Chapter 153
A fat rabbit sold on the street goes for forty-five copper coins. Since the brothel’s kitchen buys in bulk, it’s no surprise they’d haggle for a lower price. The two brothers had assumed it’d be around forty copper coins, never expecting Luo Biao to put in such effort.
Shen Yaoqing smiled and said, “Brother Luo, you’ve gone out of your way to raise the price.”
Luo Biao chuckled in response. “Eldest Brother Shen, you might not know this, but what kind of place is a brothel? It’s a gold-squandering den. Even at fifty copper coins per rabbit, once the kitchen buys them, a single dish can easily make twenty or thirty copper coins in profit. Not to mention, after skinning the rabbits, the furs can still be used or sold. The dealings inside are so tight, even I can’t get involved, it’s someone else’s business.”
“Since it’s Second Brother Shen’s request, how could I not give my all for my own people? I’ll be frank with you, Eldest Brother Shen, the head chef reports the price on the account books as fifty copper coins. We’re actually at a disadvantage here. But this matter must never be spoken of.”
“Naturally.” Shen Yaoqing understood perfectly and quickly agreed.
Luo Biao then glanced at the chicken coop and said, “Second Brother Shen mentioned before that both chicken and duck eggs could be sold to the brothel. Though eggs are valuable, their price isn’t as high as game like rabbits. They go for thirteen copper coins per catty, unchanged in winter or summer. If Eldest Brother Shen finds this acceptable, I’ll inform the brothel, and from now on, you can deliver the eggs.”
This price was a few copper coins lower than the market rate, but it promised steady future business. Besides, thirteen copper coins wasn’t a loss. Without hesitation, Shen Yaoqing nodded. “This price works.”
“As for the chickens and ducks, initially I worried that since the hens and ducks lay eggs, you might not sell many. But seeing how many you’ve raised today, the brothel isn’t a tavern or eatery. The high-paying guests mostly drink, so poultry and meat are just side dishes, but they’re still necessary. How about fifteen copper coins per bird?”
Luo Biao paused before adding, “I know laying hens and ducks are pricier. On the market, they sell for seventeen or eighteen copper coins, even twenty copper coins. But this is the brothel’s usual buying price. When the time comes, just pick ones that aren’t too fat or too lean to deliver. The plump ones, you can keep for yourselves, eat or sell them elsewhere. Otherwise, it’d be a loss.”
Since the chickens and ducks weren’t raised by Shen Yaoqing, he didn’t hide the truth. “The price for chickens and ducks is negotiable, but it depends on whether my mother is willing to sell. Those dozen or so old hens and ducks she keeps are two or three years old, they don’t lay as well as younger ones. If she’s willing to sell, it’s doable. Next spring, we can hatch more chicks and raise them for eggs.”
He then asked, “How many chickens and ducks does the brothel need lately? This being our first time doing business with them, I’m not entirely sure. Never mind the grain-fed ones, there are too few. Among this spring’s hatchlings, there should be about seventeen young hens and fifteen young ducks, all ready to lay eggs. The remaining older ones total thirty. If my mother agrees, we could sell them to the brothel.”
Luo Biao listened before replying, “No rush, sell however many you can. The brothel’s chef goes to the market every few days to buy. If you can deliver, it’ll save him the trouble. Even three or five at a time, they’ll take them all.”
“Then it’s settled. I’ll talk to my mother later. If she’s willing to sell, I’ll take them to the brothel.” Shen Yaoqing agreed with a smile.
Luo Biao smiled as well. “We’ll take ten rabbits back today, but the brothel wants them alive for slaughter later. I’ll have to trouble Eldest Brother Shen to help me transport them. It’ll also give you a chance to get familiar with the kitchen staff. If I’m not around when you deliver later, they’ll recognize you, and things will go smoother.”
“No problem at all.” Shen Yaoqing readily agreed. Since rabbits were mentioned, he led Luo Biao to the front hutches to take a look.
Last time, Shen Xuanqing had sold six rabbits in town. The largest litter still had thirteen, and the two litters born half a month and a month later weren’t small either - forty-two in total. By the start of next month, they’d have been raised for a full six months.
Rabbits had this advantage: they bred fast, reaching selling size in just half a year. No matter how many the brothel wanted, they could supply them.
Earlier, during the walkaround, Luo Biao hadn’t counted carefully. Now, seeing over a hundred rabbits in the hutches, he couldn’t help but laugh in admiration. “Truly, Eldest Brother Shen and Second Brother Shen have vision. Counting both adults and young ones, there must be more than one hundred, right?”
Shen Yaoqing held up two fingers, grinning. “We started with twenty breeding pairs. These bigger ones, some are nearly six months old, others two or three months. Excluding the ones already sold, there are a hundred and ten. Then there’s this batch of one-month-old kits, weaned and separated from their mothers. All from the same month, a hundred and eighteen.”
Having built the hutches, tended to daily feeding and cleaning, and kept watch during births, he couldn’t help but feel proud of raising so many.
Luo Biao was delighted and impressed, raising a thumb in praise. “Truly extraordinary.”
Growing enthusiastic, Shen Yaoqing became more talkative. “It’s also that our hutches and cages aren’t enough, and with the cold weather, we’ve had to separate the bucks and does to stop breeding. Otherwise, the kits might not survive the harsh winter.”
“A hundred are plenty to raise. Come spring, you can breed again.” Luo Biao echoed agreeably.
“Exactly.” Shen Yaoqing nodded. With no fresh grass to feed them in winter, raising too many wasn’t feasible.
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