The Spirit of Gourmet

Chapter 160 A Real Man is About to Start…

"Boom boom boom——"

The deep rumble of machinery echoed through the rice paddies as massive harvesters worked at full capacity. Behind them, the golden rice ears had vanished, leaving only bare stalks, neatly shortened, a sight to behold.

However, at this moment, Qin Lang and his two companions had no time to appreciate the sights. They quickly walked toward one of the harvesters that was in operation.

Sensing someone approaching, the operator of the harvester quickly stopped harvesting, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and shouted at the three people.

"Kids, this isn't a place for you to play around!"

"Uncle, we're here to see Mr. Lu Suzhi!" Qin Lang shouted back, "Do you know where he is?"

"Mr. Lu?" The staff member looked around, then pointed in a certain direction. "Do you see that red harvester over there?"

Qin Lang and the other two looked in the direction the other was pointing, and a small red dot could be vaguely seen amidst the golden waves of rice.

After thanking him, Qin Lang and the other two quickly headed towards Lu Suzhi's location. As the red dot gradually enlarged in their field of vision and its outline finally became clear, they finally saw the figure operating the harvester.

It was a middle-aged man with gray hair, who was wearing a sleeveless vest like any other worker, sweating profusely as he operated a combine harvester to harvest the abundant rice.

Upon seeing the other person's kind, farmer-like face, Qin Lang's eyes lit up. "It's Mr. Lu!"

"Hmm?" Hearing the voice, Lu Suzhi stopped the harvester and turned to look at Qin Lang and the other two. "Who are you?"

"Hello Mr. Lu, we are the Imperial Chefs who have come to you for the Food Recommender assessment. My name is Qin Lang, and these are Cao Dongdong and Zhao Qian."

"A test for food recommenders?" Lu Suzhi patted the harvester beside him helplessly. "As you can see, I'm quite busy right now."

"The assessment may not be able to proceed for the time being."

"We came from your home and already know about it from your wife." Qin Lang smiled and handed over the lunchbox he was holding.

"This is sweet rice cake that your wife asked us to bring."

"Oh?" Recognizing his own lunchbox, Lu Suzhi's eyes lit up. He opened the lunchbox, took a look, and then took out his phone to make a call.

"Let everyone take a break and come over here to have something to eat."

After hanging up the phone, Lu Suzhi smiled at Qin Lang and the other two, "Would you like to grab something to eat together?"

"No need, we already ate when we arrived." Qin Lang smiled and pointed to another small lunchbox. "Mr. Lu and the other staff worked hard harvesting the rice, so please have this instead."

"That's good." Lu Suzhi nodded slightly.

As the two were talking, several figures quickly walked over. They were the workers operating the harvesters in the terraced fields.

"Mr. Lu, you are in charge of the Fengshou Terraces. With so many employees, why do you still need to harvest the crops yourself?" Zhao Qian couldn't help but ask curiously.

"Too many?" Lu Suzhi chuckled. "I think there aren't enough people!"

"After the rice matures, the best time to harvest it is only a few days. If you go beyond this time, the taste of the rice will be affected."

"This is also the busiest time of the year for the Fengshou Terraces."

“Even with me, we’re barely enough manpower,” Lu Suzhi sighed. “I have to blame myself for not doing the calculations properly.” “Last year, we reclaimed a batch of new rice paddies from the Fengshou Terraces. The land area increased, but the manpower didn’t increase accordingly, which resulted in the current situation.”

"I see." Qin Lang said, suddenly understanding. "Mr. Lu, is there anything we can do to help?"

"You guys?" Lu Suzhi was taken aback and hesitated for a moment. "This isn't quite right, after all, you're just spirit chefs here for the assessment."

"There's nothing wrong with it." Cao Dongdong chuckled. "To be honest, I've never operated a harvester before! It looks very interesting."

Which boy could resist driving such a tall and powerful machine!
"Me too!" Zhao Qian said excitedly. "Harvesting rice feels like a really stress-relieving activity!"

Seeing that Lu Suzhi was still somewhat hesitant, Qin Lang smiled and said, "Mr. Lu, rice is one of the most common staple foods. I believe that understanding its origins and participating in the harvesting process is also a kind of self-cultivation for a chef."

Upon hearing this, Lu Suzhi couldn't help but glance at Qin Lang again, "I didn't expect you to have such insights."

It has to be said that he was completely persuaded.

“In that case, after you’ve rested for a while, I’ll send someone to teach you how to use the harvester.” As he spoke, Lu Suzhi couldn’t help but smile. “It’s quite a coincidence that there are three empty harvesters in the warehouse.”

As they were talking, the other staff members came to Lu Suzhi's side. They were obviously not tasting the sweet rice cake made by Lu Suzhi's wife for the first time. They all took a bite without any hesitation and praised it highly after eating it.

Hearing his employees praise his wife's cooking skills, Lu Suzhi's face lit up with a smile.

The lunchbox of sweet rice cakes was quickly divided up, and Lu Suzhi also selected a staff member named Yuan Qi to give Qin Lang and the other two some pointers.
As fate would have it, Yuan Qi was the very staff member that Qin Lang and his two companions had inquired about earlier.

Unaware that Qin Lang and the other two were spirit chefs who had come for the food recommender assessment, Yuan Qi assumed they had come to Lu Suzhi to help, and was very happy, saying, "You've come at just the right time."

"If we move a little faster, we might be able to harvest all the remaining rice today!"

"We will definitely try our best." Qin Lang smiled in agreement.

The three of them went to the warehouse and each chose a harvester. Qin Lang chose the yellow one, which was the same color as Danbao's, Zhao Qian chose the blue one, which looked better, and Cao Dongdong chose the last one, the black one.

The reason, of course, is that this harvester looks the coolest!

The harvester looked big, but it was actually easier to operate than expected. After carefully memorizing the various safety precautions mentioned by Yuan Qi, Qin Lang and the other two were able to operate the harvester on their own after some attempts.

After dividing the area into three sections for the three people, Yuan Qi watched them practice from a distance. After observing for a while and confirming that there were no problems, he left with peace of mind.

"Qin Lang, wanna have a race to see who can harvest faster?" Cao Dongdong shouted to Qin Lang from afar, "My Black Lightning is definitely the fastest in the whole arena!"

"Naive." Qin Lang shook his head slightly, then immediately turned the harvester up to its maximum speed. "Our Egg Treasure will definitely not lose!"

"Grrrrrr!"

Danbao nodded emphatically, casting a provocative glance at Cao Dongdong.

Zhao Qian, driving her combine harvester between the two, twitched her lips violently. "You two are so childish!"

"Bubu, let's speed up too!"

"Buy~"

(End of this chapter)