Chapter 236: Castrated Rooster
In the classroom.
Qing Ke and Labor Committee Member Fu Chengkai’s legs and feet were still quite fast. Before Classmate Xiang Chuan finished eating the first bun, they had already carried two boxes of takeaway containers and run back to the classroom.
Because they went late, the popular steak buns and beef buns had all been taken by the boarding students and the day students who arrived early at school, so this time the two of them brought back were all sugar buns or vegetarian buns.
But, better than nothing. Class Eight classmates looked at Xiang Chuan, who took out the second bun and started gnawing on it, with resentful eyes, while eating the vegetarian buns in their mouths.
Fortunately, not long after, the class bell rang, Class Eight classmates returned to their seats, waiting for the arrival of Homeroom Teacher Zhu Bingwen.
The first class every Monday morning was used for class meeting and this week’s work arrangement, so it required the homeroom teacher to host the overall situation.
And Class Eight students were all used to their own homeroom teacher’s laid-back feeling of entering the classroom right on the bell. Sure enough, Zhu Bingwen entered the classroom only when the bell rang again this time.
Xiang Chuan couldn’t help but wonder: Are the wages and benefits of modern public high school homeroom teachers very low?
Otherwise, why did Zhu Bingwen look like a miserable corporate slave who only took the minimum wage and slacked off at work?
——
This week, actually, the class meeting content for all classes in first-year and second-year high school at Agricultural University Affiliated High School was largely the same: assigning students to do visit summary reports.
In order to avoid content repetition and stimulate students’ cooperation ability, in recent decades, Nongda Affiliated High School has arranged for students in each class to make reports in the form of groups.
At this moment, all classes in first-year and second-year high school were having headaches over the theme of the report, and Class Eight Grade One was no exception, but the direction of their headache was somewhat Versailles—
Should they write about the difference between the ingredient processing methods for pairing with fried rice and the ingredient processing methods used for general stir-frying? Or should they write about the experience of preliminary edible processing of pig offal?
Oh dear, such a tough choice.
Xiang Chuan hugged her arms and watched the young ones in the class discussing the theme and personnel allocation of the report. At this moment, she was full and the indoor temperature in the class was adjusted very comfortably, so much so that she even wanted to yawn and take a good nap.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to write the report (…well, she didn’t really want to write it that much), but during the entire three days of visit activity, Xiang Chuan was in the most critical position. No matter how the students in the class chose the topic, Xiang Chuan had both the ability and the obligation to provide them with some assistance in terms of information.
In the ten minutes before the class meeting started, Class President Lu Daiqing found that no matter which topic group’s team leader, they all clung to Xiang Chuan and wouldn’t let go, and Xiang Chuan herself already had a deadpan expression, so he decisively applied to the homeroom teacher to let Xiang Chuan serve as the advisor for Class Eight’s visit summary report, and specially permitted her not to participate directly in the report production.
Xiang Chuan initially refused, because that would mean turning herself into a humanoid Geegle transit station, constantly searching for some questions for them that were even more detailed than 100,000 Whys. In the end, Class Eight classmates bribed her with the enticing condition of “this afternoon’s club activities will use all the rest time to help Xiang Chuan organize the document information for the four department managers well.”
After settling the most critical Xiang Chuan, everyone started having headaches over the grouping issue.
The final confirmed grouping still referenced the previous grouping when dissecting the pig. The group responsible for processing internal organs and dismantling pig parts at that time was responsible for writing the practical report on pork edible processing this time, and the rest were responsible for writing the helper experience when assisting Xiang Chuan in cooking rice, porridge, stir-frying, and making desserts in the canteen kitchen at that time… oh no, it was the crop edible processing practical report.
——
In the afternoon, in A Bite of China Club Small Restaurant.
The school considered that first-year and second-year high school students would be busy with visit summary reports, so during lunch break, they issued a notice: first-year and second-year high school students can arrange club activity time from Monday to Wednesday this week on their own, and normal club activity arrangements will resume from Thursday.
So as soon as the lunch break ended for Class Eight Grade One classmates, they all rushed to A Bite of China Club Small Restaurant.
Xiang Chuan had received a temporary permit sent from Information Turbulence Processing Office before lunch break, so as soon as she saw Class President Lu Daiqing leading people in, she decisively sent him a light screen.
It listed the breeding information on various breeds of pigs, cattle, and chickens at home and abroad that Xiang Chuan had scraped from Geegle. Xiang Chuan even added lamb out of personal preference, making Class President Lu Daiqing and Mandy and others who came over to look at the document list stare wide-eyed.
Huh? Lamb can be eaten too?
Xiang Chuan: I also want to eat quail, duck, goose, and rabbit, but since pork isn’t settled yet, I’ll put them aside for now.
Because they promised to help Xiang Chuan organize documents, the usually noisy Class Eight Grade One classmates were all quiet as chickens sitting in their seats this time, either eating small cakes or drinking fruit milk, with the other hand constantly tapping on the light screen or typing on the keyboard. This scene made students from other classes feel a bit unaccustomed.
Xiang Chuan naturally wasn’t idle either. After Class President Lu Daiqing got the document list, he decisively sent her back a light screen.
It listed some information that the two groups in the class hoped to understand, such as “why fried rice needs to use rice that has been cooked and refrigerated, rather than freshly cooked rice” and “precautions for pig offal edible processing,” etc.
She took this list and began her copy-paste assembly line work swimming through Geegle.
——
After two hours of boring text assembly line work, whether it was Xiang Chuan, the 21st century corporate slave, or the energetic modern youth, all felt their eyes sore.
So when the rest bell rang during school club activity time, Class President Lu Daiqing directly decided to announce the start of rest time, and the area where Class Eight classmates were finally restored to its usual clamor.
At this moment, everyone gathered around Xiang Chuan’s side, chattering about some gourmet delicacies mentioned in these documents.
“What is ham? What is sausage? Are they names for the legs and internal organs of other breeds of pigs?”
“Is cured meat processed with wax and pork? Isn’t wax an edible ingredient? Were ancient people that fierce?”
“Is this roast suckling pig the kind I’m thinking of? Xiang Chuan, when the castrated pig scale farming starts, shall we get a few to try? Don’t worry, we can pool the ingredient fees…”
Xiang Chuan swallowed the pudding in her mouth and said helplessly: “It will happen, it will happen. We can make all these once the types and supply of pork increase later. You guys should first organize the information properly and let me hand it over to Chief Steward An Jing and Aksim General Manager before we discuss this.”
“We’re just craving it.” Cultural Committee Member Mandy chuckled, and while saying so, didn’t forget to sneak a french fry from the serving plate on the table.
“No matter how much you’re craving, you have to wait, and I’m even more craving than you.” Xiang Chuan said, depressingly sucking a sip of fruit milk.
The modern youth didn’t know the wonderful taste of other pork processing methods, so at most now it was curiosity > craving, but Xiang Chuan was different! She had genuinely eaten Jinhua ham fried rice, roast suckling pig, and braised pork; she was 100% craving it!
“And if you’re craving meat, go patronize the canteen or my family’s eatery more, order a few more portions of chicken or beef, isn’t that fine? You know, in ancient times, beef was more expensive than pork.” Xiang Chuan said.
“That’s not the same. The taste of pork compared to beef is even more…” Long Xiaoxian gestured excitedly for a long time, “Ah, anyway, I can’t describe it, but it’s different! I prefer the taste of pork!”
“Then just wait. The fastest is October or November, when the first batch of castrated pigs should be ready for slaughter. My parents said that the Agriculture Bureau and Production Escort Ship side plan to use the government pilot cooperation channel to bypass this bill in advance and get the castrated pigs on the market as soon as possible.” Xiang Chuan said quietly.
“So fast? Doesn’t it take time for pigs to get pregnant with piglets?” Chou Manman asked curiously.
“It’s said that there are still a few batches of piglets on the pig farms of each escort ship, just right before the period when they can be castrated, so they became the first batch of experimental subjects.” Xiang Chuan said while biting the straw, “As for those pigs that passed the best castration period, they will probably become the first batch of breeding pigs. Hope they produce more litters before they die of old age, after all, they need to supply pork for one billion people.”
Class President Lu Daiqing felt a bit awkward hearing this: “Xiang, Classmate Xiang Chuan… maybe don’t say this kind of thing in public?”
“What’s wrong with saying it? Castration is originally an ancient traditional poultry farming technology, not just for pigs, chickens can be castrated too. If our current chicken texture wasn’t good, I wouldn’t have the demand for white cut chicken now. I’d even want to send the capon technology to Chief Steward An Jing and the others right away.” Xiang Chuan muttered.
Huh? Class Eight classmates were all stunned hearing this. Chickens can be castrated too?
Then they thought of the world of difference in texture between castrated and uncastrated pigs, and couldn’t help swallowing saliva.
The chicken meat dishes made from the recipes Xiang Chuan provided were already so delicious, if they could be improved further…
“Xiang Chuan, why don’t you show us some information on capons too?”
“Yeah, this is a big deal. Why don’t you send it over together, and we’ll help you organize it!”
Class Eight classmates crowded in front of Xiang Chuan like they were pumped with chicken blood.
Unlike pork which they had only tasted once, chicken was something they ate frequently! If there was a way to further improve chicken, they didn’t mind working a bit harder.
Surrounded by thirty-four pairs of sparkling big eyes staring at her, she sighed and sent them the capon archive information she had already collected.
Watching Class Eight classmates cheer and end the rest time early, speeding up their keyboard typing like they activated TRANS-AM.
Xiang Chuan was now looking at the white cut chicken on the Geegle search page on the light screen in front of her, lost in memories.
In her previous life, her hometown Guangxi Province, like neighboring Guangdong Province and Hainan Province, was chicken-obsessed. From festivals to gatherings of relatives and friends, her mom always served a plate of white cut chicken. The chicken was raised by her parents daily with leftover rice, dishes, and bran.
She was lucky to have gnawed chicken legs a few times (this golden part mostly went to the little kids in her brother and sister’s families after she grew up). The taste of that chicken meat: advantages were fragrant and firm, disadvantages were that because the meat was too firm, every bite felt like it got stuck in the tooth gap.
Although Xiang Chuan wasn’t some weekly white cut chicken connoisseur, by her tasting, the texture of modern chicken meat had at least reached nearly 80% of the standard of her hometown’s home-raised chickens from her previous life.
If she were a picky Guangdong Province diner, she would definitely want to taste what flavor this chicken made into a capon would have, but Xiang Chuan currently didn’t have much idea about chicken, so she had been putting it aside.
Now it seemed that the emergence of white cut chicken might be even earlier than she expected?
