Chapter 304 - 177: A Braised Goods Stall? 3 Potential Team Industries! A Forging-Type Recruit

Chapter 304: Chapter 177: A Braised Goods Stall? 3 Potential Team Industries! A Forging-Type Recruit

"If I can’t even make a one-fifth processing fee, what’s the point of being in the braised goods business? I might as well just go out and forage for food with everyone else."

At his words, many people, seeing that they really couldn’t haggle the price down, turned and left.

But others stopped to watch, clearly interested in getting some of their food braised.

After all, they’d been at the school for so many days now, and the food they ate was mostly wild vegetables, wild fruits, instant noodles, and the like.

Even if someone managed to hunt some small game, the most they could do was simmer it with a little salt. A proper stir-fry was out of the question, since there was no oil.

To most of the students, whose stomachs were starved for flavor, these braised goods were like an unparalleled delicacy.

Although most students were barely scraping by, a few small teams were able to hunt game every day and build up a decent stockpile.

They even occasionally caught small and medium-sized game, like mountain rats, wild pheasants, and wild rabbits.

Most people air-dried them for long-term preservation.

To be honest, while it was enough to fill their stomachs, eating like this every day was getting really old.

Eating a braised meal would be absolutely amazing.

So, someone stepped forward and pulled a wild rabbit from his backpack. Its fur was still bloody, as if it had just died. He asked, "I’ve got a rabbit here. I just caught it in a trap this morning. Can you braise this?"

The youth’s eyes lit up at the sight of the rabbit. He nearly started drooling.

Clearly, the wild rabbit held a powerful appeal for him as well.

"Braise it? Of course, we can braise it! We also offer butchering, cleaning, and weighing services. We’ll make sure you get a fair deal."

"Okay."

The young man with the rabbit immediately handed his prize over.

The two people behind the stall owner hurried forward, gutted and skinned the rabbit, cleaned it, and placed it on a digital scale.

"Hey man, it weighs in at three and a half pounds. This wild rabbit’s pretty fat. Tell you what, since you’re my first sale of the day, I’ll give you a discount. I’ll just take half a pound of the meat as payment."

"Deal."

As the student who’d caught the wild rabbit nodded, the youth quickly put the rabbit into the pot.

The whole process was smooth as silk. In less than five minutes, the wild rabbit was in the pot, tumbling in the boiling braising liquid.

Seeing someone go first, the other students couldn’t hold back any longer.

"I have some wild vegetables here that could be braised."

The youth accepted all comers. "Of course they can be braised. Like I said before, anything that’s meat or a vegetable can be braised. It’s a great deal—I only charge a one-fifth fee."

"Then braise all these vegetables for me."

A large bag of wild vegetables, all sorts of varieties, was emptied out from a backpack.

After picking through them for a while, the youth set a small portion aside.

"Buddy, I don’t recognize these ones. I’m afraid they might be poisonous and ruin my whole pot of braising liquid, so they can’t go in. I recognize these, so I can only braise this portion for you."

The student with the vegetables hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Fine."

"Alright, man." The youth put them on the scale. "Two and a half pounds. I’ll take half a pound for this, too."

The vegetables went into the broth, tumbling in the pot along with the wild rabbit.

Another student, one wearing glasses, came up and asked, "Bro, I’ve got some wild fruits. Can these be braised?"

The youth quickly waved his hands. "No, that won’t work. Who braises fruit? I do meat and vegetables, fish included. But as for anything else, I don’t braise it."

The face of the young man with glasses fell instantly.

He really wanted some braised food too, but after searching all morning, all he’d found were some wild fruits. With no other food stored up back at his place, he could only leave in disappointment.

Xu Jun saw this bustling scene and grinned. "Brother Chong, this braised goods business is a great idea! We stockpiled so many supplies and seasonings, including hot pot bases and all kinds of spice packets, but we actually don’t have any braising spice mix."

Chen Chong nodded. He found it strange, too.

"I’m guessing this might be the only packet of braising spices in the whole school. After all, the school supermarket didn’t sell it, which means he must have brought it in from the outside."

"That’s a real shame. I’d love to have some," Xu Jun said, smacking his lips. "I wonder if the Medicine Lady, with her expertise in pharmacology, could analyze the spices and herbs needed for a braising mix and try to replicate it."

Chen Chong raised his eyebrows slightly and looked at Xu Jun. Xu Jun looked back at him.

"What is it, Brother Chong?"

After a long silence, Chen Chong finally spoke slowly.

"Ah Jun, you’re a genius. That idea... it might actually work."

’Braising spice mixes are extremely complex, involving dozens of ingredients.

’In an environment like the Primitive Jungle, starting from scratch and gathering all the ingredients for a braising mix would be practically impossible.

’But finding out *what* ingredients are needed is quite simple.

’Never mind that with so many people at the school, there’s bound to be someone who knows a thing or two and could name a few ingredients. We could also look it up in books.

’Failing that, the youth from before said he had the packaging for the spice mix. Just from the list of ingredients on the package, we could figure out the number and types of spices needed.

’Even if we can’t gather all of them, the Medicine Lady is an expert in pharmacology. If we have her look for similar, harmless medicinal herbs to use as substitutes, she might actually be able to create an alternative braising spice mix.

’The flavor might not be exactly the same as a real spice mix, but it would at least be close.

’Worst-case scenario, I could just buy some of the master stock from these three. Or I could just recruit them directly, and they would become the team’s third enterprise.’