The Game of Life-Chapter 648 - 646: Selection Process

Chapter 648 -646: Selection Process

Whether the brags of today would turn into tomorrow’s tears, Jiang Feng didn’t know; he had only one thing in mind—

Seize the first place!

At today’s team building activity, climbing the Great Wall, he was determined to be number one!

With this belief, Jiang Feng climbed the Great Wall with ease, his 1.7m height seemingly stretching to an effect of 1.88m, leaving Wu Minqi trailing behind, unable to catch up.

Wu Minqi: …

Honestly, she was starting to not want this boyfriend.

...

After realizing that she couldn’t keep up with Jiang Feng’s pace, Wu Minqi slowed down, letting him contest for the first place that nobody cared about, while she leisurely walked and drank water.

By the time she had nearly finished a bottle of water, Wu Minqi caught up with Ling Guangzhao and Zheng Siyuan, who were taking a break ahead.

Honestly, Ling Guangzhao didn’t look like he was here to climb the Great Wall at all. Who else would wear a suit and dress shoes to climb the Great Wall unless they were off to work or a meeting? Those shoes must be uncomfortable.

“Mr. Ling, Master Zheng,” Wu Minqi greeted them with a smile and a nod, “How long ago did Jiang Feng pass by?”

“More than 10 minutes,” Zheng Siyuan said, “He looked preoccupied, just kept his head down and walked; I called out to him, but it was like he didn’t hear.”

“There was an employee from our shop who went ahead and apparently sprained his ankle. He sent a message in the WeChat group asking for help, and Jiang Feng hurried over to help. He didn’t mean to ignore you, Master Zheng, don’t take it personally,” Wu Minqi lied with a smile.

Zheng Siyuan believed her and suddenly realized, “No wonder, that is indeed quite urgent.”

“How has Master Zheng been lately? I haven’t seen him for quite some time,” Wu Minqi asked politely.

Zheng Siyuan answered seriously, “My dad seems to have gone down south for business. He recently started a project with Mr. Ling, and I haven’t been in touch with him for a long time either.”

“Then, I wish Mr. Ling’s new project success and a prosperous business,” Wu Minqi said.

Ling Guangzhao’s business had been suffering lately, with accounts deep in the red. He would even dream at night of going bankrupt, becoming destitute, and being left with nothing. Hearing Wu Minqi’s felicitations made his teeth ache unaccountably.

“I’ll take your good words to heart,” Ling Guangzhao said.

“I’ll head off first,” Wu Minqi left at her leisurely pace.

It wasn’t until Wu Minqi maintained this leisurely speed and had just three watchtowers left to reach the cable car station at the top that she realized she actually had quite a talent for jinxing.

Someone really had twisted an ankle.

And that person was Ji Yue.

It’s just that Ji Yue hadn’t sprained her ankle while climbing. She had done it before she even started.

Ji Yue spraining her ankle was nothing unusual. As a professional at twisting ankles, she considered it a part of life, as normal as drinking water or eating, feeling something amiss if she didn’t twist it once or twice a day.

Usually, Ji Yue could wear high heels every day without injury, but switching to sneakers this time caused her trouble. Although the sprain wasn’t as bad as the last time she went downstairs, her ankle had swollen into a small lump. Fortunately, Zhang Guanghang had an ice pack in his bag, which he promptly applied to Ji Yue’s ankle.

As for why Zhang Guanghang had an ice pack in his bag, no one knew.

With a sprained ankle, Ji Yue naturally couldn’t climb the Great Wall, but having come all this way, she didn’t want to sit in the bus either, so she and Zhang Guanghang decided to take the cable car up.

Ji Xia had never taken a cable car before. Seeing that Ji Yue and Zhang Guanghang were going to take the cable car sparked her interest, and she painfully parted with the snack money she had saved up to buy herself a cable car ticket, thus joining Ji Yue in the ride up.

So, when an eager Jiang Feng arrived at the cable car station, he saw Zhang Guanghang, who was enjoying the scenery, and the sight of Ji Yue and Ji Xia, who were munching on chips while taking photos with their phones.

Upon seeing Jiang Feng, Ji Xia rushed over excitedly to tell him that she had already made it to the top, taken a round of photos for Ji Yue, and was now back down.

Jiang Feng’s championship was gone.

Before Jiang Feng could even start feeling sad about the lost championship, Ji Yue cheerily called for him to quickly pull out his phone and like a moment she had posted in her Moments two hours ago.

Not only had the climbing championship slipped away, but the Moments championship had too.

Jiang Feng went into self-isolation. In the midst of it, he also remembered the brags he had made earlier.

Jiang Feng felt even more inferior.

When Wu Minqi arrived, she saw Jiang Feng sitting in the corner, in self-isolation.

Wu Minqi didn’t ask what was wrong with Jiang Feng. Instead, she first inquired about Ji Yue’s foot before asking, “What’s wrong with Fengfeng?”

“I don’t know,” Ji Yue continued editing photos, “he’s been like this since he arrived. I guess he’s tired from climbing too fast.”

“Qiqi, what do you think of this edit? Does it look natural?” Ji Yue handed her phone to Wu Minqi.

Wu Minqi glanced at it: “Actually, your legs can be made a bit longer. Xiaxia took this photo for you, right? The angle is off, your legs look too short.”

“Ji Yue sis, did you finish editing my photo? I just sent a WeChat message to Grandma, and she asked me to send her the pictures,” Ji Xia said while stuffing her mouth with a little cake.

“Xiaxia, just wait a second, okay? Once I finish editing my own photo, I’ll Photoshop yours,” Ji Yue said.

Upon hearing Ji Xia’s words, Wu Minqi immediately became interested, “Which photo of Xiaxia? Let me see it.”

Ji Yue then showed Wu Minqi the photo of Ji Xia standing on the Great Wall, making a ‘yeah’ gesture with one hand and sporting a silly smile.

Wu Minqi: …

“Remember to make the face a bit smaller when you Photoshop it.”

Jiang Feng sat in a corner, continuing to sulk.

After Ji Yue finished Photoshopping the picture and sent it to Ji Xia, she glanced at Jiang Feng sulking in the corner and quietly tugged on Wu Minqi’s sleeve to whisper, “How is it? Did Mrs. Wang and the others talk to Jiang Feng?”

“They did.”

“How did it go? Did Jiang Feng say anything?”

Wu Minqi shook her head, “I don’t know, I couldn’t hear them clearly from upstairs. I only heard one sentence, Jiang Feng said he wants to make it onto the Famous Chefs Ranking this year.”

“The Famous Chefs Ranking?!” Ji Yue exclaimed, suddenly looking at Jiang Feng with newfound respect. “Such grand ambition!”

“The Famous Chefs Ranking?” Zhang Guanghang, who was standing to the side like part of the scenery, joined the conversation. “If Jiang Feng makes it onto the Famous Chefs Ranking this year, he might set a new record for the youngest age to do so.”

“Who held the record before?” Ji Yue asked.

“It was me,” Zhang Guanghang said. “Before me, it was Rolan.”

Ji Yue: …

Well, familiar faces all around.

“So, do you guys think Jiang Feng can make it?” Ji Yue felt it was best to ask the professionals about this kind of thing.

“Unlikely,” Zhang Guanghang and Wu Minqi said in unison.

Ji Yue: ???

That’s not very supportive of Jiang Feng, is it?

Quietly, Ji Yue took another look at Jiang Feng, who was still sulking in the corner. Good, he probably didn’t hear that.

“For newcomers to make it onto the Famous Chefs Ranking, they need fame and luck. Jiang Feng’s fame isn’t big enough yet,” Zhang Guanghang explained. “Actually, in terms of skill, Jiang Feng should be able to rank in the 90s; he and I are pretty much on par in the culinary aspect. But the chefs who make it onto the Famous Chefs Ranking are generally well-known in the industry, and Jiang Feng is at a disadvantage there.”

“Isn’t the Famous Chefs Ranking supposed to be the fairest selection? Is there a way to rig the votes?” Ji Yue said, puzzled.

“It’s not about rigging votes; it’s about first impressions,” Wu Minqi explained. “In the chef industry, unless the difference in skill is really obvious, it’s hard to judge the level of cooking skills. Each chef specializes in different areas, and each diner has different preferences. Pleases all have been a perennial challenge for chefs, as well as for food critics.”

“Actually, the skill levels of those ranked after number 80 on the Famous Chefs Ranking, including some chefs who didn’t make the list, are probably quite similar. Mr. Xu Cheng has done his utmost to make the rankings fair, but they can’t be truly impartial. In fact, all of the rankings on the Famous Chefs Ranking, except for Master Peng who is first, have always been controversial.”

“Relatively speaking, younger chefs have a bit of an advantage over middle-aged chefs, but if they’re too young, that advantage turns into a disadvantage,” Zhang Guanghang continued. “If Jiang Feng wants to make the ranking, he should have announced it a year earlier, so Mrs. Wang could have arranged interviews, reports, columns for him and gotten face time and fame in front of the food critics. That would have made it easier to get ranked.”

“Moreover, there are actually many chefs around the world like Master Zheng who have the skills but have never participated in the Famous Chefs Ranking. Of course, top chefs like Grandpa Jiang who haven’t made the rankings are quite rare,” Wu Minqi added.

“For top chefs like Grandpa Jiang, Mr. Xu Cheng would definitely send the best food critics, or he might even ask respected senior figures in the industry to inspect and rank them. But for chefs at our level, the food critics doing the inspection might be just those who have a working relationship with ‘Taste’ magazine, some fairly ordinary critics. They combine scores for the ranking, and there are many uncertainties. It’s not simply a matter of thinking you have enough skill to get on the list; you also need luck.”

“So, how exactly do you select the chefs? Do you send a bunch of food critics to fish in the ocean at various big restaurants?” Ji Yue asked curiously.

“No, it’s not that extreme,” Wu Minqi said with a laugh. “Generally, it’s a combination of the previous year’s ranking, plus up-and-coming chefs from the past two years and other recommendations. Mr. Xu Cheng drafts a list of chefs and food critics, although this list isn’t publicized, so the inspections are somewhat secret.”

“Mr. Xu Cheng has been staying in Beiping recently; I guess there will be quite a few chefs from Beiping participating in the competition. And judging by the timing, it’s almost time to finalize the list; Mr. Xu will probably be busy during this period,” Wu Minqi surmised.

Ji Yue: ?

“Not really, I saw him, his assistant, and an old gentleman queuing for cable car tickets before I sprained my ankle,” Ji Yue said.

Wu Minqi & Zhang Guanghang: ?

“Are you sure?” Wu Minqi thought Ji Yue might have seen wrongly.

“I’m sure. I might not recognize Mr. Xu Cheng, but I know his assistant. Recently, his assistant has been coming to our restaurant to place orders and grab dishes on his behalf; I definitely won’t mistake him!” Ji Yue said with confidence. “The elderly gentleman with them looked quite old from a distance, with all white hair. Do you suppose he could be Mr. Xu’s father?”

Wu Minqi & Zhang Guanghang: …

What happened to being busy to the point of distraction, worries and fears, toil and endurance, diligence and industriousness, a paragon of labor?

Pfft.

Just slacking off!

The 𝘮ost uptodat𝑒 novels are pub𝙡ished on freeweɓnovēl.coɱ.