Her Cultivation Diary

Chapter 48: 48. Buy duck_1

Song Hongmei was very dissatisfied,

“You, a businessman, don’t want customers anymore?”

Old Zhang wasn’t happy either,

“My dear older sister, you bring people here to bargain every time. How am I supposed to make a profit?”

That’s what all businessmen say. Song Hongmei herself didn’t make a profit selling eggs and pancakes!

She didn’t believe it.

So she turned to Song Tan and said,

“Don’t judge by its cover; this whole area belongs to him. Otherwise, how could such a shabby old house in the old town not be demolished and still sell chickens and ducks? People would have been at his door a long time ago.”

It was lucky that this place was wedged between several large family courtyards, not affecting the city’s appearance, or else this sneaky business wouldn’t last.

Having lived in the family courtyards for over twenty years, Song Hongmei knew them well,

“Tantan, don’t listen to his nonsense. These ducks were all hatched at his home; the cost is next to nothing—I’m telling you, last year they were four yuan each. Don’t let yourself be taken advantage of!”

Old Zhang’s face changed,

“Sis! Are you trying to ruin my business on purpose? Last year’s price was for last year. Everything goes up this year, right? I won’t sell them for four yuan!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated on ƝᴑνǤᴑ.сο

But Song Hongmei just turned around and walked away,

“You guys talk it over, I need to rush back home to cook.”

And then she took off.

The three left behind looked at each other before Qiaoqiao repeated,

“Four yuan each?”

Old Zhang refused to budge,

“No! The lowest is four and a half yuan, take it or leave it!”

Song Tan almost laughed out loud.

She had inquired about the prices beforehand; not one place sold them for less than five yuan. It seemed that four yuan really was the bare minimum.

“Okay, four and a half it is, but let us have a look first.”

Have a look then.

Old Zhang was very confident in his ducks. He led the two through the front room, turning into the backyard, then into another room, and then back into the yard—

That’s where his secret base was located.

Half the area was covered with a shade cloth, and from afar you could smell the stench of duck droppings.

However, once they entered, a flock of fluffy yellow ducklings waddled their little butts from side to side, excitedly rushing over!

The scene was incredibly heartwarming!

Qiaoqiao couldn’t even move her legs; she squatted down right away, then looked at Song Tan with longing eyes.

Old Zhang explained on the side,

“Have you raised them before? How many do you want? These are mottled ducks, with good meat quality and they grow quickly. Just look at how strong and healthy each one is, I guarantee they will survive when you take them home!”

Song Tan believed that.

They had arrived unexpectedly, and the owner didn’t prepare anything in advance; however, at first glance, the ducklings were all lively and robust.

Four and a half yuan a piece was indeed a bargain.

She thought it over. Back home, there was a pond at the top of the bamboo forest, and the ducks could later be let into the rice paddies to eat grass, not to mention, they had the hillside to roam around—the space was definitely big enough.

“Let’s start with a hundred,” she said.

One hundred?

Now it was Old Zhang’s turn to be surprised.

“I thought you were just some household farmer wanting to raise a few for yourselves… that many, huh!”

Then he saw Song Tan’s expression, remembered she was a guest brought by Song Hongmei, and became cautious,

“I’m telling you, even if you buy a thousand, the price is the same, four and a half yuan each, not a cent less!”

Song Hongmei, that woman, was persistent, too persistent! If she couldn’t bargain down to her satisfaction, she would come to haggle every day! Selling ducks wasn’t like selling vegetables; it takes a long time for a batch of ducks to hatch and grow. Yet, she could be unyieldingly persistent.

Old Zhang really couldn’t stand it, and that’s why he blurted out his bottom line.

Song Tan couldn’t help but smile and cry.

“Alright, that’s not few, your ducks are quite good. I’ll come back to buy again next year.”

Since she agreed so readily, Old Zhang felt a bit embarrassed,

“Ah, it’s all because of Sister Song; she always wants to bargain with me, so much that I’m afraid of her.”

But then, he counted his yard’s ducks—hatching came in batches, and there were only a total of one hundred and twenty to thirty.

After pondering for a while, Old Zhang said,

“How about this: you take one hundred and twenty, and I’ll throw in the rest for free.”

Though most were strong, inevitably, some were weaker, which would reduce their value.

Rather than keeping them and struggling to sell them off selectively, it was better to package them all together in one deal.

He was also worried that Song Tan wouldn’t know the goods:

“I’m telling you, almost half of this batch are drakes, which are more nourishing than the females, and normally, they would even cost a bit more, but I’ll give them all to you for one uniform price.”

Chickens and ducks are different.

Hens are more economically valuable than ducks, but drakes are more nourishing when eaten.

Moreover, apart from salted duck eggs, there aren’t any tastier ways to eat duck eggs. So, the economic value is somewhat less.

Old Zhang did speak some earnest truths.

Song Tan thought it over and decided that buying a hundred was enough, and a couple more wouldn’t make much of a difference, so she promptly nodded:

“Okay.”

Over a hundred ducks were loaded into the truck bed, and as the time had reached twelve o’clock, they couldn’t make it back for lunch. Fortunately, Song Tan was well-prepared.

At this moment, she took Qiaoqiao: “Come on, what do you want to eat? Sister will take you.”

Qiaoqiao pondered hard: “What does Peppa eat?”

What does Peppa eat?

Song Tan didn’t know either, probably pig feed…

She thought for a moment:

“Let’s go, I’ll take you for some fried chicken, fries, red bean pie, and hamburgers!”

Not because they were particularly delicious, but for the toys that came with them, and to give Qiaoqiao, who had never tried them before, a new taste experience.

Since there were still ducklings in the car, they packed the food to eat in the vehicle.

Just as Qiaoqiao opened the toy box in his hands, he was surprised to find a yellow, fluffy little duckling inside!

Its wings were flapping up and down, very amusing.

“A little duckling!”

He exclaimed with joy and then, “Ah woo,” took a bite of the roasted chicken leg.

“Hmm…” he chewed, with an odd expression on his face.

Song Tan glanced at him: “Is it good?”

Qiaoqiao thought for a moment, his expression conflicted: “Not as tasty as vegetables, but, but…”

He couldn’t finish his sentence.

“But it’s also quite a novelty, right?” Song Tan added.

“Yeah!” Qiaoqiao nodded vigorously, then took another bite.

Poor kid…

Song Tan thought to herself: She should take him to a children’s amusement park when she had some free time.

Qiaoqiao, unaware of the many delicious and fun things in his future, just nodded contentedly, holding a chicken wing in one hand and the little duckling in the other:

“Sister, can we eat this again next time?”

Song Tan felt sorry for him: “How about we do this once every two weeks?”

How long are two weeks?

Qiaoqiao blinked, eventually nodding in confusion.

He thought for a moment, then pulled out half a package of snow cakes from his bag:

“I can’t finish this. Can I take it back for Big White?”

“Of course.”

She had another pack in her pocket: “We’ll have to ask Big White to look after the little ducks later, so you should feed him some good snacks.”

Big White looking after little ducks?

Qiaoqiao instinctively turned to look at the rear of the truck, and after a long time, he frowned and said:

“If Big White looks after the ducks, won’t he be too rough?”

“No!” Song Tan reassured him: “The ducks will grow as big as Big White, too big for one pot to hold!”

Ah, the thought of winter melon duck soup, sour bamboo shoot duck soup, roast duck… made the saliva flow irresistibly.

However, Qiaoqiao’s face turned grim:

“Not Big White, Big White can’t be stewed.”

That’s the downside of getting attached to animals after caring for them for so long; once emotions are invested, it’s hard to let go.

Song Tan sighed:

“We won’t stew Big White; we’ll eat the ducks—just make sure you don’t play with the ducks when the time comes.”