Chapter 686 Burning Shrimp in Yangzhou

It was 3:45 PM.

The hottest part of the day has passed, and the shadows of the trees are stretched long by the sunlight. People stand under the shadows, feeling the gentle breeze of the countryside.

The breeze occasionally carries a fragrant aroma that makes one's mouth water.

Cheng Wanwan walked out of the makeshift kitchen and onto the platform that had been set up. Even from this high vantage point, she couldn't see the end of the crowd.

Fortunately, she had a simple megaphone made in advance, otherwise speaking in such a situation would have been very taxing on her voice.

She picked up the megaphone and announced loudly, "Welcome to all the folks of Yangzhou! Before the feast begins, let us invite the members of the Yangzhou Chamber of Commerce to come up and take their seats."

Mr. He is the vice president of the Yangzhou Chamber of Commerce. There are two vice presidents, as well as the president and some other businessmen in other positions. They were all invited up.

The chairman, completely bewildered, asked, "Old He, what is Sui Shuren trying to do?"

Although Grandpa He had been with Cheng Wanwan the whole time, he really couldn't figure out her intentions. He shook his head and said, "Maybe she's promoting the local delicacies of Dahe Town."

After all, Yangzhou is a major commercial city. If items like preserved eggs, potatoes, and ice jelly become popular in Yangzhou, it will generate a huge income that can fully recoup the cost of this culinary feast.

All the prominent members of the Yangzhou Chamber of Commerce were invited up.

Cheng Wanwan looked at the crowd below and said with a smile, "Last summer and early summer this year, the most popular food in Yangzhou was undoubtedly the mantis shrimp. How can we not invite mantis shrimp to the event today? Someone, bring the mantis shrimp up!"

Upon hearing her words, everyone's expressions changed slightly.

The people from the Yangzhou Chamber of Commerce hesitated. Weren't the crayfish brought from Dahe Town all poisoned? How could they be served on the table again? What tricks was Sui Shuren up to? These seasoned business people couldn't understand it at all.

Most of the onlookers were from the lower classes in Yangzhou. Those who were slightly wealthier had eaten mantis shrimp once, and the taste was still unforgettable. Some people simply didn't have the spare money to eat something so expensive, and had always wanted to try it out to see what it tasted like...

However, the recent crayfish poisoning incident caused quite a stir, and Sui Shuren also admitted that crayfish are indeed poisonous. Even if they are very tempted, they dare not eat them.

The sound of cart wheels could be heard in the distance, and the people present all turned to look.

Then, wheelbarrows were pushed in this direction, and those wheelbarrows were filled with large red prawns.

These crayfish were transported from Dahe Town. About half of them died on the way. In the past three or four days, no one was arranged to change the water for breeding. About two-thirds of them died, but some were still alive. The living crayfish waved their big pincers. Some fell off the truck and crawled all over the ground. The villagers were so frightened that they all backed away.

"This thing looks really scary."

"But it was really delicious, it's a pity it was poisonous, I will never dare to eat it again."

"Is Sui Shuren's feast going to involve cooking crayfish on the spot? If so, then I've come for nothing."

"..."

Forty to fifty thousand catties of crayfish were transported by more than a hundred dump trucks and parked in the square in a grand procession, attracting much attention.

Cheng Wanwan took in everyone's expressions.

Her voice was loud and clear: "This is a new species that was presented as tribute from the Kingdom of Laji. It's a new delicacy that's recently become very popular in Yangzhou, but it's also the food that has caused many people to get poisoned. It's called mantis shrimp. There must be many people here who have eaten it, and of course, there are many more who haven't. Those who haven't eaten it probably don't dare to eat it, for fear of poisoning, for fear of getting sick, for fear of ending up in bed and never getting up again..."

"I can tell you very clearly that crayfish themselves are not poisonous, otherwise people would have been poisoned by eating them last year. The reason why this happened this year is because some unscrupulous people poisoned the ponds where crayfish are farmed. The only fortunate thing is that the ponds are big enough and there are enough crayfish, so the toxicity was weakened. Fortunately, no one died, which is the greatest luck in this misfortune."

"I assure you all that Dahe Town will strengthen its manpower defenses to ensure that every link is under control and that this year's misfortune will never be repeated... This year's misfortune has already happened. In order to prevent the poisonous shrimp from entering the market, I brought all the poisonous crayfish to Yangzhou City this time, which is what you see here."

Upon hearing her say that, the crowd retreated again in fright.

They didn't understand why, if these things were poisonous, they would go to such great lengths to transport them to Yangzhou, as the shipping costs were a considerable expense.

Cheng Wanwan raised her hand and pointed to a low hill further east of the city's east gate: "See that pit over there? That's the graveyard of the poisonous crayfish."

She made a slight gesture.

The men in the square immediately lifted the wheelbarrows and walked in an orderly fashion toward the low hill.

The low hill was barren, revealing bare rocks. Large rocks were chiseled open to create a huge pit, at the bottom of which were placed black charcoal and a lot of dry grass. Then, countless red crayfish were dumped in all at once.

Many people gathered around, wanting to see what was going on.

Cheng Wanwan shouted, "Light the fire!"

Zhao Ergou took out a tinderbox, blew on it, and after it started to burn, he threw the tinderbox into the pit.

With dry grass as a starting point, the fire quickly blazed up. The charcoal at the bottom helped fuel the fire, and people nearby kept throwing in dry branches and firewood.

As soon as the fire started, the crayfish that were still alive in the pit began to crawl out.

The people guarding the edge of the pit were responsible for blocking the crayfish's escape route; as soon as one crawled out, they would throw it back in.

The crayfish were roasted over a large fire, and their originally red shells became even redder. Soon, the aroma of crayfish meat wafted out.

Those gathered around couldn't help but salivate.

"My God, this smells amazing."

"This stuff smells so good even when you just lightly roast it over a fire. It must be even more delicious if a chef cooks it carefully. No wonder it's so popular in Yangzhou."

"All the crayfish this year were killed by someone who poisoned them. We won't be able to enjoy them. It's such a pity."

"Sui Shuren is really decisive. Other businessmen would never have been willing to burn all the lobsters that are so profitable."

"That's not necessarily true. They might sell a mix of good and bad stuff. Anyway, eating a little won't cause poisoning, so no one will notice it's poisonous..."

The members of the Yangzhou Chamber of Commerce who were watching from the stage exchanged glances, and they all saw shock in each other's eyes.

Tens of thousands of catties of crayfish could earn them hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. If it were them, they certainly wouldn't be willing to burn them all... They might sell a small amount to keep the risk within the poisoning range, or they might move them to another pond to continue raising them until the toxicity weakens before serving them on the table...

In short, they would never burn the money that was about to be theirs.

Flames soared into the sky, and all the crayfish perished in the inferno.

Cheng Wanwan smiled and said, "Then please enjoy your meal."

She clapped her hands gently, and the cook in the kitchen brought out the food on a huge tray and placed it on the table.

The people were already craving it, so they lined up to get bowls and chopsticks and couldn't wait to start eating.

This is a completely self-service banquet; everyone can eat and drink as much as they want, with a constant stream of delicious food being brought in from the kitchen…