Chapter 41: Super Mold 5
What kind of shop was so resilient that it immediately piqued Chu Yian’s curiosity?
She covered her nose and mouth, enduring the stench as she entered the wet market, struggling to reach the vegetable stall. There were only two people at the stall; the boss was deftly butchering meat on the chopping block.
Chu Yian looked behind him, where there was a row of cages. Inside the cages were a few rabbits and chickens.
Crucially, they were all alive!
No wonder this shop was still selling things.
Chu Yian instantly understood what was going on. She glanced at the still-lively rabbits inside.
Bunnies are so cute, how can you eat bunnies?
“Boss, have those last four rabbits and two chickens been bought? If not, I’ll take them all!”
“Really?”
The boss’s eyes lit up, looking somewhat surprised, then a little hesitant. “My rabbits and chickens have gone up in price since the day before yesterday. Rabbits are thirty yuan a catty, and chickens are 32 yuan a catty. This is the lowest price; I can’t make it any cheaper.”
Is this price very expensive?
Chu Yian thought about the instant noodles she had bought for 15 yuan a pack just this morning. “I can accept that, Boss. Please help me process them all.”
She had originally wanted to buy them alive to raise them and butcher one when she wanted to eat it. But then she thought about how buying them would mean several more mouths to feed, plus the possibility of getting attached and not wanting to eat them… it was safer to have them butchered.
“Alright, alright, alright!”
The boss was overjoyed to hear this. While taking out the live chickens and rabbits to slaughter them, he told her how to preserve them:
“Things spoil very easily during this period. This meat is fresh, but you still need to preserve it carefully. It’s best to scald it with high heat to sterilize it when you take it home, and then put it in the freezer compartment of the refrigerator.”
As soon as the boss finished speaking, the woman plucking feathers next to him shot him a look. “Old Li, didn’t the news refute that? You’re still spreading rumors. There’s no such thing as a super mold; it’s all caused by this weather.”
“Alright, alright, alright, I was wrong.”
The boss said repeatedly, “You go rest. I’ll take care of the work.”
“If you do it alone, won’t you stink that girl to death? I told you not to come make money, but you insisted. You’ll be sorry if you get sick later!”
The Boss’s Wife spoke fiercely, but her hands didn’t stop moving at all. She quickly plucked the chicken feathers, then chopped the chicken. “Here, girl, for you.”
“Thank you.”
Chu Yian took the meat, which was packed in three large bags, weighing over thirty catties and quite heavy. The Boss’s Wife saw this and offered to help her. “I’ll carry it up for you. Look at your small frame, carrying so much meat.”
“Thank you, thank you!”
Chu Yian hadn’t expected to meet two such enthusiastic people in this wet market, which stank enough to make one faint. Originally, it was nine hundred yuan, but she paid one thousand five.
“No, no, no, that’s too much!”
The Boss’s Wife waved her hand, “Our price increase was already… you’re already at a disadvantage.”
“Boss’s Wife, please take it. Instant noodles are already selling for 15 yuan a pack now. Live chickens and rabbits at 30 yuan a catty will make you lose money until you cry.”
She tucked the money into the Boss’s Wife’s hand and reminded her, “The super mold is not groundless. You and your husband had best stock up on some sealed, filling food while you can still buy things now.
Don’t think it doesn’t matter if you don’t stock up. When food shortages truly hit, you’ll have money but nowhere to spend it.”
Her warning to this extent was already benevolent and righteous. Worried that the meat in the bags would spoil, she didn’t dare to linger. She pedaled her tricycle laboriously towards the shop she rented.
Meanwhile,
The boss saw the Boss’s Wife standing at the entrance of the wet market and not returning, so he went up to call her. “Chun’er, what are you standing there for? Everything’s bought, let’s go home now.”
The Boss’s Wife looked at the boss when she heard him. “Husband, why don’t we go to the supermarket and buy some things too?”
“Didn’t you say that we have enough food at home and shouldn’t buy those things to waste money?”
The boss was stunned. When he suggested buying some instant noodles to stock up at home, she had said no. “And the news has already debunked it…”
“Oh, I just feel a little nervous.”
The Boss’s Wife tugged at his sleeve. “Let’s go, let’s see and buy some to stock up. If it’s a false alarm, it can just be snacks for Niu’er.”
Inside the shop.
Chu Yian had already put everything into her treasure box. As soon as she transported them back to the Residential Area, she set up a pot and boiled water again.
The method of high-temperature sterilization was very effective. All her sterilized food in the refrigerator freezer was fine, while the bags containing some things that hadn’t been thrown away, after just a few hours, had a thin layer of dust-like mold on their surface.
Chu Yian cooked all the meat she bought today, bag by bag. Not just scalding it with boiling water as the boss suggested, but thoroughly cooking it with boiling water. After finishing these, she immediately put them into the freezer while they were still hot.
She divided the rabbit into 6 portions, each individually packaged and placed inside. The chicken was divided into 4 portions, similar to the rabbit’s allocation.
But… with meat, didn’t she need some seasonings and side dishes?
Indeed, as things increased, people became greedier.
Chu Yian ran to the kitchen to see what was missing. She had all the basic seasonings like salt, MSG, Sichuan peppercorns, chili, oil, soy sauce, and vinegar, but… the chili, Sichuan peppercorns, MSG, and oyster sauce had molded.
Especially the Sichuan peppercorn powder, a layer of grayish-white mold on top could even be peeled off like a cloth. The Sichuan peppercorn powder underneath was still in its original state, but she didn’t dare to eat it.
Who knew if this super mold would have side effects or even be poisonous to humans?
Seeing this, Chu Yian carefully checked the other seasonings she had bought and then found that the caps of the soy sauce and vinegar bottles were covered with a layer… so even seasonings should be put in the refrigerator!
Chu Yian threw away all these mold-contaminated foods and then prepared to go out.
Her goal this time: seasonings and ingredients that could be used as accompaniments for rabbit and chicken meat.
She furiously pedaled her tricycle on the main road. Now accustomed to foraging, she was no longer limited to Shopping Malls and supermarkets. Many street-side convenience stores and small vendors were also her targets.
She circled many places in the vicinity before finding a grocery store specializing in seasonings. Two simple stools supported a wooden board, on which the items were already gone, leaving only a few bags of dried shiitake mushrooms, dried tea tree mushrooms, and some stewing herb packs containing angelica and codonopsis.
Chu Yian stopped her vehicle and asked how they were sold.
“Dried shiitake mushrooms are 80 a bag, dried tea tree mushrooms are 140 a bag, and stewing herb packs are also 80 a bag, no bargaining.”
These items usually cost a few yuan, ten-odd yuan, or twenty-odd yuan.
Now, almost every boss she encountered started to ask exorbitant prices.
Chu Yian still had thirty thousand yuan in her pocket, so she didn’t feel any pain at all. She directly bought all four bags of dried shiitake mushrooms, three bags of dried tea tree mushrooms, and four bags of stewing herb packs from his stall.
