Chapter 458 - 292: Bring Out Your Professionalism

Chapter 458: Chapter 292: Bring Out Your Professionalism

After the words slipped out, Erica seemed to realize her actions were a bit self-deceiving.

But she didn’t want to explain. She just silently shut her mouth and began to observe her surroundings.

Although it wasn’t their first time in this area, it was the first time they were observing it from a survivalist’s point of view.

Geographically, Albion Port was located a bit farther north than Chicago and Toronto. It could be considered the central region of North America. The climate was neither too cold nor too hot, with a stable average temperature year-round. Combined with the coastal climate, it was very suitable for all sorts of vegetation to grow.

They had been walking for less than five minutes, but Lin Chen had already spotted over ten types of edible wild vegetables. A good number of them were the same as the ones he had found in Alaska.

Plants that could be used for washing hair, like Feipeng Grass and pine needles, were also everywhere. This discovery put him a little more at ease.

The current season was roughly the beginning of spring, a time when all life was gradually reawakening. Beneath the layer of fallen leaves on the ground, many tender green shoots had already quietly sprouted.

Additionally, scattered wild mushrooms grew near the roots of many trees, and a lot of them were edible varieties.

Although Marcia was also frequently looking around, she showed no intention of gathering anything, as if she hadn’t noticed these resources at all.

It wasn’t until she stepped on a brittle pinecone that she crouched down curiously, picked it up, and turned to look at Erica.

"Can I eat this pinecone?"

Erica’s first instinct was to snap back, but Lin Chen suddenly tugged her sleeve. Only then did she remember they were still filming, so she forced herself to answer patiently.

"You can break it open to see if there are any nuts inside. If there are, it’s edible."

Marcia raised her eyebrows in slight surprise. She quickly realized it must be thanks to the cameras that her daughter was speaking to her so calmly. Inwardly, she couldn’t help but feel thankful that taking time off from her busy schedule to come here was absolutely the right choice.

She broke open the pinecone and looked all over, but it was empty inside. She didn’t find any nuts.

Lin Chen explained at the right moment, "Food is precious in the wild. Most of the pinecones you find on the ground have been picked, emptied, and then discarded by squirrels. They have a habit of hoarding food, so if you see a lot of pinecones on the ground, it probably means there are lots of squirrels hiding nearby. Some tree hollows might also be filled with large amounts of nuts and seeds."

"Oh, I see."

Realization dawned on Marcia. She looked up, scanned the surrounding pine trees, and actually spotted a few little creatures scurrying among the branches.

She wasn’t hungry right now—in fact, she was quite full, having just eaten a sandwich on the way here. Besides, she had learned from the show that squirrels weren’t a great source of food.

Someone with a chaotic schedule like hers didn’t have a strong stomach, so she didn’t dare take the risk.

After another half hour of walking, she started to feel that simply walking was a bit dull. She turned to Erica again.

"Could you teach me how to identify edible plants, or any kind of food, in the wild? To me, they all just look like weeds."

"...You do it."

Erica’s mouth twitched. She gave Lin Chen a push. "You’re the two-time champion and a chef. You know more about food."

"Oh, I can’t do that," Lin Chen said, waving his hand with a smile. "Lady Marcia specifically asked you to teach her, right?"

"Yes, yes! I’m Erica’s fan. I came here just for her!"

After just two brief exchanges, Marcia seemed to have figured out the trick. She nodded quickly without another word, her eyes filled with obvious anticipation.

"Tch..."

Erica pouted, shot Lin Chen a fierce glare from an angle the camera couldn’t see, and reluctantly walked over to follow behind Marcia.

"Let’s go. I’ll point things out when I see them. But you’re the one who chose tool-less survival. You can’t cook wild vegetables without a pot and a water source, and eating them raw is risky. Even if I told you what they were, you probably wouldn’t remember them anyway."

"That’s all right. I’ll remember after you show me a few times."

Marcia looked very happy, and her steps became much more cheerful.

To create more opportunities to talk with Erica, she would point at nearby plants every few steps and ask a question.

"What’s this plant? It looks a little familiar."

"A weed."

"What about this one?"

"A weed."

"But surely it has a name?"

"I’m not a botanist. If you can’t eat it, it’s a weed to me."

"I guess that makes sense. So is there nothing edible around here?"

"This."

Erica suddenly crouched down and plucked a heart-shaped clover from beside her foot.

"If you’ve seen the show, I shouldn’t need to tell you what this is, right?"

Marcia stared at the leaf held between Erica’s fingertips, her mind racing.

’She knew this was a test from Erica.’

’If I can’t answer, it’ll prove everything I said before was a lie. The fragile trust between us will completely shatter, and all of Lin Chen’s efforts to help will have been for nothing.’

In a flash, she smiled.

"Wood sorrel. A clover without the white markings. Lin used it while cooking. It’s sour, right?"

"That’s right, it’s wood sorrel!"

Lin Chen quickly came over to smooth things over, sighing in relief internally. He shot Marcia a look that said, "Nicely done."

"Tsk. Guess you have a good memory."

Erica’s expression softened considerably. She placed the clover in her mother’s palm. "Try it."

Marcia curiously held the common little plant up to her eyes. Although she already knew the answer logically, an emotional part of her still couldn’t quite believe that such a common plant was not only edible but also had many medicinal properties.

She opened her mouth, gently tore off one of the leaflets, and began to chew.

A sour taste, similar to lime, instantly exploded in her mouth. It was much tarter than she had imagined.

’Does Erica eat this plant often for her work?’

At this thought, she unhesitatingly popped the rest of the wood sorrel into her mouth and chewed without changing her expression.

A single stalk of wood sorrel has limited acidity, not even as sour as a drop of lime juice. For a Westerner used to consuming lemon juice in daily life, this level of tartness was nothing.

After walking a little further, Erica suddenly stopped and pointed to a depression in the tall grass. "Know what this is?"

This was the first time Erica had initiated a topic. Marcia hurried over, staring at the indentation for a long time.

"This is..."

She dug at it with her hand, and the top layer of accumulated leaves immediately collapsed, revealing a fist-sized hole underneath.

"Is it a rabbit hole?"

"Quick on the uptake. It is a rabbit hole, but a rabbit probably hasn’t lived here for a long time. That’s why a layer of debris has piled up on the surface."

"What happened to the rabbit that used to live here?"

"Who knows? Maybe it got eaten. Lots of animals in the forest prey on rabbits, like foxes, coyotes, and owls."

Lin Chen deliberately kept his distance from the pair, staying about six or seven meters away. It was close enough to roughly hear their conversation and rush in to help if needed, but it also gave the two of them space to talk.

’He never expected his first episode would turn from a wilderness survival experience into a family drama about mending a parent-child relationship. Fortunately, their real relationship hadn’t been exposed on camera.’

’As long as one ignored their actual relationship, the two of them seemed quite normal.’

Seeing Lin Chen constantly hanging so far behind, Erica felt a bit resentful. ’How can he use the show as an excuse to force me to be alone with this woman?’

’It’s supposed to be our first time meeting, so why is he taking her side instead of mine?’

The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. At one point, she simply stopped walking, looked around, and pointed at a nearby pine tree.

"You, go climb that tree and get a pinecone. She was curious about them earlier, wasn’t she? Get one for her to try."

"Me?"

Lin Chen blinked and spread his hands. "Sorry, can’t do that."

"Wow, are you trying to slack off? Aren’t you great at climbing trees? You’re not even willing to do a simple task like this?"

"It’s not that I’m unwilling. Respected Ms. Erica, forest guide, could you please tell me in what month pinecones ripen?"

"Of course, it’s during the period from late summer to autumn... uh?"

Erica blurted out the answer instinctively, but trailed off mid-sentence, freezing on the spot.

’That’s right, pinecones ripen in the autumn. This isn’t a tropical place like Panama; every plant here follows a strict seasonal growth pattern.’

’How could I have asked Lin to climb a tree to pick pinecones at the beginning of spring?’

’If this part airs, my professional reputation as a forest guide will be completely ruined, won’t it?’

"Don’t worry, I’ll have this part edited out. We’ll just pretend it never happened."

Lin Chen walked up, patted her on the shoulder, and gave her an encouraging look.

"Right now, she’s a guest here for the experience, and you’re a professional forest guide. That’s it. Forget about your relationship off-camera and show her your professional expertise. You don’t want her to get the impression that all your years of hard work have amounted to a joke, do you?"

"Hah... you’re right."

Erica wasn’t angry. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

When she opened them again, her gaze had become focused, free of her earlier emotions.

"Sorry. A common sense mistake like that won’t happen again."

"You’ve got this!"

Once she adjusted her mindset, the rest of the trek went very smoothly. It was also the first time Lin Chen had seen her in professional mode.

It was a complete reversal from her apathetic attitude while filming in Panama. Back in her role as a guide, she became much more talkative, stopping to give a brief explanation whenever they passed any distinctive plants or animal tracks.

Before they knew it, they had been hiking in the forest for nearly three hours.

By the time they finally reached the side of another small hill, Marcia couldn’t go on. She found a thick tree trunk to sit on and began panting heavily.

"I can’t... I can’t walk another step. It didn’t look that far on the map, but this is so difficult in practice. I can’t imagine how you all managed to travel all that way to the coast in just a few days at the beginning of that season."