Ding Yu then looked at Hu Qi.
He asked with some apprehension.
"What do you think?"
Hu Qi had just finished his inspection.
He nodded.
āThe duckās feathers probably arenāt dyed.ā
"Not bad. How much are you asking for it?"
Hearing this,
a smile appeared on Ding Yuās face.
Then, he held up two fingers.
"Twenty thousand!"
"Heh. Goodbye."
Hu Qi nodded.
Then, he turned and walked away. His movements were crisp and decisive, without the slightest hesitation.
Seeing this, Ding Yu instantly grew anxious.
He quickly reached out and grabbed Hu Qi.
"Hey, donāt go! We can still negotiate the price."
Although the price of Exotic Beasts on the market was generally high, spending twenty thousand on a duck was obviously out of the question.
Ding Yu had originally seen how eager Hu Qi seemed and figured he must be in desperate need of this kind of Exotic Beast.
So he had decided to fleece him.
But he never expected the guy to not fall for it at all. He didnāt even try to haggle; he just turned to leave.
At this,
Ding Yu had no choice but to speak up.
Previously, while he was still in school, the allowance his family gave him was too small and wasnāt enough to live on.
He had taken out a two-thousand-yuan campus loan, which he was now unable to repay.
The lenders had given him one last month.
He was originally prepared to get a job or confess to his family if he had no other choice.
However, after seeing Hu Qiās post, a new idea had suddenly struck him.
How could he possibly let Hu Qi leave so easily now?
"Why donāt you name a price!"
Hearing this,
Hu Qi took the opportunity to stop.
After all, he didnāt actually want to leave.
Although he wasnāt short on money,
letting himself be fleeced like a sucker was definitely not in his nature.
He glanced at the other man.
He held up one finger.
And said flatly,
"One thousand."
He haggled by a simple rule: half off for strangers, and even more for acquaintances.
After their journey here, they were practically acquaintances now.
So Hu Qi simply lopped off a zero, cut the remainder in half, and made his perfectly reasonable offer of one thousand.
"Thatās too low! This is a rare breed. Where else could you find a duck like this? Forget ten thousand, it should be at least seven or eight thousand!"
Ding Yu said.
"Whatās so rare about it? I just want to buy it to see how it tastes. Itās not like eating it will make me ascend to the heavens."
Hu Qi waved his hand dismissively.
"If you donāt want to sell, then forget it."
"Itās not like that. This is a female duck. It can also lay eggs."
Just then,
as if remembering something, Ding Yu pointed at the duck and said.
"A female? It lays eggs?"
Hu Qiās expression shifted slightly.
His gaze couldnāt help but drift to the duck.
The sex of a duck can usually be distinguished by its appearance.
Generally, drakes have larger heads, rounder bodies, and pointed tails that curve downward.
In contrast, hens have smaller heads, flatter bodies, and fanned tails that curve upward.
However, this duck already looked different from others of its kind, making it very difficult to tell just by its appearance.
As if afraid Hu Qi didnāt believe him,
Ding Yu turned, ran into the courtyard, and brought back a woven bamboo basket.
Inside were four or five fist-sized duck eggs.
They were the same size as regular duck eggs, only their shells had a few faint purple stripes.
"The ones it laid before were all eaten. These are the only ones left.
This duck is special. It canāt breed with other drakes, so the eggs canāt be hatched. But they taste really good."
Ding Yu said with a sincere expression.
"Iāve told you everything I know. One thousand is too low. If you add a bit more, Iāll throw in the eggs."
Afterward,
following some intense bargaining,
the price was finally set at thirty-five hundred.
After some probing conversation, Hu Qi also understood that this was Ding Yuās rock-bottom price.
They sealed the deal immediately.
"Right, if you come across any more Exotic Beasts like this, you can call me anytime. Iāll make it worth your while, but donāt you dare try to fool me with fakes."
Hu Qi took a wad of cash from his bag and handed it to him.
"Donāt worry. The moment I have news, youāll be the first one I contact."
Looking at the cash in his hand, Ding Yuās face blossomed into a wide smile.
He then eagerly helped Hu Qi put the duck into a burlap sack.
Hu Qi then carried it away.
Behind him, he could faintly hear the voices of Ding Yu and an old woman.
"Yu, you sold that duck for a few hundred. Wasnāt that too expensive?"
"Grandma, you donāt understand. Rich people love to eat these weird, rare things for the novelty of it."
Apparently, Ding Yu had pocketed most of the money, only telling her heād sold it for a few hundred.
Hu Qi paid it no mind.
It was their business, after all.
...
ćOver half an hour later.ć
Hanlin Garden District.
Inside the rental apartment.
A faint, fragrant aroma drifted through the air.
QUACK QUACK!
Perhaps because it was in a new environment, or maybe because it smelled the aroma of its own kind,
the duck quacked from time to time, struggling constantly inside the burlap sack.
Hu Qi ignored it for the time being.
He gave the pan a gentle toss with his arm.
A fragrant, fried egg slid out of the pan.
Its appearance was no different from a regular duck egg.
āThis thing shouldnāt be poisonous, right?ā
Hu Qi thought for a moment, then used his chopsticks to break off a small piece and pop it into his mouth.
He immediately summoned his panel.
His gaze fixed on the Modification Point column, and as he focused on it,
the percentage behind it appeared.
Modification Point: 1 (91%)
āIt really works!ā
A glint appeared in Hu Qiās eyes.
Over the past few days, he had made it a habit to check the Crimson modification panel several times a day.
He was, of course, perfectly clear on his previous stats.
After modifying his Mixed Martial Arts to Perfection,
his Modification Point was 1 (89%).
This meant that a small bite of the duck egg just now had raised it by 2%.
Immediately,
Hu Qi no longer hesitated. He cracked open the remaining eggs, fried them, and ate them all.
āāāā
Modification: 4 (36%)
There were five eggs in total. By his calculation, each one provided him with roughly 50% worth of Modification Points.
āEating so many fried eggs is a bit much. I should consider making them differently next time.ā
Hu Qi was very satisfied.
He glanced at the duck still flapping around in the burlap sack, his mood excellent.
He had originally planned to make an old duck soup tonight.
But he never expected that it could lay eggs.
That meant he couldnāt kill it.
After all, with this thing, he had a steady source of Modification Points.
He reached into the burlap sack and pulled the duck out.
QUACK QUACK!
The moment the duck was out, it saw its strange new surroundings and began to flap its wings furiously, quacking loudly as it opened its beak to bite Hu Qiās arm.
SMACK!
The next moment,
Hu Qi slapped it on the head.
"Keep quacking and Iāll boil some water and stew you right now!"
Hu Qi frowned, his gaze cold.
It was unclear whether it was due to the slap or if it was scared by Hu Qiās words,
but the duck actually stopped struggling.
"Good. From now on, Iām your master. Since thatās the case, Iāll give you a name."
Hu Qi muttered to himself.
His eyes swept up and down the duck.
"Seeing as your feathers have a purple sheen and your meat looks plump, Iāll call you Camphor Tea Duck!"