Looking at the mountain of crawfish piled before her, Mu Yuqing immediately felt a headache coming on.
By rough estimate, there were at least two hundred jin of crawfish here.
With only the few people in their household, processing such an enormous amount before noon was practically impossible.
After thinking carefully for a moment, Mu Yuqing selected five village women who looked clean, efficient, and hardworking to help out.
“Aunties, I’d like to trouble you with some work,” Mu Yuqing said with a smile. “If we can finish processing all these crawfish within half an hour, I’ll pay each of you ten wen.”
The offer immediately tempted the women.
Although crawfish pincers could easily pinch fingers painfully, ten wen for half an hour of work was excellent money.
Without hesitation, the women pulled over stools and gathered around the wooden tubs.
Their eyes remained fixed on Mu Yuqing’s hands as they carefully observed her movements.
Mu Yuqing picked up a crawfish and skillfully snipped off the head with scissors, smoothly removing the internal organs in one motion.
Then she pinched the middle fin on the tail, twisted lightly, and gently pulled.
The entire intestinal vein slid out perfectly.
The women quickly followed her example.
At first their movements were clumsy and slow, but after a while, they gradually became faster and more proficient.
Once Mu Yuqing saw they had mastered the technique, she finally relaxed and headed into the kitchen to prepare the seasonings.
Today, besides the garlic flavor, she also planned to make spicy crawfish and another batch using the braising sauce from yesterday.
Three flavors in total.
As time slowly passed, rich aromas began drifting out from the kitchen.
The fragrance was so tempting that even the women outside processing the crawfish secretly swallowed their saliva.
By the time noon approached, Mu Yuqing and the nanny had finally finished cooking all two hundred jin of crawfish.
The finished dishes filled four enormous wooden basins.
But when Mu Yuqing looked at the huge amount of food before her, she suddenly frowned deeply.
How were they supposed to transport all of this to the market?
Just as she was worrying over the problem, a thought suddenly flashed through her mind like lightning.
The space!
She still had her mysterious magical space.
The only issue was that she had no idea whether cooked food could be stored inside.
Feeling both nervous and hopeful, Mu Yuqing quietly closed her eyes and softly whispered:
“Collect.”
The next instant, something miraculous happened.
One of the huge basins beside her was suddenly pulled away by an invisible force before vanishing into thin air.
It worked!
Mu Yuqing nearly jumped up in excitement.
With the space available, all transportation problems instantly became simple.
They no longer needed to haul every basin physically to the market.
They only had to place one basin outside as a display while secretly taking the rest out from the space after arriving.
To avoid arousing suspicion, Mu Yuqing still placed two wooden basins onto the donkey cart.
If only I had a proper carriage, she thought silently. After selling today’s goods, I should visit the livestock market and take a look.
Qingyun drove the donkey cart while Mu Yuqing sat quietly in the back.
The cart rattled slowly toward the marketplace.
However, the moment they arrived at their usual selling spot, both women froze in shock.
An enormous crowd had already gathered there.
The area was packed so tightly that it was even more crowded than the market itself.
People stretched their necks anxiously, clearly waiting for someone.
The moment the crowd spotted Mu Yuqing and Qingyun, everyone immediately parted to make way for them like disciplined soldiers.
“Oh, little lady, you’re finally here!”
A cheerful auntie waved excitedly at her.
“I haven’t eaten your crawfish for just one day, and I already feel restless all over!”
Mu Yuqing could not help laughing.
“In that case, Auntie, I’ll give you two extra today.”
Before she even finished speaking, the surrounding crowd immediately started shouting teasingly.
A burly man laughed loudly.
“Hey now, little lady, you can’t favor only the auntie! We’ve been craving your crawfish all day too!”
The crowd burst into laughter.
Another skinny man quickly joined in.
“That’s right! A beautiful and kind young lady like you should treat everyone equally!”
Mu Yuqing had not expected the crowd to tease her so openly.
Her cheeks instantly flushed red, almost the same color as the crawfish themselves.
Seeing this, the kind auntie immediately stepped forward and glared at the men.
“You shameless bunch! How can you bully a young girl like this? Behave yourselves!”
Her sharp scolding instantly quieted the noisy men.
Mu Yuqing immediately looked at the auntie gratefully.
After calming herself down, she smiled warmly at everyone.
“Please line up properly, everyone. Don’t worry, there’s enough for all of you.”
Then she bowed slightly.
“To thank everyone for supporting us, we have a special offer today. Buy one jin and receive two extra crawfish for free. Buy two jin and receive four extra. The more you buy, the more extras you get.”
The crowd instantly became excited.
“I want two jin!”
“Give me five jin!”
“Save three jin for me!”
Orders immediately started pouring in nonstop.
Mu Yuqing and Qingyun moved quickly, skillfully packing the crawfish while deliberately adding several large, juicy pieces into each order as promised.
The people waiting farther back in line watched the generous portions with admiration.
Many market vendors liked to cheat customers by using dishonest scales or giving tiny portions.
An honest seller like Mu Yuqing was truly rare.
Besides, her crawfish were simply too delicious.
Just then, someone suddenly pointed toward another basin nearby.
“Little lady, what’s inside that basin?”
Mu Yuqing glanced toward the basin of braised offal and smiled.
“Brother, these are braised pig organs cooked with a special blend of spices.”
As she spoke, she picked up a fragrant piece of braised large intestine with a bamboo skewer and handed it to the man.
“Here, try a taste first.”