hotmtlnovel Chapter 25 Selling White Ducks
Chapter 25 Selling White Ducks
After the wild boar girl joined them, Zhang Niu worked hard all day. Using the bamboo left over from building the previous shed, he built a simple little hut next to the duck shed by the pond. It was just enough for "King Kong's" family and the three wolf cubs. However, Zhang Niu's family had to eat a lot more. Without "King Kong" hunting, the wild boar cubs were very thin and small, as were the three wolf cubs. Zhang Niu cursed "King Kong" incessantly.
Zhang Niu always uses water from his spatial dimension to cook pig feed. They also drink spatial dimension water from a large basin. Every time he changes the water, the piglets swarm around it. They seem to know their stuff; they understand that this spatial dimension water is good for their growth.
I originally planned to bring them inside for a few days before letting them out. But then I remembered the last time I put the ducklings inside. They ran all over the place. If it weren't for "Little One's" help, it would have been a real struggle. So I haven't brought them inside since, and I've been feeding them outside with the space's water.
This time, they also brought out the eighteen baby wild turtles and placed them in the front yard. The baby turtles have now grown from a quarter of their original size to about the size of a palm. The patterns on their shells are becoming clearer. These newly hatched baby turtles have become playthings for "Little One" and the wild boar cubs.
Because the yard was a bit far from the pond, Zhang Niu cleared a small pool, two meters long and one meter wide, next to the fruit trees in front of the house. He then went to the village and bought a bag of cement. He poured cement over the entire pool, paving the bottom with small stones, making the bottom only fifty centimeters high and sloping it, so that the eighteen little turtles wouldn't have to stay in the water all the time and could come up to bask in the sun. He also poured in a bag of stream sand.
He placed a rocking chair in front of the house and lay down on it, squinting as he watched the little wild boar cubs squawking in the distance. Zhang Niu felt this was the life he wanted. But he also felt something was missing.
With his eyes half-closed, Zhang Niu easily fell asleep in the cool afternoon breeze, a faint smile playing on his lips.
The piercing sound of a horn blared from afar, waking Zhang Niu from his sweet dreams.
"Hey Zhang, are you there? Keep an eye on your wild boar, I'm coming in," the fruit grower owner's voice rang out from the front yard.
"Come in! It's alright. He's in the front yard," Zhang Niu called out towards the front yard.
Ever since that incident, whenever the fruit seedling owner came to his place, he would call out outside for a while, perhaps because he was frightened by that incident. For some reason, "King Kong" would brandish its sharp teeth every time he came over, trying to scare him. Over time, it became a habit. Zhang Niu had mentioned it a few times, but "King Kong" simply ignored him.
Today, the owner of the fruit seedlings was wearing a white casual outfit, which he seemed much more comfortable in than his previous visits when he wore a suit. However, he was accompanied by two middle-aged men in their thirties.
"You're living the good life! I have something good to tell you today!" he said with a smile.
"How could that be? I was just taking a nap because I had nothing to do. Aren't you always so busy? How come you have time to come here?" Zhang Niu asked, somewhat puzzled.
The two middle-aged men who had just entered the yard were captivated by the noisy wild boar piglets, the small wild turtles by the pond, and the large wild boar "King Kong." They were astonished that such creatures as wild boars existed on their small contracted mountain, especially "King Kong," which weighed nearly 300 pounds.
He led Zhang Niu to the two middle-aged men who were lost in thought and said, "These two are my friends; they run a medium-sized restaurant."
After hearing what the fruit seedling owner said, the two of them came to their senses.
"Hello. My surname is Zhou. This is my business card." After saying this, he took out a business card and handed it to Zhang Niu. Boss Wang, who was next to Boss Zhou, also handed over a business card. Zhang Niu glanced at it and saw that they were all from well-known restaurants in the county.
"I wonder what brings you two here?" Zhang Niu asked them.
"I heard from Qian Duoduo that the big white ducks you raise only need to be fed rice and let roam freely outside all day. They can grow to six or seven pounds in two months. That's why we came to take a look together," said Boss Zhou with a happy expression.
When Zhang Niu heard from Boss Zhou that it was Qian Duoduo's introduction, he thought for a moment but couldn't recall knowing such a person. He glanced at the fruit seedling vendor next to him—could this be him? "Disdain," he thought, "that's a really outrageous name. I never thought I'd encounter such a ridiculous name myself." He couldn't help but chuckle.
"Yes, Boss Qian is right. How about I take you to see for yourselves? Seeing is believing." After saying that, Zhang Niu walked towards the duck shed.
The group arrived at the pond. When Boss Zhou and Boss Wang saw the large white duck in the pond, it was indeed as Qian Duoduo had said. They could clearly see it from the pond's edge. This white duck seemed better than any other duck they had seen elsewhere. They just couldn't quite put their finger on it.
Standing beside him, Zhang Niu said, "This big white duck is definitely a top-notch mountain village duck. I'm not bragging, but once you've tasted it, you'll want to eat it again and again." Zhang Niu himself had secretly made a beer-braised duck with "Little Dot" while "King Kong" wasn't home last time. They devoured a four-pound duck, leaving "Little Dot" with a round, full belly. That's why he dared to say the duck was absolutely delicious.
Boss Wang said to Zhang Niu, "Let's buy some to try first, and the customers will naturally give us their opinion on how it tastes."
"Alright, but you've seen my big white ducks, right? There are only two hundred, not many. I can only let each of you buy thirty to take home at most. You can cook a few extra portions the first day, and you'll know the result after one meal. After that, just cook one big white duck every day to guarantee it will become your local signature dish."
The two thought the suggestion was good, provided the ducks were of good quality. Boss Qian ran to get the car, backed it in, and pulled out two duck cages. Zhang Niu quickly grabbed sixty large white ducks from the shed. One cage for each of them. As for the price, Zhang Niu quoted ninety yuan per duck; he wouldn't have dared to quote that price if he hadn't eaten them himself.
Both owners have good taste. Even if they overpay, it'll only be a few hundred or a thousand dollars. If what he said is true, a duck could easily sell for a hundred and fifty dollars. City people just want something delicious and unique.
As they were leaving, the two shopkeepers kept asking Zhang Niu if he would sell the wild boar piglets from his farm. Zhang Niu firmly said no. It wasn't about the money. This left the two shopkeepers sighing.
After the two bosses drove away, Boss Qian shamelessly asked Zhang Niu for a large white duck, saying he wanted to take it home and try it, to see if it was even more delicious than divine meat. Zhang Niu, on the other hand, exclaimed that he had met a bad person.
Holding five thousand four hundred yuan in my hand, it seems like raising some white ducks wouldn't be a bad idea.
Second update. Just got back and started writing. Please add to your favorites and recommend. The more the better. I need lots of favorites and recommendation votes.