I Love FarmingCh2 - The Ninth Regional Chinese Cuisine

Editor: malaysian_asian

Cui QiChao let out a courageous cry that chased away the sense of weightlessness, control over his body coming back to him as he felt the steady floor beneath his feet appear. C7iglE

He opened his eyes to an apartment styled in a popular 21st century look with black, white, and gray as the main tone. It was simple, but had an authentic feel to it, and it was clear from the furniture that this place was considered a relatively high living standard for this age.

For different candidates and planes, the LJJ company implemented different settings fit for their story. So although Cui QiChao was being taken care of for his first program, if his classification was not campus life but something that was supposed to show hardship to inspire the audience, his setting would surely be more harsh.

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It had only been a short time since signing the contract, but Cui QiChao already had an idea of what he wanted to do, so he did not hesitate to walk around the room and read the manuals left for him to operate the technology in this era.

After a short period of immersing himself in the instructions, Cui QiChao got up and went to the window to poke the fake daisy flower pots on the windowsill. He picked up his mobile phone, the main tool for communication in this century, and dialled the person named ‘Uncle’ in the address book. PzLHqp

“Hello, Uncle. It’s Cui QiChao.”

President Cui, who was on the other end of the phone, spoke very kindly to him, “QiChao! Since you arrived back in the country, I was going to call you to come to my house for a reunion—I didn’t expect you to call your uncle first. So, have you discussed which area you want to develop your career in with your father?”

Cui QiChao leisurely pulled out the fake flowers. He noted that although the flowers were fake, the soil was real, although the quality was average and there wasn’t enough moisture. He said, “Uncle, I plan to remain in the nation and attend school here for the time being.”

President Cui blurted out in shock, “Eh?” But because he trusted his nephew, he quickly added, “Hehe, so you’re calling me because you want to enter C University? The enrollment period is over, but I can pull some strings.”

Cui QiChao nonchalantly placed the fake flowers aside and went to the kitchen to cut open a big chili pepper. “Uncle, I don’t intend to study.”

President Cui hesitantly spoke, “Could it be that you want to teach? It’s not impossible, but I don’t quite understand…”

Cui QiChao interrupted him and said calmly, “Uncle, I heard that a few of C University’s canteens are going to be bid out?”

His hands did not stop moving during this conversation. After picking out the chili seeds, he placed them in the sun to dry. djqH5s

Compared with Cui QiChao’s leisurely tone, President Cui fell into a strange silence and even spoke in a silly tone, “Huh?”

Located in Nanhai City, CU ranked first among all the universities in the area. Not only that, they also had the most canteens, with up to five canteens. Unfortunately, all the canteens served food that was so akin to a barely edible nightmare that it too ranked first in dark cuisine of Nanhai City’s universities.

——But that also wasn’t right anymore. Ever since someone uploaded the recipes used by CU’s cafeterias, netizens sighed and remarked that their schools were also inferior in this category, leading to the status of the recipes suddenly being considered on the provincial and national level. Recipes that once caused shudders were now invoking dread in its students for their increasing innovations due to the added publicity. The canteens were now a well-known name famous for serving China’s ninth regional Chinese cuisine.

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.

For example, Meng Chang, a third year Chinese department student, was presently hesitating at the fork in the road, looking contemplative. GYjDeT

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Unfortunately for the students, there was fierce competition between the canteens to have the most innovative dishes launched in its buildings, the most competitive being the first and fourth canteens. SDiRa5

Which canteen would represent CU had been an extremely controversial topic in all of C University.

Meng Chang said, “I saw on the school forum that there was a new dish introduced in the first canteen yesterday, stir-fried wax gourd with spicy strips. There was also a rumour that the fourth canteen launched their pitaya stewed beef today…”

Chrysanthemum Garden.

Meng Chang and his classmate stood in a long pensive silence.

Classmate: “…” uSlK Y

Meng Chang: “…”

The classmate finally spoke up again. “The semester is about to start, it seems the canteens are going to invite people to bid once more, right?”

Meng Chang’s head drooped in despair. “Don’t hold onto meaningless hope. The backgrounds of the canteens are too strong to easily swap hands. And even if it did happen, what would we do if it changed to something worse?”

They both stood in thought. Was it even possible to get a canteen more fierce than CU’s five tigers? A sombre silence fell over them again. MqOflU

After a few moments, Meng Chang coughed and wrangled his damaged spirit back into place. “Anyways, where are you headed to? Are you not going to eat at the canteen?”

The classmate showed him a cheeky and smug smile, “I almost forgot to tell you this while we were drowning in fear of our universities’ canteens, but I can survive today because of my brother. He’s coming to visit me and we’re going to the branch outlet of that instafamous restaurant ‘The Forest of Taste’.

‘The Forest of Taste’, famous for its spicy Sichuan flavoured food, has been very popular all over the country, partially thanks to their clever online marketing tactics. Now it was opening a branch in Nanhai, where the population was dense with students. The flow of people going there was quite considerable even with the semester not yet starting—and this was before bringing up the number of people who came here specially for this restaurant. Despite only just opening up, there was already a two to three hour queue in advance for customers to get a number in hopes of entering the shop.

Just the thought of the difference between them made Meng Chang, whose living expenses restrained him, almost shed bitter tears. “You…” omUViL

The classmate saw his pain and hurriedly said, “Well, take care. If I have any leftovers, I promise you can have it all!” And with that, the student quickly ran off.

Cui QiChao wore a neat and dark three-piece suit with a potted plant tucked into his chest pocket, already grown ten centimeters high. He was currently being driven around C University’s campus by President Cui, almost ignoring the worried look in his uncle’s eyes in favour of gazing at the green grass strewn around the campus ground.

So much empty space here, I really, really want to claim it all…

And completely fill it up with plants. LTGWun

President Cui frowned in concern. “QiChao, do you really want to participate in the canteens’ bidding? I don’t understand your thoughts at all. Did you perhaps come to experience too much pressure during your study abroad?

When he first heard his nephew say those five words—the bidding of the canteen—President Cui’s perplexity reached its peak. No matter how long and hard he thought about it, he just couldn’t string together the connection between those words and the Cui QiChao he knew.

Cui QiChao said, “Yes.” Then as though to soothe him, he added in a mild tone, “Relax.”

President Cui’s body listened, gradually loosening up as his eyes darted to the potted plant in Cui QiChao’s suit pocket. “Well, as long as you can pace yourself, I won’t say anything. In the end, your health is the most important thing to take into account. Uncle isn’t afraid you won’t work hard, I just fear for the endurance of your body.” 3Bi8Oh

He was certain in his heart that the determined ambition he’d seen in Cui QiChao’s eyes was true—though he had no idea where these urges suddenly emerged from.

Cui QiChao was quietly pleased as he looked at him. “Thank you, Uncle. Where is the bidding being held?”

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

President Cui answered without hesitation. “No need to bid. You can just go down and see if the canteen is to your taste.”

“Thank you, Uncle.” Cui QiChao let out a smile, different from the one on his real body. The dark eye bags that had previously plagued his face were gone, and it made his countenance even more spirited. His eyebrows, dark as pure classical Eastern ink, curved as gently as willows in the height of spring. jLiUZV

While it was rumoured that LJJ company used a large amount of data from reality in order to set up virtual planes, including spending copious amounts of money to purchase information about real humans to make the simulation more immersive, Cui QiChao never held much value in it, but in the face of President Cui’s sincere concern and care, Cui QiChao finally released his doubts.

President Cui waved away his gratitude. He said in a warm tone, “I only have one nephew, and that’s you. There’s no need for thanks.” Then he asked, “What plants are you keeping, by the way?”

Cui QiChao answered bluntly. “Chili pepper.”

President Cui looked taken aback. “Ah?” CB1OND

Cui QiChao looked at the plant in his pocket and carefully touched one of its leaves. “The Solanaceae, more commonly known as the millet pepper.”

President Cui had a baffled expression on his face, “??”

.

Meanwhile, in the LJJ Company e6nfhM

Lin Lin stared at her subordinate with flat eyes and questioned them again. “What? Repeat what you said just now.”

The subordinate coughed and quicked replied, “Mr. Cui did not choose to become a teacher or a student, he instead chose to participate in the bidding for a canteen belonging to C University.”

Lin Lin stood up abruptly, “Doesn’t he understand the situation? This is a campus life genre, not food—well, technically it is, but even then, how can we have the starting point be the canteen!”

The main selling point in campus life programs that everyone wanted to view was the taboo love between teachers and students, or the pure and sweet love between students. How could a canteen be anything other than a minor scene in the grand scheme of things? 2ExSZy

Even for food programs, dishes that came from private kitchens, or homemade dishes, or luxurious banquets, or even outdoor survival had a much brighter future than some canteen from a university.

If Cui QiChao truly went about this route, even if he wanted to fall in love, the level of charm would be greatly reduced. A program like this appearing on the campus life channel—wouldn’t they receive complaints from the audience?

No… even if you have such good looks, you shouldn’t play with this program so freely, okay?!

The subordinate bowed their head and informed her, “There is nothing that can be done. His lawyer has looked over the contract and confirmed that Mr. Cui has not violated the terms. He did enter the campus, and so we can’t interfere with his actions.” r5kCgw

Lin Lin felt like she was suffocating from frustration. “Would this truly not even be considered suspected contract fraud?! Didn’t he awaken the high tier bloodline from the three sovereigns and five emperors?”

The subordinate hesitantly answered her. “Er, it is said that Mr. Cui awakened the bloodline of the Yan Emperor—who was called the Divine Farmer—but at the moment Mr. Cui has only cultivated the farming aspect of it.”

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Lin Lin sank back down into her chair in silence. “……………”

The subordinate continued. “His lawyer said that in this reality plane, the land area per capita is too small compared to the explosion in population. On the other hand, virtual planes are the best option for him to vent out his desires to farm. To add on to it, Director, creating virtual planes costs a lot of money, and as we’ve signed a long-term contract with him, stopping him would only impact us negatively.” 0xzERj

Lin Lin had nothing to say in return. “……………”

The author has something to say:

I tagged the food genre!… but rather than a mainstream storyline, it will instead feature canteen food as the center point!