In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

After some pleasantries, Chen Dao brought up the price of white-feathered chickens: "Brother Wu, I can entrust this white-feathered chicken business to you, but as for the price..."

Chen Dao trailed off, finally saying, "How about 400 coins each?"

"400 coins each..."

Wu Han's eyes darted around as he mentally calculated whether he could make a profit from 400 coins per white-feathered chicken.

Based on Chen Dao's previous price of 500 coins per white-feathered chicken, buying them for 400 coins each would definitely make a profit.

But... these days there are fewer and fewer customers buying chickens in the city, and Wu Han really isn't sure if he can sell the white-feathered chicken he bought for 400 coins for 500 coins.

After hesitating for a moment, Wu Han said, "Brother Chen, isn't 400 coins a bit too expensive? Nowadays, very few families in the city buy chickens to eat. Your white-feathered chickens are good, but they may not be able to sell for the high price of 500 coins they used to!"

"Don't worry about Brother Wu!"

Chen Dao smiled and said, "I've already found a buyer for you. You just need to buy white-feathered chickens from our village and then sell them directly to Miss Li Ying of the Fuhu Boxing Gym!"

Chen Dao approached Wu Han to save himself the trouble of going to the city; as for the problem of not being able to sell the goods, that was not an issue.

Li Ying, that foodie, could probably buy up all the white-feathered and yellow-feathered chickens in Chenjia Village for the time being.

What if Li Ying can't buy all the white-feathered and yellow-feathered chickens when their numbers increase...?

It's not too late to lower the price later. Meat is indispensable to humans, and as long as we're willing to lower the price, there's no possibility that we won't be able to sell it.

"They've even found me a buyer?"

Wu Han was overjoyed. Chen Dao had already found a buyer for him. All he had to do was buy white-feathered chickens from Chenjia Village and transport them over. It was such a simple and profitable business that even a fool would know to do it!

"Then I have no problem with it, Brother Chen, I'll take this business!"

"to make!"

Chen Dao nodded and said, "Then, Brother Wu, you can come to our village every three days to transport the white-feathered chickens we catch to the city to sell."

Three days is exactly the cycle for raising white-feathered and yellow-feathered chickens. Wu Han comes every three days, which corresponds to this cycle.

"Then it's settled?"

"That's a deal!"

After finishing talking about the white-feathered chickens, Chen Dao looked at Wu Han's stall and asked, "Brother Wu, we plan to buy some gray-feathered chickens today. How many do you have here?"

There are five in total.

Wu Han knew his number of gray-feathered chickens like the back of his hand and immediately stated the total number.

"Five is too few!"

Chen Dao shook his head and said, "Brother Wu, could you please do me a favor and call all the chicken vendors here over?"

"no problem."

Soon, Wu Han ran out and called over all the stall owners on the street. Then he said to Chen Dao, "Brother Chen, I've called over all the chicken vendors. Just tell me how many chickens you need!"

Chen Dao looked at the stall owners and noticed the expectant look in their eyes. These stall owners had been having a very hard time lately, so they were naturally eager to sell some goods.

However, Chen Dao did not immediately state the quantity he needed, but instead asked, "Brother Wu, how much is a gray-feathered chicken worth recently?"

"180 Wen."

Upon hearing this number, Chen Dao immediately knew that grain prices in the city had probably risen again; otherwise, the price of live chickens wouldn't have soared so quickly.

Chen Dao turned to discuss it with Chen Da for a while, then said to the chicken vendors, "I plan to buy 50 gray-feathered chickens! At 150 coins per chicken, is that price acceptable to you?"

50 of them!!!

This quantity immediately caught the attention of many chicken vendors; in this year's climate, it's rare to see a customer buy 50 chickens at once.

“This… young master.”

A stall owner who looked to be around fifty years old sized up Chen Dao and said, "You really want 50 chickens? You're not lying to us?"

The others also looked at Chen Dao with eager eyes. Although Chen Dao had lowered the price considerably, the quantity of 50 still made them eager to buy.

Why would I lie to you?

Chen Dao said.

The gray-feathered chickens weren't what he wanted to buy. His own yellow-feathered chickens reproduced so quickly, and they were all yellow-feathered from the moment they hatched. Chen Dao would be crazy to buy gray-feathered chickens and start raising them from scratch.

This batch of gray-feathered chickens is what Chen Da wants. Chen Da plans to use all 8 taels of silver he earned from selling chickens to buy gray-feathered chickens.

"150 coins each. If you can accept that, bring over the chickens you sell yourself, and I'll pay you. If you can't accept that, just leave!"

As soon as Chen Dao said this, many stall owners immediately turned around and ran quickly to their stalls, bringing their gray-feathered chickens to Chen Dao.

"Young master, I have six gray-feathered chickens here. They cost 150 coins each, so that's 900 coins in total," a stall owner said, pointing to the gray-feathered chickens in the coop with a fawning expression.

Live poultry is hard to sell in the entire East Market these days, so you absolutely can't miss out on a customer who spends so much money.

"Okay, Uncle Chen, give him the money!"

After Chen Da handed over one tael of silver to the stall owner, the stall owner left with a happy expression.

Seeing how readily Chen Dao paid, the other stall owners also sprang into action, "offering" their chickens to him.

"Young master, these are my chickens, five in total."

"These are mine, there are four in total."

"I have 10 here, it will cost one and a half taels of silver."

"..."

The transaction went smoothly. With money exchanged for goods, Chen Da spent almost all of his 8 taels of silver in less than a quarter of an hour.

The 48 grey-feathered chickens they bought were kept in the chicken coops given to them by the stall owners and then moved onto the donkey cart by Chen Cheng and the others.

"There are way too many chickens!"

Chen Jiang gazed at the clucking gray-feathered chickens on the cart, his eyes filled with envy. He had witnessed Chen Dao's transactions with the stall owners, and seeing Chen Da spend eight taels of silver to buy the chickens filled him with envy for Chen Da's wealth.

Eight taels of silver—that could buy so much grain! If the whole family ate steamed buns every meal, it could probably last for a year or two.

"Brother Wu, I've sold all the chickens, so I'll be going now! Don't forget about our business."

After buying the chickens, Chen Dao bid farewell to Wu Han and, together with Chen Da and others, drove a donkey cart to the grain store in the East Market.

Just as the donkey cart stopped outside the grain store, Chen Dao saw a young man in brocade robes emerge from the store, surrounded by several men who appeared to be guards.

The young man glanced at Chen Dao and the others, as well as the gray-feathered chickens clucking incessantly in the car, a hint of disdain flashing across his face. However, he said nothing and simply left gracefully, surrounded by his guards.

"Damn! What kind of jerk is this?!"

Chen Jiang, who was rather sensitive, couldn't help but curse.

The disdain on the young man's face was undisguised, which infuriated him.

*****

P.S.: Wishing all readers a happy Mid-Autumn Festival and a joyous family reunion!