The Top Fishing
Chapter 66 - 065: Exchanging for Ingredients

Chapter 66: Chapter 065: Exchanging for Ingredients

Joining a club or whatever, when you get right down to it, is just working for capital. How much you earn still depends on others’ faces, and it’s very easy to get taken advantage of if you’re not careful.

Lin Yang felt there was no need for him to take this risk, so after thinking for a bit, he said directly to Wang Feng:

"Hmm... Brother Feng, I’ve gotten used to being lazy. Forget about joining the club. However, if there’s anything you need help with in the future, like competing in a competition or something, I’m still very interested."

Hearing him say this, Wang Feng nodded as well.

He had anticipated Lin Yang would say something like this, but now that he had Lin Yang’s promise to help with future competitions, he was very pleased.

Putting everything else aside, he really respected Lin Yang’s abilities.

Then, he suddenly thought of something and asked Lin Yang, "Are you going to take the fish you just caught back with you? Why not just barter them for ingredients here? After all, you’ve tasted them, and they’re really excellent."

"Sure, ask the boss and see if they’ll trade," Lin Yang replied without a second thought.

If he wanted to eat fish, he could fish anytime, but the free-range ingredients here were a delicacy that money couldn’t easily buy.

"Boss, my buddy over there has quite a few Bianhua and Bian Fish, roughly seventy to eighty pounds. He’s not taking them with him and wants to trade for some stuff from you, what do you think?"

Seeing Lin Yang agree, Wang Feng immediately turned and spoke to the boss, who was smiling at them as they ate.

In fact, the boss was calculating his earnings for the day at this very moment.

For today’s lunch, he provided Lin Yang and the others with a lamb, which was a Small-tailed Cold Sheep lamb. He kept the skin, head, and offal for himself.

So a lamb that could have sold for around 600 was now equivalent to about 500.

Then there were five of them, each with a roast chicken, plus one chicken stewed in chicken soup, so six chickens in total. At 100 each, that’s 600.

Add some homegrown wild vegetables from their own garden, taking labor into account, this meal was about 1300.

About 25 pounds of Bianhua and that would break even; anything more was a profit.

As mentioned before, the Bianhua they caught were mostly around two pounds each, and the Bian Fish were over one pound each. Those twenty fish should weigh at least about thirty pounds altogether.

So, this local indeed made a profit.

Of course, Wang Feng and his group didn’t lose out either, because the chickens were two to three-year-old roosters. If they were to buy them in the city, one wouldn’t be available for less than 150, and it was easy to get fake ones. The lamb roasted like that would reasonably cost you 1000 in the city, wouldn’t it?

If we calculate it like this, that would be close to 1900, almost 2000.

So, we can only say that a transaction without a middleman to earn the difference is quite suitable for both parties.

"Sure, sure, young brother, take a look and see what you’d like!"

As soon as the local heard that Lin Yang had seventy to eighty pounds of fish for him, the smile on his face instantly brightened.

"I actually want a bit of everything, just help me pick," Lin Yang said, looking at the local’s smiling face and having a rough look around, then speaking out.

He really didn’t know what to ask for because there was really a lot of stuff at the local’s place.

They had cows, and also pigs, and the chickens, ducks, and geese all looked very wild, so Lin Yang really wanted a bit of everything.

"Okay, no problem. Do you also want it prepared? " Hearing Lin Yang say this, the local quickly nodded with a smile.

"Yeah, prepare it for me, please. It’ll be more convenient to take back," Lin Yang said.

"Sir, I’ll take you to collect the fish first, and then we’ll see what can be traded for it," Xiao Zhang, Wang Feng’s assistant, stood up, smiling, and spoke to the local as he saw Lin Yang had reached an agreement.

Then, the local happily followed him down to check out the fish.

After looking at Lin Yang’s catch, the local was very sincere and started helping Lin Yang pack things up immediately.

He started with chickens, and the local grabbed three over three-year-old roosters, whose strength could be seen from their spurs. They were indeed purely free-range.

He killed the chicken, plucked the feathers, and removed the innards—all in one fell swoop.

Lin Yang didn’t want the chicken head, chicken butt, or intestines; he only wanted the chicken meat, heart, liver, and gizzard—all four of these parts.

He didn’t reject the other parts for any specific reason; it’s just that these were free-range chickens, and you never know what they might have eaten in the mountains.

Places like the chicken head, butt, and intestines could very likely contain residual toxins that could harm one’s health if ingested.

No matter how delicious, if something is bad for the human body, then it should not be eaten—this has always been Lin Yang’s food consumption habit.

After finishing with the chicken, the old villager went to catch two ducks and a goose.

The goose wasn’t any fancy breed such as a lionhead goose that could sell for thousands on its own; it was just a common Big White, but it looked quite sizable indeed.

After dealing with the chickens, ducks, and goose, the villager seemingly out of nowhere produced a grown sheep.

This sheep must have weighed over a hundred pounds—a Small-tailed Cold Sheep. Don’t be fooled by the "small-tailed" in its name; these sheep can grow quite large.

Even after removing the wool, head, and innards, the sheep would still weigh at least eighty or ninety pounds.

And the day’s surprises weren’t over yet; the villager actually went and grabbed a piglet that weighed about fifty pounds...

"Uncle, uncle, that’s enough, that’s enough. You can skip the piglet. Just give me some cuts of free-range pork; I like pig’s trotters and ribs and stuff."

Looking at the pitiful squeals of the piglet, Lin Yang really couldn’t bear it, so he decided to ask for more of the pig’s trotters and ribs.

If you calculated the cost of these items at city prices:

The three chickens amounted to 450 yuan, the two ducks to 200 yuan, and the goose also to 200 yuan, which added up to 850 yuan already.

That big sheep, even at 30 yuan per pound, would come to almost 3000 yuan for the hundred pounds.

Goodness gracious, the total already reached 3850 yuan.

Although Lin Yang’s Bian Fish also weighed seventy to eighty pounds, even at eighty pounds priced at 40 yuan per pound, that would only equal 3200 yuan.

So just swapping for the sheep would have been about right; the rest was indeed somewhat excessive.

Of course, if you calculated it at rural prices, the uncle wouldn’t have lost out.

"All right, I’ll go to Third Brother’s place and get you a couple of pig’s trotters and a rib rack,"

Hearing Lin Yang’s request, the old man let the piglet go and then headed into the village to arrange for Lin Yang’s pig’s trotters and ribs.

Watching all this, Lin Yang felt a bit overwhelmed.

This was too down-to-earth...

"See why I chose this place? Sincerity—that’s what matters most. But Lin Yang, my bro, this time you really weren’t cool. If you trade away all the things from the villagers’ homes, what will we have to eat when we come next time?"

Observing Lin Yang’s gaze, Wang Feng also started speaking with a chuckle.

"Uh, Brother Feng, there’s no way I could trade for everything. I don’t come every day, and the people from your live stream already know how slippery these fish are. But I still feel a bit guilty, as if I’ve taken more than my fair share. Maybe I should go and catch some more fish?" For the first time, Lin Yang felt like he had gotten the better end of the deal.

Hearing him say that, Wang Feng laughed.

If Lin Yang wanted to fish, he could do that later when they were leaving.

But he was right about one thing—they had indeed gotten quite the bargain.

Soon, the uncle returned, his hands holding half a rack of ribs and two large pig’s trotters, just as Lin Yang and the others were finishing up their meal.

Following that, the villagers, one after another, crammed all these items into his car, and then the uncle prepared to call the village’s fish cart to pick up the fish.

While waiting for the fish cart to arrive, Lin Yang caught another six or seven large Bian Fish. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to ease his conscience.