Culinary God in Wilderness

The little critter had disappeared somewhere last night when they started dissecting the Musk Ox. He hadn’t bothered to look for it; he was actually hoping it would just vanish for good.

He hadn’t expected it to show up at the perfect time, right as he started eating.

Seeing the little creature staring intently at the steak on his chopsticks, he thought for a moment before getting up and walking over.

Having visited so many times, the Little Snow Fox seemed to know that the pile of wood in front of it was a natural barrier. It showed no signs of running, sitting obediently in the snow and watching him approach.

Snow foxes are extremely intelligent. Their Intelligence is comparable to a six-year-old human child, on par with a border collie, and can even be compared to primates in some intelligence tests.

It’s worth noting that a border collie’s intelligence is in a class of its own among dogs. With proper training, you can achieve almost seamless communication with them.

This fluffy white creature in front of him seemed to be just like that, its large, dark eyes shimmering with a lively light.

Lin Chen bent down and pushed the piece of steak out through a gap in the logs.

The snow fox approached cautiously, sniffed it a few times, glanced at him, and then gently picked it up in its mouth.

It ate very gracefully, like a little princess, holding the beef with its two front paws and tearing off small bites.

The sight reminded him of his "sister" back home—the family’s elderly Teddy poodle.

That dog had a total princess complex. Her fruit had to be cut into small, sweet pieces, her meat torn into strips, her fish deboned, and her shrimp peeled. And most importantly, she had to sniff everything before eating, as if she were afraid someone was trying to poison her.

"Hey."

He squatted down, trying to bring his eyes to the same level as the snow fox’s.

"Little guy, you wanna stick with me?"

"I’ve got endless meat, a safe shelter, and a warm fire."

"As long as you behave yourself and don’t hurt anyone, I can consider sharing some food with you."

The snow fox continued to nibble on the beef in its paws, but it had clearly perked up its two fluffy, pointed ears to listen to him speak.

It ate slowly. A piece of beef the thickness of a finger took it three bites to finish, and it chewed each bite more than ten times.

After finishing, the little creature licked its paws, seemingly wanting more. It walked to the fence, pawed at it again, and then sat down obediently.

"Is that a yes or a no?"

Lin Chen patiently cut another piece of steak and held it in his hand. "If it’s a yes, make a sound. If not, I’ll eat it myself."

The little creature tilted its head, clearly not understanding what he was saying.

’Heh, seriously, what am I thinking? Actually trying to have a seamless conversation with a wild snow fox. I must have been watching too many videos.’

"Mmm~"

Seeing him about to get up and leave, the snow fox anxiously opened its mouth and let out a soft, whimpering sound. It then reached out and pawed at the wooden fence again.

"..."

A stunned Lin Chen turned his head to look at Andre. "Do foxes really sound like that?"

"Yeah, it’s like a kid whining. Sometimes it sounds like a girl laughing. If you hear that sound in the wild, it’s almost always a fox."

To be honest, this was the first time in his life he’d ever heard a fox call.

"Mmm~ Mmm~"

The Little Snow Fox chirped twice more, looking terrified that he would leave.

Just hearing that soft, sweet sound made Lin Chen feel like his heart was melting.

In that instant, he finally understood the meaning of that internet meme. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Question King Zhou, understand King Zhou, become King Zhou.

If all foxes sounded like this and looked this cute, who could possibly resist!

"Sigh... I’m helpless against you. Here, eat up."

The little fox was overjoyed to get a second piece of beef. It grabbed the meat and ran two joyful laps in the snow before sitting back down in front of him to eat demurely.

’What should I call you... Little White?’

Lin Chen’s previous disdain was gone in a flash as he immediately started trying to come up with a name.

’No, no, "Little White" is too common, not special enough. How about "Little Glutton?"’

’That’s not right either. You’re a fox, not a cat. "Little Gluttonous Fox" sounds a bit weird. Argh, why is naming so hard?’

"Lin, what are you muttering about?"

He had spoken that part in Chinese, which sounded like gibberish to Andre.

"I was thinking about what would be a good name for it."

"You’ve decided to keep it?"

"Well, I don’t have much choice. This little guy hangs around my shelter every day. There’s an old saying in Great Xia: ’It’s not the thief who steals, but the thief who keeps watching that you should fear.’ Rather than being on guard against it every day, I might as well just feed it myself."

"How about we try feeding it some raw meat? See which one it prefers?"

Andre’s interest was suddenly piqued. With the remaining half of his steak dangling from his mouth, he picked up his combat knife and sliced off a small strip of ribeye from the semi-frozen beef beside them.

"Hey, little guy, meat’s here~"

The snow fox hadn’t finished the beef in its paws yet. Hearing the call, it merely glanced up at him with no intention of getting up, and continued to slowly tear small bites from its steak.

Only after it had finished the entire piece of beef did it stand up, lick its paws, and walk over with an elegant gait.

It first sniffed the raw beef, glanced at the two men, and then opened its small mouth to take it.

This time, however, it didn’t eat the meat. It just dropped it on the snow and continued to stare at Lin Chen with pleading eyes.

"What’s that supposed to mean?"

"I guess your steak just smells too good since you fried it in beef tallow," Andre said thoughtfully, biting a small strip off his own half-eaten steak.

Sure enough, upon seeing the steak, the little fox scurried over eagerly, a human-like smile appearing on its face.

"For these Arctic animals, nothing is more appealing than fat. Especially after you fried it, the aroma of the tallow is even richer. It probably thinks that tastes better."

The Little Snow Fox clearly preferred the bloody piece of beef in Andre’s hand. It tore into it with large, ravenous bites, its previous elegance completely gone.

Lin Chen nodded in realization, muttering to himself, "Looks like this little guy likes it medium-rare. It has the aroma of tallow and the bloody scent of raw meat."

The little creature was about the size of a Teddy poodle. After three big pieces of beef, it must have been full. It no longer stared at them with longing eyes; instead, it picked up the piece of raw meat and turned to leave.

After walking a few meters, it glanced back at the two men one last time before leaving for good.

"Alright, just you wait."

Andre stood up, polished off his steak in a few bites, and rubbed his greasy hands with a handful of snow to clean them.

"That little guy will probably come to you for food every meal from now on."

"Let it come," Lin Chen said with a shrug. "I’ve got more meat than I can eat anyway. A few bites for it is no big deal."

"With a snow fox around, it might even help me get rid of the lemmings hiding in the snow nearby. Those things are expert burrowers. It’d be a hassle if they got into my cabin to steal food."

After breakfast, Andre went inside to catch up on sleep. Although Lin Chen was exhausted, he forced himself to stay awake.

If he went to sleep now, he would probably be out until evening. Andre had helped him out so much; he couldn’t just make him one meal.

Besides, napping would mess up his sleep schedule. He was still young and could handle it, unlike some people who already had one foot in their forties. It was normal to have a weaker body when you get older.

’What should I make for lunch?’

He took stock of the seasonings he had on hand and glanced outside. ’I wonder when Hei will...’

The thought had barely formed when he saw a black dot in the snow rapidly growing larger.

’He’s here already?’

Sure enough, Hei came speeding across the snow in his SUV, coming to a steady stop outside the yard.

"Lin! I... Wow, it smells amazing!"

The moment he opened the car door, he was about to give a hearty shout, but his nostrils flared as he caught the lingering aroma of beef tallow in the air, and the second half of his sentence took a different turn.

"I brought you the seasonings."

Hei walked toward the rock wall like he’d been there a hundred times, reached his hand through a gap in the fence, moved aside the piece of wood barring the door, and squeezed into the yard.

In his hand, he carried a plastic bag filled with all the seasonings Lin Chen had redeemed that morning.

Once inside the yard, the smell of beef tallow was even stronger. He instinctively followed the scent and saw two frying pans placed casually by the fire pit, a thin layer of tallow already congealed inside.

Lin Chen pushed open the door. "You’re here."

After checking the goods, he saw that four items were still missing: Sichuan peppercorns, Sichuan peppercorn powder, green Sichuan peppercorns, and soybean paste. They would probably arrive in a few days.

"Lin, uh, can I ask you something?"

Hei rubbed his hands together, revealing a brilliant white grin.

"You want me to cook for you again?"

"Yes, yes! Ah, no, no, I was just hoping you could make a pot of meat broth or something. We can take it back and use it to cook our instant noodles. We won’t trouble you too much."

He pointed at the plastic bag. "The processing fee, one bag of salt, is already in there. Is that okay?"

"Fine."

Anyway, he had so many Musk Ox bones just sitting around, and the spruce grouse he’d hunted before was still frozen. He could also use the King Salmon from the warehouse. There were plenty of ingredients.

It would be a waste to throw them away, so trading them for a bag of salt was a good deal. He was also planning to smoke some bacon in the next few days, and he definitely couldn’t do that with too little salt.

"Chicken bone broth, beef bone broth, or fish bone broth. Which one do you want?"

"Which one do you think is better for instant noodles?"

"They’re all pretty good. It mainly depends on what flavor of noodles you bought."

"Here, this one."

Hei pulled out his phone. The screen showed a blue package of instant noodles.

"Shrimp and Fishcake Noodles?"

Lin Chen gave him a surprised look. "Who picked this? They’ve got good taste. This is a seafood noodle, so I’ll make fish broth for you."

"Hehe, I picked it. The person who went to the supermarket last time didn’t know which instant noodles were good, so they brought back a big pack of every flavor. We try a new one every day, and today was my turn to choose. I saw the fishcakes like in Japanese ramen on the package and thought it would probably be delicious."

"Alright, then you can give me a ride to the riverside warehouse to help me get ten King Salmon. And if it’s not too much trouble, help me carry some beef back too."

’There are so many mouths to feed on the production team. Charging them only one bag of salt is letting them off too easy. It’s not too much to ask to hitch a ride and get some help moving supplies, right?’

"No trouble, no trouble at all! Let’s go, I’ll help you carry it!"

Hei rolled up his sleeves, revealing his well-defined biceps and triceps. He even lifted his shirt to show off his abs.

"Even though we earn a lot filming the show, the nutrition is terrible, and there’s no chance to work out. I feel like I’m losing all my muscle mass. You can rest; I’ll do the carrying!"

With such a free laborer available, Lin Chen was happy to take it easy. He just brought along his combat knife, which would be convenient for butchering the beef later.

Hei had come well-prepared, even bringing a stockpot with him so he could take the whole thing away after the broth was cooked. He was clearly ready for this.

When Lin Chen saw the stockpot, he suddenly felt like he might have undercharged them.

’That guy Robert raises his prices time and time again. It’s only reasonable for my processing fee to go up a bit, right?’

A trip that would have taken half an hour on foot was completed in just a few minutes in the comfortable snow vehicle.

As he selected and cut suitable parts of the beef, he was already planning in his head what kinds of dishes he should make for Andre for lunch and dinner.

’We’ve had Western food. It’s about time I made some proper Chinese food, right?’

"I’ll take one foreleg and one hind leg. The foreleg is for ham, the hind leg for beef meatballs. Might as well take the rest of the brisket too. Oh, right, have to take the offal as well..."