Sweetness and tartness burst across the tongue in perfect proportion. An indescribably fresh, fruity fragrance swept through the nose and shot straight to the crown of the head!
It was as if someone had hit the pause button on their entire body!
"How... how can this taste so good?!" Si Qi picked one up and tried it too, then stood there stunned.
She loved cherry tomatoes more than anything, but compared with these, everything she had eaten before was practically animal feed!
He Ye and Zhang Panpan wore equally blissful, astonished expressions.
"Chen Lin, were these tomatoes grown by immortals? They're ridiculously good!"
Chen Lin nodded. "Grew them myself. Taste all right?"
"All right? This is the best thing I've eaten in my entire life!"
Zhao Jie looked at the women's exaggerated expressions with suspicion.
Could they really be that amazing?
Half convinced, he picked one up and tossed it into his mouth.
The instant the flesh burst between his teeth, he froze as though struck by lightning, his eyes widening to the size of brass bells.
"Holy shit! This is a fucking tomato?!"
Seeing that, Wang Shuo, Wang Ye, and Li Jingwen stopped hesitating and reached for the plate.
Moments later.
The living room descended into utter chaos.
"Stop grabbing! I saw that one first!"
"Wang Ye, you bastard, leave me some!"
"Holy shit! I've been alive for over twenty years, and only today did I find out what tomatoes really taste like!"
The men abandoned all decorum and started snatching them up with their hands.
The women forgot about petting the cats too. They plopped Clear Wind and Bright Moon onto the sofa and immediately joined the "battle."
Clear Wind and Bright Moon exchanged a look. The two kittens nimbly snatched a tomato each from the plate with their mouths, then ran into a corner to savor them.
In less than a minute, the heaping platter of red jewels had been swept clean by the ravenous bunch.
Faced with the irresistible lure of delicious food, adorable pets were worth absolutely nothing.
Chen Lin watched his buddies and chuckled.
"Linzi! Got any more? Bring out another plate!" Wang Ye licked his lips and shouted impatiently.
Everyone else stared at Chen Lin with equally desperate longing.
But Chen Lin pointed to the other plate and gave a mysterious smile.
"What's the rush? You poor, sheltered souls. Try this next."
"What's so good about Sweet Sweet Potato?" Li Jingwen had been suffering from a painful tooth lately and looked thoroughly resistant. "My teeth are bad. I can't bite through it!"
"Exactly! We want tomatoes!" the women chimed in.
Only Zhao Jie's eyes shifted thoughtfully. He had a feeling that nothing Chen Lin brought out was ordinary.
He picked up a fruit knife beside him and cut into the largest Sweet Sweet Potato, which weighed nearly two pounds.
He had expected it to take some effort, but the blade slid through as smoothly as a hot knife through butter.
As the knife sliced all the way through, a refreshing fragrance ten times richer than the cherry tomatoes' suddenly burst from the cut!
Zhao Jie's eyes lit up. His knife rose and fell as he swiftly chopped Sweet Sweet Potato into bite-sized pieces.
Everyone's gaze locked onto the plate of Sweet Sweet Potato chunks giving off that extraordinary fragrance.
Zhao Jie moved first. Instead of touching the pieces on the plate, he grabbed the remaining uncut half, opened his mouth wide, and bit into it.
"Holy shit! Zhao, you sneaky bastard! Have you got no honor?" Wang Ye exclaimed.
A second later, the women abandoned their restraint too, grabbing toothpicks and popping Sweet Sweet Potato chunks into their mouths.
Fragrant! Crisp! Sweet!
That refreshing sweetness and crunch, like biting into a premium honeydew melon, instantly overturned everything they thought they knew about sweet potatoes!
Anyone who had eaten raw Sweet Sweet Potato knew it was dry and hard. People with bad teeth could hardly bite through it.
But the one Chen Lin had brought out seemed like an entirely different species!
Seeing everyone's blissful expressions, Li Jingwen couldn't resist spearing a piece and carefully putting it into his mouth.
The instant it touched his tongue, his face, scrunched up from his toothache, relaxed completely, leaving nothing but sheer bliss.
In the living room, the "war" sparked by the cherry tomatoes and Sweet Sweet Potato had just subsided.
Wang Ye licked his lips and gazed pleadingly at Chen Lin, while everyone else watched him with the hunger of ravenous wolves.
Chen Lin chuckled and warned them, "Lunch is in an hour. If you fill up now and end up crying over a whole table of dishes later, don't come blaming me."
Hearing that, Zhao Jie immediately recalled the fish he had eaten at Chen Lin's house last time. It had tasted so good he could have swallowed his tongue.
He immediately stopped his hand from reaching toward the fruit platter again.
These guys had no idea. The meals at Linzi's place were the real knockout.
Wang Ye, however, waved a hand dismissively. "It's fine. I've got a big appetite. I can put away two feasts!"
With that, he took a Sweet Sweet Potato weighing over a pound from the plate, peeled it in a flash, and began chomping away with both hands wrapped around it.
Amused, Chen Lin made no attempt to stop him.
Wild King, you'll regret this yet.
Next, Zhao Jie called Wang Shuo, Li Jingwen, and Wang Ye over, and they excitedly headed to the fish pond to fish.
Si Qi, Su Mei, Zhang Panpan, and Yang Ni had no interest in fishing.
It wasn't summer yet, but the sun outside was already strong. They had no intention of baking in it.
Sitting in this comfortable living room with a cat in each woman's arms was much nicer. Pure bliss.
Chen Lin didn't join the fun either. It was nearly eleven, so he went into the kitchen to help his second aunt, Liu Shuqin, prepare the ingredients for the film crew's dishes.
Liu Shuqin beamed when she saw him. "Go have fun with Zhao and the others. I don't need help in the kitchen. I can manage on my own."
Warmth spread through Chen Lin's heart. There was no way he would leave; instead, he worked even faster.
Half an hour later.
A wave of thunderous exclamations suddenly erupted from beside the fish pond.
"Holy shit!"
"Fuck! What kind of monster is this?!"
Chen Lin's heart jolted, and he put down his kitchen knife.
Had those guys been dragged into the water by a fish too?
He hurried out of the kitchen and rushed toward the pond.
Zhao Jie, Wang Ye, and the other two were huddled together, pointing at the water's edge with expressions as if they had seen a ghost.
Chen Lin breathed a sigh of relief, then stepped forward to look and couldn't help sucking in a sharp breath himself.
"Holy shit! You caught this?"
Beneath Wang Ye's foot was an enormous softshell turtle.
Its shell extended beyond even Wang Ye's size-45 foot. Its thick limbs resembled a small child's arms, and its raised head and fierce eyes radiated wild aggression.
At that moment, Su Mei and the other three women came running out after hearing the commotion. One close look sent them into a chorus of shrieks.
"Wow! What a huge softshell turtle!"
"Oh my god! Has this thing become some kind of spirit?"
Zhao Jie chuckled and patted Wang Ye's shoulder. Then he rubbed his hands together and turned shining eyes toward Chen Lin, practically drooling.
"Linzi, don't even think twice. Stew it!"
Instantly, every gaze fixed on Chen Lin, as though they wanted to devour him alive along with the turtle.
Chen Lin didn't know why his fish pond contained such a huge wild softshell turtle, but a moment's thought suggested it was probably thanks to the spirit spring water too.
He had never eaten a softshell turtle raised on spirit spring water.
The thought of its flavor whetted his appetite as well, and he immediately decided. "All right! You're in for a treat today!"
Chen Lin found a large scoop net and, after some effort, dumped the still-struggling giant turtle into the water reservoir beside the pond. Then he took out his phone and called his second uncle, Chen Guofu.
Chen Guofu had just returned from settling the accounts with the people from the Peach Blossom Island Restaurant. The sight of the colossal turtle in the reservoir startled him too.
"This... this must weigh close to ten pounds! Good heavens, I haven't seen a wild softshell turtle this big in years!"
He clicked his tongue in wonder, then rolled up his sleeves, took out his tools, and began preparing the huge creature.
Just then, Director Wang Gang arrived with the film crew for lunch.
He immediately spotted the enormous turtle Chen Guofu was preparing. His eyes lit up, and he strode over.
"Mr. Chen, do you have any more of these turtles? Stew one for our crew tonight too! Price is no object!"
Chen Guofu shook his head and said regretfully, "There's only this one. My nephew's classmates just caught it!"
Unwilling to give up, Wang Gang sought out Chen Lin and asked hopefully, "Mr. Chen, could you let us have this turtle? I'll pay five thousand!"
Five thousand yuan!
For one turtle!
The moment Wang Gang finished speaking, Zhao Jie was the first to object. He threw an arm around Chen Lin's neck and glared at Wang Gang.
"Hey, Director, who do you think we are? You think five thousand can buy our buddies' feast?"
Wang Ye puffed out his chest too. "Exactly! We don't care about the money. What matters is that we're having a good time together today!"
Li Jingwen was even more cutting. "Five thousand? Add another zero, and we'd still have to see whether we felt like it."
To them, money could be earned anytime. But sharing a rare, exceptional delicacy like this with their buddies was priceless.
The young men's reaction left Wang Gang momentarily stunned. Then he shook his head with a rueful smile.
He looked at Chen Lin, whose apologetic smile nevertheless held an unshakable firmness.
"Director Wang, I'm really sorry. I can earn money anytime, but I wouldn't trade these buddies of mine for anything."
"Today, this turtle is theirs."
"To make up for it, I'll give your crew fifty percent off today's meals!"
Wang Gang sighed helplessly, but his respect for Chen Lin grew.
Young people who valued loyalty like that were becoming rare.
A sweet, fresh-faced young woman in costume stepped out of the film crew.
She was the production's female lead, a third- or fourth-tier actress named Li Shishi.
She approached Chen Lin, and when she saw his handsome face and the sleek, well-proportioned muscles beneath his short sleeves, her cheeks flushed slightly.
This farm restaurant's owner was way too handsome!
She waved the phone in her hand and gave him a sweet smile. "Handsome boss, may I livestream in your restaurant? I'll help promote the food here."
Chen Lin smiled casually. "Sure. Stream whatever you like."
"Thank you, boss!" Li Shishi thanked him, then excitedly found a seat and started her livestream.
Chen Lin turned and went into the kitchen, then began serving the crew's dishes.
Steamed fish, fish in spicy broth, fish head hot pot, chicken stewed with potatoes...
As one steaming, fragrant dish after another arrived, the crew members at the two tables practically turned into hungry wolves, their eyes gleaming.
In the living room, Wang Ye, Wang Shuo, Li Jingwen, and the others waiting for lunch perked up at the overpowering aroma, their mouths involuntarily flooding with saliva.
They exchanged looks, all inwardly screaming the same thing.
Holy shit! How can it smell this good?!
Meanwhile, in the film crew's private dining room.
More than two thousand viewers had already entered Li Shishi's livestream. She had a sizable following of over three hundred thousand.
She pointed her phone's camera at the dishes on the table and said excitedly, "My lovely fans, we're eating at an amazing farm restaurant today! I'm telling you, the food here is really, really, really delicious!"
Comments began scrolling across the screen.
"Wifey Shishi, where are you? That restaurant looks pretty ordinary."
"Those dishes look so fragrant, I can practically smell them!"
"Wifey Shishi, is your crew starving? Why does every single one of them keep swallowing like crazy?"
Once all the dishes were served, before Director Wang Gang could even say, "Dig in, everyone," a young production assistant beside him lost control, grabbed his chopsticks, and stuffed a large slice of fish in spicy broth into his mouth.
With someone taking the lead, the others couldn't hold back either. They all dug in.
In an instant, the entire room was filled with nothing but the sounds of people shoveling down food and mumbling praise.
The comments in Li Shishi's livestream exploded.
"Holy shit! How many days have these people gone without food?"
"Is this a film crew or a refugee camp? Those table manners... they're terrifying!"
"Damn! That chubby guy's pouring it straight from the plate into his mouth! That's the sauce!"
"Is the food really that good? They're acting like they haven't eaten in eight hundred years!"
"Stop talking, streamer! Quick, show us them eating! I want to watch that chubby guy!"
Before you continue