Leaving Zhao Yun's ho behind, another person had joined them in the car: Zhao Yun.
That so-called divine at had cost him six of his tentacles, causing Zhao Yun's heart to bleed. In his words, that wasn't divine at; it was his own flesh! Hence, no matter what, he had to taste it himself to be satisfied.
Suming had a bit of a perfectionist streak in him. Having already obtained four types of ingredients, he began to ponder over the issue of wild Reeves' shad.
"I advise you to stop wasting your energy. Without the population, there's no possibility of an individual existing."
Sitting in the back of the car, Zhao Yun fiddled with his fishing rod. Since they were going to Huayin County anyway, the hobody was planning not just to eat but also to join Suming for so fun on the river. So, he had prepared a few fishing rods for angling on the river the next day.
"I just feel it's a bit of a pity." Suming knew in his heart that wild Reeves' shad wasn't just a matter of 'easier said than found'; it truly was unfindable. Every ti Reeves' shad were discovered in the Yangtze River in the past two years, it had sparked considerable attention, but without exception, it was proven in the end that they were either artificially bred or related species similar to the Yangtze Reeves' shad.
"Pure wild Yangtze Reeves' shad were functionally extinct twenty years ago. Instead of looking for Reeves' shad, it would be better to search for Chinese paddlefish. Though the paddlefish are also rare, you can still catch a few pounds each year. I've heard that in one or two more years, the paddlefish will also be prohibited from capture."
This fishing trip of Zhao Yun's was specifically aid at catching the last of the paddlefish. The market price for wild paddlefish was sky-high, costing thousands per pound when expensive, and still several hundred even when cheap. Yet they were not available for sale, so one couldn't buy them even with ample money. Zhao Yun had specially consulted so angling experts among his friends and prepared a large basin of paddlefish bait at ho.
When it ca to fishing, angling in the Yellow River was even more thrilling. The Yellow River had a rapid current and was ho to unique large Yellow River carps. If lucky, one might catch carp weighing dozens to hundreds of pounds. A wild Yellow River carp of such size was not sothing one person could handle alone. Several experts would take turns holding the rod, and it wouldn't be surprising for them to last tens of hours in the struggle, offering an absolutely addictive experience.
Before long, they had returned to Huayin County, and the group ate a casual lunch at Gu's place. Upon seeing the Overlord Turtle, Zhao Yun was filled with sighs, reminiscing about the last ti he saw a turtle of that size when he was seven or eight years old. During a great flood, a large four-legged turtle floated up from the river, and the villagers worshipped it as a river god for a week. Unable to bear his hunger, he sneaked out with two friends in the middle of the night to kill and eat the turtle. Once discovered, he was chased out of the village and had been a wanderer ever since.
"Uncle, calm down!" As Zhao Yun waxed nostalgic, seemingly on the verge of a mid-life crisis, Suming quickly pulled him back to reality, passing him a packet of Isatis root with a serious deanor, "You can't stop taking your dicine!"
After resting for most of the day, not only had the Overlord Turtle's wounds scabbed over, but its spirit had also sowhat rebounded. Gu placed a bucket of fish on a bench not far from the tank. The Overlord Turtle, seeing this, propped itself up inside the large tank, stretching its neck, always striving to climb out and eat the fish.
"Otherwise, how about we take it with us to the river tomorrow?" Suming suggested, pointing at the Overlord Turtle's head with his chopsticks.
The speaker had no intention, but the listener took to heart. Before Zhao Yun and the others could say anything, the Overlord Turtle seed to understand and turned its head to stare fixedly at Suming with its two small black eyes, its pointy nose twitching.
"If you could train the old turtle to fish like an osprey, that would be incredible. Release it into the river, and we can just wait for it to catch fish for us," Zhao Yun joked.
The Overlord Turtle jumped around a couple of tis in the big tank, as if agreeing with Zhao Yun's words and proving its willingness to beco voluntary labor.
"As if that's possible!" Nangong Huang muttered from the side, "It's like releasing the tiger back into the mountains; it would definitely escape!"
The Overlord Turtle turned its head to glare fiercely at Nangong Huang.
A few jests indeed sparked an inspiration for Suming. He used his spiritual power to communicate briefly with the Overlord Turtle.
Indeed, the Overlord Turtle was eager to roam the great river again. In the river, as long as it didn't encounter humans, it was almost an invincible being.
"Then it's settled. I'll take you with for fun tomorrow, but you're not allowed to run away!" Suming said, amused.
When he returned to the Zoo Restaurant, he had planned to take the alligator snapping turtle to play in the river. However, the snapping turtle had grown too large to fit in a small car. Moreover, the snapping turtle was accustod to a leisurely life of drinking 'Longevity Water' in the small lake and basking in the sun, too lazy to move, so he dropped the idea.
After lunch, they drove to a nearby aquaculture farm and reserved artificially bred Reeves' shad. Even the artificially bred Reeves' shad were rare commodities with very limited quantities, restricted to just over ten acres of water, and not sold to the public. Only when Suming revealed his identity from the Zoo Restaurant and expressed his hope to buy one for research did the farm relent, but they insisted on a minimum purchase. Five pounds or more...
Suming, holding a plastic bag worth twenty thousand yuan filled with five pounds of artificially bred Reeves' shad that resembled large crucian carps, said, "Alright, let's keep a big one for Mr. Hong to cook, and we'll share the rest."
After all the hustle, they had managed to barely gather all the ingredients. Suming found Ding at the hotel and asked her how the preparations were going.
Ding was holding a eting with two secretaries in the room. When she saw Suming enter, she waved her hand with a queenly gesture, signaling the secretaries to leave. Then, with a skeptical look at the few plastic bags in Suming's hand, she glanced at her watch. From the ti she had handed him the nu to now, it had been less than ten hours.
It wasn't that she looked down on Suming, but these ingredients were simply not possible to procure by any individual in such a short span of ti. This wasn't about money. Suming could be ten or a hundred tis wealthier, and certain ingredients would still hinge on luck.
Moreover, those plastic bags in Suming's hands looked tattered, covered with soil and grass, not remotely befitting high-end ingredients. It appeared as though he had just returned from the town's farrs' market like any other local aunty.
"Mr. Ding, you're busy with valuable ti. Could it be that I am an idle wanderer..."
When Suming said this, he still felt a bit guilty. Just like everyone else in business, look at Ding Jing—attending etings with two assistant secretaries in tow, and with a bit of ti in the hotel, she'd arrange the next tasks. As for himself, all he ever did was eat, drink, and be rry, either flirting with girls or being flirted with...
It's all Zhao Yun's fault! Suming felt that after spending so much ti with Zhao Yun, his approach to business had begun to follow Zhao's path, which, put in a nicer way, was to strategize behind the scenes and command from the chair; but bluntly put, he was a hands-off manager.
Ding Jing opened the plastic bags with a high degree of skepticism, inspecting each one.
Hundred-Fruit Wine... This was Suming's signature product, no surprise there.
Yangtze River hilsa herring... Ding Jing couldn't help but sigh. Although she wasn't a top chef, she had a solid foundation in cooking and was an expert in the food industry. This plump hilsa herring, with its overly neat and slightly white scales, was clearly recognized as hilsa, albeit a fard one.
It was better than nothing, I suppose.
"Hmm, is this... morel mushrooms?" Noticing a clump of what looked like honeycomb growing on a lump of mud inside the dirtiest plastic bag, Ding Jing finally started to take things seriously.
She gently pinched the morel mushrooms with her fingers, then brought them to her nose for a sniff, and finally, she even used her long fingernail to pinch off a small piece of the mushroom to chew in her mouth.
"Hey, Mr. Ding, you shouldn't be doing that!" Suming was speechless; they agreed to cook for Hong Feifei, but there she was, starting to eat the stuff herself!
"Hm..." After tasting it, Ding Jing didn't swallow it but rather elegantly spat the chewed-up morel into a napkin, wrapped it up, and threw it in the trash, then seriously asked, "Mr. Su, how many more of these morels do you have? Xiankelai will buy them at a high price!"
"Hehehehe..." Suming just looked at Ding Jing and laughed without saying anything.
Ding Jing was taken aback but then quickly realized how silly her question was.
Suming was planning to open his own restaurant in the future. If he had such high-quality ingredients, he would naturally prioritize supplying them to the Zoo Restaurant. Why would he sell them to Xiankelai?
"If you have any extras in the future, contact . The price I'll offer will definitely satisfy you." Ding Jing still held so hope, handing Suming her business card. Besides being used as a condint or side dish for various als, morels were superb for vegetarian dishes. Under the Xiankelai Catering Group, there was a not-so-large restaurant specializing in high-end vegetarian cuisine, where a vegetarian al could cost tens of thousands quite ordinarily.
"Alright," Suming nodded noncommittally and took the business card.
The morels had distracted Ding Jing, and her focus drifted as she casually opened the last bag.
Inside the bag was a soft, spongy mass of yellow, fat-like substance.
Like she was performing a magic trick, Ding Jing effortlessly produced a very sharp-looking knife...
Suming was shocked: "What are you doing!"
Ding Jing, looking baffled, glanced at Suming and casually said, "Is it strange for a woman to carry an eyebrow knife?"
After she finished speaking, the knife smoothly glided over the surface of the Overlord Turtle's at, creating a neat cut. The eyebrow knife was indeed very sharp. Suming couldn't understand how won dared to use such things on their faces, given the courage required. He certainly wouldn't dare.
"If there are patterns but no veins or blood, it's either a plant or an animal." Ding Jing tossed the used eyebrow knife into the trash bin and, looking at Suming with a smile that was not a smile, said, "Indeed, it's a genuine Overlord Turtle. Mr. Su, I hadn't expected you to have such a wide network. In just half a day, you managed to find an Overlord Turtle. It seems I underestimated you before. Perhaps in the near future, Xiankelai will face a formidable competitor."
Seeing Ding Jing's expression, Suming knew sothing was off.
You can't trust a woman's words at all!
What did she say this morning? "No matter how good your Zoo Restaurant is, Xiankelai will also have its way of surviving." It sounded like it deserved a thumbs-up for such admirable sentint.
It turned out that early in the morning, Ding had not taken him or the Zoo's future restaurant seriously, talking big. It was like a millionaire generously telling a beggar that if he begs well, he might one day be as rich as the millionaire.
Now seeing how quickly Suming had gathered the ingredients, Ding realized that the Zoo Restaurant might truly have the potential to threaten Xiankelai and finally could no longer maintain her composure, letting out so unpleasant words.
"Mr. Ding, I'm not trying to criticize, but you won are too petty. Is there any need to scare in business just because we might be competitive? Besides, you've already thrown away your little knife..."
Suming repacked the food on the table and asked, "If everything is okay on your end, shall I go and hand over these ingredients to Hong Feifei?"
When Hong Feifei was ntioned, Ding Jing's expression changed again. She nodded her head and made a phone call instructing her assistant to contact the hotel kitchen. Suming's prepared food, along with everything else, should be stored in the kitchen's refrigeration unit.
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