Chapter 94 [Good wealth is hard to give up] (12000 words)
Gu Qingyi is killing a chicken!
When Chen Yan returned home, he had just reached the gate of the courtyard when he saw Gu Qingyi standing in the yard, holding a mottled feather chicken in one hand and gripping a gleaming kitchen knife in the other.
The chicken in Gu Qingyi’s hand furiously struggled, flapping its wings desperately, but how could it escape from the grasp of a Celestial Human Realm master?
Chen Yan saw Gu Qingyi holding the knife and pondering over the right spot on the chicken’s neck to make the cut.
Chen Yan immediately shouted, "Wait a minute!!"
Gu Qingyi raised an eyebrow, glanced at Chen Yan standing at the gate, and slowly lowered the knife, "You’re back."
Chen Yan walked over, looking at the chicken in Gu Qingyi’s hand, "Where did it come from? We don’t raise chickens."
Before Gu Qingyi could speak, Lu Sisi, who was squatting under the eaves, replied, "Just now, an uncle brought four chickens and some local produce looking for you, saying they’re from the old village chief’s house, surname Zhao."
Chen Yan was momentarily surprised but then understood—it was the old man repaying the gift he had received from him by sending his son with a return gift.
Lu Sisi squatting under the eaves had covered her eyes fearful of witnessing the act, not because she was pretentious.
Lu Sisi wasn’t the type to be overly sensitive; she was simply a girl who couldn’t stand the sight of blood but that didn’t stop her from eating, nor would she make silly remarks to inconvenience others.
Chen Yan looked at the two girls at home and shook his head.
Neither can do any work.
"If I hadn’t shouted just now, would you have simply chopped its head off?" Chen Yan looked at Gu Qingyi, walked over and gently took the knife from her hand, finally feeling relieved.
For some reason, even though he knew this 21-year-old Consort Mother wouldn’t hurt him, he always felt a sense of danger when she held the knife.
Gu Qingyi pursed her lips, "If not chopping the head, how else do you kill it?"
"..." Chen Yan sighed and started giving instructions, "You two, go to the kitchen and bring the vegetable washing basin here, and fetch a pot of boiling water, and, grab an empty bowl."
Moments later, the items were prepared, Gu Qingyi stood with her arms crossed while Lu Sisi continued stealthily peeking from under the eaves.
While working, Chen Yan carefully instructed Gu Qingyi, "First hold the chicken , fingers pinching the head and wings to prevent it from moving, mainly pinching the head to expose the neck."
As he spoke, his hands moved, "Find a spot on the neck, pluck the feathers to reveal the chicken skin inside, and then... make the cut!"
His right-hand swiftly cut the chicken’s neck with the knife.
After a few brief struggles, Chen Yan positioned the bleeding neck over an empty bowl, letting the blood flow into it, soon collecting half a bowl of chicken blood.
The chicken stopped moving much.
Gu Qingyi squinted and nodded.
"You can save the chicken blood for cooking. Rural folks don’t just chop off the head, wasting all the chicken blood, what a waste..." Chen Yan said smoothly but felt a cold gaze and quickly glanced at Gu Qingyi, then smiled sheepishly, "...After killing, you need to remove the feathers."
He dropped the chicken into a basin of boiling water, rolling it around: "Scalding makes plucking the feathers easier."
Saying this, Chen Yan stood up, "Want to give it a try?"
Gu Qingyi coldly said, "I want to kill it, not handle the aftermath."
With that, Gu Qingyi turned and walked into the living room, quickly returning with three more tied-up chickens—the village chief’s house had sent a total of four.
She took the bowl and knife from Chen Yan and quickly mimicked his steps, catching a chicken, plucking feathers, and swiftly slicing!
A cold glint flashed, and blood flowed from the chicken’s neck into the bowl.
"No!" Chen Yan shouted.
A cold glint flashed, and another slice!
"Wait, we can’t eat..."
A cold glint flashed... the third one!!
Wow! These four chickens, not a single one survived past noon today!!
Gu Qingyi seemed to sigh lightly, glanced back at Chen Yan, and after a moment, threw the dead chickens into the iron basin, stacking them up in the small vegetable washing basin, then clapped her hands and walked into the living room.
Chen Yan stared, rolling his eyes angrily: "No! Killing all four, we can’t finish them! Wouldn’t it have been better to keep them for a few days?!"
That night, Chen Yan ate until he was stuffed.
Four plump farm chickens...the village chief’s house must have picked the fattest ones to give.
One was made into soup, another braised, one steamed—Chen Yan couldn’t think of what to do with the last one, so he decided to leave it for a couple of days to make smoked chicken.
Hmm, wonder if he ate too much...
For the three cooked chickens, Gu Qingyi only ate a drumstick and drank a bowl of soup.
The chicken soup was indeed fragrant.
Country-raised chicken soup, with a layer of chicken oil on top—you can never get this kind of aroma from the frozen chickens sold in city supermarkets. Plus, when Chen Yan made the soup, he added a yam, which Gu Qingyi ate with the soup instead of rice, feeling full.