Chapter 1181: Rural Absurd Past Events Chapter 1181: You, This Free-Range Chicken, Are Something Else!

·

·

·

Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

Wang Erhai brought Wang Xiaohua back to Shanggou Village around two in the afternoon.

Upon returning to Shanggou Village, Wang Erhai immediately went to his farm, personally inspected the free-range chickens he was raising, confirmed they were all fine, then picked out a few with the best appearance, planning to use these chickens to treat Zhang Gui when he arrived.

So he hurriedly called his mother Li Xiulan to help boil water and slaughter the chickens.

Learning that her second son's farm was about to make its first deal, Li Xiulan was overjoyed and promptly rolled up her sleeves to boil water.

Slaughtering chickens was what she did best; entrust it to her and there would be no mistake!

Wang Zhanggen, hearing this good news, was also beaming, but he attributed this success not to Wang Erhai's ability, but to Wu Banxian!

"It must be that Wu Banxian's transcendence of the evil ghost last night took effect! With the evil ghost gone, good things have come to our family! You say if that's a coincidence or not!"

Wang Xiaohua found Wang Zhanggen's behavior a bit laughable and exasperating, but he did not refute it, nor did he embarrass him by exposing his superstitious behavior.

In the past, he would certainly have sneered at Wang Zhanggen's ignorant behavior, even berated Wang Zhanggen's faults on the spot.

But now, after experiencing so much, his attitude toward Wang Zhanggen's various absurd behaviors had shifted from initial disdain, to later hatred, to current acceptance.

Everyone needs a way to come to terms with this world.

Wang Zhanggen's way may seem absurd, but is it not the optimal solution for facing life within his level of understanding?

Just like Mother Li Xiulan's various acts of enduring hardship unnecessarily in life back then — were those not also the optimal solution after hitting walls everywhere?

Back then Wang Xiaohua even criticized his mother's behavior in his college entrance exam essay, feeling this was the root cause of being unable to escape poverty.

Thinking back on it now, he discovers that his thinking back then was really rather naive, rather extreme.

Actually it wasn't enduring hardship unnecessarily that caused poverty, but because poverty left no margin for trial and error, forcing one to often have no choice but to choose such absurd behavior as enduring hardship unnecessarily.

This really has nothing to do with right or wrong; it's just the result forged by life.

At least, whether it was Wang Zhanggen or Li Xiulan, their seemingly absurd behaviors all gave them the courage to keep living.

As for Wang Zhanggen, facing a lifetime of disappointments, if he didn't even have this bit of faith in ghosts and gods, he would likely have chosen suicide like Li Jianjia long ago.

Wang Xiaohua thought, if Li Jianjia hadn't seen reality so clearly back then, would she perhaps still be alive and well today?

This is perhaps what the ancients meant by "rarely confused is a blessing."

To die with clear eyes, or live in muddled confusion — everyone, reaching a certain stage, perhaps must face such a question.

In a blink it was four-thirty in the afternoon; Zhang Gui arrived driving his Land Rover.

Wang Erhai personally went to the village entrance to welcome him.

A big fat man got out of the Land Rover, about 1.7 meters tall, weight estimated at 180-190 jin; one sees a human shape but no neck — that man was Zhang Gui.

"Manager Zhang, why don't you come to my house for a sit? I've already slaughtered a few free-range chickens, ready for you to taste."

Wang Erhai showed an enthusiastic smile.

Zhang Gui smiled politely, yet waved his hand:

"Take me straight to the farm! We'll eat in a bit!"

Wang Erhai was stunned, not expecting Zhang Gui to decline his kindness, but didn't say much more, and hurriedly took Zhang Gui to the farm!

Anyway, the chickens raised on his farm were all grain-fed, completely unafraid of Zhang Gui's surprise inspection.

If Zhang Gui found a single feed pellet on the ground, that would count as his loss!

Soon, Wang Erhai brought Zhang Gui to the farm; Yao Aina was feeding chickens there. Zhang Gui just watched with a smile, watched for a while, then he — he wanted to catch a chicken to check the meat quality.

Wang Erhai happily agreed, hurriedly had Yao Aina fetch the landing net; these free-range chickens were hard to catch, normally without a landing net in hand there was no way to catch them — they could fly, and once they flew they'd go dozens of meters, even up to treetops.

Zhang Gui waved his hand: "No need for the landing net, I'll catch it myself!"

Wang Erhai stared, looking at Zhang Gui with puzzlement:

"Manager Zhang, are you sure? My chickens can fly!"

Wang Erhai thought, even he considered himself agile, yet couldn't catch these free-range chickens barehanded; how could a big fat man like Zhang Gui possibly catch one barehanded?

Zhang Gui just smiled:

"Trifling matter, easy as pie!"

Immediately Zhang Gui moved!

But he didn't go for a chicken; instead, in the grass nearby, he found a grasshopper, then picked a palm-sized leaf, rolled the leaf into a funnel shape, then used a small wooden stick to skewer the grasshopper inside the leaf funnel.

Then he tossed this leaf funnel onto the ground; before long, several free-range chickens rushed over, scrambling for the grasshopper in the leaf funnel. One chicken, faster than the rest, pecked right into the leaf funnel — it ate the grasshopper, but the leaf funnel got stuck on its face, blocking its vision.

Zhang Gui seized the moment, immediately stepped up, bent down, reached out, and grabbed both wings of that free-range chicken, lifting it up.

"This chicken's got strength, the meat quality won't be bad!"

Zhang Gui laughed heartily.

Seeing this, Wang Erhai couldn't help but praise:

"Manager Zhang, nice technique!"

Zhang Gui laughed: "Nothing much, just a little trick; you can catch chickens this way too, one grab, one catch!"

Wang Erhai laughed: "Looks like I learned something today!"

Zhang Gui then said: "Give me the landing net, I'll go catch a fish in your fish pond, then later we'll use this chicken, this fish, and make a Qingshui Hotpot!"

Wang Erhai didn't mention that they'd already slaughtered several chickens at home, because he knew if he said it, it would seem stingy.

So he just busily agreed:

"Good, good, then we'll eat Qingshui Hotpot together with Manager Zhang in a bit!"

Wang Erhai took the landing net, brought Zhang Gui to the pond side, he personally went into the water to catch a fish for Zhang Gui, but after fishing for a long while, he surprisingly didn't catch a single one.

Wang Erhai couldn't help but feel awkward:

"Manager Zhang, please wait a moment, I'll go get the big net to net them!"

Zhang Gui, however, didn't see Wang Erhai's awkwardness, but instead revealed a satisfied expression:

"This pond's water quality is good, the stocking density is low, the fish have good vitality, so that's why they're not easy to catch. Looks like they're top-grade good fish!"

Wang Erhai then said:

"That goes without saying. These fish haven't been fed any feed either, all fed with fish grass!"

Wang Erhai brought the big net over, and only after much difficulty finally netted a big grass carp. By then it was already past five o'clock, nearly six.

So he hurriedly brought Zhang Gui into the village, arrived at the Wang Family compound, and then started killing chickens, killing fish.

He took out a stainless steel basin, filled it more than half full with clear water, boiled it with firewood, put the freshly chopped chicken pieces in, only blanched them for thirty seconds, and Zhang Gui picked up the chicken pieces and stuffed them into his mouth, not even using any dipping sauce!

Wang Erhai knew he had encountered a true gourmet. This Zhang Gui truly understood fine cuisine. No wonder Zhang Sheng would entrust him with such an important task, making him the Purchasing Manager of Huangsheng Hotel!

Watching Zhang Gui savor the delicacies, Wang Erhai couldn't help but feel a bit nervous inside, because he knew Zhang Gui's palate was definitely picky. He was just afraid Zhang Gui would pick out some flaw, then use that as an excuse to drive down the price!

Unexpectedly, after Zhang Gui carefully chewed a piece of chicken meat, he couldn't help but give Wang Erhai a thumbs up:

"Boss Wang, your free-range chicken is absolutely amazing!"