The Game of Life TGOL

Chapter 617 - 615: The Taste of Hotpot



Chapter 617: Chapter 615: The Taste of Hotpot

Eating hotpot naturally pairs with an ice-cold Coke.

The icy dark brown Coke bubbled up in the glass, while the steaming reddish-brown hotpot churned big bubbles in the pot. One red, one brown, one big, one small, they complemented each other perfectly, doubling the stimulation, and multiplying the happiness.

Jiang Feng ate a bite of lamb roll followed by a swig of Coke, a bite of tripe followed by a swig of Coke, a bite of cuttlefish balls followed by a swig of Coke—he was as happy as an immortal.

“Fengfeng, there’s something on your shirt.” Wu Minqi had intended to ask Jiang Feng to pass her the soy milk. Her gaze just happened to fall on his collar, where she noticed a stain and pointed it out to him.

Jiang Feng looked down and realized it wasn’t hotpot sauce, but syrup from making orange candy earlier. The color of the syrup was similar to that of his shirt, and if it wasn’t for Wu Minqi’s keen eyes, he probably wouldn’t have noticed it until the shirt was thrown into the washing machine.

Wu Minqi fished a piece of frozen tofu out of the hotpot, and as she looked at the boiling pot, she seemed to remember something. She spaced out, letting the tofu slip back into the pot. Jiang Feng, who had been trying to scoop quail eggs from the neighboring clear soup pot, quickly used a ladle to fish out the tofu and place it into Wu Minqi’s bowl.

Jiang Feng gave Wu Minqi a look, asking what was wrong.

Wu Minqi took a small bite of the frozen tofu, pondering for a moment before swallowing it, and then asked, “Sun Jikai, Sir Sun’s will hasn’t been made public yet, has it?”

Sun Jikai nodded, “The will is still with the lawyer. My dad and my second uncle think we should wait until all the funeral-related matters are completely settled before announcing the will, which will be made public by next week at the latest.”@@novelbin@@

Wu Minqi didn’t say anything.

Sun Jikai pressed, “What’s the matter?”

“I was talking on the phone with my mom this afternoon, and she mentioned something to me. It’s not a big deal, really; I might just be overthinking it,” Wu Minqi said hesitantly.

Her unusual demeanor made both Jiang Feng and Sun Jikai unconsciously put down their chopsticks and look at her.

“Do you know… your second uncle bought a building?” Wu Minqi asked.

Jiang Feng: ?

Is the Sun Family really that rich?

“I’m aware. He bought it around December last year, what about it?” Sun Jikai appeared unfazed.

“My mom heard it from someone else—you, your second uncle seems to be planning to open a hotel,” Wu Minqi said. “Maybe I’m overthinking, but do you know the contents of your grandpa’s will?”

Sun Jikai didn’t elaborate, “It’s normal for my second uncle to want to open a hotel. For the past few years, he’s been suggesting to my grandpa that we convert Jubao Building into a hotel, focusing on hotel management with dining as a secondary business, but my grandpa outright rejected the idea.”

“In recent years, the business at Jubao Building has declined year by year. On top of that, the food and beverage industry isn’t doing too well. Since my second uncle is quite good at management, he’s always had thoughts about running a hotel,” Sun Jikai said. “He has plenty of funds now, so opening a hotel shouldn’t be a problem.”

“That’s good to hear,” Wu Minqi said with a smile.

“Speaking of which, how’s Taifeng Building doing these days?” Sun Jikai asked.

“Ah?” Jiang Feng didn’t expect the topic to change so abruptly, “It’s doing quite well. Why do you ask?”

“Didn’t they open a new French restaurant in the mall next to you? I heard the chef was a two-star Michelin chef from another restaurant. I thought Taifeng Building’s business might be somewhat affected,” Sun Jikai reached for a lamb roll floating on the surface of the spicy pot, only to have it unintentionally intercepted by Jiang Feng.

“There has been an impact, quite a significant one,” Jiang Feng said without any sense of awareness or concern as the owner of Taifeng Building. “It seems like we’ve lost quite a few customers, right Qiqi?”

Wu Minqi nodded, “Because the kitchen has been less busy than usual for the past two days before we came here.”

“But I don’t think it’s much related to the grand opening of the top-floor restaurant,” Jiang Feng said. “Granduncle Weiming suddenly fell ill and was hospitalized, and grandpa has been distracted. The team itself is quite unstable. Everyone isn’t working as dedicatedly as before—even I’ve been daydreaming and absent-minded, and the negative feedback in the ordering system has increased manyfold.”

Sun Jikai: ?

Why don’t I sense any worry from you about your family’s restaurant being in such a state?

“Thankfully there’s Manager Fan. If it weren’t for her handling the front of the house, dealing with customer complaints, and proactively offering small gifts to make amends, our sales would probably have dropped even more.”

“That’s why you need to hire professionals to manage things. Professional managers and the likes of my mom are on a different level,” Jiang Feng reflected.

“`

The speaker means no harm, but the listener takes it to heart. Sun Jikai felt a small alarm going off in his head.

.

After a pleasant hotpot meal, it was naturally time to disperse and head home. Sun Jikai had some matters to attend to back at Jubao Building and took a taxi to leave first. It had been a while since Jiang Feng had hotpot, and he ate so heartily and ferociously this time, gobbling food down like a wolf and displaying an imposing presence rarely seen from the Jiang Family Members at the dinner table. He didn’t feel it while eating, but after the meal, he realized he was stuffed. The hotpot restaurant wasn’t too far from the hotel, so Jiang Feng and Wu Minqi decided to walk back as a way of digesting their meal.

The young couple holding hands on their walk back to the hotel naturally had some topics to talk about that were suitable for a stroll.

“Qiqi, you said at dinner that you were overthinking things. What exactly were you overthinking?” Jiang Feng asked with curiosity, having bottled up the question for a while and only daring to ask it once Sun Jikai had left.

Wu Minqi glanced at Jiang Feng with a hint of helplessness, feeling that her boyfriend was really unsuitable to inherit the restaurant. He had no sensitivity to these matters whatsoever.

“I’m worried that the management and decision-making power of Jubao Building aren’t in Sun Jikai’s family’s hands,” Wu Minqi said.

“Why?”

“The business model of Sun Jikai’s family is different from that of our two families. We only run our restaurants, while they have a company that has many other related businesses aside from Jubao Building,” Wu Minqi explained. “When my mom and I talked about this on the phone this afternoon, my first thought was that Sun Jikai’s uncle wants to switch Jubao Building to a hotel management model.”

“To operate a hotel independently, without the Jubao brand, would be very challenging. Without any connections, foundation, reputation, or experience in hotel management, such an investment in buying a building and running it as a hotel carries a huge risk.”

“But by changing the management model of Jubao Building to that of a hotel’s, things would be a lot smoother, and the risks relatively smaller,” Wu Minqi continued. “Maybe I really am overthinking it. Or perhaps it’s just my subjective feeling that Sun Jikai’s family has a bad relationship with his uncle’s…”

“Or maybe I’ve been watching too many TV dramas lately.”

Wu Minqi’s voice suddenly dropped on the last sentence.

“What have you been watching lately?”

“A drama series recommended by Ji Yue, an old one. The plot’s quite melodramatic but unexpectedly engaging—car accidents, amnesia, miscarriages, cancer, rich families clashing, inheritance battles.”

Jiang Feng: …

What on earth has Ji Yue been watching all these years to recommend such a mess?

“But since Sir Sun has left Jubao Building to Sun Jikai, I must be overthinking it.”

“How do you know?” Jiang Feng asked, looking confused.

“Sun Jikai mentioned it,” she said.

“Did he say that?”

“Yes, he did.”

Jiang Feng: ???

“How is Grandpa Jiang’s recovery today?” Wu Minqi changed the subject without explanation.

“Ah.” Jiang Feng stopped in his tracks, hastily taking out his phone, “I forgot to ask, I was in such a hurry leaving this morning that I completely forgot.”

Swearing can really mess things up!

“Didn’t Mr. Jiang send you a message?” Wu Minqi also stopped, watching Jiang Feng open WeChat to send a message to Jiang Weisheng.

“Now that Granduncle Weiming is responsible for his meals, he must be busy. It’s normal that he didn’t message me,” Jiang Feng said as he finished writing and sent the message. Then he copied the message, tweaked a few words, and sent it to Jiang Yong.

“Let’s go, Qiqi. Once they reply, I’ll ask if we can video call, see Granduncle Weiming on the screen and check on his spirits,” Jiang Feng said as he slipped his phone back into his jacket pocket. “Just not sure if he’s already gone to bed.”

“It’s not even 8 o’clock yet; he’s definitely not asleep. Let’s hurry, or if we reach the hotel around nine or later, Grandpa Jiang might indeed be asleep,” Wu Minqi said with a smile, taking Jiang Feng’s hand and quickening their pace.

“`


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