Feng Si wiped the sweat from her forehead and turned to see the two sub-females at the neighboring stall, their faces filled with shock. She gave them a gentle smile.
"So I misunderstood you. Thank you both so much for bringing me all these potential customers. Otherwise, I don’t know how long it would’ve taken me to sell out."
The neighboring sub-female stall owner was left speechless.
’Damn it, these Beastmen must have been poisoned stupid!’
It was such a small pot of meat that most of the surrounding crowd hadn’t even gotten a taste. Watching Feng Si begin to pack up, they twitched their noses, trying to catch the lingering aroma of meat in the air.
Huang Juan craned his neck to look at the empty bottom of the pot, smacking his lips as he savored the aftertaste. "This meat you cooked tastes amazing. What time do you open tomorrow? I’ll be back."
He was currently pursuing a sub-female from the Black Dog Clan named Tian Tian. He had been busy hunting to earn a good number of coins, hoping to buy a gift that would please her. After tasting the sliced boiled pork from this stall, he wished he could bring Tian Tian over that very afternoon.
Such delicious food would surely make Tian Tian especially happy and satisfied.
"I’ll be here at the same time tomorrow. You’re all welcome to come back for a taste," Feng Si said with a smile.
After getting confirmation that she would be open tomorrow, Huang Juan left with a big smile on his face, and the rest of the crowd dispersed as well.
Feng Si placed the bowls and plates into the pot, returned the wooden stool and stall counter to the owner of the shop behind her, and headed home carrying her cooking utensils.
A few customers stood by the stalls on either side of the shop, and pedestrians carrying bags of all sizes walked through the aisle. In the middle of it all, a large patch of ground was abruptly empty. Anyone who didn’t know better would have thought this stall owner’s business had completely failed.
Having witnessed the entire process of Feng Si going from having no customers to being swarmed by a crowd in just half an hour, the two of them felt a sour knot of jealousy in their hearts.
"Sliced boiled pork? Isn’t that just boiled meat? As if anyone can’t make that." The sub-female stall owner on the left, Bai Dan, who had no customers, rolled her eyes.
The sub-female on the right, Bai Qi, who also had no customers, walked over. The two of them didn’t usually get along, but now that they had a common enemy, they started to find each other quite agreeable.
She was green with envy that all the sliced boiled pork had been snatched up.
She raised her hand in agreement. "We’re the ones who drew in all her customers! We should do the same thing tomorrow. Forget wild vegetables, let’s sell boiled meat."
Bai Dan looked at Bai Qi, her eyes shining as if she had just found her soul sister.
She proposed a plan: "Let’s follow her. We’ll see what kind of meat she buys and get the exact same thing. If our food is identical to hers, we’ll see who comes out on top tomorrow!"
Bai Qi slapped her thigh. "Brilliant! Wait for me. I’ll pack up my stall, and we can follow her right now."
...
Feng Si went with the flow of the crowd, carrying her pot and utensils toward the first-floor butcher stall where she’d bought meat the day before. She planned to buy more of the pork with skin. Her coin pouch was full, and she was brimming with motivation, but as she walked, her arms began to ache.
It was too heavy.
She set the pot down by her legs, looking down to rub her sore wrists. ’I should get a long carrying pole made later,’ she thought. ’It would be much easier to carry things on my shoulder.’
"Feng Si—"
A clear, cheerful voice called out from behind her. It sounded a little familiar, like someone she had spoken to recently.
Feng Si turned her head. Through a gap in the crowd, she first spotted a pair of pointed, orange cat ears, followed by a pair of large, round eyes.
It was the sub-female who had shown her where to dig for green potatoes and helped her get a large bag of meat.
She broke into a smile. "Mao Qiu, what a coincidence."
Mao Qiu had a basket strapped to her back, piled high with food. It weighed no less than a hundred jin, yet her steps were light and effortless.
She walked over, saw the pot by Feng Si’s legs, and noted they were both heading downstairs. She picked it up casually. "Are you going to the first floor? I’m just on my way to sell the green potatoes I dug up yesterday. Let’s go together."
Feng Si looked at how easily the other girl lifted the cooking utensils, which weighed a dozen or so jin, and then looked at her own arms, which were about the same size.
’...The body of a female is just too delicate.’
Sighing to herself, Feng Si gave a slight nod. "What’s the price for green potatoes?"
Mao Qiu replied excitedly, "Two coins each, but the Green Milk Fruits in my basket are worth more. Newborn cubs need to drink them, so everyone is willing to spend the money. They can sell for five coins apiece."
Looking at Feng Si asking about the price, she suddenly remembered that Feng Si had also dug up quite a few yesterday, and she understood.
Green potatoes were always popular with the cubs because of their soft and sticky texture.
Plus, with the quantity she had, she wasn’t worried about selling them.
She asked, "Do you want to bring your green potatoes down? I can help you sell them with mine?"
Hearing this, Feng Si looked up. The sub-female before her was enthusiastically offering to help her, to bring her along to make money, even though she also needed to set up a stall to earn coins herself.
Feng Si: "Should we split the stall fee?"
Mao Qiu’s gaze fell on Feng Si’s face, her round eyes showing some surprise. "No need! I have to pay five silver coins for my spot anyway. I’d have to pay it whether you join me or not."
Surprise flashed in Feng Si’s eyes. "Why are you helping me so much? You helped me yesterday, and now again today."
Mao Qiu smiled sheepishly. "I don’t know either. I guess it’s because I have seven younger sub-female sisters, so I’m used to taking care of people. When I see you doing things so slowly, I just want to help. Hehe..."
Accepting her kindness, Feng Si thought for a moment. "I think I’ll keep them for myself to eat. I’ve also been selling cooked meat at a stall recently. I’ll buy all the food in your basket. I need to go purchase some meat now, so if you wait here for a bit, I’ll come back for you."
Mao Qiu froze for a second, her gaze falling on the waist of the wolf-eared sub-female in cotton clothes standing next to her. It was slender and flat. "You’re buying so many green fruits. How many cubs have you given birth to?"
Feng Si: ?
Feng Si shook her head. ’That’s just how they are here with their concern for cubs,’ she thought. ’The topic always turns to them in a matter of words. No need to waste my breath explaining.’
The real reason she wanted to buy everything was so Mao Qiu could help deliver it all to her home, since she couldn’t carry that much stuff on her own.
Leaving Mao Qiu to wait for her, Feng Si, with her hands now free, walked briskly and soon arrived at the first-floor butcher stall.
Considering how well the sliced boiled pork had sold today—ten jin of meat divided into thirty pieces had earned a total of 8970 coins—it was truly a ridiculously profitable business.
For this purchase, Feng Si had the butcher cut the meat according to her specifications: a large, thirty-jin slab of pork belly.
She didn’t buy more. She was only one person, and with her current stamina, preparing so much would be exhausting. She wouldn’t be able to carry it, either.
Having earned so many coins in a single day, Feng Si was now willing to spend money to improve her stall equipment.
The bowls and plates she had to carry back and forth today accounted for a lot of the weight. Moreover, because she only had four bowls, she had to wash them on the spot after a customer used one before she could serve the next, which was inconvenient and wasted time.
She definitely had to replace them. She had already spotted a good alternative for serving bowls: large leaves, which would be much lighter.
She hadn’t gone out foraging yesterday, so in addition to the meat, she spent another six coins on twelve wide, long leaves that looked like banana leaves.
When the time came, she would wash them clean, cut them into appropriate sizes, and use them to serve the meat. She wouldn’t have to wash dishes anymore.
After buying everything, Feng Si went back to find Mao Qiu, and the two of them returned together via the platform lift.
And not far behind them, hidden in the crowd, two pairs of eyes stared excitedly at Feng Si’s purchases. They secretly noted everything, their eyes turning bloodshot with uncontrollable greed.
’It’s our turn to get rich!’