Chapter 123: Chapter 122: A Call from the White Whale

Robert scooped around in the pot in disbelief for a long time, but it was truly empty!

"Don’t look at me. I cracked them in front of you all. You can count the empty spots in the egg carton."

"That’s right, I was watching. The number of eggs we cooked was definitely correct."

He ruled out Ariana first. The woman had a small appetite to begin with and usually turned her nose up at plain boiled eggs. She wouldn’t stoop to stealing an egg from him.

His gaze swept across everyone’s faces, searching for a clue. But to his disappointment, they all looked perfectly normal, with no hint of panic or evasion.

’What’s going on?’

’Did the cooked egg just get up and run away?’

"Hei, was it you?! You’re usually the greediest one of us all!"

"Hey! Old Robert, we may have worked together for years, but I can sue you for racial discrimination for saying that!"

Robert’s lip twitched. He shifted his gaze, glaring fiercely at Daniel. "It was you, wasn’t it? You’re the craftiest one here."

Daniel silently set down his half-eaten bowl of noodles and stood up.

"I’m leaving. You can find another guide. The rest of my noodles are all yours."

"Hey, wait!!"

Robert scrambled to grab him and push him back down onto the stool. He refilled the bowl with noodles, ladled in some broth, and thrust it back into Daniel’s hands.

"I was just kidding. Don’t be mad, don’t be mad."

’The two most likely suspects reacted so strongly. They didn’t seem guilty in the slightest, nor did they bother to explain themselves. It looks like it wasn’t them.’

His gaze swept over the faces of the remaining crew members. After a moment’s hesitation, he decided to let it go.

’It’s just one poached egg. It’s not like I haven’t had plenty in my life.’

Seeing Robert sit back down sullenly and go back to slurping his noodles, the others visibly breathed a sigh of relief. They quickly polished off the noodles in their bowls and scrambled for a refill.

The instant noodles, cooked in a rich broth, were absolutely fantastic. You could even call it the most delicious meal they’d ever had while working in the wild. Best of all, it was healthy. You could add whatever ingredients you wanted. It had carbs, protein, and fat—and it warmed you to the core!

While everyone else was focused on devouring their food, a tiny, imperceptible smile played on Ariana’s lips.

She sat up straight and pushed aside the top layer of noodles in her bowl, revealing two poached eggs hidden at the bottom.

...

"Hey, Gray, long time no see! I just slaughtered a sheep. Are you interested?"

Gray, who had just finished serving the last of the lunch rush when he got the call, froze for a second. He glanced at the projection screen on the main dining room wall.

"You old coot. All you do all day is watch TV, huh? I’m getting killed over here!"

"Hahaha, you know how it is. A farmer’s life is pretty dull. I’ll bring it over in a bit."

After hanging up, Gray beckoned to his front-of-house manager.

"What’s going on? Something about a sheep?"

Ever since his restaurant started trying to replicate dishes from *Wild Survival*, someone must have posted about it online, because his once-slow business had been getting better and better each day.

Now, it was packed to the gills during mealtimes, and reservation calls were constantly flooding in. The whole staff was so busy they were sweating buckets.

"Yes," the front-of-house manager nodded. "The young chef from Great Xia first traded the meat he’d collected for fifteen items and ingredients from the production team. Then, the team paid him five kilograms of meat to make breakfast: grilled lamb skewers and a stir-fried dish with lamb and green onions."

"And just a moment ago, he teamed up with Andre again and made him what looked like a delicious lamb offal soup. Word is, he’s even making Chinese-style lamb burgers tonight!"

"So that’s what it’s about... Wait, what did you just say? He can make burgers in a place like that?"

"Lamb burgers?"

Gray was stunned. He never imagined that the young chef from Great Xia could keep coming up with new creations.

’No wonder John was in such a rush to bring him a sheep. So that was his angle.’

During his lunch break, he found a quiet corner by a window, opened his laptop, and quickly caught up on the part of the show he’d missed that morning.

’You can actually make such a white, rich broth from lamb and lamb offal? Interesting. I bet customers are going to be asking for this for a while now, aren’t they?’

The man sighed softly, a look of resignation on his face.

It had been about ten years since he’d taken over the restaurant from his father. Because of its remote location, light tourist traffic, and competition from several other resorts that siphoned away customers, White Whale’s business had always been lukewarm, with no real chance of expansion.

The show’s appearance had tripled or quadrupled his weekly revenue in just four short weeks. It had even gotten to the point where demand was outstripping supply.

’If this keeps up, could the restaurant actually expand?’

’After the show is over, I have to find a way to invite this young chef from Great Xia to visit the restaurant. I should ask for his permission too, since I’ve been using his recipes without his consent.’

’If possible, I’d hire him as head chef in a heartbeat. I’d even work as his sous-chef. I’m just afraid he’d look down on a place like this.’

’Oh, right. Since it’s Great Xia cuisine, when I add the dishes to the menu, I’ll have to label their origin to avoid any unnecessary cultural conflicts...’

Food isn’t something you can copyright. As long as someone follows the steps Lin Chen explains on TV, they can replicate his dishes to eat.

If he didn’t say anything, customers who hadn’t seen the show or knew little about Great Xia’s food culture would have no way of knowing where the dishes came from. It would be perfectly normal for them to assume they were his restaurant’s own specialties.

But he couldn’t do that.

A proper chef must have due respect for the culinary cultures of other countries. A thief is always a thief, someone who can’t operate in the open. He wanted to make his restaurant a success through his own skills and hard work.

"Oh, Max, if you have a minute, give the show’s production team a call. See if it’s possible to let the contestant, Lin, know what’s happening."

"As you wish, my dear Head Chef~"

Max grinned, picked up his phone, and started searching online for the *Wild Survival* production team’s number.

"I’m sure they’ll be happy to hear the good news. After all, something like this has never happened with the show before. As long as they’re not crazy, they shouldn’t mind this kind of derivative commercial value, right?"

"Not necessarily," Gray said, shaking his head. "White Whale is still too small, after all. We’re not famous, and we can’t even compete with the other resorts nearby. The production team might not give us the time of day."

"Even if they wanted to partner with someone, they’d probably choose a famous restaurant, wouldn’t they?"

"Found it!"

Max held up a finger to quiet him, having already dialed the number. "Have a little faith, old pal... Oh, hello, good afternoon, sir~"

"This is the White Whale restaurant in Horseshoe Bay, Vancouver, BC. My name is Max, the restaurant manager. I hope I’m not disturbing your lunch break."