Chapter 33: Very Vengeful

Chapter 33: Chapter 33: Very Vengeful

Hearing the word "pregnant," Feng Si looked up at the sub-female in front of her stall. The sub-female’s face was sallow, and though she wore a dress of smooth silk, she looked so thin it was as if only a skeleton held it up.

’She’s too thin. Has it been a long time since she’s had a proper meal?’

She was carrying an egg herself. Seeing this sub-female, also carrying a cub, she felt a pang of pity. This was her first time meeting her target customer group, and it solidified her belief that selling pickled cabbage was the right decision.

’This sub-female has clearly been starving for a while. She doesn’t need a few more pieces of meat from me, but she desperately needs some pickled cabbage to help her eat and quell her nausea.’

Her mind working quickly, she said softly, "The reason this pan-fried meat smells so fragrant is because I added finely chopped pickled cabbage while cooking it."

As she spoke, Feng Si used chopsticks to place the crispy, fragrant, pan-fried meat into three separate leaf bowls.

Mao Qiu and Mao Ge stared eagerly at their bowls. Faced with the intense gazes of the crowd fixed on the meat, the two of them wished they could just dump it all into their mouths at once.

Feng Si didn’t rush to eat. She picked out a piece and placed it in a clean leaf bowl. At the bottom of the bowl was a dipping sauce she had made. She passed the sauced meat to Bai Yi and said, "Have a taste. If you like it and you buy the pickled cabbage, I’ll give you the sauce for free and even teach you how to make this."

Bai Yi snatched the bowl and tipped the pan-fried meat into her mouth. The pan-fried pork belly was crispy on the outside, yet tender and juicy on the inside. It was savory, tangy, and crunchy, with a perfectly balanced sourness that immediately whetted her appetite.

After eating it, Bai Yi was so ravenous she felt like she could have swallowed her own tongue.

"Delicious! How much pickled cabbage do you have? I’ll buy it all." Bai Yi licked her lips, wanting more, and slapped Niu Lao on the shoulder, telling him to get the coins out.

Feng Si quoted the price, "I have ten jars here. The pickled cabbage is six hundred coins per jar. Since you’re the first person to buy it, I’ll give you a small bowl of my exclusive marinade for free."

"Hiss... That’s so expensive." A collective sharp intake of breath came from the crowd. Looking at the small jars, they exclaimed how very, very expensive it was.

"I made this specifically for pregnant sub-females and females," Feng Si explained.

Bai Yi had a moment of realization. "No wonder! I was just thinking that I actually don’t feel sick after eating this meat. In fact, after eating the minced pickled cabbage, my stomach feels really comfortable."

Seeing that his sub-female wife really wasn’t feeling nauseous and was even swallowing repeatedly, Niu Lao readily took out his money. "Six thousand, right? We’ll take it all."

"Thank you for your patronage. If you want to make this pan-fried meat like I do, it’s very simple. Choose the belly meat from a pig beast, remove the skin, and cut it into small strips two fingers wide. Then slice them. Rub this marinade evenly on the meat slices and let them sit for a few minutes. Take out the pickled cabbage and chop it finely."

Feng Si collected the money while explaining the pan-frying steps to Bai Yi. She also gave the customer a bowl of her own ground ginger and garlic paste—a potent tool for removing any gamey taste, which no one else here used.

She continued explaining in detail:

"First, render some fat in the pan for a bit. Once the pan is seasoned and non-stick, spread the meat slices on the bottom and pan-fry them until both sides are golden brown. Then, add the pickled cabbage, stir-fry everything together, and it’s ready to eat!"

Bai Yi and Niu Lao listened to Feng Si’s every word, looking as if they wished they had a small notebook to copy it all down.

Seeing this, Mao Qiu quickly put down her leaf bowl, took the jars of pickled cabbage from the basket, and handed them to the customers. Having bought their food, Bai Yi and Niu Lao squeezed through the crowd and ran towards the third floor, eager to get home and pan-fry some meat!

The other Beastmen in the crowd, who had watched the whole exchange and memorized the recipe for pan-fried meat, watched the pregnant sub-female leave. They started to get an itch to buy some for themselves.

’Beast God!’

’That’s the pickled cabbage that can even stop nausea in pregnant females and make them want to eat?’

Everyone craned their necks to look into the round pan. Its dark bottom was slick with oil and still radiated the aroma of pan-fried meat.

Feng Si turned her head.

She found that everyone was still mesmerized by her pan-fried meat and pickled cabbage, unwilling to leave. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

She narrowed her eyes and called out to the gathered customers, "New item at the stall! Today only, buy a jar of pickled cabbage and get a dish of meat marinade for free! This offer is only for today, and supplies are limited, so first come, first served!"

Hearing that it was a limited-time, limited-quantity offer, the customers suddenly felt a sense of urgency, as if a fire had been lit under them.

"That pickled cabbage, I’ll take a jar!" a bearded Beastman quickly called out, afraid he’d be too late.

"I want to buy one, too."

"Alright, please wait a moment." Feng Si turned to Mao Qiu and said, "Mao Qiu, watch the stall for a bit. I’m going upstairs to get more pickled cabbage."

Mao Qiu stared, dumbfounded, at the crowd rushing to buy, and nodded. "Okay."

A large crowd was now waiting in front of Feng Si’s stall. Passersby, curious about what magic this little stall possessed, gathered around to inquire. Once they smelled the lingering aroma of meat in the air, they found themselves unable to walk away.

Thus, when Feng Si returned carrying the day’s forty jars of stock from her home, the crowd had only grown, as had the number of people placing orders for pickled cabbage.

Twenty minutes later, all forty of the new jars of pickled cabbage were sold out. Along with them, the plain sliced pork and Green Potato were also sold out in an instant.

At Feng Si’s stall, the pickled cabbage, priced at six hundred coins, was being snatched up with the fervor one would expect for an item costing six coins.

Mao Qiu looked at the empty stall counter, her eyes full of admiration. "Feng Si, I was so foolish to doubt your cooking skills!"

She licked her lips, reminiscing. ’How stupid was I to advise Feng Si not to make pickled cabbage?’

Mao Qiu picked up the pan used for the fried meat and swallowed involuntarily. "The pickled cabbage with this pan-fried meat is just too, too, too delicious!"

"Didn’t you say before that the pickled cabbage wouldn’t sell?" Feng Si chuckled, placing the pan into her wicker basket. She clapped her hands clean and straightened up.

"Just pretend I was talking out of my ass," Mao Qiu said, feeling the urge to kneel.

’I was so pessimistic about the pickled cabbage, but in the end, I enjoyed it more than anyone.’

She felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment and chuckled sheepishly. "What can I say, I’ve just got a cheap mouth that’s used to canned food... hehehe."

Mao Ge sat nearby, licking his furry little paws. His long tongue swept over his mouth, making sure not a single crumb of meat was wasted before he stood up, still wanting more.

He padded gracefully over to Feng Si’s leg, tilted his head, and rubbed against her ingratiatingly. "Meow wants to eat more, meow~"

Feng Si bent down and stroked the little orange cat, her gaze softening. "Alright, I’ll take you home for a delicious meal. We’ll have your sub-female sister go buy some green potatoes, wild vegetables, and meat."

Mao Qiu hadn’t expected to be able to scrounge another meal. After hearing the details, however, she started to wail, "Nooo, can’t I eat the pan-fried meat first and then come back down to buy things? I’m so hungry right now."

"Nope." Feng Si shook her head and looked at Mao Qiu. "Who told you to say my pickled cabbage was no good before? I hold a grudge."

Mao Qiu: "..."

’Aaargh, who would have thought that one little sentence would come back to hit me like a boomerang?’

Mao Qiu was miserable. Mao Qiu wanted to eat pan-fried meat.

"I’ll save a few pieces for you," Feng Si said with a deadpan expression. She then bent down, scooped the little orange cat into her arms, and ignored Mao Qiu’s pitiful gaze as she headed home, half-carrying the chubby orange cat.

Mao Qiu’s eyes widened, and then, delighted, she immediately picked up her wicker basket and followed them.

Not far behind, Bai Dan stared at Feng Si’s increasingly successful stall, going mad with jealousy.