These bird's nests varied in quality. Some were top - grade swallow cups, while others were just swallow strips. Even so, their market value was at least several hundred taels of silver.
Lu Xunguang stuffed the cloth bag into her hands without any sign of distress and said casually, "As long as A Ying likes them."
Li Ying had been worried before. With only one single bird's nest, even if she made it into a stew, she didn't know who to share it with.
Lu Xunguang was like a timely rain, solving her urgent problem!
"I remember you said that these swiftlets build their nests three times a year. And after the baby birds leave the nest each time, the adult birds will build a new one. I thought that since there is a colony of swiftlets in the cliff cave, there must be some abandoned old nests."
While explaining, Lu Xunguang carefully observed Li Ying's expression.
"A Ying, I know that cliff is extremely steep and you must not want me to take such a risk. So I had to go there secretly without telling you. Please don't be angry with me, okay?"
He looked like a well - behaved student receiving punishment in front of a teacher. Li Ying was both touched and heart - broken. How could she blame him?
She held Lu Xunguang's hands tightly with her soft little hands, repeatedly checking to make sure there were no injuries on him. Only then did she finally breathe a sigh of relief. Then she carefully asked what the cave where the swiftlets built their nests was like.
If they built a swiftlet house on the island to attract the remaining swiftlets to build nests, wouldn't the artificially - bred bird's nests be in constant supply?
Li Ying was secretly calculating in her mind. Before long, their boat arrived at the fishing village pier.
She was worried about the colony of swiftlets hiding in the space, so she didn't dare to delay any longer. She rushed home to settle down and then came to deal with the bird's nests they had brought back.
She separated the broken cups, triangular cups, swallow corners, swallow strips and swallow crumbs, and roughly picked out the coarse feathers and impurities first. Lu Xunguang did the initial picking, A Man did the detailed picking, and Li Ying herself did the final fine - picking.
Only after these three rounds of strict selection could the processed bird's nests present a faint ivory - white color, clean and dust - free.
The processed bird's nests were soaked in the mountain spring water from the northern mountain of Zhenbei. They would expand more. After tearing them into small strips, she picked out the last bit of floating feathers and put them into a stewing pot for slow - stewing in a water bath.
If you added rock sugar during the stewing process, it would easily turn into water. If you added red dates, the bird's nests would not expand and there would be floating foam.
This cave - nest was of excellent quality. It was soft, smooth and delicious just by stewing it plainly.
While Lu Xunguang was picking feathers, Li Ying had already taken sugarcane, honey, chrysanthemum and monk fruit to boil a sweet but not cloying rock sugar. When the bird's nests were well - stewed, she sprinkled the rock sugar on them. They were sweet and glutinous, extremely delicious.
Grandma Sun was reluctant to eat such a precious sweet soup. She only took a sip and then said that she was an old woman and didn't need such nourishment.
Li Ying tried to persuade her in many ways but to no avail. So she and A Man had to share the bowl of stewed bird's nests honestly.
As for the remaining swallow corners and swallow crumbs, the stewing process didn't need to be so elaborate.
After stewing them in a water bath, according to everyone's taste, you could pour in warm milk or coconut milk, and you could also add wolfberries and red dates by yourself.
Her bird's nests were genuine products, and she had openly classified them into different grades according to their quality. She didn't, like Lian Ji, come up with some fancy name like "First - grade official swallow".
The cheapest stewed swallow crumbs cost the same as Lian Ji's, ten wen. The swallow corners cost fifteen wen. As for the most expensive swallow cups, even the un - stewed ones cost a full one hundred copper coins!
Such an exorbitant price made many common people secretly complain. They blamed Li Ying for getting rich overnight and losing her original kindness.
This was not the capital city. Who could be willing to spend one hundred wen just to drink a bowl of sweet soup?
Just hearing the words "swallow crumbs", people knew they were the inferior scraps. How could they be compared with Lian Ji's official swallow?
This Boss Li was really from a small family and couldn't be as generous as Madam Lian Ji!
A Man was so angry that he was about to roll up his sleeves and argue with those people, but Li Ying didn't care.
Many of her old customers couldn't bear to see her business go bad. After they tasted the products themselves, they were surprised to find that the one who was being dishonest in business was actually Lian Ji!
So bird's nests were supposed to be feather - free? And they weren't smelly?
Even the swallow crumbs had a soft and glutinous texture, rather than being as watery as Lian Ji's "First - grade official swallow".
The villagers in the fishing village rarely came into contact with such high - end things as bird's nests, but they weren't fools. They could naturally tell the difference.
Within half a day, Li Ying's business of "stewed swallow crumbs" was booming and overtook Lian Ji's.
She wasn't eager for quick success. Every time she sold a bowl of stewed bird's nests, she would remind the customers that although bird's nests were good, they shouldn't eat too much every day. Even the swallow crumbs were not cheap for ordinary people. If they wanted to supplement collagen but were short of money, they could eat pig skin jelly as a "substitute".
With her earnest advice, the villagers praised her even more. Boss Li was really honest in business. You got what you paid for. Their enthusiasm for buying increased even more.
Some people even heard that the complete swallow cups had better nourishing effects. They gritted their teeth and bought two cups, planning to stew them at home by themselves.
The swallow corners and swallow crumbs were sold out. Bao Guiyou and the others also got the news. They knew that even when she was selling sweet soups today, she still remembered to promote their business. They were all deeply touched and would surely bring some gifts to visit and thank her.
Li Ying was chatting with the shopkeepers. Bao Guiyou couldn't help sighing.
"If Shopkeeper Feng could also turn over a new leaf, it would be great. Madam Lian Ji... is not a wise master!"
Just as they were talking, A Man came to report.
"Sister, Shopkeeper Feng of Dingtai Restaurant is here to see you!"
Speak of the devil.
Li Ying was calm. She smiled slightly and waited for Feng Yuan leisurely.
As soon as Feng Yuan entered the door, without saying a word, he knelt down in front of her with a "plop".
"Boss Li, I was blind and trusted the wrong person. Please give me another chance!"
He told her in detail how Lian Ji had forced him to hand over the bird's nests. Then he looked at her remorsefully.
"Boss Li, I was hesitant before and followed the wrong master. This time, I won't make any more mistakes!"
After all, they had been running shops in the town for many years. Bao Guiyou couldn't bear to see him act so humble. He tentatively tried to smooth things over and said, "It's never too late to mend one's ways..."
Li Ying also nodded.
"Doing business should be based on harmony. Moreover, competing with me was not Shopkeeper Feng's original intention. From now on, our four shops should support each other."
She helped Feng Yuan up with her own hands and drank the tea he offered as a sign that she didn't hold a grudge. Then she kindly gave him some advice, saying that since the "bird's nest" trend was in full swing now, Dingtai Restaurant might as well introduce more high - end bird's nests for the wealthy families.
Feng Yuan was extremely grateful. He bowed and left. After everyone had left, Bao Guiyou carefully looked at Li Ying and asked, "Boss Li, did I show any flaws just now?"
Li Ying smiled. Only then did Bao Guiyou feel relieved. He bowed his hands and got up to leave.
In the inn, Lian Ji never expected that her careful plan would be so easily foiled by that little girl. She was furious and angrily held onto the corner of the table.
"Someone! Go and call Feng Yuan here immediately!"