Chapter 478

Fine, I'll drink." Ye Cheng stood up and downed another two taels; Xiao Hu had also wanted to drink, but Ye Cheng pressed him down.

It's already a war of attrition; they're not stupid either, we can't just keep stubbornly going head-on like that.

Sure enough, after the eldest, it was the three younger brothers, each with a cup.

Within two minutes of the start, they downed six taels of baijiu straight away.

The old lady still wanted to raise her cup, but Ye Cheng couldn't take it anymore; he followed the old lady's hand,

"Auntie, shouldn't we eat a bite of vegetables first? You said your free-range chicken is really delicious, didn't you?"

"Right, right, oh dear, look at me." Li Dama put down her wine cup, then stood up and gave Ye Cheng and Xiao Hu each a piece of chicken leg meat in their bowls.

"Come, try it, this is genuine free-range chicken."

Ye Cheng didn't care whether it was free-range or not; with nothing in his stomach he felt awful.

He took a big bite straight away.

Mmm!

After that bite, Ye Cheng's eyes lit up.

Fragrant, truly fragrant!

He couldn't help but take two more bites; it was delicious.

It's really delicious.

The meat of this free-range chicken is different from farmed chicken—it's firm and not dry.

Moreover, auntie's cooking is excellent; the stew is just right.

"Delicious!" Ye Cheng couldn't help but give a thumbs-up.

"Mm-hmm, it's delicious." Xiao Hu also couldn't resist taking another chopstickful.

Hearing the praise from the two guests, the old lady smiled so hard her teeth almost fell out,

"If it's tasty, eat more; you guys eat, don't worry about them—they always have food."

Ye Cheng glanced at the four brothers; the eldest and second were fine, but the third and fourth's eyes revealed longing.

He smiled and said, "Auntie, we're all our own people; it's tastier when we eat together. Come, let's all eat."

"Look at little Ye, so sensible—you boys hurry up and eat, take less, leave more for the guests." Li Dama gazed at her four sons with indulgence.

With the old lady's word, the Zhu family brothers finally began to eat.

However, they ate rather modestly, casually having two pieces then starting on some vegetables and such.

Ye Cheng and Xiao Hu had originally wanted to hold back, but the free-range chicken was too fragrant, and after another six taels of liquor they couldn't stop eating.

Li Dama watched from the side, delighted; her cooking had earned the guests' approval, which was the greatest praise for her.

The Zhu Family Four Brothers sat aside drinking their bitter liquor; sharing a table with enemies was bad enough, but they couldn't even eat meat—damn it.

"Little Ye, these are free-range eggs; you should try them too." Li Dama pointed to the scrambled eggs on the table.

Ye Cheng fell in love with the scrambled eggs at first glance.

A yellowish hue, unmistakably free-range eggs.

You know, nowadays chickens are mechanically farmed, and their eggs too—meat can be produced in under two months, and the scrambled eggs come out a dull color.

But genuine free-range eggs, when scrambled, turn a deeper color and have a rich egg flavor.

Ye Cheng picked up a chopstickful, put it in his mouth, and the eggs' distinctive aroma exploded on his taste buds.

"Delicious! Really delicious!" Ye Cheng gave another thumbs-up.

"Oh dear, little Ye, you really know how to talk—just ordinary eggs, can they be that tasty?"

Li Dama was so happy she could hardly close her mouth.

"I'm not lying to you, auntie; with these free-range eggs, the egg flavor is truly strong—if you boiled them into a bowl of egg noodles, the broth would be incredibly delicious."

"Little Ye wants noodles, right? Okay, auntie will go make you a bowl of egg noodles."

Saying that, Li Dama was about to get up to make the noodles.

Ye Cheng quickly grabbed her,

"No, auntie, we have enough dishes, really enough—no need to make more. This food is so good we can't eat our fill in one sitting; let's save some for next time."

"Fine, you've got it—next time you come, auntie will make you egg noodles to eat."

Zhu Liwen shook his head repeatedly, his own mother apparently losing her mind, not even caring for her own sons, right?

He couldn't stand it any longer, glanced at Ye Cheng and said sarcastically,

"Mom, another time? Our boat's gone—we won't have any food later, and you're talking about egg noodles? That's bullshit."

His remark made Ye Cheng feel embarrassed to eat.

Li Dama glared at her son, then said,

"People don't die from holding their urine; if we lose the boat we'll just earn more. As long as you walk the right path, I'd be happy even if I died a few years early."

Upon hearing the old lady bring up death again, Zhu Liwen was practically speechless; one sentence shut everything down.

The boat's gone, the mother needs medical care—this family's having a rough time.

Ye Cheng thought for a moment, then suddenly put down his chopsticks, looked at Li Dama and said,

"Auntie, you raise these free-range chickens so well—why haven't you thought of taking them to the city to sell?"

Li Dama sighed upon hearing that,

"Why wouldn't I have thought of it? But you've seen—getting out of Xia Ling Village is hard, and a single trip to the city costs a lot."

"Besides, I only raise a dozen or so chickens, laying just enough eggs for ourselves—what could we sell?"

Zhu Liwen beside them interjected irritably,

"If you don't understand, don't just spout nonsense—our village's situation is different from yours; you think you're so capable."

This time Li Dama didn't scold her son; she just sighed.

Ye Cheng glanced at Zhu Liwen, then suddenly raised his wine cup and said,

"What if I really do have the ability?"

"If I really do have the ability, I'll call you big brother from now on!" Zhu Liwen, holding back his anger, didn't clink cups with Ye Cheng and just took a gulp by himself.

Ye Cheng wasn't annoyed either; he took a small sip, then said calmly,

"Nowadays, the chickens in the city are all mechanically farmed; they cost about four dollars each, eggs three dollars, free-range chickens eight dollars, and free-range eggs six dollars.

"The price of free-range chicken is twice that of feed-fed chicken."

"So what? Our family has a dozen or so chickens; selling them all would bring in about a thousand dollars—enough to cover our boat!" Zhu Liwen said, flustered and pale.

"A dozen chickens certainly wouldn't do, but what if we had a thousand chickens?" Ye Cheng calmly looked at Zhu Liwen.

Zhu Liwen let out a cold laugh,

"A thousand chickens—have you gone crazy from fishing? Do you know how much space a thousand chickens need? These are free-range chickens; you think it's like an outside farm where you can just build a shed and raise a thousand chickens."

Hearing Zhu Liwen's rudeness, Xiao Hu also lost his politeness; he slammed his chopsticks on the table with a bang and shouted at the top of his lungs,

"My brother is trying to think of a way for you; what are you yelling about? If you were capable, you wouldn't be this poor, damn it."

Seeing Xiao Hu utter profanity, the few brothers who were already simmering with anger also lost their tempers, slammed the table and stood up,

"Fuck! Who the hell are you talking about, asking for a beating?"

Xiao Hu jumped to his feet; having already drunk six taels of white liquor, his face was flushed dark red, he glared and pointed at himself, saying,

"Come on, let's fight—see if you can beat me!"

Seeing that both sides were about to clash again, Ye Cheng's face sank and he spoke,

"Alright, everyone sit down; let's talk about the real matter—what's all this arguing for?"