

"After my grandfather passed away, Tan's restaurant fell into a slump. Later, even the store was sold. He threw away the miscellaneous things in the store if they couldn't be sold. I asked my brother to secretly keep a casserole as a souvenir. I didn’t expect it to come in handy now. I remember my grandfather once said that the longer it takes to make the Huadiao chicken casserole, the better the Huadiao chicken will be. It’s the same as the purple sand pot for boiling Chinese medicine. The longer the age, the better the effect. "Tan Wenwen laughed while talking, "Originally I just wanted to stay as a souvenir, but now it seems that I really did the right thing."

"Now...how is your family?" Ji Xue asked tentatively.

"It's not good. My dad has always been used to being rich and lavish, and he lives like a prodigal son. He has no skills, and the money for selling the store has been spent almost the same in the past two years. Now he is living a tight life at home with my mother every day." Quarreling. It’s just pity that my brother is still in high school and has to stay at home. I haven’t been back for many years and I haven’t gone back for the Chinese New Year. I took my brother over during the holidays.” Tan Wenwen said, “Don’t say These make people unhappy, tell me about you, how have you been these years?"

"It's pretty good." Ji Xue smiled, "My mother's breast cancer has been cured, and my father's illness is not cured, but... But at least he is still alive. Originally, the work was quite unstable. I am constantly changing and doing some odd jobs. I started working in my own store in July this year, and the one who helped me serve the dishes just now is my boss, and he is also working in the back kitchen.

"Xia Xia worships him as a teacher, and now his apprentices are learning crafts with him. Now I am here with food and lodging and my salary is very high. The boss and colleagues are also very nice, and everything is going well."

Ji Xue didn't want to tell Tan Wenwen what happened in the past few years, because she knew that would only make Tan Wenwen feel more guilty.

Not every fourteen or fifteen-year-old child has the courage to resist their parents. Even if they know that their parents are wrong, they only dare to bury that justice in their hearts.

"That's great." Tan Wenwen smiled.

"Hurry up and eat the food. We've been waiting for so long for the food to get cold. This dish is called Stuffed Oranges with Crabs, which is our boss's specialty. This bowl of noodles with fried sauce is made by Xia Xia," Ji Xue introduced.

"Oh, really, you didn't say it earlier. You should have told me to eat the noodles Xia Xia made from the beginning, and now the noodles must be lumpy after sitting for so long." Tan Wenwen pretended to be angry, just now Because talking about the unhappiness brought about by the past, it disappeared in an instant.

"The one who picked me up at the door just now was Xia Xia. I recognized her, but she didn't recognize me at all! It's a shame that I stuffed her with so many Dove chocolates, what a heartless child." .” Tan Wenwen scolded with a smile.

"She was only when you gave Xia Xia the chocolate. She was not even 10 years old. How could Xia Xia remember after so many years?" Ji Xue naturally wanted to protect Xia Xia.

"Okay, I can't say no to you. After eating vegetables, the noodles are really lumpy."

There was laughter.