Chapter 48: 48 Buying a Duck

Chapter 48: Buying Ducks

Song Hongmei was very dissatisfied: "Don't you want customers in your business?"

Old Zhang was equally unhappy: "My dear sister, every time you bring people here, you try to haggle. How am I supposed to make any profit?"

Every businessman said the same thing, yet Song Hongmei didn't make any money selling her own eggs and pancakes either!

She didn't believe it for a second.

She turned to Song Tan and said, "Don't be fooled by how run-down it looks. Actually, this whole area belongs to him. Otherwise, if these old urban houses weren't slated for demolition, would he be able to sell chickens and ducks? People would have come knocking long ago."

It was a stroke of luck that this place was tucked away in the crevices between several large family compounds without affecting the city's appearance; otherwise, this clandestine business wouldn't have lasted this long.

Having lived in the residential compounds for over twenty years, Song Hongmei knew exactly what was going on. "Tan Tan, don't listen to his nonsense. He hatches these ducks himself at home, so there's hardly any cost—I'm telling you, they were four yuan each last year. Don't let him rip you off!"

Old Zhang's expression changed instantly. "Sister! Are you intentionally undermining me? Last year's price was last year's price. Why wouldn't the price go up this year? I won't sell them for four yuan!"

Song Hongmei simply turned and walked away. "You guys talk amongst yourselves; I need to hurry home and cook."

And with that, she bolted.

The remaining three looked at each other in silence, then Qiaoqiao repeated, "Four yuan each?"

Old Zhang refused to budge: "No! The minimum is four-fifty. Otherwise, go buy them somewhere else!"

Song Tan almost burst out laughing.

She had inquired about the prices previously, and not a single place sold them for less than five yuan. It seemed four yuan really was bottom-of-the-barrel pricing.

"Fine, four-fifty it is. Let us see them first."

A quick look wouldn't hurt.

Old Zhang was quite confident in his ducks. He led the two of them through the front house, turned into the backyard, entered another room, and then into another backyard—

This was his secret headquarters.

A makeshift sunshade had been erected here, and the pungent, fishy smell of duck droppings could be smelled from a distance.

However, once they stepped inside, a flock of fuzzy yellow ducklings came waddling toward them, shaking their little butts and making "patter-patter" sounds!

The scene was incredibly delightful!

Qiaoqiao was so captivated he couldn't move his legs; he crouched down directly and looked at Song Tan with wide, expectant eyes.

Old Zhang explained from the side, "Have you raised them before? How many do you want? These are Flower Marsh Ducks; the meat is good and they grow fast. Look at how strong and healthy they are—once you take them home, they're guaranteed to survive!"

Song Tan believed him.

They had arrived unexpectedly, and the owner hadn't made any special preparations, yet to the naked eye, the ducklings were all energetic and indeed looked robust.

At four-fifty each, it was considered extremely cheap.

She thought about it; there was a pond above the bamboo forest in her hometown. These ducks could go into the rice paddies to eat grass later, and there were hillsides for them to roam freely. There was plenty of space.

"Let's start with a hundred."

A hundred?

This time, it was Old Zhang's turn to be surprised.

"I thought you were just a local farmer looking to raise a few... that's a lot!"

Then, seeing Song Tan's expression and remembering she was with Song Hongmei, he became wary again. "I'm telling you, even if you buy a thousand, the price is the same—four-fifty, not a cent less!"

Song Hongmei was a persistent woman—too persistent!

If she couldn't haggle to her satisfaction, she would come back every single day to do it! Selling ducks wasn't like selling vegetables; there was a long period from hatching to maturity, and she could be relentless.

Old Zhang truly couldn't take it anymore, which was why he had blurted out his bottom line.

Song Tan didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Alright, that's quite a lot. Your ducks are good; I'll come back to buy more next year."

Her decisiveness made Old Zhang feel a bit embarrassed.

"Sigh, it's all because of Sister Song. She haggles with me every time. She's been haggling for so long that I'm actually afraid of her."

But he turned around to count the ducks in his small yard—they were hatched in batches, and there were only about a hundred and twenty or thirty in the yard in total.

Old Zhang pondered for a moment. "How about this: you buy one hundred and twenty, and I'll give you the remaining few for free."

Although most were strong and healthy, there were inevitably a few weaker ones that would lower the price. Rather than keeping them and having people pick through them, it was better to sell them all at once.

He also worried that Song Tan wouldn't recognize their value

"I'm telling you, nearly half of this batch are male ducks. Male duck meat is more nutritious than female duck meat, and they're usually more expensive, but I'll give them all to you at the same price."

Chickens and ducks were different.

For chickens, hens had more economic value, but for ducks, the males were considered more nutritious to eat. Furthermore, aside from salted duck eggs, there weren't many other ways to make duck eggs delicious, so their economic value was slightly lower.

Everything Old Zhang said was the truth.

Song Tan thought about it; she was buying a hundred anyway, so an extra twenty or thirty wouldn't matter. She nodded readily.

"Deal."

Over a hundred ducklings were placed into the truck bed. It was now twelve o'clock, and they wouldn't make it back in time for lunch. Fortunately, Song Tan was prepared.

She took Qiaoqiao's hand. "Come on, what do you want to eat? Big sister will take you."

Qiaoqiao thought hard. "What does Peppa eat?"

What did Peppa eat?

Song Tan didn't know either; probably pig feed...

She thought for a moment.

"Come on, I'll take you to eat fried chicken, fries, red bean pie, and hamburgers!"

It wasn't just about how delicious they were, but also for the toys that came with them, and to give Qiaoqiao, who had never eaten such things, a change of taste.

There were ducklings in the car, so the food was all packed and brought into the vehicle.

As soon as Qiaoqiao opened the toy box in his hands, he was surprised to find a bright yellow little duck inside!

Its two wings flapped up and down, which was very interesting.

"Little duck!"

He cried out in delight, then took a big bite of his roasted chicken leg.

"Mmm..." He chewed, his expression looking strange.

Song Tan glanced at him. "Is it good?"

Qiaoqiao thought about it, his expression conflicted. "It's not as good as the vegetables, but, but..."

He couldn't finish his sentence.

"But it's quite novel, right?" Song Tan supplemented.

"Mhm!" Qiaoqiao nodded heavily and took another bite.

*Poor kid...*

Song Tan thought to herself that she should find time to take him to an amusement park a few times.

Qiaoqiao didn't know that even more delicious food and fun things were waiting for him in the future; at this moment, he only nodded with satisfaction, holding a chicken wing in one hand and the little duck in the other.

"Sister, can we eat this again next time?"

Song Tan felt for him. "Then we'll eat it once every two weeks, okay?"

How long was two weeks?

Qiaoqiao blinked, and finally nodded blankly.

After a moment, he dug out a half-pack of snow biscuits from his bag.

"I can't eat this anymore. Can I take it back for Dabai?"

"Of course."

She had another pack in her pocket. "We'll have to ask Dabai to bring the little ducklings later; make sure you feed him plenty of yummy things."

Dabai bringing little ducklings?

Qiaoqiao instinctively turned to look at the truck bed, and after a long while, he said with a grimace, "If Dabai brings ducks, will he be very fierce?"

"No!" Song Tan coaxed him. "The ducks will grow up to be just like Dabai. You won't be able to fit them all in one pot!"

Oh, thinking about winter melon old duck soup, sour bamboo shoot old duck soup, roast duck... her mouth was watering.

However, Qiaoqiao had a distressed look on his face.

"Dabai won't do. Dabai can't be stewed."

This was the downside of raising animals for a long time; once you developed an emotional bond, you couldn't let go.

Song Tan sighed.

"We won't stew Dabai, we'll eat the ducks—you're not allowed to play with the ducks later, okay?"