Culinary God in Wilderness

"I do!"

"Such a good boy. I’ll make you something tasty later~"

He paid it no mind. His outstretched hand broke off a small piece from the half-eaten pita bread in the bag and tossed it into his mouth, snagging a slice of lamb while he was at it.

"The pita is a little dry, not soft enough. Try adding another 30 grams of hot water next time. Different brands of flour have different absorption rates, which makes a noticeable difference."

"Hmm, the lamb tastes pretty good, you just didn’t pick the best cut. But it’s already great that you can even find lamb at the supermarket here. It’s normal not to have a choice."

"The cumin wasn’t fragrant enough. It’s a bit damp, probably because the heat wasn’t high enough and the sauce didn’t reduce."

He had picked up on so many detailed problems from just a tiny bite.

Andre scratched his head, a bit embarrassed. "It’s that complicated? I thought I’d get it right just by following the recipe."

"Don’t worry about it. It’s amazing you got it this good on your first try. These are all just minor issues. Overall, it’s about seventy or eighty percent of the way there."

"This wasn’t his first try."

A woman’s teasing voice came from the doorway as an older woman with graying hair walked in slowly.

"This boy of mine has been tinkering in the kitchen since this morning. He’s gone through six or seven pounds of flour alone. There are dozens of pitas piled on the kitchen counter right now."

"Hey!!"

Andre bellowed in embarrassment, "Ma’am! Please spare your son some dignity, will you? I have my pride!"

Watching the boisterous trio, and the little glutton hiding in the corner nibbling on a salmon patty, Lin Chen smiled warmly. It felt as cozy as being home with his own family.

"By the way, Lin, was there a reason you suddenly came looking for me?"

"Of course."

At that, Lin Chen’s expression changed.

"I can understand and respect your reason for suddenly dropping out of the competition, but I can’t accept you just giving up like that. With your skills, you absolutely had what it takes to win!"

"Now it feels like I stole the prize money that should have been yours. Because of that, your wife has to stay here instead of getting treatment at a major hospital. How am I supposed to sleep at night?"

"Huh??"

Andre and his wife exchanged a look. "Why would you think that? I thought I explained it clearly to you back then. It’s an ancestral rule in our family of Hunters: we don’t needlessly kill wild animals."

"I did have a chance to go for it, but if it meant violating my ancestors’ teachings... my old man, who’s watching me from up there, would probably beat me to death in my dreams, right?"

"Don’t you think it’s a shame? What about you?" Lin Chen asked, turning to Andre’s wife.

The woman nodded. "It is a bit of a shame, but more than winning, I just don’t want him to get hurt."

"Uh..."

Lin Chen’s expression froze for a second. He clearly hadn’t expected Andre’s wife to say that. On second thought, it made perfect sense.

’This just proves how good their relationship is,’ he thought. ’It’s understandable that a single guy like me wouldn’t have considered the emotional angle.’

’But if that’s the case, doesn’t this make my reason for being here a lot harder?’

A woman’s intuition is a powerful thing. She stared intently at Lin Chen, as if she had already figured something out.

"Lin, you came all this way from Toronto. Don’t tell me you’re looking for him to have a rematch with you?"

"Huh??"

Andre quickly waved his hands dismissively. "No way. He’s not a Hunter. What normal person would suffer out in the middle of nowhere for no reason? Besides, there’s no prize money. What’s the point of competing?"

"What if there is prize money?"

"There is... There is prize money?!"

Lin Chen dropped the act, spreading his hands.

"I told you before, right? After I got the prize money, besides buying my parents a new car, I also wanted to buy a manor. But after looking around, the cheapest ones are around two million Canadian Dollars, and the better ones start at four or five million."

"On top of that, I want to get a green card. Otherwise, I’ll be deported when my visa expires. Getting a work-sponsored green card means I’d have to find a job, and there’s no guarantee my employer would help with the process. The easiest methods are through investment or self-employment."

He then gave a brief explanation of the green card process, something the locals knew almost nothing about.

"It’s that expensive? A manor costs several million? And that investment immigration thing... you have to spend a million US Dollars to establish a business and hire ten employees? What kind of ridiculous rule is that? It sounds like a scam to cheat foreign businessmen out of their money, doesn’t it?"

"Yeah, and I’m out of options. The fastest way to make money is to enter another competition. After buying the car for my parents, the money I had left over from last time isn’t enough for anything else. I thought it over and over, and that’s when I thought of you."

Lin Chen rattled on, but his eyes kept darting toward Andre’s wife, terrified of seeing even the slightest hint of disapproval on her face.

’The guy is clearly henpecked—or to put it nicely, devoted to his wife. If she doesn’t give the okay, he probably won’t go.’

"Me? But I don’t have any money. I can’t help you."

The big guy clearly hadn’t understood the meaning behind Lin Chen’s words. His wife, on the other hand, cut right to the heart of it.

"Lin, did Robert invite you to participate in the next season?"

"Yes! It’s so much easier talking to you," Lin Chen nodded and quickly said. "He said this season ended too quickly and wasted a third of their viewership. Plus, with Andre and me both being popular contenders to win, the competition just ended inexplicably, and the audience is in an uproar."

"Their team hastily put together a new project in Panama. The difficulty will be higher than last season, but the top five will all get prize money, and the champion will win a whopping three million dollars!"

"Even fifth place gets one hundred thousand US Dollars. I think it’s worth a shot. Andre needs money too, and I figure if I can convince him to compete again with me, it’ll be the main gimmick for the new season and bring all the old viewers back."

"With viewership comes money. Then, when I invest in that manor business, I can hire you guys to help out. That solves the problems of housing, food, and money all at once. With our combined fame, we’ll definitely be able to attract a ton of tourists to come and spend money."