9 Chapter 9 Hidden Tasks
Translator: Larbre Studio
Editor: Larbre Studio
Jiang Jiankang returned home exhausted after a busy day, and his face turned green at the sight of the still warm pot of porridge in the kitchen.
During the time his son Jiang Feng became obsessed with cooking porridge, Mr. Jiang Jiankang experienced a mix of pain and pleasure. Jiang Feng had shown no strong interest in cooking for a long time, and since he only seriously started learning culinary skills in the years before junior high, Jiang Jiankang once feared he would be left without a successor and could only pin his hopes on his future grandson.
Jiang Feng’s sudden enthusiasm for cooking porridge rekindled his hopes.
But why did it have to be porridge?
How could a Jiang Family chef take pride in cooking porridge as their specialty dish?
Jiang Jiankang had been drinking porridge several days in a row, feeling as if he had finished his lifetime quota of it.
He sniffed it. Century egg and lean pork porridge.
Well, at least it’s a meat-based porridge.
Jiang Jiankang resigned himself to the situation and picked up a soup spoon to take a scoop.
Times had changed; with a mountain of debt and an oblivious son, they had to save wherever possible and not waste food.
Huh, today’s porridge…
Jiang Jiankang looked at the pot of porridge with a surprised expression.
The quality was almost on par with his older brother, Jiang Jianguo!
Although the fire control wasn’t perfect, he couldn’t find any fault with the mix of ingredients. It was clear that Jiang Feng had figured it out on his own, not simply following some so-called recipes from the internet.
In the Jiang Family, culinary skills were strictly categorized. Sir Jiang Weiguo was undoubtedly at the top of the food chain, followed by Mr. Jiang Jiankang, with Jiang Feng’s four uncles tied for third rank. Jiang Feng barely made the fourth rank, and the rest of the cousins didn’t even qualify to be in the food chain.
Today’s porridge meant Jiang Feng had finally advanced from dead last to second to last!
Becoming tied for dead last.
His son was finally showing promise!
Mr. Jiang Jiankang was overwhelmed by a flood of emotions.
“Son!” Mr. Jiang Jiankang couldn’t even wait to drink the porridge and, putting down his soup spoon, he rushed into Jiang Feng’s room.
Jiang Feng was originally sitting on the bed, checking his attribute panel, when Mr. Jiang Jiankang’s sudden entrance scared him so much he nearly fell off the bed.
“Come on, Dad will teach you how to cook!” Mr. Jiang Jiankang announced proudly, as if he couldn’t wait to impart all his culinary knowledge to Jiang Feng right then and there.
Jiang Feng: ???
Dad, it’s eleven o’clock at night, get a grip!
It took some persuasion, but he managed to convince Mr. Jiang Jiankang to go eat porridge first, and Jiang Feng didn’t even have time to close his attribute panel. Wrestling with his father, face full of text, Jiang Feng almost ended up with crossed eyes.
Mr. Jiang Jiankang, with a satisfied smile, held the pot and slurped the porridge with vigor, causing Mrs. Wang Xiulian, who had been applying a facial mask in her room, to come out and see what was happening.
The facial mask was so big it could cover her entire face and was tight against the skin. Mrs. Wang Xiulian looked down slightly, head tilted back, glanced at Jiang Jiankang and asked, “What’s gotten into your dad this late at night?”
“He said he wants to teach me cooking,” Jiang Feng replied.
Wang Xiulian sighed and patted Jiang Feng’s head so hard he almost got dazed. “We suddenly owe so much money, and your dad is under a lot of stress. Stop cooking porridge, and look at what it’s pushing your dad to—he’s getting thinner every day without a decent meal.”
In the kitchen, Mr. Jiang Jiankang was still his burly self, with a face full of flesh, his neck and chin miraculously merging into one.
Wait, there seemed to be a slight hint of a neck.
Jiang Feng nodded, sympathizing with how tough it was for his father.
“He’s really lost a lot of weight! Mom, don’t worry, I asked my buddies to promote our family’s new store in their social circles. It definitely won’t be a loss!”
“Good son!” Wang Xiulian was greatly relieved and continued to lie down in her room with her facial mask.
“Ding, achievement unlocked: Diligent Learning.”
“Ding, exchangeable hidden quest: Transmit and Instruct.”
The system’s prompt sounded, and Jiang Feng hurried back to his room to check.
His attributes had changed to—
Achievements:
Diligent Learning (no attribute bonuses)
No Shame in Asking (no attribute bonuses)
Rapid Learning, Cumulative Effort (no attribute bonuses)
Exchangeable hidden quest: Transmit and Instruct [Yes/No]
Title: None
Item: None
Evaluation: A rookie fresh from the thatching.
After choosing to exchange, the achievements section was cleared, and a hidden quest was added under the side quests.
Hidden Quest: (Triggerable under special circumstances)
[Transmit and Instruct]: Jiang Weiguo’s biggest worry in life is that he had five useless children who couldn’t inherit his craft, and those five useless children had four little whelps. Make a dish that earns Jiang Weiguo’s recognition, quest progress (0/1)
Quest Hint: Jiang Weiguo has reached his silver years and urgently needs a successor to carry on and glorify the Jiang Family Dishes. Players may consult and complete the task under his guidance.
Quest Reward: Unknown
One of the little whelps, Jiang Feng: …
He had never known that his grandfather had such lofty ambitions to glorify the Jiang Family Dishes.
As for the Jiang Family Dishes, Jiang Feng often heard Sir talk about it when he went to his grandfather’s place to learn cooking during summer and winter vacations as a child. Being a chef was an ancestral occupation, and tracing back seven or eight generations, all were chefs, and it was said a few had even become Imperial Chefs, though such details were no longer verifiable. During the golden decade of the Republic of China before the War of Resistance had broken out, Jiang Feng’s great-grandfather, Jiang Chengde, truly glorified the Jiang Family Dishes.
Prior to Jiang Chengde, the Jiang Family Dishes had always been part of the Shandong cuisine. During the Republic of China era, the owner of the restaurant where Jiang Chengde worked moved the establishment to Beiping. In Beiping City, where the four major cuisines converged, Jiang Chengde drew from the strengths of all and completely separated the Jiang Family Dishes from the single cuisine of Shandong.
He nearly reached the pinnacle that a chef without the title of Imperial Chef could achieve in an era devoid of them.
Jiang Weiguo had six older brothers, each with superior culinary skills, and any one of them was a master capable of cooking for a state banquet.
But before Jiang Weiguo could fully learn the Jiang Family Dishes, they all died with Jiang Chengde during the War of Resistance.
The Jiang Family Dishes could be considered to have lost their lineage.
Beforejunior high, Jiang Feng had always thought that the former glory of the Jiang family was just a product of Mr. Jiang Weiguo’s exaggerations. But then, on his first day of junior high, he ate at the cafeteria.
Jiang Feng, who had only ever eaten the dishes made by Jiang Weiguo and Jiang Jiankang, was shocked. What was this swill?!
It was even worse than the swill Mr. Jiang Weiguo specifically cooked for the pigs!
And yet, his classmates were happily eating it.
It was at that moment Jiang Feng realized how fortunate he was to have been born into the Jiang family.
In his heart, Jiang Feng’s great-grandfather was practically on par with an immortal.
Now, Mr. Jiang Weiguo hopes to find someone divine enough to glorify the partially lost Jiang Family Dishes.
Jiang Feng thought, Mr. Jiang Weiguo deserves credit for being a dreamer with ideals and ambitions.
However, Mr. Jiang Weiguo is currently engrossed in pig farming in the countryside, aspiring to provide his family with green, pollutant-free pork—hardly in a position to fancy tasting the dishes made by his little whelp.
Impossible, just impossible.
