Chapter 179: Starting a Business
Huai Yu suddenly realized while cutting the head, skinning, and scraping the tail of the bullfrog—she hadn’t rested at all since midnight last night.
Looking at her hands, which were still full of strength as she processed the meat, she was shocked: whether it was building houses or preparing food, how did she become so experienced and hardworking? If she had ever lived a comfortable life, it shouldn’t be like this!
She cursed inwardly.
Thinking about it, she had originally planned to save half of the bullfrog meat for later processing and storage, but now she figured she might as well make it all!
She could hang the leftovers in the well and eat it over the next few days, it wouldn’t be a problem to have a few meals!
But as she thought about it, the frozen bullfrog meat wasn’t much in the big ice block; after processing everything, it only filled one basin.
Compared to the three big wild chickens from before, this was far from enough!
She instinctively thought of more than a dozen ways to cook the bullfrogs, but when she looked at the seasonings on the stove, she sighed.
Forget it, just marinate it first.
The conditions weren’t enough, and there weren’t enough materials. Wild chicken meat also needed to be marinated overnight to taste good, and now she could only hastily massage and marinate it, waiting for half an hour before starting to hang it out to dry.
She had planned to leave some fresh meat to eat, but after finishing everything, Huai Yu only felt an overwhelming sense of exhaustion. She had no energy left to eat.
So, she just cleaned up quickly and lay down.
When she woke up, the sun hadn’t risen yet, but the first light of dawn was already in the sky.
Looking at her wrist—it was just after 6 AM.
If she remembered correctly, when she collected the dried meat yesterday, it had only just gotten dark.
Young bodies recover quickly, and Huai Yu stretched lazily. The intense hunger and refreshed energy returned, urging her to start a fire and cook.
Then she would hang the dried meat out again.
—What a pity.
Huai Yu smelled the spicy and fragrant scent and silently thought to herself.
If she hadn’t been so tired, she could have eaten fresh meat yesterday.
But there would definitely be another chance to go to the highway entrance, it wasn’t a big deal!
But this morning wasn’t bad either!
She made a stew with fresh cowpeas, eggplant, bullfrog, and wild chicken meat. The spicy and fragrant taste, paired with old rice, made her devour two bowls quickly.
She wasn’t in a hurry about the leftovers; she packed them up to bring to Zhou Qian at noon.
Next, she dealt with the scraps of meat and bones she hadn’t had time to process yesterday. The former was buried in the ground, while the latter was taken to the bamboo forest.
“Big baby, second baby, do you eat meat?”
Seeing her come over, Kuang Biao also spoke up, “Did you go hunting these past few days? Can you raise a nest of bamboo rats for me?”
He said seriously, “I should have a business too.”
Kuang Biao always came up with ideas on the fly, but Huai Yu also sighed seriously at the moment: “To be honest, I want to do this business too.”
She couldn’t help but wonder, “Is it because you talk too much and aren’t honest, which is why you can’t attract the bamboo rats?”
They had moved in for so long, and even Little Tian had managed to settle in the Rose Corridor. There was no reason why bamboo rats wouldn’t come, especially with such a large bamboo forest.
The Rose Corridor wasn’t known for attacking such ordinary things.
“What do you mean by not being honest?” Kuang Biao was unhappy, “I’m so outstanding, how could the bamboo rats not like me?”
“I’m even willing to sacrifice my own meat for them, what’s wrong with wanting to become a breeder? If they don’t come, it’s their own fault for not having good taste.”
Huai Yu: “… Why do you suddenly want to become a breeder? Are you planning to contribute to our family?”
“What ‘our family’?” Kuang Biao sneered, and at that moment, the bamboo leaves rustled, “Big baby and second baby came back yesterday and said they went to the city to be bodyguards, and they did an excellent job!”
“They not only rushed into a hospital, but also led a life-or-death escape…”
Huai Yu: “…” She really didn’t believe Big Baby and Second Baby had the intelligence and education for such a thing; it was most likely Kuang Biao’s artistic embellishment. After all, he knew she went to the hospital every day, and the ‘life-or-death escape’ was probably just running back and forth.
And Big Baby and Second Baby probably said something like this—
Stab, stab, stab, broken.
Shake, shake, shake, tired.
No matter how much experience they had, they couldn’t understand what it was like for a goose sitting in a back basket.
But clearly, Kuang Biao was very impressed by Big Baby and Second Baby’s “ah, ah, ah” and was now feeling self-conscious about the bamboo value. Huai Yu, on the other hand, couldn’t imagine herself carrying a bamboo pole and going out to fight.
So she concluded: “Actually, you’re in a comprehensive role—security and logistics combined. You help build the vegetable garden, you stir-fry bamboo shoots, and when we go out, you have to watch over the house.”
“Do you think being a breeder might be too much pressure?”
“Think about it some more.”
Mainly because she didn’t have much time to argue with Kuang Biao. At the moment, she grabbed the chicken skeleton she was holding and said, “Big baby, second baby, do you want some?”
Big baby and second baby had already come over, and now they were curiously pecking at the huge skeleton—
The skeleton snapped.
But—clearly, it wasn’t tasty.
The two goose chicks shook their heads and rubbed up against Huai Yu, showing no interest in the broken bones.
Huai Yu had no choice but to gather them up again: “Then I’ll roast them and grind them into bone meal for you later. You and the chicks need to eat something.”
She added with some regret: “If it weren’t for the skeleton being too large and not frying well, I would have just fried a chicken skeleton to nibble on.”
Now, she needed to go check on KiKeta Rō.
It had been two days and nights since she had seen him, and she missed him.
The grass still had dew, so KiKeta Rō hadn’t come out of his nest. The big storage box in the nest already had a layer of material inside.
If she hadn’t built him such a large nest at the beginning, all her hard work would’ve been wasted.
When KiKeta Rō saw Huai Yu at the door, he crawled out of the nest and fluttered his wings at her.
Huai Yu gently stroked his cold shell, then glanced at the familiar-looking balls in the box. They were still colorful, and perhaps one of them could save Shen Xing and the others or help adjust their bodies.
But Huai Yu quickly withdrew her gaze and gently tapped KiKeta Rō’s antennae.
“KiKeta Rō, you must protect yourself well.”
Shen Xing was fine, and Fanta and the others were too, but that was different from Zhou Qian’s situation. The difficulties they faced were also different from what Zhou Qian had gone through.
She couldn’t risk KiKeta Rō and herself.
The water in the stove was boiling, and the four big jars outside still hadn’t been moved. Huai Yu snapped back to reality, thinking of the many tasks she still had to do, so she got busy again.
The most urgent thing was to clean herself up.
Next, she needed to dig through the junk pile to at least get herself a new water cup.
