The Game of Life-Chapter 681 - 679: Flesh (Part 1)

Chapter 681: Chapter 679: Flesh (Part 1)

Jiang Feng returned home to find Wu Minqi video-calling with Mrs. Wu in the living room, holding a newly purchased dress. As Jiang Feng was changing his shoes at the door, he overheard a snippet of their conversation; it seemed Mrs. Wu was not too pleased with one of the dresses, and Wu Minqi was fiercely arguing with her.

The mother and daughter were arguing over the dress, and Jiang Feng thought it would be best to pretend he hadn’t heard anything and make a quiet getaway. He nodded at Wu Minqi and went straight to his room.

Upon entering his room, Jiang Feng quickly closed the door, opened his attribute panel, and flipped to the items tab. He had completed both a side quest and the main quest today, earning him two pieces of memory, which could certainly be called a bountiful harvest. The main quest award was [A Piece of Jiang Weiming’s Memory]; after completing the main quest, the game did not immediately issue a new main quest. Jiang Feng didn’t have much of a reaction to this—the game wasn’t doing this for the first time. It might just be that a new main quest would arrive in a few days. There was no rush; eventually, one would come, and he couldn’t complete it right away even if it was announced.

There were three pieces of memory lying in the items tab.

[A Piece of Jiang Weiming’s Memory]

[A Piece of Zhang Chu’s Memory]

...

[A Piece of Tian Lin’s Memory]

Tian Lin’s memory had been lying in the items tab for a while, and Jiang Feng hadn’t looked at it because he wasn’t particularly interested. Watching memories is a tiring affair; it’s like watching a movie, and you invariably get emotionally involved, sharing in the joy and sorrow with the protagonists of the memory. Jiang Feng was very eager to watch memories of people he felt close to or particularly interested in. Memories that didn’t evoke much feeling were usually set aside, to be looked at when he remembered them.

Like now, for instance, Jiang Feng just remembered.

Speaking of which, although Zhao Mei’s twins ultimately didn’t celebrate their hundred-day banquet at Taifeng Building due to lack of funds and chose a cheaper small hotel instead, both families maintained a good relationship, occasionally contacting each other during festive seasons.

Last month, Tian Lin even sent Jiang Feng’s family some cured pig trotters she made, which weren’t particularly tasty but were full of good intentions. Jiang Feng’s parents mentioned that after Zhao Mei and her husband moved to Beiping, they would bring fruits to see Mrs. Jiang from time to time. It could be said that Jiang Feng’s relationship with them was just that of ordinary relatives, but the Jiang Family’s relationship with them was quite good.

Elders’ diplomacy didn’t involve the younger generation.

Considering this, Jiang Feng felt a bit guilty for letting his aunt’s memory gather dust in the items tab, so he decisively abandoned Zhang Chu’s and Jiang Weiming’s memories, clicked on [A Piece of Tian Lin’s Memory], and selected “Yes.”

A dense fog.

This time, the memory was bustling, extraordinarily so. Even in the mist, Jiang Feng could hear the clamor outside; there were many people, incredibly noisy, seemingly in an outdoor setting, accompanied by a cacophony of sounds as if at a large gathering.

The fog cleared.

People everywhere.

Unlike the dense crowds in specific settings like train stations and cabins, this time it was completely outdoors, and there were exceptionally many people. Men and women, the majority sitting on the ground, dressed very lightly. Sweat and grime stained everyone’s clothing, and Jiang Feng suspected that if it were not for the multitude of ladies present, many of the men would have preferred to take off their shirts and go bare-chested.

Heat was Jiang Feng’s first impression of the place.

However…

Jiang Feng looked up at the sun. According to the time, it should be midday when the sun was fiercest, but the sunlight did not seem very strong, at least not enough to cause everyone to appear so tired and hot, sweaty heads, clothes soaked with sweat, sprawled on the ground drinking water and chewing on dry rations.

Looking at them, they must have just finished some heavy physical labor and were resting to eat.

Since there were so many people, both men and women, and everyone was dressed similarly in dusty, dirty clothes, Jiang Feng couldn’t find Tian Lin immediately and had to look over each person one by one in order to find her.

It was mealtime, and everyone was eating. The food was pretty similar for most; those with less ate buns or cornbreads with some pickled vegetables, while those a bit better off had stuffed pancakes. Jiang Feng looked around and finally found Tian Lin under a small tree, gnawing on a bun.

There were three or four people sitting under the not-so-large tree, and even that bit of shade was considered a precious spot. Tian Lin held a large bun in her hand, eating with enjoyment. The bun wasn’t made of white flour but of mixed grains, and it had cooled down, looking a bit hard, yet it still seemed better than the cornbread in the hands of the girl sitting opposite Tian Lin.

That cornbread looked particularly rough, and from the way the girl opposite Tian Lin bit into it, Jiang Feng could tell that it was definitely a hard and tough piece to chew—Jiang Feng felt her teeth might even fall out.

Not only did Jiang Feng notice, but Tian Lin noticed too, “Xiujuan, stop gnawing on your cornbread and eat my bun. Your teeth are already bad; don’t knock them out.”

Xiujuan felt a bit embarrassed, “You only have three buns, and we’ll still have to carry loads this afternoon. If I eat yours, you’ll be left hungry.”

“It’s fine.” Tian Lin was very generous, “I’m going to my sister-in-law’s place for dinner tonight. It’s my nephew’s birthday—they’ll be cooking meat, and my sister-in-law specially asked me to come for the meal!”

Xiujuan’s face showed envy, “Cooking meat for a birthday? Your sister-in-law’s family must be pretty well-off.”

Tian Lin said in a low voice, “My brother-in-law is a head chef at a state-owned restaurant, and my sister-in-law manages a warehouse; they’re in a good position. I didn’t even know the city was hiring until my sister-in-law told me about it and I ran over here to catch the opportunity. Otherwise, how would I come across such a great job?”

Tian Lin took another big bite of her bun and a sip of water, “We get 25 kilos of rice every month, plus our wages. If only my husband’s health was good enough for him to come and carry sandbags with me, I definitely would have brought him too. It’s just too bad this dam is almost finished—we probably won’t have work for much longer.”

“Yeah.” Xiujuan expressed her concern, “I wonder how many of us will be able to stay afterward.”

Hearing their conversation, Jiang Feng could roughly guess the time period they were in.

He knew about the event, as not many big things had happened in Z city over the years, with the construction of the dam being among them.

This chapter is updated by freēwēbnovel.com.

In the late seventies, when the city planned to build a dam, it coincided with the ‘sent-down youth’ returning to the city. To complete the dam as soon as possible, the city recruited thousands of laborers and promised that especially outstanding ones could stay and get jobs. During that time, nearly all the educated youths who had not managed to return to the city from various counties and villages within Z city’s area came over, along with folks from nearby county villages looking to earn some extra money or find jobs. So, thousands of people converged on this site, and the dam was rapidly completed. When it was finished, a journalist took a photo of the thousands of laborers—it’s still in the city museum, and Jiang Feng visited it while on a school trip in elementary school, leaving a strong impression.

Jiang Feng vaguely remembered that in the end, only a dozen or so of these thousands of workers got to stay—a real case of ‘one in a hundred’.

As he was lost in his memories, he heard Tian Lin’s carefree words.

“Who cares how many get to stay? I definitely won’t be one of them. I can’t compare with any of you in how hard you work. I realized that on my second day here. Since they pay us all the same anyway, I just do whatever.”

Jiang Feng: …

Auntie, is it really good to be such a slacker?

It’s not for no reason that Meimei couldn’t afford meat when she was younger!