I Awakened to a Farming TALENT

**Chapter 73: Violent Little Jin, Hammering the Goat**

The angle and force of the strike were terrifyingly precise. The dining table – along with the bowl Liu Yanghe was eating from – was split cleanly into two perfect halves.

"Wh-what happened?"

"My hand slipped." Pei Jingmo pulled back his heavy sword and sheathed it perfectly.

Yanghe was covered in bun crumbs and wood splinters. He was about to say something else, but Tingyun didn't dare let him open his mouth again. She quickly shoved him toward the kitchen.

"Little Liu, you haven't done your talent training today. Let's go train right now."

Yanghe stumbled toward the kitchen, confused. "Huh? Why aren't you calling me Teacher Liu anymore? And training's not that fun anyway. What if something goes wrong with my training too and I stop grow— OW!!"

Tingyun stomped on his foot to stop him from saying anything else that might set Pei Jingmo off. If Jingmo snapped, Yanghe wouldn't be the only one getting hurt.

Once Yanghe was in the kitchen, Zhu Lili and the others quickly brought tea and water and tried to calm Jingmo down.

"No need to go that far, no need. Senior Brother, don't worry – your problem will definitely get solved. By the time you die of old age, you'll definitely look like an old man again."

"......"

What a jinx!

Living in Qionghua Sect meant getting exasperated on a daily basis.

*CRASH.*

Jingmo chopped down with his palm, and the bench split into two pieces as well.

Even though they almost made him lose his mind, deep down Jingmo wasn't as frustrated as before.

Ten years had passed since his talent upgraded at fifteen and his appearance stopped changing.

He'd already waited this long.

He firmly believed the problem would get solved eventually. It was just a matter of time.

Besides, that Liu Yanghe had once said that winning the Mystic Arts Competition would earn an invitation to Mount Zige.

Whether someone eventually took his bounty or not, he would find a way to get to Mount Zige.

He had a feeling – his problem would definitely be solved there.

It's just… who knew when that Mystic Arts Competition would actually happen.

In the meantime, they still had to eat. Qionghua Eatery still had to stay open.

Everyone tried to calm down and stop overthinking things.

---

Since she'd promised to make goat stew a few days ago, Tingyun went to the market at three in the morning to get the goat.

Goats weren't raised much around here – not as easy to buy as pork or beef. She'd specially asked around and put in an order days in advance, and even then she'd barely managed to snag one.

But when she got to the stall and actually picked up her order, she just stared blankly.

"A live goat?!"

Tingyun took the rope from the vendor in shock.

The vendor chuckled. "Yeah, you said you wanted the freshest possible."

"Uh… yeah, I did say fresh." Tingyun looked at the little goat bleating innocently with its big, confused eyes. Her heart was torn.

But this was *too* fresh!

And goats were so cute – how could she eat one? Slaughtering a goat felt like losing ten years of good karma.

While Tingyun was still wrestling with whether to kill it or not, the clueless goat turned its butt toward her, and—*plop, plop, plop* – dropped a string of little poop pellets right on her shoe.

"......"

Fine. You asked for it.

With the cold, unfeeling expression of a hitman, Tingyun led the goat back to the eatery.

Before leaving, she didn't forget to scoop the poop into a plastic bag. She was definitely taking that back for compost. Waste not, want not.

The moment she brought the fat goat back to Qionghua Eatery.

The yard lights were all on. The gluttons of Qionghua Sect had actually woken up this early, couldn't wait any longer. They were already waiting in the yard.

"It's really a live goat?" Jin Feifan picked up a hammer from the corner and walked over. "Sect Master, are we killing and eating it today?"

"Yeah, I need to find a video first – see how to s*******r a goat."

Before she finished speaking, Feifan raised the hammer. One swing, one *thunk* right on the goat's head. The fat goat didn't even let out a single bleat before dropping dead on the spot.

"......"

What just happened?!

Tingyun stared at Feifan in horror.

"I saw someone s*******r a goat before. They said you can't let the goat bleat when you cut it. If the goat gets scared and bleats, the adrenaline kicks in and the meat tastes different." Feifan grinned sheepishly, still holding the hammer.

Tingyun nodded blankly. "You mean... epinephrine. Damn. That's actually a thing."

She headed to the kitchen to get her knives, shouting instructions over her shoulder. "Little Jin, grab a table and bring it outside. Uncle Liu, boil some hot water, okay?"

Once the table was out, Tingyun hoisted the goat onto it effortlessly, pinned the legs down, took out a sharp knife, and sliced its throat to drain the blood.

She caught the blood in a bucket – they could make blood sausage later.

After the blood was drained, she got out a steel sharpening rod and tried to skin the goat.

But skinning was a technical job. She tried a few different angles but still couldn't figure it out.

"Let me." Pei Jingmo took the rod from her and, with no visible effort, slid it under the skin of the goat's leg.

He didn't seem to use any effort at all. He didn't even need a knife. Just by pulling and tugging with his hands, he stripped the hide off cleanly.

Once the hide was off, gutting was easy.

Tingyun straightened the goat and, just like with a pig, sliced open the belly and pulled out the organs.

"Oh, this goat has a big stomach. Nice and plump."

When she got to the lower part, she raised an eyebrow. *Heh.* Nice. That's a good one. She'd keep it for someone who needed it.

After draining the blood, removing the hide, and taking out the innards, the rest was quick. She trimmed off the gamey parts and lymph nodes, then expertly broke down the meat.

Head, ribs, belly, legs, hooves – and one whole, intact lamb spine (yangxiezi).

Zhu Lili was already recording a short video on her phone.

"So brutal. So messed up. Looks so good."

By the time she'd mostly finished breaking down the goat, Tingyun was sweating despite the early winter chill.

There are tons of ways to eat goat. The locals liked it braised in soy sauce. Some made a sweet soup with sugarcane, water chestnuts, and fresh goat meat. Others grilled it, stir-fried it. And some fancy restaurants got really creative – "thirty ways to eat one goat." Basically, whatever you liked.

Tingyun was tired of grilled food. Plus, with the colder weather, she wanted something warm and brothy – something with lots of soup.

Back when she worked in Sucheng, that simple, lightly seasoned goat soup had been exactly her kind of comfort food. And it was the easiest to make.

Since it was still early, she decided to stew most of the goat into soup. Let the meat get tender, the broth get rich – then she'd take it out and debone it.

The stomach would be stuffed with meat filling – stomach-wrapped meat. The hooves would be braised in soy sauce. And the lamb spine would go into a hot pot. The Qionghua Sect would have themselves a damn good meal first.