The residual fat on the bear meat was perfect for pan-frying.
Jiang Ye carefully flipped the meat slices in the pot with a small wooden chopstick.
The aroma grew stronger, the meat's color deepened, and golden oil stars danced at the bottom of the pot.
"A Class 1 protected animal is just so fragrant!" Jiang Ye drooled with anticipation.
After a few minutes, the surface of the meat slices was slightly burnt.
"Out of the pot!"
A clean, empty pot was ready beside him. Jiang Ye used his chopsticks to transfer the meat slices into it. As the hot meat met the cold pot, its temperature immediately dropped!
He picked up a slice and put it into his mouth with great expectation.
He chewed.
A rich and wild meaty flavor filled his mouth. It was slightly overcooked, and chewing it was like biting into beef jerky, quite chewy.
"If only I had some chili, pepper salt, or sweet bean paste to dip it in, it would be perfect. But it's delicious even on its own!"
Jiang Ye got more and more into it, and before he knew it, he had eaten all the pound of bear meat he had cut.
After eating, his stomach felt warm. Was this the effect of being well-nourished?
The cold he felt from working outdoors all morning was dispelled. Jiang Ye took his knife and left the base to continue his work.
He went to dismember the giant bear.
Such good bear meat couldn't be wasted; it had to be cut into pieces and stored in the warehouse.
The entire afternoon was spent by Jiang Ye with the giant bear carcass. He sawed and cut the meat back and forth with his knife, dividing it into pound-sized chunks, and then transporting them to the game warehouse.
The fat giant bear was easy to dismember. Occasionally, he encountered bones and simply cut them out. The only difficulty was the sheer volume of meat, and he didn't finish until dusk.
In the game warehouse, square chunks of bear meat were piled into a small mountain.
The bear meat that was brought in first had already frozen in the severe cold, becoming rock hard.
The freshly cut meat was still soft, but it would soon become hard chunks as well.
Fortunately, it was winter. If it were summer, so much meat would have spoiled quickly. But once frozen, it could be preserved for a long time, not spoiling until spring at the earliest.
Jiang Ye brought two pounds of bear meat back to the base, one pound for dinner and another to check its price.
The furnace fire in the base had just died down. As soon as he entered, he could clearly feel the air was cooler.
Jiang Ye hadn't returned all afternoon, and all the coal blocks had been burned.
He cleared out the waste coal, lit a fire with a lighter, and put half a furnace of coal blocks in.
Heat rose again, and soon the base became warm.
Jiang Ye took off his two cotton-padded jackets and felt comfortable with his bare body.
He tossed a pound of bear meat into the trading pod:
[Item: Bear Hindquarter Meat]
[Item Description: Highly nourishing meat, high in fat, very chewy, suitable for grilling or stir-frying. Some people also use it to make wine, or slice it thinly and eat it with white sugar. Experimental data suggests that long-term consumption of this bear meat can improve cardiopulmonary function and make people stronger.]
[Estimated Price: 260 Yuan]
Jiang Ye looked at the item description and thought such good stuff would be expensive, but he didn't expect it to be only 260 yuan per pound.
At 260 yuan per pound, selling all the bear meat would only bring in about 260,000 yuan.
It was better to keep it for himself than to sell it. As a Class 1 protected animal, most people wouldn't get to taste it in their lifetime.
Jiang Ye pondered for a moment, then opened the chat channel and privately messaged Cao County Citizen.
Jiang Ye: Are you there, my dear? Have you had dinner?
Cao County Citizen: Don't call me dear, it makes you sound frivolous! I haven't eaten yet, what's up?
Jiang Ye: I was going to give you a piece of bear meat to try.
Cao County Citizen: I am your dear!
Jiang Ye thought to himself that this girl might have graduated from Sichuan Opera face-changing, her attitude changing faster than flipping a book. He smiled helplessly and sent a pound of bear meat over.
Jiang Ye: I'll teach you how to eat it. Get a clean pot, don't add water, slice the meat thinly, put it directly into the pot and pan-fry it. It's especially fragrant. Try it.
Cao County Citizen: Okay, okay, thank you! I'm just hungry, I'll go make it now.
Jiang Ye also got up, used his knife to slice the bear meat for his dinner, cutting it into pieces the size of potato chips, then placed the empty pot on the stove.
A few minutes later, the bear meat was pan-fried. He ate it with chopsticks.
After eating two slices, a private message popped up.
Cao County Citizen: Holy cow! This is really delicious! It's so fragrant it's oozing oil!
Jiang Ye: And it's very nourishing. Do you feel any coldness in your body after eating it?
Cao County Citizen: Really? I haven't left the base, and I've been keeping the stove on, so it wasn't cold anyway. But after eating it, I really feel energetic. It must be very nourishing!
Jiang Ye: How much do you think such good bear meat would sell for per pound?
This was Jiang Ye's real intention. He gave a pound to Cao County Citizen to try. If she liked it after eating it, they could talk business. This approach was similar to supermarket tasting areas. Some snacks might not look appealing, but after tasting them, you'd find them quite delicious.
Cao County Citizen: I'm willing to pay 1000 yuan for it, but if sold to others, it might be around 800 yuan. After all, everyone is very poor.
Jiang Ye: Are you interested in selling bear meat?
Cao County Citizen: How much do you have?
Jiang Ye: I have a thousand pounds here already, and two smaller bear carcasses, which can yield about five hundred pounds of meat, totaling fifteen hundred pounds. If you want it, it's 600 yuan per pound.
Cao County Citizen: I'll take fifty pounds first!
The deal was made. Jiang Ye ran to the warehouse and transported the bear meat back and forth to fulfill the order. When butchering, he had cut it according to the standard of over one pound per piece, so he just needed to count fifty pieces, which was very convenient.
He earned 30,000 yuan by selling bear meat to Cao County Citizen.
Adding today's profit share, 21,800 yuan.
Jiang Ye's personal assets increased from 1,216,000 yuan to 1,267,800 yuan!
He still needed 732,200 yuan to upgrade the base.
Jiang Ye estimated that this money would be easy to come by.
The giant bear's hide sold for 400,000 yuan, plus a bear hide stool.
There were also two smaller bear carcasses. After skinning them tomorrow, selling them for hundreds of thousands should not be a problem.
Selling more bear meat... the phrase sounded a bit ambiguous.
Selling more bear meat would bring him closer to upgrading the base.
Moreover, there was one more item that had the potential to fetch money.
The spy robot's carcass!
He had killed two spy robots last night. Jiang Ye was freezing at the time and didn't retrieve them. He had planned to drag them over to sell today, but he encountered the bear early in the morning.
After eating his fill, Jiang Ye put on two layers of cotton-padded jackets and carried his five-shot rifle out of the base.
The wind had picked up again, even colder than last night.
The temperature had likely dropped to minus ten degrees Celsius.
Climbing over the familiar steep slope, Jiang Ye saw Natalia and Gao Yu, fallen in the same positions as last night, surrounded by parts.
"Amitabha, selling people, selling people!"
Jiang Ye bent down and picked up Gao Yu's carcass. The body weighed about a hundred pounds, lighter than he had imagined.
Turning around, he returned to the base.