Chapter 38: Price Inflation!
Chapter 38: Price Inflation!
Translator: AstralGhost Editor: Kurisu
"Screech!"
Like a raging bull, the white Lamborghini dashed into Qingshan Corporation building, screaming to a halt before the front entrance.
Wang Jun got out of the car and hurried into the building. Along the way, numerous people bowed to him in greeting as he passed. Wang Jun was, after all, the young master of the company! It was inevitable that he would become the person in charge sooner or later. So although it was rather unlikely for these random people to befriend him, everyone wanted to at least leave a good impression with him.
"Dad, I’m back."
Wang Jun felt his nose turn a little sour as he stepped into the office. Wang Jian looked a little weather-worn out as he sat behind his desk, half hidden behind a stack of documents.
He could almost count the sparse number of white hair cropping up his father’s temples as he walked closer. He remembered his father, young and cheerful, bouncing him on his shoulders. Before he was even aware of it, his father had already become old.
"Oh, you’re back. That’s good, sit down for a while first. Dad will take you out for lunch once I’m done with these documents," Wang Jian looked up at the young man before him, a proud look filled with protective love flashing in his pupils.
"En," Wang Jun felt a lump rising in his throat as he nodded his head obediently and sat down on the couch.
"Ziyun, is the helicopter ready?" Wang Jian put down his fountain pen and stretched lazily as he picked up the phone on the desk.
"It’s ready, we can set off at any time," Li Ziyun’s voice sounded over the phone.
"Come, I'll bring you to taste something amazing today," Wang Jian clapped his son on the back and beamed happily. This was the first time he had seen this brat behaving so obediently.
"Ok."
Although Wang Jun nodded his head, he was actually a little skeptical about the amazing food his father mentioned. What kind of delicacies had he not tasted before? Still, for once, he did not refute his father.
The father and son duo took an elevator to the rooftop, where a helicopter was already waiting for them with its propellers whirring.
Accompanied by the loud, chopping noise made by the propellers, the private helicopter rose rapidly and soon disappeared into the cloudless sky.
***
At the same time, Bei Feng was sweating furiously as he worked together with Bai Xiang to separate the Giant Imperial Shrimp into its various parts.
"God d*mnit, this Imperial Shrimp is really a pesky b*stard to deal with," Bei Feng wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand and switched his stance as he continued sawing at the Imperial Shrimp.
The Imperial Shrimp's tail meat was slightly easier to handle. He could simply cut off the entire section and store it away. The legs, however, had to be separated one by one.
Furthermore, each leg had to be divided into smaller sections for future convenience. Each section was worth about a jin of meat!
A full-grown arm-thick shrimp leg could be divided into five sections, for a total of 30. The amount of meat in each section, according to Bei Feng’s estimation, was enough to serve four customers!
After expending a great deal of effort, Bei Feng and Bai Xiang finally managed to sever the Imperial Shrimp’s numerous legs and cut them into 30 sections. Of course, Bei Feng had also removed the most important part of the Imperial Shrimp: the lobster roe.
Most people thought that the only shellfish whose ovary and digestive glands were considered a delicacy was that of the crabs. However, not many people knew that lobster roe was equally precious! It was just that the quantity was usually too little. It was less than a gram, barely enough for a nibble. As such, it was not substantial enough for people to pay much attention to it.
However, this giant Imperial Shrimp was different. As a Grade 1 Demonic Beast, it's roe was the culmination of all its vital essences. It's energy and nutritional value was far beyond what it's flesh could compare with!
Although it was classified as a Demonic Beast, the Imperial Shrimp was no different when compared to common lobsters as far as the location of its ovaries and digestive glands was concerned. Bei Feng aimed the electric cutter at the spot at which lobster roe was usually found and worked on drilling a hole directly through the shell.
After several minutes, the yellowish lobster roe could be seen.
Contrary to Bei Feng’s expectations, the Imperial Shrimp’s roe was actually dry, and clumped up into the size of an adult’s fist. It was unlike the runny liquid which he had come to expect. In fact, the roe was compact to the point where if he were to use a slight amount of energy, he could easily scrape off a layer of powder-ish substance!
Although a faint fishy smell emanated off the roe, it was not of the kind that would usually make one feel disgusted. This fishy smell was a light fragrance which would instead cause one to feel refreshed.
Bei Feng carefully kept the lobster roe away. This kind of treasure was naturally to be enjoyed by him alone. There was no way he would sell it to his ordinary customers!
As for the remaining inedible parts, he directly left it for the Vampiric Vine. It was useless to him after all.
Unsurprisingly, the Vampiric Vine seemed to be extremely glad to receive the gift as it shot towards the leftover Imperial Shrimp with great fervency. Countless root hairs had instantly swarmed over and wrapped around the Imperial Shrimp’s shell.
Bei Feng watched diffidently as the root hairs swarmed through the hole on the shell. The entire scene looked like something out of a horror movie featuring killer plants. Right now, Bei Feng felt that the Vampiric Vine seemed to be becoming more and more dangerous!
A shiver ran down his spine as he observed the entire procedure. Such thick and powerful root hairs, if they pierced into a human’s body, would likely not take long to suck a person dry!
Recalling the incident where the Vampiric Vine killed an assassin the last time, Bei Feng felt a trace of discomfort in his heart.
The fruit produced from a man-killing plant might seem like a disgusting object for most people and might even be associated with things like cannibalism. However, weren’t most vegetables also fertilized with the feces of animals? If one went with the same line of thought, wouldn’t eating fresh vegetables be the same as eating the feces of animals? When it came to themselves, people were somehow willing to omit such information from their minds and consume vegetables normally.
After a surprisingly long time, the Vampiric Vine finally retracted its root hairs. Bei Feng did not even need to look to know that the Giant Imperial Shrimp had become nothing more than an empty shell. Not even the slightest shred of meat could be expected to have been left behind.
With this feast, the Vampiric Vine seemed to have entered a new phase of growth. A faint blood-red glow seemed to be surrounding the entire plant as it grew with visible speed!
The main stem became even wider in dimension than a grown man’s thigh. Its other branches had also grown exponentially. The beautiful blood-red flower atop its topmost branch became even more resplendent in color as it sparkled like a masterfully carved blood jade!
Bei Feng looked at the three-meter long empty shell in deep thought. It seemed a little wasteful to discard something like this. Calling Bai Xiang over, the two of them carried the shell into the storage room.
He was actually thinking of reconnecting all the pieces of the shell together after he was done cooking the other parts. Perhaps he could display the reassembled shell as a decoration sometime in the future…
Bei Feng put five small sections of the Imperial Shrimp’s leg into the steamer and closed the lid. Two sections would be set aside for Bai Xiang while the other three would be for himself and Wang Jian.
Steaming was one of the easiest methods of cooking. He only needed to sit down and wait for the meat to be ready. In the meantime, Bei Feng was not idle. Golden cicadas costed a lot of money!
Soon, a shocking message appeared on the chat groups, "reservations are open again for today and tomorrow. I will be accepting 10 tables for four people each everyday! The price for each table will be 6,000 yuan! Interested parties may transfer a deposit of 3,000 yuan in advance. Priority will be given to the fastest bookings. Don’t miss it!"
"F*ck me! This black-hearted boss is increasing the price again!"
Disregarding the curious gazes of the people on the bus, a young man exclaimed aloud as he rubbed his eyes and looked at the message several times, an incredulous expression on his face.
"@BeifengPrivateRestaurant, Boss, can we talk about this properly? Why did you raise the price all of a sudden?!"
Numerous people were spamming "@Beifeng", demanding a reason for the price inflation.
"I guess this is it… I have been saving so diligently this past month, hoping that I can have a taste of this fabled cuisine. However, it seems like there’s no way I can ever afford to have a meal there. Looks like it’s time for me to leave this chat group." A user grumbled dejectedly. He felt like crying, but had no tears to shed.
Following this, a large number of people also left the chat group. This pricing was simply too high! It had already far exceeded their spending limits.
"The reason is because the ingredients are different."
Bei Feng looked at all the @Beifieng messages as a gnawing headache throbbed at his temples. He simply sent out a single sentence in reply and completely ignored the rest of the messages.
"The f*ck? Come on, Boss! What kind of ingredients could possibly be so expensive?! Are you serving Dragon livers and Phoenix marrows?" Someone asked sarcastically.
"Forget it, let’s leave too. This boss has probably gone insane from dreaming about money all the time," another person replied in disappointment.
Bei Feng did not bother to explain further. If they want to leave, then they can just go ahead and leave. There’s bound to be people who can appreciate top quality ingredients.
"Chuk, chuk, chuk, chuk!"
The wild, thunderous sound created by the helicopter engine and the chaotic wind appeared outside the old mansion. Bei Feng didn’t even need to think to know that Wang Jian had arrived. Hurriedly putting away his mobile phone, Bei Feng went out of the kitchen to receive Wang Jian.
"Haha, we’re here again to cadge a meal from you. We didn’t bring any gifts this time though," Bei Feng had only reached the mansion’s threshold when Wang Jian’s bright voice rang out.
As for the two little wolfdogs, they had escaped long ago, frightened by the noisy helicopter.
"No worries, I can accept this helicopter as a deposit for now," a sly smile appeared on the corner of Bei Feng’s lips.
"Hoho, no problem, keep it if you’ve taken a liking to it," Wang Jian replied grandly.
Bei Feng seemed to consider the proposition seriously for a brief moment before shaking his head.
"Ah, forget it, I wouldn’t be able to afford the upkeep anyway…"
"Cough, cough… well, that aside, what are we having for lunch today? I’ll have you know, I haven’t eaten anything since morning! Haha…ha… the work’s really been piling up these few days. I hardly have enough time to eat anything at all!"
Coughing awkwardly, Wang Jian hurriedly changed the subject. He was slightly caught off guard. Could it be that this kid was really serious about the helicopter?
Wang Jun, who was standing by the side, was shocked to the core. Was this still the same stern and serious father of his? Did he… somehow anger his father so much that he had lost his mind?