Stepmom's Farm Life

Chapter 21 Staying at the Inn

With a dull "bang", Qin Yao pulled the black bear down from the bracket and placed it on the banana leaves that had been prepared in advance in the kitchen of the restaurant.

The chef in the kitchen, the waiters, and the shop owners all gathered in the kitchen and looked at the huge black bear in amazement.

Many restaurant guests also gathered around curiously and stood at the kitchen door wanting to take a look at the blind bear.

Some people only see these big guys once in their lifetime, and can brag about them to their children and grandchildren for the rest of their lives.

Qin Yao's hands were stained with blood when she moved the bear, so Manager Fan hurriedly asked the waiter to scoop a basin of hot water for her to wash.

By the time Qin Yao had finished, the master chef had already discussed with his two apprentices about finding a butcher in the east of the city to help with the slaughter.

They usually deal with processed meat, so they are a little hesitant to touch such a big, whole piece.

Firstly, they were afraid of damaging the skin, and secondly, they needed to preserve all the important parts of the bear as completely as possible so that they could make delicious dishes and sell them at high prices.

Killing a pig is a technical job, let alone killing a bear.

When you hire a butcher, you have to pay him a fee.

Qin Yao was about to go to the lobby to pay the bill, but when she heard the words coming from the kitchen, she leaned forward and asked:

"I can kill a bear, skin it and remove its tendons. I don't want any wages. Just give me a midnight snack and a place to sleep for the night."

It's getting late, so instead of looking for a place to stay outside, it's better to stay in this restaurant for one night.

Save money and trouble.

The master chef was a little tempted and immediately urged his apprentice to ask Manager Fan if it was okay.

The apprentice ran there and came back soon. Shopkeeper Fan, who was putting up a sign for bear dishes in the lobby, followed and said to Qin Yao,

"Girl, let's do this. My restaurant will take all your prey. I'll pay you when I'm done. Also, the price for killing the bear is whatever you want. You can kill it first. The restaurant happens to have quite a few empty rooms. I'll reserve one for you and you can stay here tonight."

Shopkeeper Fan is now certain that Qin Yao is an extraordinary person. He admires these hidden masters the most in his life, and he would make friends with them whenever he meets them, and their accommodation is free.

Qin Yao thanked her generously, asked the apprentice for an apron, and went into the kitchen to pick out tools.

The master chef had a row of knives of various shapes. Qin Yao found a small and sharp one and started working.

She moved very skillfully. She knew exactly where to start peeling the skin, which parts were difficult to peel, and where the bones were. Her eyes seemed to be able to see through everything, and she never made any mistakes.

The master chef and two apprentices stood by and wanted to lend a hand, but they found that there was no chance for them to get involved at all.

Qin Yao peeled off the bear skin completely in just two incense sticks of time.

The two apprentices looked at her with admiration in their eyes. If their master was not still there, they would have wanted to kneel down and become her apprentice again.

The bear skin was taken out and hung on a pole in the backyard to dry, and then the shopkeeper would ask someone to come and deal with it.

Qin Yao changed to a sharp knife, moved the skinned bear to the yard, cut open its belly, and separated the bones and rarer parts such as the bear's paws and gallbladder.

In the front hall, after Manager Fan made some announcements, some people came over to try some hot bear paws. Qin Yao was chopping the meat while the chef was cooking. The whole restaurant was brightly lit and busy.

This busy schedule lasted until late at night when the restaurant closed.

The chef cooked a big pot of hodgepodge for everyone, which was a stew of various leftovers. Everyone had a bowl of noodles and a big steamed bun, and they ate it with the soup and vegetables. It was so delicious.

Knowing that Qin Yao had a big appetite, Manager Fan also instructed the chef to give Qin Yao two more steamed buns.

Her appetite alone is equivalent to that of five adults. The waiters in the restaurant were stunned. They didn't know how her small body could hold so much food. Wouldn't her stomach be broken?

However, after spending this night together, Shopkeeper Fan was tired of expressing his admiration for Qin Yao, and he kept calling her Madam Qin, as if they had become close friends.

After a busy night, Shopkeeper Fan relaxed himself with two glasses of wine. Qin Yao then realized that he was a fan of martial arts novels. If the kitchen chef had not been watching him, he would have almost knelt down and become Qin Yao's apprentice on the spot.

Qin Yao didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and felt that this middle-aged man was a bit cute.

The second watch bell on the city wall rang, and everyone packed up and dispersed.

Qin Yao was assigned to an ordinary single room. There was some hot water in the kitchen. When the two apprentices learned that she wanted to take a bath, they helped her get some hot water. Qin Yao stood by the tub and looked at herself, and was frightened by the disheveled "female ghost" in the water.

Qin Yao hadn't washed or dressed in the mountains for several days and her body was dirty and smelly. Thinking back to when she had just sat with everyone to have dinner, she felt that they were such nice people who could tolerate this.

Hurry up and lock the door, take a shower and wash your hair.

Qin Yao had a set of dirty clothes on her body and couldn't change them, but she couldn't not wear them either, so she could only dust them off, wipe them partially, and continue wearing them.

It was already very late, so I poured out the water, returned to my room, and fell asleep as soon as I lay on my pillow.

This was the most comfortable sleep Qin Yao had ever had since she traveled through time.

The hotel's rooms are spacious and clean, the bedding is soft and warm, the bed is firm and will not shake when you turn over, and there is no torture of the roof rustling in the wind in the middle of the night.

When the sky brightened, Qin Yao woke up naturally, washed up simply, took her bow and arrow and dagger and went to the lobby.

Shopkeeper Fan had already gotten up. When he saw her come out, he hurriedly gave her the money.

The fee for killing the bear was fifty coins, and the price of four pheasants was twenty coins per catty, which made a total of four hundred coins.

The fur of that yellow weasel is valuable and can be made into brushes. It was worth eight hundred coins.

The two squirrels were worth eighty cents each, for a total of one hundred and sixty cents.

The roe deer weighed seventy-five catties, and one catty cost forty coins, which was exactly three taels of silver.

Qin Yao still had seven rabbit skins. She originally wanted to take them home and ask someone to make them into vests to wear in winter. But then she thought that the skins had to be processed before they could be made into clothes, which was too troublesome, so she sold them all.

The shopkeeper gave nine hundred coins for seven gray rabbit skins.

Together with Black Bear's eighty taels of silver, the total was eighty-five taels and three hundred and ten coins.

Shopkeeper Fan gave Qin Yao four silver ingots of twenty taels each, minced five taels of silver, and three hundred and ten copper coins, which he put in a cloth bag and handed to her.

The purse was in my hand. It was heavy and quite big.

Qin Yao now has some understanding of what the term "rich" means. In the era without paper money, it was really inconvenient to take money out. No wonder rich people used horse-drawn carriages when traveling. Otherwise, it would be impossible to enjoy shopping with a large box of heavy copper coins.

However, ordinary people only carry a few pieces of silver when they go out, which does not affect their movements.

If you are traveling across continents, there will be money houses that will issue bills, and you can use the bills to exchange for bills of exchange at local money houses and withdraw the money, saving the trouble of carrying money on the road.

After receiving the money and thanking Manager Fan for the hospitality yesterday, Qin Yao left the restaurant and started shopping.

(End of this chapter)