The bird's nests we picked today were piled on the octagonal table. Yu Yao divided them into four piles. "Let's each count one pile and see how much we picked today."

Su Meihua and the others nodded and began counting the bird's nests.

Lu Ze was the first to finish counting, and not long after he finished, Yu Yao and the others also finished counting one after another.

Yu Yao said, "I have fifty-seven lamps in my pile. How many do you have?"

Su Meihua said, "I counted forty-nine cups, and Lao Lei counted fifty-two."

Yu Yao asked Lu Ze, "Lu Ze, what about you?"

Fifty-eight.

Yu Yao added it all up and her eyes were full of smiles: "Today's results are good, we actually picked two hundred and sixteen lamps."

Yu Yao divided the 216 lamps into two piles, one for each of the two families.

Su Meihua then allocated some more to Yu Yao, saying, "The rest is enough for us. If it weren't for you recognizing the bird's nest, Yu Yao, we wouldn't have had such a good deal. This much is enough for us; taking any more would be greedy."

She insisted, so Yu Yao didn't say anything more, only saying, "Then I'll take this part, and we'll divide the rest of the bird's nest equally."

Su Meihua and Commander Lei looked at each other and nodded.

Holding up a feathery bird's nest, Su Meihua asked, "Yu Yao, are you just going to take this bird's nest directly to the purchasing station to sell?"

“The purchasing stations have high quality requirements for bird’s nests. If we sell this batch of bird’s nests directly without cleaning out the feathers, it won’t be worthwhile. We can first pick out the bird’s nests with less feathers, clean them by hand, and then sell them at a higher price.”

As for the remaining feathers, just sell them directly. It's too labor-intensive, and picking out the feathers isn't cost-effective.

At this point, Yu Yao paused, "But there are many tiny downy feathers inside a bird's nest, and removing them is very time-consuming and laborious; you probably can't remove many in a day."

"It takes a lot of effort and time, but I don't have much to do at home except cook, do laundry, and take care of the kids. Yu Yao, can you teach me how to pick the fur?"

Picking out the hairs isn't difficult; what's difficult is being meticulous and patient enough.

When Yu Yao went to experience it in her previous life, she personally asked the skilled workers there. She heard that they had to go through eight feather-picking processes for each bird's nest to remove all the visible feathers.

Of course, it's impossible to remove all the feathers from a bird's nest by hand; this level of removal already represents the highest standard.

According to this standard, a skilled worker can only pick eight to nine lamps a day.

People like her and Sister-in-law Meihua aren't very skilled; they'd be lucky to pick out four or five lamps a day.

It is indeed time-consuming and hard on the eyes, but the benefits are also obvious to the naked eye.

If a bird's nest that hasn't had its feathers removed can only sell for four yuan, then the same bird's nest that has had its feathers removed can sell for four and a half to five yuan.

After a hard day's work, you can earn an extra five or six yuan.

You should know that with Yu Yao's current salary, she earns less than two yuan a day.

Five or six yuan is already considered a high salary.

Sure enough, Su Meihua and Commander Lei's eyes practically lit up when they heard they could earn an extra five or six yuan. "Let's do as you say, Yu Yao. Sell off the hairiest ones, and we'll pick out the hairiest ones ourselves."

"Then you wait here for a moment, I'll go in and get the tweezers."

There are two methods for hand-picking bird's nest feathers: dry picking and wet picking. Although dry picking is more difficult, it can preserve the shape of the bird's nest and result in a better taste and texture. Yu Yao recommends this method.

Wet picking is more suitable for bird's nests with a lot of feathers. The bird's nests they picked were of good quality. After excluding those with too many feathers that didn't need to be picked, the rest were more suitable for dry picking.

Yu Yao went inside, opened the old first-aid kit, and found a pair of unused tweezers: "Sister-in-law Meihua, let me explain it to you first, and then I'll pick one out for you to see. You can just follow along later."

Before picking the feathers, Yu Yao first taught them how to classify them.

Her classification criteria were based on the standards used in factories in later generations. She didn't know the standards of this era, so she could only make do with them for now.

The so-called "dry picking" actually means wetting the surface of the bird's nest with water. After wetting it, the strands of the bird's nest will soften and become less likely to be broken.

"When picking out the feathers, start with the larger ones. The remaining small downy feathers can only be peeled off little by little, using tweezers while trying not to damage the shape of the bird's nest. There are no special skills involved, just patience."

Su Meihua's eyes were wide open, afraid of missing an important step.

Lu Ze and Commander Lei also watched intently.

This job is very taxing on the eyes. Just by explaining and selecting things for Su Meihua, Yu Yao felt her eyes getting sore.

One can imagine how much time and effort it takes to select a good bird's nest.

Commander Lei couldn't sit still for long. Su Meihua, annoyed by his fidgeting, told him to take the kapok flowers back and deal with them first.

Yu Yao glanced at Lu Ze, "If you find it troublesome, you don't have to stay here and listen."

When it comes to doing this kind of meticulous work, men are naturally not as good as women.

Lu Ze shook his head. "Don't worry about me. You do your thing."

Seeing that he wasn't leaving, Yu Yao didn't say anything and continued to teach Su Meihua how to pick the feathers.

After explaining all the necessary precautions, Yu Yao didn't pick any more. It was getting dark, and she still had to cook, so she decided to stop cooking for now.

Su Meihua learned how to pick the feathers and carried her family's bird's nest back to the yard.

Su Meihua and Yu Yao did not intend to hide the matter of picking bird's nests from their families. They simply said that they had found them by chance on the mountain and asked their families not to tell anyone.

Yu Yao plans to sell the bird's nests with more feathers to the purchasing station, and keep the rest with less feathers.

Bird's nest is rich in sialic acid, protein and various trace elements, and has the effects of nourishing the skin and beautifying the complexion, nourishing yin and moistening the lungs, enhancing immunity and promoting sleep.

It is especially good for women, as it nourishes the spirit and replenishes energy.

Yu Yao was selecting bird's nests when Lu Ze came over to help. Seeing how skillfully she was picking them out, he asked, "Does all your knowledge of bird's nests come from before you transmigrated into the book?"

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!