I Love FarmingCh16 - XiaoBai Herds Ducks

Editor: ASplashOfMusic

The article was carefully written by Sesame and Rice Ball. After revising the draft thrice, The Tales of Good Food published their review. And after it was published, the click-through rate broke past 100,000. FiXVr8

A university canteen in a coastal city, which had once appeared on the trending list because of their dark cuisine, was now serving the best food in the editors’ minds! And the dishes of delicious green vegetables that seized the position of the editors’ “food of their dreams” cost only two yuan!

Due to the special selection of ingredients and the fact that the two authors had boasted about the wonders of the dishes based on their true feelings, they also described the fact that The Forest of Taste’s Nanhai city branch had lost its reputation to the first canteen. This statement had attracted a lot of attention.

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The Forest of Taste was also in a miserable state. Originally, only locals knew about this fact, and most of those in the know were students. Now, Tales of Good Food had pushed the canteen to a larger platform.

They had taken a lot of pictures and short clips and turned them into GIFs, which were placed within the article. mrld7W

Just the appearance of the dishes would definitely be enough to attract others. The first canteen wasn’t like an ordinary canteen at all. The food served by an ordinary canteen would either be too greasy or too light. However, with the visuals of the food served by the first canteen plus the descriptions in the article, everyone would grow hungry upon reading it.

There was also a small portion of the article that was dedicated to the photos the duo took of the vegetable fields around the campus. In them, the staff of the first canteen could be seen watering the fields with calibrated tools and other instruments, proving that what was written in the article was true. The self-grown vegetables in the first canteen really were exquisite.

At the end of the article, the two editors also added regretfully:

[This is the first time since the launch of The Tales of Good Food’s food critique section that we neither have a lucky draw to offer food to our readers, nor can we offer a strategy to allow our readers to also try the food. CU’s canteens are not open to the public. They only accept CU campus cards, so in theory, only CU’s teachers and students are able to taste the first canteen’s good food. Also, because the self-grown ingredients for the dishes are limited in number and are not sold separately, the canteen will prioritize serving the students.

This is the most regrettable fact that we have had to announce. We can only share these delicacies with you in the form of words.]

This rendered the readers even more speechless than the time The Tales of Good Food had published an article about the dishes cooked by a family. Not only could the audience not go to the place to taste the dishes, but there was also no lucky draw.

But these only made the claims in the article seem more real. This was because their canteens weren’t open to the public and the boss didn’t care about advertisements. Sometimes, being unique was more eye-catching to others than being widely advertised.

The Tales of Good Food’s reputation was very good. As such, as the first canteen to receive such high praise from them, other foodies had all gotten ready to see whether they knew anyone who was affiliated to CU. 3UXbpk

CU students also heard the news and began posting their comments one after another.

“I strongly recommend our school canteen’s decision. This is because they don’t cook fancy food but the taste of their food isn’t inferior to that of the food served in grand hotels, okay? Their water spinach is the best I’ve ever eaten. I even brought my parents there last week. At first, my parents didn’t know that the canteen had been contracted out. They even cautiously asked me, “Did Mom and Dad do anything wrong to you?” I almost died laughing. Of course, all they said later on was that the food was really, really delicious.”

“Editors, why didn’t you write about the whole fiasco? The first canteen destroyed our school’s holy dating land in order to grow vegetables. [Smile]”

“I’m a fourth-year student at CU. I’ve decided to take the postgraduate entrance examination just to eat the canteen food for two more years.” aupqkd

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

“The university entrance examination is around the corner. I’m inviting students to apply to CU to enjoy delicious food!”

“P uba rb tecugs joafg gfjvlcu atlr. P’ii ub ab atf olgra mjcaffc obg reqqfg.”

“Pa’r bnfg. Qts vb P obgfrff atja wjcs qfbqif ogbw batfg rmtbbir klii mbwf jcv ybggbk beg mjwqer mjgvr lc atf oeaegf, jcv atja la’ii yfmbwf fnfc wbgf vloolmeia ab ugjy j wfji ja atf mjcaffc? P’w jigfjvs nfgs algfv bo atf qfbqif ogbw atf cflutybglcu rmtbbi rafjilcu beg mtlil bli!”

“A CU student with a conscience will never bring outsiders to the canteen! They will also never scoop two spoonfuls of chili oil at a time!” apw2XJ

The comments from CU’s students undoubtedly added some more heat to The Tales of Good Food’s critique, causing more people to pay attention to this magical canteen.

“I would really like to @ my school’s canteen. Look at other school’s canteens and then look at my school’s canteen!”

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“As someone from CU’s neighboring school, I beg Boss Cui to contract our school’s canteen!”

“I’m going to Nanhai city next month, but I’m not related to anyone from CU. How can I get into the CU’s canteen?” jc7LWY

“Is it really true that the food there tastes better than The Forest of Taste’s food??”

“What a compassionate man the boss is. Based on the standards of the food in CU, the food served there can be already delivered to a high-end restaurant. And yet a ladleful of one dish is sold for two yuan in the canteen. I’m envious.”

“I’m shook! Why did you say that we would have benefited as long as we got to taste it?!”

It could be said that CU’s canteens had become the hottest topic among netizens, especially those who were devastated due to the canteen’s fiery might. KtPVe

Although it was currently trending, the canteen wasn’t a chain restaurant. If one wanted to eat the food there, one had to know someone from CU.

As such, since only a short time had passed, it was still unknown how wide CU’s impact would become. But in any case, some of the local residents in Nanhai city had started to form groups so that they could go to CU.

The local residents knew many people who had affiliations to CU. After asking around about which families’ children were studying in CU, one could go to the canteen which even The Forest of Taste had admitted defeat to. (The Forest of Taste: …)

Most people believed that the first canteen’s reputation should be justified. And anyway, since it was just within their city, they thought that it wouldn’t be much of a problem to give the canteen’s food a try. FZQsez

As a result, the large influx of outsiders affected the students’ eating experience for a short period of time, causing many complaints to arise. President Cui’s suggestion box also exploded, which was a sharp contrast with its past state. In the past, the students only wrote their opinions about the canteen in the hopes that they would make something that could be actually deemed edible.

The people in the school were enraged. As a last resort, CU began prohibiting the loaning of campus cards because too many people wanted to come to CU to have a meal.

With this rule in place, things became much better.

The students claimed with fear that it was like having a baby at home who they wanted to show off to others, but at the same time, they were afraid that the baby would be coveted. JaFp72

Once CU became more and more famous for their self-grown vegetables in the future, the simple prohibition of borrowing campus cards would no longer be enough to stop outsiders from entering the school.

Even among the students, the business of helping others buy some takeaway dishes to earn extra money had been prohibited. This caused the canteen to issue new regulations that limited the number of takeaway meals one could buy. It had become the only canteen throughout all the schools in China to have such a rule.

The people who had violated such regulations had been caught and suppressed by the security department many times. As such, the security began paying special attention to the problem to curb it. Even so, it was hard to restrict the problem, because the first canteen always adhered to their principle: the first canteen wasn’t open to the public. The canteen was only for the teachers and the students.

However, all these would only happen in the future. Hence, there was no need to elaborate any further on them at the moment. OVsBdu

At present, Cui QiChao was carefully escorting the first canteen’s shelduck ducklings. Since their feathers were already oiled, they could now go into the water.

Cui QiChao had been waiting for this day for a long time. He faintly smiled. XiaoBai had something to do now.

Chrysanthemum Garden.

Cui QiChao guided XiaoBai in driving the group of ducklings into the pool. He specially picked the time from 7 am to 8 am to do this, when it was cooler. During this hour, the first classes of the day were about to start, so many people were going to and fro.

Cui QiChao was currently a celebrity in CU. Few wouldn’t be able to recognize his face. TjLAUe

But today, compared with Cui QiChao’s face, what was even more striking was that he was driving ducks somewhere. Students in the vicinity could be heard whispering amongst themselves, saying things like:

“The ducks raised by Boss Cui…”

“They’re so small. How long will it take for them to grow up? I want to eat duck meat.”

“Just one look at them, and I’m already hungry. Quite hungry.” Vfexbm

XiaoBai: “…”

Cui QiChao led the ducks into the pool. The reason why he brought the ducklings to the pool instead of the lotus pond was that the water here was relatively shallow, which would allow the ducklings to more easily adapt to being in the water. Of course, he also had to pay attention to avoid leading them toward the areas where he had planted water spinach so as not to damage their leaves.

Cui QiChao had been feeding the ducks these days. Because of this, the ducks already gained an impression of him. After he sprinkled a handful of grains onto the surface of the water, the ducklings tenderly called out, trying to test the waters as they gathered to pick at the grains.

XiaoBai laid on the side of the pool and glanced at the ducks in a despondent manner. This was going to be his responsibility in the future. afj9 U

He let the ducks eat and play for a while. Because it was the first time the ducks had ever gone into the water, Cui QiChao didn’t let them stay in the water for long and soon drove them all up to the poolside. As the sun rose, the time came to dry the ducklings’ feathers.

On their way back, other than meeting some passing students, Cui QiChao also spotted the dormitory auntie bathing her cat, which was XiaoBai’s brother, in a basin by hand when he passed by the dormitory.

XiaoBai’s brother also had black and white patterns on its body, but most of its back was colored black, while its belly and claws were colored white. It was a sheriff cat. At this moment, it was in the auntie’s grasp, comfortably lying down with its back in the water. It could be seen that it had full trust in human beings.

A yellow toy ducky could be seen floating in the sheriff cat’s bathtub. At times, the cat would fiddle with it. When it heard someone walking over, it turned its head and curiously looked at these walking ducks that were different from the immobile one in its own bathtub. HXcEzi

At this time, some girls had just left their dormitory and happily began touching the cat’s chin while it was taking a bath. It comfortably raised its head, meowing.

XiaoBai looked at other people’s ducks and then at its own. “…”

Ever since XiaoBai cleverly learned how to herd ducks, it became the one responsible for leading the ducks into the pond and then bringing them back at the appointed time every day. Just like how one would herd dogs, it blocked every fork in the road, rushing around the straggling ducks and guiding them to the pond.

After a few days, the ducks already remembered the way, but XiaoBai was still required to guard and bring them back on time, because Cui QiChao wanted to control the time the ducks could scatter about. kUBZIT

The black-and-white-patterned cat regularly leading a group of ducks around had become a unique scene in CU, attracting students to watch and take photos.

XiaoBai was often seen hanging around the canteen, so everyone knew that it was Beauty Cui’s cat. As for the ducks, there wasn’t a need to mention them. Countless teachers and students had been coveting the ducks for a long time.

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Because of this daily sighting, several rumors sprang about within CU.

Among the WeChat moments posted by the CU students, at least eight versions of the same photo or video of XiaoBai herding ducks had spread around. 9q2Hnu

Some people said that XiaoBai was a female cat and that after it lost its son, it began raising ducks as its own children.

Others said that XiaoBai had grown up with ducks, so it held special feelings for ducks. They also said that it even thought he was also a duck, which was why it mingled with ducks all day.

There were also others who swore that the truth of this matter was that XiaoBai had eaten the ducks’ mother and became the first animal the ducks saw. That was why the ducks followed it around as their mother.

XiaoBai didn’t know how to surf the internet, so it often held its head high and allowed people to take pictures of it with their cameras. 7WsdKX

T/N: If guys start reading the story from the previous translator, please do skim through the previous first 15 chapters, as there might be different use in terms. xD

Also, I’ve mentioned it in the previous chapter, but in case there are some readers who read this story from chapter 16: CG is having a CG10K celebratory event, and 50 prizes would be given out randomly to those who submit their fanart/fanfic. ILF is one of the participating novels where you could do a fanfic/fanart on. My lovely editors (ASplashOfMusic, malaysian_asian, Alysia) and I have offered 3 bonus ILF chapter releases as one of the prizes you can choose from if you happen to win :]. The bonus chapters will be sponsored by you if you pick the prize. The winning chance is very big as of now and other than the prize that I’ve offered, there are many other prizes available as well, by the other lovely CG authors and translators. xD You can read more about the contest from the post here.