Chapter 39: The Plan to Buy Meat, the Schemes Behind It, Within the Goblin Clan
Lai first took Neil to the wood carving stall, hoping to get lucky, and the stall owner happened to still be there.
Can you customize things here?
Lai asked the wood carving stall owner.
"custom made?"
The stall owner looked puzzled; he couldn't quite understand what Lai was saying.
"I provide you with a design, and you carve this thing for me according to the design."
"Oh, you should have said so earlier. What pattern do you have? Let me see it."
Lai handed him the drawing with a cat's head on it.
"Can."
He could carve such a simple design in just a few hours. But to be on the safe side, he couldn't say that directly; otherwise, failing to produce something would ruin his reputation.
"There are two silver coins in total. One coin is a deposit, and the rest can be paid after you pick up the goods at the market tomorrow."
Lai paid the deposit and left.
Two were engraved in total, one extra-large and one normal size.
After leaving the wood carving stall, Lai bought two stacks of oil paper and two bottles of black ink.
A stack of paper has fifty sheets and costs fifty copper coins. The oiled paper and ink cost a total of five silver coins.
After buying all that, he didn't need to buy anything else, so he went straight to Mu's meat stall.
The shepherd left him half a Gulu beast and told him he could choose any part of the meat he wanted.
In the end, Lai bought a large piece of pork belly, as well as some spareribs, pork ribs, and pork fat. It cost him a total of twelve silver coins.
The shepherd gave him a piece of pig liver; the blood-red color of the liver made it look very fresh.
When orcs roaming in the wild are seriously injured, their relatives and friends will specially kill an animal, take its liver, and give it to the wounded orc. They believe that the liver will give the patient more blood and strength, and is therefore a very good thing.
"Mu, do you sell beef here?"
The shepherd's stall mostly sells Gulu beast meat, and occasionally some wild game, but that depends on what the shepherd hunted the day before yesterday.
“There are some in winter. It’s cold then and there’s not much prey. Every month I would buy one from my tribe and take it to town to sell.”
Cattle are generally used for plowing and are rarely slaughtered for meat.
There are beef vendors in town, but they're usually too expensive, or you can't even get your hands on any.
"However, beef is three times more expensive than Gulu beast meat. If you want to buy some, let me know in advance and I'll reserve some for you."
"Okay, thank you then."
"It's nothing, it's what I should do, you helped me too."
After buying the Gulu beast meat, Lai carried the meat to the dock, retrieved the mule cart, and went home with Neil.
Once home, Lai first washed the liver, then boiled it in salted water. After that, she began processing the pork belly and pork cutlets she had bought.
He first cut them into strips of suitable length, then made holes in them, threaded clean and sturdy ropes through them, washed away the blood, and left them to dry.
"Neil, watch the pan, I'll go stir-fry some salt and spices."
"good."
Lai went to the storeroom and found Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, cinnamon, and some dried orange peels. He put them all in a basin and then poured a lot of salt on top.
Meat spoils easily if there's too little salt, so you can't be stingy with adding more salt.
After gathering all the seasonings, Lai lit a fire and dry-fried them in a large pot until they changed color slightly. Then he put the fried salt and spices back into the bowl and returned to the living room.
"Brother, the water has been boiling for a while, should we boil it a little longer?"
"It needs to cook for a while longer."
"OK."
Lai took the dried meat to a basin, rubbed it with a thick layer of salt, and then neatly arranged it in another clean basin.
There are seven pieces of meat in total, which need to be salted for several days before they can be smoked.
After doing all this, the liver is cooked.
Lai cut it into slices and made a chili oil and garlic dipping sauce, which they would dip in later.
"Brother, are we going to the market again tomorrow?"
"Go ahead, I'll get up early and roast some more chestnuts; I should be able to sell quite a few."
"Then wake me up early tomorrow, brother."
"good."
After dinner, Lai took a stack of oil paper and three silver coins to Old Gugge's house. When he left, he carried away the remaining thirty pounds of dried dates from Old Gugge's house, which he would take to the market to sell the next day.
The next morning.
Rye roasted thirty pounds of chestnuts this time. He also took the remaining half-bag of raw chestnuts to town.
Sure enough, the business of selling roasted chestnuts was very profitable.
The girl who came to buy chestnuts yesterday brought several of her friends to patronize Lai's business. Each of them spent ten copper coins to buy half a pound of roasted chestnuts.
Some time before dinner in the afternoon, Blair's butler appeared at the market on time. He bought another fifteen pounds of roasted chestnuts from Rye's stall.
Because Butler Blair represented the Edmundson family, his actions were closely watched.
Those in town who wanted to curry favor with the Baron's family became curious when they saw Blair buy chestnuts from the same stall for two consecutive days, and they all came to Ray to find out more.
Lai used this opportunity to sell a lot of chestnuts and red dates. Ironically, he hadn't brought enough, and they were all sold out quickly.
After deducting the cost of the dried dates for Old Guge and the money spent on sugar, today's net income is more than thirteen silver coins. This is much more than what I earned when selling mung bean soup.
With no more stock at home, he needed to find a way to pick some more chestnuts, pine nuts, and other mountain produce. Ideally, he could go tomorrow and come back the same day.
"elder brother."
Neil interrupted Ray, who was thinking while rushing to catch the train.
"The goblins over there are still watching us."
Lei frowned.
What's wrong with the goblins? They just sit on the mountaintop all day watching people pass by. No, no, I'll have to ask Iru about that sometime.
"It's okay, don't be afraid. Your brother will protect you."
Lei quickened his pace.
Lai and Neil have been going to town early and returning late these past few days to sell things, and the villagers have naturally noticed.
There are those with clever minds, and others who are secretly envious, such as the shrew Maggie and the rogue Buzz.
"Having a Dellasmon at home is so convenient. I see Lai driving his cart to town every day to sell things, he must be making a lot of money."
Maggie was talking about other people's business at her own dinner table again, and her youngest son rolled his eyes under the guise of drinking soup.
"Why don't we buy one too? It'll make us look good when our eldest son marries Julie."
Maggie looked at her husband sitting in the main seat, who swallowed the soup in his mouth and put down the soup bowl.
"Okay, but we don't have enough money right now."
We just sold the grain, and with what my older brother has earned from working over the years, plus the family savings, how could we not have some money? Go ahead and fool the dead!
The younger son thought to himself, silently observing his elder brother and father.
"I've been busy harvesting grain lately, and I haven't been to see Bella in a long time. I wonder how she is doing now."
Bella is Maggie's daughter who got married.
Mark's expression tightened and he clenched his teeth at the mention of Bella's name.
"I need to go and bring her some vegetables."
Bella's husband's family has nothing to eat, yet they need others to fawn over them and bring them cheap vegetables?
He knew what Maggie was up to the moment she opened her mouth, but he remained silent, wanting to see what Mark thought.
After all, the mother of the Delras beast made it very clear that it was bought for her older brother.
"Don't go to Bella. I'll find a day job in town to earn the money I need."
Maggie glared at Mark.
The eldest son, who is usually so quiet and reserved, suddenly started defending others.
"You'll work yourself to the bone in town and still not earn that little bit of money. It'll take forever to save it all. I'm her mother, go see what's wrong with her."
Maggie got angry and started berating him without any regard for the consequences. Mark clenched his fists on his lap and didn't say anything more.
The Buz family was having dinner at that moment. His wife, whom he considered a very boring woman, was now diligently serving him rice.
"Ha, the neighbors are arguing again. That shrew never has a moment of peace! How's the matter I asked you to inquire about going?"
"I found out that they were selling wild chestnuts that they picked from the mountain a few days ago."
Buz's wife answered meekly.
"Chestnuts? Aren't those everywhere?"
Buz's eyes lit up, and a plan came to mind.
"I'm going out for a few days. Please take good care of our son at home."
Buz patted his son, who was engrossed in eating.
"Mom, another bowl!"
"Quickly serve our son some, don't let him go hungry."
"Why."
Buz's wife served her son another large bowl.
"Dad, I want to eat meat!"
"Wait a little longer. Eat as much as you want during the harvest festival, no one will bother you."
"good!"
Buz looked at his son, who was quite "robust," with a loving expression on his face like that of an old father.
The daughter sitting opposite her brother felt great disdain for his beast-like eating habits.
He's gotten so fat, yet he calls himself strong. He eats so much but doesn't do any work; all he does is bully others.
She silently complained to herself.
After finishing dinner and delivering the money for the dried dates to Old Guge, Lai went to Beka Mountain on the way.
At this moment, wisps of smoke began to rise from Mount Bella.
The goblins are trying to adapt to the human lifestyle.
It wasn't dark yet, and the road was relatively easy to travel, so Lai quickly arrived at Iru's house.
This time, the little goblin wasn't alarmed; instead, he politely welcomed him inside.
"Daddy, Daddy! That human is here again!"
Iru was pleasantly surprised to see Lai standing in front of the door.
"I need to talk to you about something. Is now a convenient time?"
"Convenient, very convenient."
Iru led Lai to the living room and sent the children outside to play.
Lai then started talking to Iru.
"I'm going to the other side of the mountain to pick some chestnuts tomorrow. Do you want to come with me? I'll give you a silver coin and twenty pounds of chestnuts a day."
"Okay, I'll definitely go."
Iru was overjoyed. He had been waiting for several days and thought that Lai had forgotten about him.
"that is......"
"What's wrong? Just tell me what's on your mind."
"Can I bring my eldest son with me? He's quite grown up now, and I want him to get to know the surroundings better."
"Can."
The wagon bed is large enough that carrying an extra little goblin won't be a problem.
"By the way, Iru, lately I keep seeing goblins looking into the tunnel from the other side."
Upon hearing this, Yilu frowned and sighed.
"Recently, the goblins have been quite restless, splitting into two factions. One faction wants to settle down and is working hard to stockpile food for winter, while the other faction does nothing, eating whatever they find and doing nothing all day, even stealing food from other goblins."
Iru paused for a moment, then continued.
"Goblins generally don't act in groups. We're just a group that came together by chance. Some of the goblins aren't familiar with each other yet, and there's no chieftain to guide and manage us. Sooner or later, conflicts are bound to break out."
Lai understood, but he couldn't interfere in the internal affairs of the goblins, so he could only wait and see.
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