Culinary God in Wilderness

Chapter 424: Chapter 261: Server-wide Announcement (Part 2)

’Looks like I’ll have to work on my legs more when I get back. I focused so much on making my butt look good that I neglected my quads. I can’t let Lin think I’m just some spoiled rich girl who only knows how to spend money and has no real skills.’

An hour had passed by the time Lin Chen returned.

"This isn’t going to work. Eighty kilograms is just too much. I’ll leave some of it here for now and come back to get it tomorrow."

If they delayed any longer, the sun would be up, so Lin Chen shouldered a thirty-kilogram basket while Erica took twenty. They stored the rest in the cave.

After observing for so many days, they knew there were hardly any predators nearby. Plus, with their human scent growing stronger, those annoying monkeys hadn’t come back to mooch off them. They didn’t have to worry about their game being stolen.

Without this huge weight on his mind, Lin Chen slept straight through until the afternoon.

Although he had slept from dusk until almost dusk again, it was actually still the same day. That meant there were still more than two days left until the competition ended.

Just as he stepped out of the hut, he saw Erica comfortably soaking in the tub. Her fair, slender arms rested on the edge of the bamboo barrel. From his side-angle view, he could vaguely make out a certain soft curve.

"?!"

Lin Chen froze for a moment, then quickly turned around.

’Who takes a bath in the middle of the afternoon? Don’t Americans usually shower in the morning?’

"You’re awake?"

Hearing his footsteps, Erica’s lazy voice drifted over.

"You sure can sleep. Just like a little piggy. The sun’s almost down."

"What time did you get up?"

"About an hour ago."

"You say that like you got up so early. There’s not much difference between us. If I’m a pig, you’re a pig too."

"There’s a huge difference. Waking up one minute earlier is still waking up earlier. Why else would the older-born sibling be called the big sister and not the little sister?"

Speaking of which, Erica suddenly thought of something. "Oh right, you said you were 25 too, didn’t you?"

"That’s right."

"What month?"

"...Why?" Lin Chen asked, a bit wary.

"Is your birth month a secret?"

"December."

"Ha! I was born in August. You have to call me your big sister!"

North America generally used the Western age system, so he really couldn’t argue with her on the age front.

’But call her ’big sister’?’

’Don’t even think about it!’

"Big sister my ass. In Great Xia, we only count months and days for blood-related siblings born in the same year. For everyone else, we just go by the year. We’re the same age."

"Is that so?"

Erica turned, resting her chin on her hand as she leaned playfully on the edge of the tub. Her eyes darted around.

"If you call me ’big sister’, I’ll give you a hundred thousand US dollars."

"Keep dreaming."

"One hundred and fifty thousand."

"Give it up."

"Two hundred thousand."

"Are you bored or something?"

"Three hundred thousand!"

"I can’t be bothered with you."

"Five hundred thousand!"

"Go have fun with that."

With that, he waved his hand dismissively and walked straight toward the water channel behind the hut.

’Seriously? Am I the kind of guy who’d stoop to being a kept man just for a bit of stinking money?’

"One million!!"

The moment he heard that number, his steps faltered for an instant.

’Damn.’

’She’s loaded.’

’A million just for calling her ’big sister’. No wonder they say online that you can’t understand the joy of latching onto a rich woman unless you’ve experienced it yourself.’

’But too bad. I’m not that kind of guy.’

Watching Lin Chen’s determined figure disappear behind the bamboo hut, Erica wasn’t disappointed at all. Instead, she let out a clear sigh of relief.

Judging by the fact that Lin had entered the competition twice in a row, he clearly needed money.

Now it seemed that while he did need money, he wasn’t the type to abandon his principles for it.

She had tested him before, but back then, their relationship wasn’t close enough, so she hadn’t dared to be too direct for fear of affecting things between them.

To get a million US dollars for free just by calling her ’big sister’—if an offer like that were made public, the line of people willing to do it would probably stretch from Panama several times around the globe.

’As expected of the man I have my eye on. He really is extraordinary!’

She wasn’t worried about other things; her main concern was that Lin was only trying to get close to her because she was rich.

Although nothing was set in stone yet and they were only in the "getting to know each other as friends" stage, she still had this worry.

It couldn’t be helped. Some worries just naturally appear once your bank balance reaches a certain level.

After Lin Chen finished washing up, Erica was still soaking in the tub with no intention of getting out.

"Are you trying to cook yourself? Want me to add some fire?"

"No thanks," Erica said, waving her hand with a grin. "You’re the chef. You should know that meat cooked low and slow comes out the most tender, right?"

Lin Chen nodded instinctively. He was about to blurt out, ’Then I’ll have to taste how tender it is,’ but the words caught in his throat as he suddenly realized what he was saying, and he managed to swallow them back down.

’If that sentence had slipped out, things would have gotten complicated.’

’Not only would this girl have run with it, but from the audience’s perspective, it would have made the two of them look incredibly intimate.’

Western society is much more open when it comes to interpersonal relationships. Simply huddling together for warmth while sleeping isn’t considered a big deal. Even members of the opposite sex bathing or swimming naked together is nothing special.

There was once a wilderness survival show where they paired up male and female strangers and had them survive in the wild without clothes.

North America’s views on this are still within the realm of normal. If this were Europe, that’s where your worldview would really be shattered.

Naked parades and bike rides are everywhere, not to mention the famous nude beaches and so on. It’s as if they have no sense of shame at all.

Lin Chen himself knew that compared to Westerners, Eastern people were indeed more conservative in this regard. Since he had to survive in this environment, he would certainly have to do as the Romans do.

But to make that kind of joke in front of the live cameras with a female friend he’d only just met—never mind how the audience would react—he himself definitely couldn’t accept it for the time being.

Not that he thought the audience would disapprove, especially not the Great Xia viewers who jumped the firewall to watch. Given the nature of this generation’s netizens, they’d most likely be eager for him to "conquer" this girl and bring glory to Great Xia.

Even if it wasn’t for that reason, the number of people just wanting to watch the drama unfold would surely be the majority.

He didn’t want his fellow countrymen showing up at his restaurant in the future asking, "Aren’t you that Great Xia chef who’s really good at picking up girls in the wild?"

"I’m not bantering with you anymore. This fresh crocodile meat can’t be left out for too long, or it’ll go bad."

He quickly found an excuse to walk away, avoiding lingering around the bathtub for too long.

Even if his rational mind could control him, his male instincts couldn’t help but conjure up thoughts like, ’Just one little peek won’t hurt,’ whenever he remembered there was a naked beauty soaking in a tub right next to him—and one who had a crush on him, no less.

But soon, a new problem presented itself.

’How should I cook this crocodile meat?’

He had indeed eaten hot pot-style crocodile meat before. As long as it was fresh enough, it was delicious just boiled directly in the pot. In that respect, it wasn’t much different from common hot pot meats like beef, lamb, chicken, or fish.

’Thinking about it, besides boiling it in a hot pot or grilling it, there didn’t seem to be many other ways to cook it.’

Without any seasonings, the flavor of a simple stew wouldn’t be much different from just boiling it.

Pan-frying was also not a great option. Coconut oil has a low smoke point, making it unsuitable for high-temperature frying.

Smoking it was a possibility, but with only two days and a few hours left, it would be time to leave by the time the meat was done. There was no point.

But on second thought, if he didn’t smoke it, the two hundred-plus kilograms of meat would probably all rot and stink before he left.

’Ah, forget it. I should just smoke it. Who knows what excuse the production team might come up with if the meat spoils. Better to play it safe and preserve the quality.’

Making a clear broth for hot pot would be much simpler. He just had to slice the meat from different parts into thin pieces. For areas with small bones that he couldn’t be bothered to remove, he’d chop them into small chunks. He would toss those into a coconut shell to stew with coconut water first, then add a couple of slices of wild ginger and some cilantro roots to add a bit of fragrance and also help remove any gamey taste.

He’d never eaten American Crocodile before, and he had no idea if the crocodile meat served in hot pot restaurants back home had been pre-treated. Adding the aromatics was better than not adding them.

Some meats don’t smell gamey when raw, but become almost impossible to swallow once cooked.