12
Family Gathering
Before leaving the store, Jiang Qi left Old John twenty yuan so he could grab dinner at a nearby stir-fry joint. With the local prices, twenty yuan was enough for Old John to get a braised pork rice bowl with an extra marinated egg.
By the time Jiang Qi arrived at Jiang Xiaohong’s place, everyone was already there. Jiang Xiaohong and his aunt were in the kitchen preparing the main dishes, while his uncle and Jiang Xiaokang had set up a small table by the window to play chess. Jiang Wanwan was lounging on the sofa chatting on the phone, and Wen Luo was fiercely playing video games as if seeking revenge.
Jiang Qi was surprised to see Wen Luo. He hadn’t seen him at any recent family dinners. As the last student in the family who still had evening self-study sessions, Wen Luo usually ate both lunch and dinner at school.
“No class tomorrow?” Jiang Qi checked his phone – it was indeed Tuesday.
“Final exams start tomorrow.” The moment Wen Luo looked up to reply, he got killed by the enemy jungler.
“Wen Luo, you can play for ten more minutes and that’s it. You have exams tomorrow. After dinner, go review in your room. You’re old enough to take your studies seriously.” Jiang Xiaohong walked out of the kitchen wearing an apron and carrying a plate of braised fish. Seeing Jiang Qi, she smiled and said, “Xiao Qi, we’re out of drinks. Could you go to the supermarket downstairs and get some? You kids, tell your cousin Jiang Qi what drinks you want.”
“Brother Jiang Qi, I want ice-cold Coke.” Wen Luo had learned his lesson this time – he kept his eyes on the screen while speaking.
Jiang Wanwan had just hung up and bounced up from the sofa, looking eager as she said, “I’ll go with you.”
Jiang Qi could tell from Jiang Wanwan’s expression that she had something to say.
Sure enough, the moment they stepped outside, Jiang Wanwan couldn’t wait to share: “Brother, I got you a huge order!”
“Oh?” Jiang Qi was surprised.
He hadn’t expected Jiang Wanwan to be so dedicated in her role as a plant.
“Remember my roommate I brought yesterday? The tall one.”
“Gao Qin?”
“Yes, that’s her! She’s the president of our school’s roller skating club and she’s stepping down next semester. Since summer break is coming up, their club is organizing a team-building event – playing a live-action role-playing game in the afternoon and going to karaoke in the evening. Gao Qin is a regular at JC Detective Hall and originally planned to have their event there. But after playing at our place yesterday, she changed her mind. She thought our store was pretty good too, and since we’re acquaintances, she could get a discount, so she switched to our place.”
“Thankfully Sister Bing bought that new Exclusive Edition. I’d invited Gao Qin many times before but she never wanted to come.”
Jiang Qi never imagined he’d be stealing customers from the city’s top Murder Mystery Game store one day. “When’s their event? How many people?”
“This Sunday. The exact number isn’t confirmed yet. I’ll let you know when it’s settled.”
“Why didn’t you say anything earlier at aunt’s place?”
“Because Dad was there! He’s always nagging me about going to Sister Bing’s bubble tea shop. Anyway, brother, is the store hiring summer help?”
“The store’s about to go under – what do you think?”
“Mom’s insisting I find something to do this summer. How about this, brother – if you have money, pay me. If you don’t, that’s fine too. I’ll just hang out at the store and snack on some treats and drinks.”
“No.” Jiang Qi immediately refused. “You never know when to stop with drinks. If you end up drinking six bottles a day like that time at the convenience store, and your mom comes knocking on my door, how am I supposed to explain it to your parents?”
“I promise I won’t drink too much this time, just one bottle a day!”
“Not even one bottle a day.”
“How about one bottle every two days? My dearest cousin, my mom said she won’t give me any allowance this summer, and this month’s money is almost gone. If you don’t take me in, I’ll be so broke this summer I won’t even be able to afford drinks.”
Faced with Jiang Wanwan’s request to freeload drinks over the summer, Jiang Qi thought for a moment and decided having an unpaid relative as summer help wasn’t such a bad idea, so he nodded in agreement.
By the time Jiang Qi and Jiang Wanwan returned with the drinks, the food was already on the table, and the room was filled with the aroma of lamb. Jiang Qi glanced at the table – wow, a full lamb feast.
Scallion stir-fried lamb, lamb spine hot pot, braised lamb leg, and even the soup was lamb soup.
The first three dishes were heavily seasoned with spices and sauces, so they smelled alright, but the lamb soup seemed to only have pepper added, giving it a slightly gamey odor.
Wen Luo’s phone had already been confiscated, and he was sitting at the table with chopsticks in hand, ready to pounce.
As the final stir-fried cabbage dish was served, Jiang Xiaohong took off her apron and sat down, smiling as she said, “Come on, everyone, eat up! You’re all welcome to come over for lamb dishes these next few days. When I went to the market this morning, I happened to run into someone selling lamb – it was fresh and cheap, so I bought a whole one. Xiaoqi, Wanwan, you’re still growing, so eat plenty!”
Jiang Qi couldn’t even calculate how many days it would take the whole family to finish an entire lamb, so he could only bury his head and eat diligently.
While eating, Wen Luo quietly swapped seats with Jiang Wanwan and sat to Jiang Qi’s right.
“Bro.”
As soon as he heard this address, Jiang Qi knew Wen Luo wanted something.
“What’s up?” Jiang Qi swallowed a large mouthful of lamb leg meat.
“Wanwan jie told me there’s a discount for bringing classmates to play a live-action role-playing game at your place,” Wen Luo whispered.
Hearing this, Jiang Qi felt relieved. He first swiftly snatched a large piece of perfectly marbled lamb leg meat from under Jiang Wanwan’s chopsticks before replying, “20 off per person.”
Wen Luo immediately perked up: “We’ve scheduled for this Saturday afternoon. Brother Jiang Qi, remember to save spots for us!”
After dinner, Wen Luo didn’t want to go back to his room to study, stubbornly lingering in the living room to listen to Jiang Xiaokang share the latest local news.
Perhaps because today’s news was particularly interesting, Jiang Xiaohong unusually didn’t urge her son to return to his room to study, and was listening with great interest herself.
The amusement park in the suburbs was going out of business.
Jiang Qi had been hearing this rumor since his freshman year of college all the way through graduation, and still didn’t know if it was true.
“I think it’s real,” Jiang Wanwan told Jiang Qi and Wen Luo. “During May Day holiday, I went with my classmates. Even during the holiday there were hardly any people. The facilities were really old – the ferris wheel and roller coaster weren’t even operating. The sausages and drinks were ridiculously expensive too. It should have closed down long ago.”
“If it really closes, then our city won’t have an amusement park anymore,” Wen Luo said somewhat regretfully.
“That one’s too remote,” Jiang Qi analyzed calmly. “It takes over forty minutes to drive there from downtown, and the direct bus takes two hours. Our city isn’t that big anyway, so it’s normal for it to go out of business.”
Jiang Qi thought the owner of that amusement park probably had a lot in common with Jiang Bing – both choosing such remote locations for their businesses in a small city.
Just as they were chatting, Liu Lan called.
Six customers arrived at the store and selected the shop’s only Emotional Script, “Mask Club.” Liu Lan instructed Jiang Qi to hurry over and prepare for the Performance. After hanging up the phone, Jiang Qi quickly bid farewell to the elders, borrowed his uncle’s electric scooter, and rode off on the little e-bike.
Before even entering the shop, Jiang Qi caught a faint whiff of alcohol.
Old John was mopping the floor, which seemed to have been splashed with orange juice. Jiang Qi accidentally stepped in it—it was sticky.
“I came back after dinner and it was already like this,” Old John explained, trying to prove that not cleaning it up immediately wasn’t due to negligence.
Jiang Qi expressed understanding and went upstairs to check the situation. As soon as he reached the door of the script-playing room, he was hit by a strong smell of alcohol, as if someone had spilled beer inside.
Just as Jiang Qi tried to peek through the slightly ajar door, Liu Lan came out.
Liu Lan closed the door, and Jiang Qi eagerly asked, “What’s going on here?”
“I’m not sure either,” Liu Lan said with a complicated expression. “I find it pretty unbelievable.”
“One of the six girls is completely drunk, while the other five haven’t been drinking—they were probably supposed to take her home. They passed by our shop just as I was squatting at the entrance eating a jianbing guozi. The drunk girl suddenly started insisting on playing a script, demanding an Emotional Script. Her friends couldn’t stop her, so they had to go along. Six girls—luckily, this isn’t a traditional romance script, so cross-playing roles isn’t an issue. Otherwise, I’d feel awkward for them.”
Jiang Qi was also stunned: “Can she even read the words in that state?”
“Surprisingly, she can. That girl is totally into it, and the atmosphere is pretty good.”
Liu Lan estimated the time and felt she needed to go back in. Before entering, she reminded Jiang Qi, “When you play the scumbag later, tone it down a bit. I suspect that girl just went through a breakup. She happens to have the script about being gaslighted by a scumbag. If you act too vividly, I’m afraid she might rush up and punch you.”
Jiang Qi: …