Chapter 178: Drying Chicken Meat
Huai Yu’s expression immediately turned painful:
“Then… uncle, thank you for hauling the goods. Could you please take them back? Here, let me settle the balance.”
The tricycle owner glanced at the water jar seller, thinking to himself: “Deserved!”
With such a shabby jar, he got dust all over himself when moving it. Who would buy this nowadays? People living in the 30+ story apartments in Jin Yuan Residential District?
He cheerfully extended his hand: “Ah, since the deal didn’t go through, how could I take your money?”
Then he added: “The parking fees over there are quite expensive, but next time you have work, feel free to call me, I’ll cover the parking fee.”
He spoke as though apologizing, but his hand was already reaching for the transaction bracelet. The water jar seller, quick to react, suddenly perked up:
“Hey, hey, hey! Young lady! If we’re doing business honestly, you should give me a price!”
“Otherwise, what’s the point of hauling and moving them, right?”
Reluctantly, Huai Yu responded, “But I don’t have money.”
“The total price for the four jars is 2560 points, my relatives have to work for over two years to earn that.”
“I live in such a remote place, how could I afford it?”
That was true.
To be honest, if it weren’t for the tricycle helping with the transport, she wouldn’t have known that there were even more remote places than Jin Yuan Residential District.
The seller’s face instantly turned bitter: “Then… you’ve come all this way, at least make an offer.”
Huai Yu blinked: “500 points for everything, so you won’t have to bother taking them back.”
She thought the price she offered was quite fair, considering the jars were really heavy, and the transportation was the biggest issue.
But for the seller, slashing the price from 2560 to 500 points was not just a drastic cut—it was practically slashing it to nothing.
“That’s too harsh!”
But then he looked at the jars again. If he had to take them back, he was really reluctant. This reluctance allowed for some negotiation.
So…
“This isn’t possible. This price is too harsh. I won’t even cover my cost at that price! These jars are expensive to bring back too. How about this, I’ll give you a flat price of 1800 points!”
“500.”
“Young lady, you’re not negotiating in good faith, no one offers such a fixed price like that! Look at these jars, they’re so solid. If you miss out on them, you won’t find anything like them elsewhere! Alright, alright, I’ll give you a bottom price, don’t haggle anymore—1500! 1500, is that good enough?”
Huai Yu blinked: “500.”
The seller instantly jumped in frustration: “I’ve already said no more haggling!”
Huai Yu jumped even higher: “Boss, these jars can’t be used for food or drink, and the shipping fee alone is 45 points. Who else is willing to offer such a deal in or out of the city?”
“You can’t find this anywhere else, but they don’t need them there! 500 points!”
The seller’s face immediately turned pitiful: “Can you add just a little more…”
The two went back and forth for over ten minutes, and in the end, with the tricycle owner’s help, Huai Yu managed to get the deal for 660 points.
Huai Yu rode the tricycle back with the jars, her heart full of joy.
She was so happy to get them for 700 points including shipping! At the market, the same jars cost 800 each with shipping included!
The two big jars already had a place arranged, and the small jars weren’t even that small. They were perfect for pickling vegetables—she could pickle a lot of them and even mix different types together!
The tricycle, weighed down by the jars, was a little harder to ride on the uneven grassland. Not very skilled, Huai Yu didn’t dare turn sharply.
But—
She was still so happy!
…
She was happy, and the seller of the jars was happy too.
660 points was considered a big deal for them in Jin Yuan Residential District. Most importantly, these jars were really annoying to have lying around, and they took up so much space!
Nowadays, who doesn’t accumulate some junk to trade? But no matter how much you accumulate, only the points in your hand are real!
Today, I’m going to buy a fish by the lake in the residential area!
The tricycle owner was also happy!
Today, he had gained a big client and earned a full 100 points. Plus, he discovered the Jin Yuan market, a place selling lots of vegetables.
He looked at the two big bags of vegetables at his feet and decided to tell his wife to take the bus to buy some veggies!
Then he’d check the price difference and see if he could sell some to the city market.
…
Without help, Huai Yu spread a large amount of dry hay at the back of the tricycle, carefully moving each jar down one by one.
However, she was too exhausted to arrange them in the shed. Plus, there was a lot to do today!
First, she quickly rode the tricycle back, swapped it for her bicycle, and then hurried back to prepare the wild chickens.
—Wild chickens as big as ostriches!
After breaking the ice and staring at it for a while, Huai Yu had no choice but to take a knife and decided to skin it.
There was no way around it; the wild chickens were frozen with feathers, and not only were the feathers impossible to process, but she couldn’t use the usual boiling method to pluck them either.
If she tried plucking the feathers, the skin would come off along with it, leaving the chicken a mess. It was impossible to deal with.
But honestly, not plucking the feathers and directly processing the chicken was more efficient.
These wild chickens were huge, with strong leg meat and a lot of body meat!
Huai Yu was as happy as if she were slaughtering a pig during the New Year. She spent two hours chopping and cutting, removing the bones, and soon had all the chicken meat cut into strips and chunks in a bowl.
As for the bones…
She thought for a moment and decided to give them to the little ones to try.
If they didn’t eat them, she’d dry them out and grind them into bone powder to try again.
Next came the purification.
After practicing with ginseng last time, she had become more precise with her control, so this time, she was especially thorough with cleaning the chicken, as she was planning to eat it herself.
Although the quantity was so large that it made her out of breath and tired, just looking at the large bowl of meat immediately made Huai Yu feel energetic again.
Although these wild chickens didn’t have their blood fully drained and looked a bit unappetizing when cut open, for someone like her who hadn’t had decent meat for months, it was no problem.
Let’s soak them in cold water first!
She rummaged through the various spices she had bought at the market—though “various” was a bit of a stretch, as it was still quite limited. But in her current situation, having meat was a blessing, and she wasn’t picky at all.
Now, the task was to dry the chicken meat!
She fried some chili with other miscellaneous spices, then added freshly grown onions, ginger, and garlic, mixing them with the chicken and kneading it together…
It smelled amazing!
If it weren’t for the even more tender bullfrogs waiting to be processed, Huai Yu would have immediately cooked herself a bowl to satisfy her cravings!
But now, seeing that it was already afternoon and the line of bullfrogs was still waiting, she gritted her teeth and had to endure, speeding up and working harder.
She threaded the strips and chunks of meat onto thin bamboo sticks, ready to hang them outside to dry in the sun.
With the high temperatures expected in mid-May, a couple of days of drying should do the trick, right?
