Chapter 14: Yue Feng's Development Plan
"Eighty cents a jin, no tickets needed!"
"Do you have any fatter ones?" Yue Feng glanced at the sled next to the person and asked.
"This is all that's left! The loin and belly pork are all sold out! This head is from a sow weighing over two hundred jin, it's very fragrant!"
"It's all lean. Give me two jin. Can you do it for one yuan fifty?" Yue Feng asked.
The other person also knew that lean meat wasn't easy to sell. Hearing that Yue Feng was buying two jin at once, he gritted his teeth and said, "Fine, I'll sell it to you!"
Money exchanged hands for meat, the transaction was complete, and Yue Feng picked up the strips of meat and turned to leave.
After getting the meat, Yue Feng strolled over to another stall selling grain.
This guy had two small bags in front of him, one with cornmeal and the other with white flour. He had been here since Yue Feng arrived to set up his stall, and it seemed he hadn't made a single sale yet.
"Hey, buddy! How much is white flour per jin?"
"No tickets needed, twenty-one cents a jin!"
Hearing this price, Yue Feng's heart skipped a beat.
No wonder it wasn't selling. At the current market rate, bought with tickets, it was only around seventeen cents in the State-Owned Grain and Oil Store. A difference of four cents per jin was not a small amount in the eyes of ordinary people.
"Twenty cents a jin, give me ten jin. Can you sell it?" Yue Feng didn't beat around the bush and directly stated he was a big customer.
"Okay! Since you're buying a lot, I'll give it to you for twenty cents!"
He paid the money, and Yue Feng even got a small bag for the flour for free.
After buying the flour and meat, Yue Feng had no reason to stay. He slung the flour bag over his back, turned, and strode towards home.
He hadn't eaten breakfast in the morning, and his stomach had long been growling, but Yue Feng didn't bring himself to go into the State-Owned Restaurant to buy a steamed bun when he passed by. A meat bun was thirty cents. He could afford to eat it, but with the few yuan in his pocket, Yue Feng didn't have that confidence yet.
Carrying the flour bag, he walked back home step by step. By the time he reached the village entrance, it was just getting light, around six o'clock.
Last night, Yue Feng had already explained things to his family. When Yue Feng returned home with the meat and flour, his Dad was sitting on a small stool in the middle of the courtyard, helping Yue Feng hold the hawk.
Even if a hawk caught in the wild is trained, daily handling cannot be skipped, especially in the morning. If the Hawk Keeper is lazy and gets up late, the hawk is prone to becoming rebellious. When taken out to work and released, it might fly straight into the clouds and be gone before you can even shake hands.
"Dad! I'm back!" Yue Feng greeted him as he pushed open the courtyard gate.
"Did you sell them?"
"Yeah! The Sand Grouse were seventy cents each, and the Flying Dragon were one yuan one cent. Two people bought them all! With the money I made, I bought some meat and ten jin of white flour! Your leg injury isn't healed yet, with better nutrition, it will heal faster!" Yue Feng said proudly.
"Okay! My second son has grown up, he knows how to care for his Dad!" His father, Yue Lei, looked at the meat and white flour his son brought back and said with emotion.
"Then I'll go inside first!" Yue Feng carried the flour bag into the house.
On the stove, his Mom was cooking corn porridge. Seeing the pork and white flour her son brought back, she was also very happy. After learning that yesterday's game sold for five yuan ninety cents, her enthusiasm immediately increased greatly.
"I'll stew some of this meat later to use for stir-frying! Mix the white flour with cornmeal, your younger sister loves steamed buns made with mixed flour!" His mother, Meng Yulan, took the supplies her son brought back and had already decided how to use them.
Yue Feng said, "Mom, since this path of going out with the hawk is viable, we don't have to be so frugal with our food from now on! I can earn several yuan just by going out with the hawk once, and if I catch a Flying Dragon, I might earn even more! I can earn money every day from now on, and our family will eat fine grains every day!"
Hearing her son's wasteful talk, Meng Yulan pouted slightly in dissatisfaction. "How can you say that? I heard you get up at three something in the east room. This money didn't come easily, and there are still many places where the family needs money! How can you waste the money you earn like that!"
Yue Feng said, "This isn't wasting. Eating well will help my Dad's leg recover sooner! When I save enough money to buy a 16-gauge shotgun, I'll go hunting in the mountains with my Dad. We can bring back a Black Bear casually, and we'll have food for several months! When we've saved up some family assets, we'll raise a few mountain hunting dogs, and then we can even take down a Black Bear if we encounter one!"
Listening to her son's grand aspirations, his mother, Meng Yulan, wiped the sweat from her forehead with her sleeve and said softly after a long time, "I don't ask for our family to be very rich, I just wish everyone in the family is safe and sound!"
"Listen to me, Mom. Half of the meat I brought back today, stew it in oil for stir-frying, and the other half, let's make dumplings for dinner! I'll eat my fill and go back to the mountain to release the hawk. If the harvest is good, I'll go to the Ghost Market again tomorrow morning!"
"Okay! The money is yours to earn, so I'll listen to you! I'll chop the dumpling filling after lunch, and our family will eat dumplings tonight!"
...
After eating breakfast, it was almost seven o'clock. Yue Feng slung his bag back on, held the hawk, and left the village again.
Getting up at three in the morning and walking back and forth over forty li of mountain roads, it would be a lie to say he wasn't tired, but at this moment, Yue Feng was supported by a belief in his mind to completely change his family's situation, pushing him to continue forward.
Other people in the village wanted to work hard to earn money but didn't even have the opportunity. Going out with a hawk, he could earn six yuan a day, which was much more cost-effective than earning five cents per work point in the production team.
Yesterday, Yue Feng successfully released the hawk by plucking the string, so today when he went out, he had much more room for choice.
The Da Qing Yao was held up by his Dad as soon as it was light, and it was very well-behaved in Yue Feng's hands now. After leaving the village, its eyes became lively. Even when two Sparrows chirped in the bushes by the roadside, it strained towards them, full of energy.
With the hawk steady, Yue Feng certainly wouldn't let the Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Female) catch Sparrows. He followed the same mountain ridge he came down yesterday, going straight up the mountain from the foot.
The Sand Grouse in the small woods by the River were not easy to catch anymore. Yue Feng's main hunting target for today was the Flying Dragon.
The period from dawn to just after sunrise is when the Flying Dragon birds forage in flocks. Yue Feng had just entered the mountain and walked less than five hundred meters when that familiar zizizi chicken sound came again.
Using the tree trunks for cover, Yue Feng slowly closed the distance while holding the hawk. After getting within twenty meters, Yue Feng decisively released the hawk. The aggressive Da Qing Yao flew towards the flock of chickens, skimming the grass.
With a single strike, the Flying Dragon bird's tragic cry sounded, and the other lucky ones scattered in a hurry.
Yue Feng quickly followed, took out the half of the Sand Grouse he hadn't finished eating yesterday from his backpack, placed it at the Da Qing Yao's feet, and easily swapped it for the adult male Flying Dragon bird.
He wrapped the prey in a sock, stuffed it into his backpack, and put the one yuan one cent into his pocket.
Allowing the Da Qing Yao to peck at the chicken meat a few times, Yue Feng re-mounted the hawk, took out his water bottle to give the hawk a sip of water, and the battle continued!
In the pine forest in the morning, Flying Dragons of all sizes were in groups of three to five, and there were quite a few of them.
Over the next hour or so, Yue Feng went up the mountain along the eastern base, sticking close to the ridge, all the way to the rocky area on the west side, catching five Flying Dragon birds in total.