Chapter 491 - 325: That’s a Good ’We

"Is it ready?"

Erica blinked, a half-eaten steamed bun still dangling from her mouth.

It wasn't that she didn't want to finish it. She'd discovered you had to savor it slowly to fully release its sweetness. Besides, eating it too quickly sucked all the saliva from her mouth, making it hard to swallow.

Seeing her eager expression, Lin Chen shook his head with an amused smile. He fished out two slices of pork knuckle, a perfect mix of fat and lean meat, from the pot and beckoned to her with his finger.

"Hand over the steamed bun."

He laid the pork knuckle on the steamed bun, then added a piece of stewed-till-tender cabbage and a few scallion bits.

"Here, try this."

With the pork knuckle on top, its appearance was completely transformed. The skin, rendered completely tender in the pressure cooker, was as springy as gelatin. The layer of fat beneath had become translucent, and even the lean meat looked anything but dry, coated as it was in a thick, reddish-brown sauce.

Having been hungry since morning, how could she possibly resist such a temptation? She didn't even bother to take it, simply leaning in and taking a huge bite.

Her soft lips brushed past the sides of his fingertips. The smile on Lin Chen's face faltered slightly, and he subconsciously glanced at the driver standing nearby.

The driver had been watching Erica with a cheerful grin, looking like he was waiting to see her reaction after she ate.

But after seeing that, and also noticing Lin Chen's gaze flicking toward him, his eyes shot to the floor. He hunched over, clutched his stomach with one hand, and turned to leave, muttering as he went.

"Oh dear, oh dear... This won't do, this won't do. I've gotta... use the restroom..."

Erica, the instigator of it all, paid no mind to these minor details. The soft pork skin and fat were already melting on her tongue, transforming into a sticky sauce that blended with the savory braising liquid.

The savory-and-sweet braising sauce was rich with collagen, so thick it almost glued her palate and lips together.

The originally plain steamed bun, having soaked up the sauce from the pork, became incredibly moist. The initial dry, choking feeling was gone, replaced by a sensation like bread dipped in meat broth. Its deliciousness instantly leveled up several notches.

This single bite was a medley of meaty, fatty, and wheaty aromas. It was savory with a hint of umami, which in turn gave way to a layered sweetness—from the wheat, the rock sugar, and the cabbage. Topped with the faintest sharp fragrance from the fresh scallions, her whole mouth was filled with the taste of pure happiness.

Just one bite, no explanation needed, was enough for Erica to understand the deliciousness of Daxia home-style cooking.

She licked the pork fat from her lips and glanced at the wooden bucket, wanting more. In the end, however, she forced herself to resist the urge to grab another steamed bun.

'After all, this is lunch for the workers. I haven't paid for it, so it wouldn't be right to take their food before they've had their fill.'

Although he hadn't asked her how it tasted, Lin Chen could see the answer on her face.

Ever since he had gained some fame online, whenever he posted a video related to food, the comments section would explode with Da Xia netizens fiercely debating whether foreigners actually liked Daxia Cuisine.

Some said they did, others claimed they were just acting and didn't like it at all, and so on.

'In my opinion, the answer is simple,' he thought. 'It's not about right or wrong, but a matter of personal taste, and also a matter of choosing the right dish.'

'Forget foreigners; even Da Xia People might find the local food not to their liking when visiting a new city.'

'Daxia cuisine has thousands of variations. No one can beat their chest and guarantee they love every single type of dish and flavor.'

'The same principle applies to foreigners.'

'You can't expect a foreigner who's never had Daxia Cuisine to start with heavily flavored dishes or "dark cuisine." That would only crush their enthusiasm for trying it.'

'The best way is to start with dishes that have flavors closer to their daily diet. First, let them find something they can connect with, and then they'll be willing to try more.'

Erica was a special case. Her first Daxia Cuisine meal had been hot pot, but it was a half-and-half pot, so the difficulty level wasn't that high.

Plus, with her years of wilderness survival experience, she wasn't afraid to try and challenge new things at all. This kind of stuff was no challenge for her.

'Leaving aside the issue of foreigners, what should I prepare for the influencer I'm about to host?'

He packed all the food and loaded it into the vehicle, having the driver follow him to the construction site. The whole way there, he kept mulling over this question.

"Erica, do you think I should prepare some Korean-style seasonings?"

"Huh?"

Erica was taken aback by his sudden question but quickly realized what he was referring to.

"Don't worry about it yet. Let's wait until the lady arrives. She said she's coming this afternoon. As for when to start, that's up to us. Her schedule is flexible. Don't you still have to arrange lunch for the workers?"

"She's coming this afternoon??"

"Yep. She specifically said she's very interested in Daxia Cuisine and wants to taste your cooking. And since there are no Daxia restaurants in this town, I told her to contact me when she gets here. We have a guest room, don't we? We can just rent it to her, earn some rent money, and we can also exchange notes on being a blogger."

"Oh, right! She's mainly here for whale watching. We can all go together. You two could film a collaboration video. The result would be amazing!"

"No, wait a minute!!!"

Lin Chen almost slammed on the brakes. "What's going on? Did I hear you right? You just invited her to stay at our house?"

"I like the sound of that 'our'~"

Erica nodded in satisfaction, a wide grin on her face. "That's right, our house~"

"Why didn't you discuss something this big with me?"

"Is it big? I don't think it is. Didn't you tell me I could make my own decisions without running them by you? The guest room is just sitting empty anyway. And even though we have savings, we should still save money where we can."

"First of all, she's an influencer and she's Asian. She has more experience in this area than we do. You two can exchange notes—in exchange for your cooking, of course."

"Second, she needed a place to stay anyway. It's peak whale-watching season, so bed-and-breakfasts and hotels are hard to find. We happen to have a spare room, so what's wrong with renting it to her? We can earn her goodwill and make some money."

"Most importantly, she's very interested in Daxia Culture. Based on that alone, I figured you wouldn't refuse, right?"

Lin Chen opened his mouth, wanting to argue, but after thinking it over, he silently closed it and nodded.

He was the one who told Erica to decide for herself. If he started nitpicking now, he would inevitably hurt her pride. Besides, her intentions were genuinely to help him.

Still, he was having some trouble accepting the fact that a strange woman would be showing up at their house this afternoon. It was all a bit too sudden.

"Did she say what time she's coming? Should we go pick her up?"

"She didn't say. She just said she'd contact me then."

"Alright then. Let's get the workers' lunch sorted out first."

By the time their car reached the construction site, the scene had changed dramatically from before.

The previous foreign construction crew had only cleared a dozen or so meters of the path. But after the Da Xia construction team took over, in just a few short days, they had not only cleared most of the trees blocking the way but had also started preparing to pave the end connecting to the main road.

Once the obstacles on the route were completely cleared and the rest of the path was plowed, they could lay the roadbed and start paving directly.

Building a road in a forest isn't as simple as laying down a layer of asphalt. You have to consider factors like soil moisture, soil structure, load-bearing area, and biological impact.

He didn't understand any of this. He had only ever seen road construction sites back home, where they would basically dig a deep trench in the road and then pour a new foundation.

"Yo, you're here early!"

Wang Jun, wearing a hard hat, was supervising work on the site. Hearing the crunch of tires on gravel, he immediately walked over.

"Well, I figured we might as well start lunch early since it's ready. The flavor will change if it sits for too long. You don't mind starting early, do you, General Manager Wang?"

"Hah, what are you talking about? The earlier we eat, the earlier we can get back to work. They'll get their full break time anyway. It's not safe to work at night out here in the middle of nowhere, so we can only work during the day. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can all go home."

At Wang Jun's booming call, the workers put down their tools and gathered from all directions.

Seeing them in their yellow hard hats, their skin tanned dark by the sun and their faces full of wrinkles, combined with their simple, honest expressions, it wasn't just Lin Chen—even Erica felt a surge of sympathy.

Canada rarely has such intense sun. The average summer temperature is only in the twenties or thirties Celsius, so it's very cool.

For their skin to be tanned like this, it proved they must have worked on construction sites for a long time before coming abroad, weathered by wind and sun to look the way they did now.

'It's true that in any country, it's the working class who have it the hardest.'

At that moment, she was suddenly grateful that she hadn't given in to her craving and sneakily eaten their food earlier.

If she had known these workers were all pitiful, older men, she probably wouldn't have even eaten that one steamed bun.

Even though they stood there looking simple and honest, they were carrying the weight of their entire families on their shoulders.

Lin Chen had mentioned this to her briefly without going into detail, but having been through hard times herself, she could of course guess what their situation was like.

"This here is our boss, Mr. Lin Chen! He's a star and a chef! When he heard we weren't used to the food here, he went out of his way to personally cook something delicious for us!"

"Alright everyone, don't be shy! There's enough for everyone to eat their fill, and I've already paid for the meal. Line up properly, and clean up your trash when you're done. Don't cause any trouble for Boss Lin!"

When they heard that today's meal was not only Daxia Cuisine but was also personally cooked by their celebrity chef boss, the workers' faces lit up with joy. They quickly formed a line, staring eagerly at the two heavy, stainless steel thermal containers.

"Erica, you can help serve the food. This is rice... and that one is..."

Before he could finish, Erica cut in with the answer.

"A steamed bun!"