As the morning sun began to paint a golden outline on the distant snow-capped mountains, Pang Dahai emerged from his cabin, his legs feeling like they were made of lead, looking utterly exhausted.
His eyes were dark-rimmed, his lips were chapped, and every step he took seemed unsteady and unsteady.
He leaned against the door frame, facing the crisp, cold wind, and exhaled a long breath. His expression was extremely complex, showing both exhaustion from being drained and a strange glow of satisfaction.
"Da Hai, you're really lucky with the ladies!"
Li Xiangbin had just returned from his morning exercise when he saw him like this. He couldn't help but grin, revealing a knowing, teasing smile that all men would understand.
Upon hearing this, Pang Dahai blushed, but then straightened his chest, revealing a hint of weary pride.
He didn't speak, but weakly waved his hand at Li Xiangbin.
Without delay, he turned and staggered toward the kitchen and storage room.
A moment later, he carefully returned to his wooden hut, carrying a large basin of steaming warm goat milk in one hand and a basket full of golden-brown, crispy meat patties in the other.
The four women he rescued from the brink of hell last night are now sitting around the warm fireplace, eagerly waiting for him.
The madness and despair of their first meeting were gone from their eyes; in their place was the purest desire for food and an absolute dependence on the man who could provide them with it.
"Eat up, eat slowly, there's enough for everyone," Pang Dahai said hoarsely as he placed the food on the ground.
The women immediately swarmed around like fledglings, without any hesitation, grabbing meat pies and stuffing them into their mouths, then taking turns drinking large gulps of goat milk from the bowls.
Seeing them wolfing down their food, Pang Dahai couldn't help but speak up, saying in a tone that was both solemn and expectant: "It's settled then, you will all be my women from now on, and you will all bear my children and carry on the family line."
A woman with a few freckles on her face didn't even look up. She was chewing on a meat pie when she mumbled, "No problem. As long as you can feed us every day."
The other woman, who was relatively taller, was much more direct. She wiped the milk stains from the corner of her mouth, looked at Pang Dahai, and said bluntly, "Since you are our man, you will be responsible for supporting us from now on. We will only feed you and give you children, and we will not care about anything else."
"No problem!" Pang Dahai grinned.
The deal is done.
Although the process was somewhat rough and direct, the result was good.
For the first time in his more than thirty years of life, he, Pang Dahai, had four women of his own!
He's no longer that unwanted single guy!
After he finished serving his four "wives," he limped to the main building to prepare breakfast for Lin Feng. His excessive indulgence naturally did not escape Lin Feng's notice.
Lin Feng was sitting at the head of the table, wiping his sharp skinning knife. He glanced at Pang Dahai, a barely perceptible smile appearing on his lips, but said nothing more.
While preparing breakfast, Pang Dahai, taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention, quickly stuffed the two largest and most charred pieces of animal meat into his pocket.
This little action naturally caught Lin Feng's eye, but he still ignored it.
If the cook doesn't steal, the harvest won't be good.
As long as he can do the job well, he doesn't care about these trivial details at all.
Moreover, every blade of grass, every tree, every needle and thread in this shelter is, strictly speaking, his private property.
"Your job from now on will be to study recipes and research all sorts of delicious things." Lin Feng sheathed his knife and said calmly, "I don't see any fighting ability in you, so I won't be taking you out on any more missions."
Upon hearing this, Pang Dahai was overjoyed.
He had witnessed firsthand the cruelty and terror of the outside world; he never wanted to live another day of that precarious existence, where he could become the excrement of strange beasts at any moment.
Being able to stay safely in this fortress and do what I love and am best at is like being in heaven!
"Yes, boss! Don't worry! I will definitely upgrade the food at our shelter to Michelin level... no, to the very top level!" He excitedly patted his chest and promised.
Lin Feng nodded in satisfaction. He wiped his hands with a napkin, leaned back in the large leather chair, and said in a somewhat nostalgic tone, "I want to eat cake today."
"Cake...?" Pang Dahai was taken aback for a moment, then smiled wryly, "Boss, I... I do know how to make this. But we don't even have flour here, let alone an oven."
"I'll take care of the oven," Lin Feng laughed. "As for the ingredients, just use what you have on hand. Go and prepare them; I want to see a cake on the table tonight."
Lin Feng's orders are the highest decree of the shelter.
Soon, he personally went to the simple forging workshop and called Li Xiangbin and several of the strongest women in the shelter.
Under his personal design and direction, a vigorous "kitchen revolution" was launched.
Soon, iron ingots were heated red-hot in the roaring furnace, and then, at Lin Feng's direction, the women vigorously forged, bent, and pieced them together with large iron hammers. The clanging and banging sounds echoed throughout the afternoon.
Pang Dahai watched in stunned silence. He had never imagined that kitchen utensils could be manufactured in such a hardcore and violently aesthetic way.
When a huge, rugged metal oven prototype with a double-layered structure and exhaust duct, along with matching baking trays, whisks, and even a set of metal molds of varying sizes, was born in the afterglow of the setting sun, Pang Dahai was so excited that tears welled up in his eyes.
He rushed forward and stroked the still-warm, gleaming oven as if it were a priceless treasure, muttering repeatedly, "A miracle...this is simply a miracle!"
With the tools in hand, all that's left is the ingredients.
Flour, of course, was unavailable. But Pang Dahai immediately thought of the alien grain that Lin Feng had named "Golden Fox Rice".
The rice grains are golden in color and have a unique nutty aroma.
He directed his women to grind the Golden Fox Rice into fine, snow-white rice flour with a faint golden sheen using a stone mill.
Eggs are plentiful in the shelter.
Those domesticated birds, a species called the "snowbird," provide a large number of high-energy-rich eggs every day.
The most crucial ingredient, cream, became the stage for Pang Dahai to showcase his creativity.
He took the freshest black giant sheep milk stored in the ice cellar, heated it slowly over a low flame, and skimmed off the richest and most fragrant layer of milk fat from the top.
Next, he added a transparent nectar extracted from "ice crystal flowers" that had a natural sweetness.
Then, using the simple hand-cranked egg beater that Lin Feng had specially made for him, he began the long and tedious process of beating.
As the liquid in the bowl gradually thickened from thin to viscous, eventually transforming into a fluffy, snow-white, creamy alien cream with a delicate milky and floral aroma, the entire kitchen fell silent. All the women watching couldn't help but swallow hard.
Everything is ready.
Pang Dahai mixed rice flour, egg liquid, goat milk, and honey in the golden ratio in his mind, stirred it into a smooth batter, poured it into a metal mold coated with animal oil, and solemnly placed it into the huge oven that had just been built and was still exuding the smell of iron.
As the flames rise, a rich aroma of milk, the caramelized scent of roasted grains, and the sweet fragrance of nectar fills the air.
This unprecedentedly powerful aroma wafted out from the cracks in the kitchen doors and windows, quickly enveloping the entire shelter.
Everyone who smelled this aroma stopped what they were doing and, without prior arrangement, turned their gaze toward the kitchen, their faces showing a mixture of confusion and intense longing.
That evening, the atmosphere at the bonfire dinner reached an unprecedented climax.
Amidst everyone's eager anticipation, Pang Dahai, like a servant holding a crown, carefully placed his masterpiece on the long table.
It was a huge, enticing golden-yellow round cake, about the size of a washbasin.
The cake's surface was perfectly covered with a thick layer of snow-white, delicate cream. Pang Dahai also ingeniously used bright red pepper jam to draw a few simple patterns on the cream, and then decorated it with a few crystal-clear, sapphire-like ice berries.
It lies there quietly, like a work of art, exuding a sweet fragrance that makes one's soul tremble.
"Oh my god... this is... a cake?" Qin Lan's beautiful eyes widened, her face filled with disbelief.
"It smells so good... I feel like my saliva has turned into a river..." Qian Xiaoxiao exclaimed exaggeratedly.
Lin Feng watched everyone's reactions with satisfaction. He personally picked up a knife, cut off the first piece, and handed it to Qin Lan beside him. Then, he divided the pieces for the others one by one.
Time seemed to stand still when the first bite of the soft, sweet cake entered my mouth.
The cake base made from rice flour has a fluffy texture with a unique chewiness, and the aroma of the grains is fully released during baking.
Alien Cream melts in your mouth, sweet but not cloying, with a rich milky aroma mixed with a fresh floral fragrance, instantly captivating everyone's taste buds.
"Mmm...it's so delicious!"
"You fatso! You actually have this skill?" Qin Lan mumbled at Pang Dahai while eating, "For the sake of this cake, I won't beat you up anymore!"
"Yes, yes!" Tang Bao nodded repeatedly. "I was originally planning to find another opportunity to put you in a sack, but now it seems like it would be a real shame to kill you!"
Pang Dahai broke out in a cold sweat upon hearing this, and hurriedly raised his hands, pleading with a mournful face: "Ladies and heroines, please forgive me! I have a wife! What happened back then was my fault for not recognizing your true worth. I apologize to you all!"
His comical appearance drew laughter from everyone, filling the entire shelter with a joyful atmosphere.
Over the next few days, Pang Dahai was completely immersed in the world of pastry creation.
Rich, creamy mille-feuille, crispy butter cookies, sweet and sour jam-filled rolls... all sorts of unheard-of desserts spring up like mushrooms after rain in his kitchen, greatly enriching everyone's taste experience.
Of course, he didn't forget his four women either.
Every day, he would secretly hide some of the most popular and best-made pastries of the day and bring them back to his cabin.
Nourished by ample food and desserts, the four women visibly plumped up, their pale faces regaining a healthy rosy glow, and their eyes brightening.
And what follows is a brand new, sweet trouble.
"Honey, don't I look prettier today? Can I have this biggest butter pastry?"
"Why should I give it to you? The biggest piece yesterday was yours! Honey, look at me, let me massage your back, I'll have this jam roll!"
"Get out of my way, all of you! My husband loves me the most! He promised to save me a whole bowl of goat milk pudding today!"
Pang Dahai was surrounded by four women who were now quite attractive, vying for his attention and pulling and tugging at him. He felt a headache coming on, but also an immense sense of happiness.
He was kept under their tight control, and he had to rack his brains every day to hide some secret snacks, calculating how to "treat them all equally." But this feeling of being needed and coveted was something he had never experienced in the cold world on Earth, where he was accompanied only by kitchen utensils.
He, Pang Dahai, was a fat and ugly cook.
On this wild planet, they unexpectedly began living a "happy" life like ancient emperors.
He felt that his life had truly been worthwhile.
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