The Game of Life

Chapter 608: Chapter 606 Incurable

After the banquet, Jiang Feng and his group didn’t linger in the Jubao Building for long. They intended to greet the Sun family members, but everyone from the Sun family, including Sun Jikai, was surrounded by a crowd of enthusiastic diners.

The question everyone wanted to ask was the same—whether they could now pre-order the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon and if the pre-ordered dish would taste the same as it did today.

Lin Cuihua really wanted to agree and confidently say yes, but unfortunately, she had no right to speak on this matter—the only person who did was Sun Jikai.

Sun Jikai clearly told the guests that the key steps in preparing today’s Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon were not done by the chefs of the Jubao Building. He didn’t explicitly state that Jiang Feng was the cook, but vaguely mentioned they had specially brought in a chef from outside, adding an air of mystery to today’s dish.

Some guests even suspected that Sun Maochai was the one who made today’s Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon, as he seemed to be the only chef they knew of with the skill to produce such flavors and with a connection to Jubao Building.

After explaining, Sun Jikai, his father, his second uncle, and their respective families sent off the guests, leaving Lin Cuihua alone in the hall, stamping her foot in anger.

When he got home, what awaited Sun Jikai was a severe scolding from Lin Cuihua.

“Xiao Kai, how could you say such things in front of those guests today? Do you know who was present today? It’s just a dish, what would be the harm in agreeing to it? If the chef isn’t from our restaurant, just offer him a high salary and lure him over, don’t you understand that? To say such things today, you’re really making your mom mad,” Lin Cuihua said, waiting in the living room, having even forgotten to change out of her high heels, which made an uncomfortable noise as they struck the ground.

“Mom, you didn’t change your shoes,” said Sun Jikai, his previously good mood vanished completely.

Hearing that, Lin Cuihua grew even angrier, “Are you even listening to me? Who am I doing all this for? Running around non-stop and making calls to beg people in the last few days, who’s it all for? How come you’re just like your father now, not caring about anything, leaving everything for me to handle alone? Do you think I have it easy? I’m doing all this for our family.”

These past days, Sun Jikai had heard Lin Cuihua say these stale phrases so often he felt calluses growing on his ears. He should have been indifferent, as he had often heard them before, but now he could hardly contain himself any longer.

Perhaps it was the atmosphere when he had chatted with Jiang Feng while watching him thicken the sauce for the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon, or the memories of his time at Taifeng Building, or even flashes of learning to cook in the kitchen of Jubao Building with his grandfather when he was a child. Being pulled back to reality by Lin Cuihua’s words irritated him, and he felt more inclined to retort with some biting remarks.

“Where’s Dad? Why hasn’t he come back yet?” Lin Cuihua asked.

“There’s something at the company, Assistant Wang is looking for him,” Sun Jikai answered, wanting to go upstairs.

Seeing Sun Jikai attempting to go upstairs, Lin Cuihua quickly stopped him, “Xiao Kai, your grandfather’s funeral is over and it’s time to deal with things. The manager of the Jubao Building should be replaced. Your cousin has a degree in management and just quit his job recently. It’s better to use someone from our own family. Mention it to your dad, and in a couple of days, arrange for your cousin to become the manager of the Jubao Building. I don’t know what’s wrong with him lately; he doesn’t listen to anything I say.”

Sun Jikai turned back to look at Lin Cuihua, his smile tinged with sarcasm, and he struggled to keep back the sharp words within, “Which cousin? Which cousin of mine that studied management and can take over as manager of the Jubao Building? I wasn’t aware I had one.”

Lin Cuihua, not detecting the irony in Sun Jikai’s tone, responded, “What are you talking about? You only have one cousin, right?”

“He, a junior college graduate, could manage Jubao Building? Mom, are you saying that outsiders haven’t laughed enough at Jubao Building these days, and you want to add another new joke to the mix?” Sun Jikai looked at Lin Cuihua.

Lin Cuihua’s face struggled to retain composure, “What’s wrong with graduating from a junior college? Your cousin is capable. He only ended up there because he didn’t do well in the exams. Besides, isn’t your own cousin more trustworthy than some outsiders?”

Sun Jikai didn’t want to continue the conversation. He feared he’d burst into insults the next second, so he headed straight for the stairs.

“One more thing, about that chef today, just lure him over here with more money. After you do that, call General Manager Zhao, General Manager Wang, and the others tomorrow, so your second uncle doesn’t beat us to it,” Lin Cuihua continued.

Sun Jikai couldn’t help but stop, took a deep breath to suppress the fury and irritation in his heart, turned around, and looked at Lin Cuihua.

“Do you even know who the person I asked for help today is?”

“Who?”

“Jiang Feng.”

“Who’s Jiang Feng?”

“The Taifeng Building in Beiping, it’s owned by his family.”

“Taifeng Building?” Lin Cuihua looked puzzled. She never cared about the Sun Family’s business matters and was completely ignorant about the chefs’ circle.

After all, the only thing she had ever been good at was spending money. In earlier times, maybe she could manage housework and look after the children. But as the Sun Family grew richer, those skills had gradually faded, and her once gentle and kind demeanor had been corroded by money into this disagreeable and ugly façade.

Sun Jikai had wanted to be sarcastic, but now couldn’t even muster the energy for that, he just wanted to ridicule himself.

He gave a dry laugh, confusing Lin Cuihua, who didn’t understand why her son seemed to have fallen ill as well.

“You don’t even know about Taifeng Building, so what have you been so busy with these past few days?” Sun Jikai asked.

“Of course, I’ve been helping you and your dad with networking. Do you think it’s been easy for me? I’ve been so busy, I haven’t even had time to eat, I…” Lin Cuihua was just about to launch into her favorite litany of grievances when Sun Jikai cut her off.

“Dad lacked culinary talent, so from the beginning, grandpa let him work in management. At first, he was the manager at Jubao Building, and after it went public, he stayed to work in the company. Maybe he’s not good at socializing, but in terms of connections and work experience, how is dad not better than you? He naturally handles the company’s affairs, and if he can’t handle something, uncle can take care of it. Do you think you can handle the things dad can’t?”

Lin Cuihua was at a loss for words after Sun Jikai’s retort; she had never expected her own son to talk back to her. After all, Sun Jikai had never contradicted her from childhood, he either did as she said or stayed silent like his father.

Lin Cuihua was ignorant, and what Sun Jikai said was true. She couldn’t come up with a strong rebuttal for a while and could only resort to saying what she said most often and was best at saying.

“How can you talk to me like this? Everything I do is for you all…”

Sun Jikai interrupted Lin Cuihua, “For our good, huh? Last year, grandpa cut off my allowance, froze my trust fund and credit cards, and made me fend for myself. Dad wanted to secretly send me money, and you stopped him. Was that also for my good?”

“Of course, it was for your good! Back then, your grandfather was so angry. If your dad had secretly sent you money and your grandfather had found out, wouldn’t he have gotten even angrier?” Lin Cuihua asserted confidently.

“Then why didn’t you call me even once? You never replied to my messages either.”

“That was because…”

“Because you’ve never cared about how I feel. In elementary school, you would pick me up from school and complain to dad that grandpa made me train for too long, which was too much for a child’s body, and made me egg and meatloaf soup, and take me to buy green bean pancakes from the vendors behind the school after class,” Sun Jikai looked at Lin Cuihua, “but that stopped.”

“After that, you changed. You incessantly told me how tough it was for uncle’s family, how pitiful my cousin was, and that I must support my uncle and cousin in the future.”

“You never made me egg and meatloaf soup again, never cared when I would go to grandpa’s to learn cooking, never picked me up from school, and even when I came home, I rarely saw you.”

“Was that all for my good too? Did you think that learning to cook was less promising than studying abroad? Because learning to cook would only keep me in the kitchens of Jubao Building, while going abroad to study management would mean coming back to take over the company. When you urged me to study management abroad, was it really for my good?”

“Of course, it was for your good!” Originally, Lin Cuihua felt slightly guilty and uneasy when listening to Sun Jikai, but when he mentioned studying abroad, she became confident and assured.

“What future is there in cooking? Look at those chefs in the kitchen, even Qiu Fu, how much does he make a year? He doesn’t even earn as much as Assistant Wang’s annual salary! Before Jubao Building went public, how much did your grandfather make a year? Look at your uncle; in all these years of fighting, has he ever fought for Jubao Building? Even your uncle knows Jubao Building has no future,” Lin Cuihua said.

Sun Jikai nearly choked on Lin Cuihua’s nonsensical words, wanting to curse at her to wake up her mind, but swallowed the words instead.

She understood nothing, and it would be useless to talk to her— it would only infuriate him further.

Sun Jikai looked at his mother and felt she had never truly understood him over these years.

Maybe she once did, but during the years he was studying abroad, Lin Cuihua had changed too quickly, so quickly that he found it impossible to accept that the person in front of him, who united ignorance and insolence, was actually his mother.

Hopeless.

Sun Jikai could only use these four words to describe Lin Cuihua, and even felt some sympathy for his own father.

Sun Changping was easily influenced and had a good temper, but that didn’t mean he was a fool.

“Now I understand why dad has been unwilling to deal with you these past few days.” Sun Jikai turned and left, closing the door behind him to shut out the sound of his mother’s voice.

Lin Cuihua was left alone, cursing to herself. She berated her husband for lacking ambition and her son for being unfilial, complaining that her family failed to appreciate her good intentions and taking her kindness for granted.

After a while of being ignored, she stopped her rantings and picked up the phone to complain and vent to her own brother.