The Spirit of Gourmet

Chapter 473 Argali Sheep Badge
After expressing his heartfelt feelings, Xu Wei opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something more.

But his hand couldn't resist picking up his chopsticks again and putting another piece of cumin lamb into his mouth. He felt the juicy tenderness and the perfect freshness in every bite. At this moment, the wrinkles on Xu Wei's old face seemed to relax.

Upon seeing this, Cao Dongdong couldn't hold back any longer. Xu Wei, as the food recommender, had already politely declined the first bite, and now was not the time to continue being polite!

Taking advantage of the piano lessons Xu Wei had just given him, Cao Dongdong kept calling him "teacher" and started snatching food from him.

"Don't call me teacher!" Upon hearing Cao Dongdong address him like that, Xu Wei even stopped enjoying the food in front of him and quickly clarified.

He didn't want anyone to know that he had taught Cao Dongdong!
However, this clarification was exactly what Cao Dongdong wanted. Taking advantage of the moment when Xu Wei stopped eating, Cao Dongdong quickly stuffed two or three pieces of cumin lamb into his mouth, eating with his mouth full of oil.

"You little rascal! You have absolutely no respect for elders or any sense of courtesy!"

Xu Wei was furious, but dared not delay any longer and quickly picked up his chopsticks to join the frenzy for food.

"Bang-"

A loud thud was heard as the front door was pushed open, and Zhao Qian rushed in from outside, shouting, "Guess what I found..."

Before he could finish speaking, everything inside the room came into view.

The aroma of cumin lamb filled the entire room, and Zhao Qian realized what had happened almost instantly. She screamed and rushed over.

"Leave some for me!!!"

Seeing the old man and the two children, who were completely oblivious and focused solely on grabbing food, Qin Lang shook his head, both amused and exasperated.

Fortunately, we killed a whole blue-spotted sheep this time, so the remaining parts can be made into cumin lamb or other lamb dishes.

With that thought in mind, Qin Lang turned around and went back to the kitchen to continue his work.

Only when the entire blue-spotted sheep had been transformed into a variety of dishes on the table did the trio of food-scrambling finally stop.

"Ahem..." Xu Wei coughed awkwardly, recalling the scene of his struggle with the two young people just now, his face immediately turned red, and he couldn't help but glare at Cao Dongdong and Zhao Qian, "I was letting you two have it."

"Otherwise, how could I possibly lose to you?"

"Yes, yes, yes." Cao Dongdong chuckled, focusing on picking up various dishes and putting them into his mouth. Every now and then, he would take a sip of the warm mutton soup and let out a satisfied sigh.

Zhao Qian, standing to the side, didn't even look up, focusing solely on eating.

After they had finished eating and drinking, Xu Wei got up and left the table. A moment later, he returned with a badge that gleamed under the light.

"This is for you." He smiled faintly and placed the badge into Qin Lang's hand. "I have never seen many people your age with such culinary skills in my entire career as a food recommender."

"I believe you will go even further in the future, and this badge will witness your growth along the way."

"Thank you, Mr. Xu!"

Qin Lang carefully took the badge and examined it closely.

Against a backdrop of colorful blocks resembling piano keys and floating musical notes, the badge features a silhouette of a blue sheep's head at its center, with the sheep's horns cleverly combined with the French horn, creating an exquisite design.

Below the badge are the words "Xianyu Market · Argali Sheep".

This is the token of Xu Wei, the food recommender, the argali sheep badge.

Qin Lang carefully put away the highly personalized badge, not forgetting his original purpose for visiting Xu Wei: to acquire Chili Spirit.

"Mr. Xu, were you home three nights ago?" "Three nights ago?" Hearing Qin Lang's words, Xu Wei pondered for a moment. "Yes, why?"

"It's like this." Qin Lang's eyes lit up, and he quickly organized his thoughts, "We are investigating something, and the person involved in this matter was in this area three nights ago."

“I’ve looked around, and it seems you’re the only one living in this area.”

"So, did anything special happen that night?"

“Something special…” Xu Wei stroked his chin, a look of reminiscence on his face, “If we’re talking about something special, there is indeed one.”

Really?

Qin Lang and the other two perked up and immediately listened attentively.

"That night, there was a sudden, loud explosion nearby, which startled all my sheep." Xu Wei paused slightly in his speech.

"I rushed there immediately to calm the sheep down. After calming them down, I followed the sound of the explosion."

"And then what did you find?" Cao Dongdong couldn't help but ask.

"I only found one big pit." Xu Wei shook his head. "It was too dark at the time, and it took me a while to calm the flock of sheep."

"When I got to the place where the explosion came from, there was only a large crater left by the explosion, nothing else."

Upon hearing this, the three of them immediately showed expressions of disappointment.

"The crater should have been filled in by the sea. We didn't find anything when we went to check." Qin Lang shook his head slightly. "It seems we're destined not to find any clues here."

"Wait!" Zhao Qian suddenly remembered something and quickly spoke up, "I actually made a new discovery when I went out just now!"

"I was so focused on enjoying the food that I almost forgot!"

Upon hearing this, Qin Lang suddenly remembered that when Zhao Qian rushed in, she did seem to have made some discovery...

His spirits lifted again. "What is it?"

Zhao Qian took a metal fragment out of her pocket. "I was petting the sheep just now and found this in the kennel of one of the little blue sheep. I don't know if it's related to what we're investigating."

"This is..." Qin Lang reached out and took it, a look of surprise on his face.

The metal fragment that comes into view appears to be part of a badge, with star patterns, an arc outline, and a distorted letter "D" on it. The irregular cross-section shows signs of burning and melting.

For some reason, the badge gave him a strange sense of familiarity, but he couldn't quite place where he had seen it before.

"How did this end up in the blue sheep's pen?" Cao Dongdong couldn't help but ask curiously. "Did someone sneak in to steal sheep and leave behind this token when they left?"

“Impossible.” Xu Wei shook his head slightly. “I clean the sheepfold for the blue-spotted sheep regularly. The last time I cleaned it was five days ago.”

"This must have been left after cleaning."

“But during this period, the number of blue-spotted sheep has not decreased.” Xu Wei paused for a moment, “Except for slaughter.”

"These fragments may not necessarily have been left behind by someone."

"Because blue-spotted sheep have a rather special hobby: when they go into the sea to eat seaweed, if they encounter anything shiny, they will bring it back and keep it as a souvenir."

(End of this chapter)