Chapter 418: Time to Buy Some Chickens!
"Century-old Five-Colored Brocade Chicken eggs! Three gold coins each! Nutritious, delicious, healthy—come take a look, don't miss out! Special Five-Colored Brocade Chicken eggs for making Han Shi Egg Fried Rice!"
Sitting on a small stool, Cao Yun shouted casually into the marketplace, then wiped the sweat from his forehead as he looked at the sparse crowd.
It was already afternoon, but the market's busy peak was in the morning—especially at dawn—so there weren't many people around at this hour.
Most of the fresh produce had already been picked clean.
But since he sold only Five-Colored Brocade Chicken eggs, he had no reason to worry about that.
Ordinary chicken eggs could be stored for about half a month. As for the eggs of a Spirit Beast like the Five-Colored Brocade Chicken, even two to three months of storage would keep them perfectly fresh.
And in this, the largest market in Shrek City, he was the only one selling these eggs. Truly the rarest of the rare—one-of-a-kind.
Cao Yun personally raised and purchased eggs from a flock of more than a dozen century-old Five-Colored Brocade Chickens. They were fed the best feed and pampered daily, which allowed him to maintain a steady supply. And it wasn't something others could easily imitate. After all, century-old Five-Colored Brocade Chickens were quite strong. If someone didn't have at least his strength—a four-ring Spirit Master—they wouldn't even be able to beat the chickens, let alone raise them.
Although expensive and difficult to sell, each egg he sold earned him two gold coins after deducting costs. The profit margin was enormous, so he never felt in a hurry.
Seeing someone in the distance glance his way, Cao Yun perked up. He stood and smiled brightly. "Little miss, want to buy a few Five-Colored Brocade Chicken eggs? Han Shi uses these exact eggs for their Egg Fried Rice!"
The passing girl gave him a strange look. "Even if I buy them, I still can't make Egg Fried Rice like Han Shi."
"Hahaha, you won't know until you try! Maybe you're the next Boss Qi!" Cao Yun teased casually. He was bored anyway and didn't mind chatting.
"Han Shi Egg Fried Rice uses Five-Colored Brocade Chicken eggs"—this had long been one of Cao Yun's favorite advertising lines.
And technically, it wasn't false. Although Han Shi was said to use thousand-year Five-Colored Brocade Chicken eggs, while his were only century-old, an egg was an egg. How different could they really be?
Round up the numbers, and Han Shi's Five-Colored Brocade Chicken eggs = my Five-Colored Brocade Chicken eggs!
And honestly, back when Han Shi first became popular, this advertisement really did bring him quite a bit of business.
But as time passed, people realized that Han Shi Egg Fried Rice wasn't something you could replicate just by buying eggs, and his line stopped working.
The girl ignored him and walked off. Cao Yun didn't mind. He cheerfully picked up a book from the ground titled Postpartum Care for Hens and continued reading.
Although the book was written for ordinary chickens, he'd tried some of its methods on his Five-Colored Brocade Chickens recently and found it surprisingly effective.
A Spirit Beast chicken was still a chicken, after all.
Perfectly reasonable.
But before he could read more than a few pages, a man hurriedly rushed toward him.
"Old Cao! Old Cao!" he shouted.
"Eh?" Cao Yun put the book back on the ground and glanced at the newcomer. "Old Li? Rare to see you here. You want to buy Five-Colored Brocade Chicken eggs too?"
The man was Cao Yun's old friend, Li Hong, who ran a restaurant called Old Li Delicacies on the food street. His business used to be lukewarm at best, but later, inspired by Egg Fried Rice, he created his own dish—preserved plum rice, slightly sour and sweet, very appetizing—and suddenly business boomed.
"You—" Li Hong's expression was unusually serious. He looked around warily before turning back to Cao Yun. "How many Five-Colored Brocade Chicken eggs do you have left?"
"Huh?" Cao Yun felt uneasy seeing Li Hong so tense. "Not much… maybe… twenty-something?"
"Cut the crap." Li Hong rolled his eyes. "You have over ten chickens, each lays an egg a day, and these eggs are hard to sell. Even selling ten a day would count as good business. And you tell me you only have twenty-something left?"
"Bullshit!" Cao Yun immediately flipped him the middle finger. "What do you know? These are Spirit Beast chickens. How could they lay eggs every day like normal hens? I treat them like ancestors every day, and each one lays only one egg every three days."
Ah… that did make sense.
Li Hong grimaced. "Fine, I didn't know that. But you definitely have more than twenty. We've known each other for years—be honest."
"…Alright." Cao Yun smacked his lips. "Thirty-two. No more."
Now that the number was specific, Li Hong believed him. "Good. I'll take them all. Send them to my place later."
"You'll take—" Cao Yun's eyes widened. "Wait a second."
"What now?" Li Hong rolled his eyes again. "I'm helping your business. You don't want that?"
"It's not that—you're acting weird!" Cao Yun felt something was off. "Tell me honestly—what's going on?"
He had the distinct feeling something significant had happened without his knowledge.
He couldn't just hand over the eggs blind.
"What's it to you? I'm paying, you're selling—simple." Li Hong grew impatient and glanced nervously around again, as if guarding against someone overhearing.
Seeing this behavior, Cao Yun became even more unwilling to sell. He simply covered all the eggs on the stall. "Say it or I'm not selling."
"You—" Li Hong sighed when he saw Cao Yun's firm expression. "Alright, alright. You know Master Qi, right?"
"I know. What about him?" Cao Yun rolled his eyes.
Li Hong had always credited the success of Old Li Delicacies to the inspiration he received from Qi Han's Egg Fried Rice. He respectfully called him "Master Qi" everywhere.
"Master Qi… is going to publicly teach everyone how to make Egg Fried Rice in ten days—"
"What?!" Cao Yun's eyes widened. He looked at Li Hong in disbelief, but seeing no sign of joking on the man's serious face, he couldn't help but suck in a breath of cold air.
Then it finally dawned on him. "So you're buying out all my eggs ahead of time so you can make Egg Fried Rice?"
"Yes. I also need to buy some regular eggs to practice with." Li Hong nodded quickly, becoming more anxious. "Hurry up! I'm the first to find out—if you don't sell now, someone else will come."
"…Fine…" Cao Yun, being long-time friends with him, didn't intend to hike the price. After helping Li Hong pack all the eggs, he watched his friend rush away without even bargaining, egg basket in hand.
After a moment of silence, Cao Yun suddenly stood up and swiftly packed his stall.
The eggs were all sold—why bother staying?!
Time to go home!
Everything suddenly became clear in Cao Yun's mind.
Since Boss Qi was going to publicly teach how to make Egg Fried Rice, there would definitely be more than just one or two people who learned it.
Although Egg Fried Rice could probably be made with normal eggs, anyone wanting their Egg Fried Rice to taste closer to Han Shi's would naturally want to use Five-Colored Brocade Chicken eggs.
Which meant…
Soon, the entire Shrek City would be scrambling to buy these eggs!
No, he needed to check how much savings he had left.
Cao Yun hurried home while calculating in his head.
Chickens.
He needed to buy chickens.
Lots and lots of Five-Colored Brocade Chickens!
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