The Game of Life TGOL

Chapter 505: Chapter 503 The Only Honest Personn/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Jiang Feng’s feet seemed rooted to the floor of Chen Xiuxiu’s home, unable to take a step.

“Xiuxiu, are you sure your family has a pig?” Jiang Feng asked, his face a mix of surprise and disbelief.

Chen Xiuxiu: …

She couldn’t help but feel that Jiang Feng’s question sounded like an insult.

“Yes, we do. Isn’t it normal to have pigs? Doesn’t your grandfather raise pigs too?” Chen Xiuxiu asked, looking utterly perplexed.

Jiang Feng quickly calmed down; it was normal for the Chen family, with many mouths to feed, to raise a pig or two to butcher for the New Year.

“No, I mean, does your family have any spare pigs?” Jiang Feng asked.

Chen Xiuxiu: …

Chen Xiuxiu gave Jiang Feng a deep, meaningful look, hesitated as if she had much to say, and then finally spoke, “Has Taifeng Building not been doing so well recently?”

Stress had evidently driven him to talk nonsense.

Jiang Feng: …

Jiang Feng put down the electric kettle and spent a few minutes explaining the situation to Chen Xiuxiu, emphasizing just how disastrous it would be for the Jiang Family to face the New Year without pork.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it a major crisis.

After understanding the situation, Chen Xiuxiu also felt troubled, “My grandma usually raises just two pigs a year, one for our consumption and the other to sell to other villagers. People usually make arrangements to buy pork well before the New Year, so it might be quite difficult to buy an entire or half a home-raised pig at this time.”

“Isn’t Mr. Jiang well-acquainted with the people at the slaughterhouse and the pig farms? Why not have him buy it from the slaughterhouse?” Chen Xiuxiu suggested.

“The good pigs are usually sold out before the New Year, and my parents have even gone to a slaughterhouse in the neighboring city to inquire,” Jiang Feng sighed. “No worries, there are still a few days left, I’ll think of another way.”

“How about this, I’ll call my grandfather tomorrow to see if there’s any remaining pork at home. If there is, I’ll share some with you,” Chen Xiuxiu offered.

“Xiuxiu, I knew I could count on you at a critical moment!” Jiang Feng was deeply moved. He had never imagined that his relationship with Chen Xiuxiu was so strong that she’d be willing to share some pork with him on the eve of New Year, and he was nearly moved to tears.

With tears in his eyes, Jiang Feng took the electric kettle and went home to boil water.

The next morning, Chen Xiuxiu gave Jiang Feng some good news: her family was willing to sell him 20 pounds of meat and a pig’s front trotter at market price.

Jiang Feng immediately shared this great news with De, and then Jiang Zaidi pulled him into a mysterious group chat called the Pork Purchasing Squad.

The group members were all of the Jiang Family, except for Sir, Granduncle, and Mrs. Jiang.

Jiang Feng felt that in his absence, he had been unwittingly isolated by the Jiang family members.

It wasn’t until Jiang Zaidi explained that Jiang Feng understood: because whole pigs were hard to come by, everybody was actually making an effort to buy individual cuts of pork, wherever they could find it. This group chat was created to facilitate the exchange of information and coordinate the purchasing of pork.

Jiang Feng’s initiative to buy pork from Chen Xiuxiu had opened a new door for the Jiang family members who were struggling to purchase pork.

Prior to that, they had only considered markets, slaughterhouses, and known pig farmers; Jiang Feng’s fresh approach led them to realize a new method of procuring pork. Relatives, friends, customers, classmates, bosses, neighbors – they contacted everyone they had a phone number for. As soon as anyone made a purchase, they reported back to the group, and the tally of how much closer they were to a whole pig was updated daily by Aunt.

Drops of water can penetrate stone, small streams can become mighty rivers, and a single spark can start a prairie fire. With the joint efforts of all the Jiang family salespersons, they finally made a significant breakthrough of achieving 1/4 of a pig by the 28th of the New Year.

Jiang Feng’s record of acquiring the pig’s front trotter from Chen Xiuxiu remained unbeaten; none of the Jiang family members managed to procure a trotter apart from him. The best anyone else did was Jiankang, who forcibly purchased half a rack of ribs from an old friend.

Now, the Jiang Family’s pork purchasing had reached a deadlock.

Over these few days, they had contacted every friend and family member they could think of; even those they wouldn’t bother during Singles’ Day had been called upon for the sake of pork.

Junqing and Junlian received numerous calls every day, asking if their accounts had been hacked.

However, according to the current purchasing situation, they were still hopelessly far from their modest target of half a pig.

But at least they would have meat for the New Year. Although it looked as if there would be no lavish spread of pork dishes, they could still look forward to enjoying pig trotters and braised pork.

The 29th of the New Year was the day to inspect the results. Whether it was Jiang Feng who had secured an entire pig’s front trotter or Junlian who hadn’t even managed to buy a pig’s tail, everyone had to head back to the countryside, meat in tow.

Jiang Feng was still the last to arrive.

Chen Xiuxiu’s hometown was about a three-hour journey from the old man’s village, and to save Jiang Feng the hassle, Chen Duxiu had specially asked someone heading in that direction to take the meat to the county closest to the old man’s home.

So Jiang Feng first took a minibus to the county, picked up the pork, and then switched vehicles to return to the countryside.

To keep it fresh, the pork had been frozen in a cold storage room, so by the time Jiang Feng dragged the burlap sack back to the countryside after such a long commute, the meat in the bag had already thawed and started to leak blood.

Dragged all the way, Jiang Feng inevitably got some blood on him, looking quite disheveled.

Although disheveled, Jiang Feng was joyful inside.

He even felt a bit of pride and smugness.

Today, on this important delivery day, he, Jiang Feng, would surely top everyone else, overshadow all his cousins and uncles and aunts, becoming the Jiang Family’s top talent in buying pork.

The number one pork buyer of the Jiang Family!

Just thinking about it got him a little excited.

With excitement in his heart, Jiang Feng shouldered the burlap sack and headed for the old man’s house.

Dragging it would be too lacking in presence, he had to carry it for the right effect.

Inside his sack, there was a whole pig trotter!

A big pig trotter!

Whole!

Today was bound to be Jiang Feng’s shining day.

The door was wide open, and Jiang Feng marched in with the burlap sack on his shoulder, full of vigor.

“Grandpa, I’m back…” Before Jiang Feng could finish his greeting, he heard an odd sound.

“Meh.” It sounded like a sheep bleating.

“Quack quack.” It sounded somewhat like a duck but not quite, a bit deeper than a duck’s quack. It lacked the cautious tone of a duck’s quack and sounded more like scolding, full of authority.

“Feng is back, eh? We’ve been waiting for you. Come to the yard.” Aunt smiled and peeked out from inside, an apron still on her, apparently busy with some task.

Jiang Feng was a bit puzzled; he felt like today’s script might not be the one he’d envisioned. The confident swagger he had before entering the door was all gone, and he followed Aunt into the house with the sack on his shoulder.

As soon as he entered the yard, Jiang Feng was stunned.

Within his sight, there were two geese, three sheep, and a turtle crawling on the ground—nothing like what he had imagined.

Where in the world did these geese, sheep, and turtles come from?

Jiang Feng stood there dumbfounded.

“Don’t keep carrying that burlap sack, Feng. How tiring that must be! Oh my, it’s still leaking blood. Be careful not to get your clothes dirty. Here, let Aunt help you carry it to the kitchen.” Aunt said.

Jiang Feng and Aunt carried the burlap sack to the kitchen together, and upon entering, Jiang Feng heard Jiang Zaidi’s voice.

“Grandpa, my little brother said he managed to buy a pig foreleg; he should be arriving soon. We definitely can’t prepare ‘pork dishes’ this year, as what we bought was all separate cuts, not a whole pig, and we didn’t get any blood sausages. But on my way back, I happened to see someone selling sheep, all northern breeds. Since we might not have enough pork, what do you think about us making mutton dishes, Grandpa?”

“Yeah, Grandpa, Junqing and I went to uncle’s place to bring two big geese. Can we have roast goose for the New Year’s Eve dinner?” This was Jiang Junlian’s voice.

“Right, Dad, look at this blackfish I bought—over 8 pounds, heavier than the one we caught from the pond last year. Wild, the quality of the meat is definitely tender!” This was Jiang Jianguo.

“Dad, take a look at this deer meat!” This was Jiang Jiankang.

“Grandpa, the soft-shelled turtle in the yard, I got it from a client of mine before, purely wild!” This was Jiang Shoucheng.

“And this venison…”

Still holding the burlap sack, Jiang Feng, the honest man: …

Damn, I lost.