Chapter 37: Gaining a Deeper Understanding

"Is that so? I was just saying this wolf pelt had some flaws and didn't dare offer it as a gift. Since you put it that way, I must give Brother Wang one today. Please, Brother Wang, do not refuse; this can save lives. For us mountain bandits who uphold justice, it is truly useful—it can even defend against assassinations!"

Li You stood up and shoved the wolf pelt that was in Guan Hongxin's hands into Wang Qiong's hands.

"This... how can this be? I cannot take it, how could I take it, absolutely not... oh, how can this be?"

Wang Qiong pushed back with his hands, but the more he pushed, the more the wolf pelt burrowed into his embrace... Finally, he said with a look of satisfaction: "Mr. Li, you are straightforward, a righteous man!"

"From now on, we are all eating from the same pot. Bah, why say such things? Are you not treating me, Li, as a brother? I really want to learn your spear techniques, Brother Wang. I hear that when you wield that great spear, it whistles with the wind; I fear even the reincarnation of Lin Chong could not compare."

As Li You spoke, he draped his arm over Wang Qiong's shoulder, instantly looking like iron brothers who had frequented brothels and killed men together, as if the slight unpleasantness from just a moment ago had vanished into thin air.

Wang Qiong felt comfortable in his heart, secretly thinking that this Mr. Li was truly a great talent worthy of persuading the Great Chief to contend for the world. Moreover, when speaking to rough men like them, he sounded exactly like one of their own, not at all like those pedantic scholars who constantly spouted "zhi, hu, zhe, ye" and obsessed over wordplay.

Every word was like a glass bead, delighting Wang Qiong and making him unable to resist wanting to get close to him.

Wang Qiong had actually been a wandering performer in the past; to put it plainly, he was a street entertainer. The things he played were just superficial skills. As for his "great spear"? It was just a flashy spear—dazzling to the eyes, but completely useless. It was all for show. In Li You's view, if he were truly on a battlefield, playing like that would have gotten his teammates killed long ago.

Li Qin and Guan Hongxin saw all of this, and both couldn't help but feel a pang of heartache that such a fine wolf pelt was given away just like that. However, they also held Li You in higher regard in their hearts; with such magnanimity and spirit, was he truly meant to be just a mountain bandit?

"The meat is ready!" Liu the Lame shouted happily toward Li You.

Most of the people were already gathered around the two iron pots, but under the management of Dang Xiongxin and Xiang Hu, they were not sitting in disorder. They had cleared a ten-meter square area; in the center was a large chopping board supported by wooden planks, with the two large pots one meter to the left and right, and two large bonfires surrounding them.

As soon as the wolf meat was ready, Liu the Lame immediately shouted to Li You. The others did not dare to scramble for food as they usually did, each of them looking at Li You with eager eyes. Even Little Orange and Little Niang were sitting upright as Song Baishun had told them to.

After all, Li You was a scholar with a degree; when it came to dining etiquette, things were much more particular for the literati. From the *Book of Rites: Zai Fu* of the Han and Zhou dynasties, to the *Tang Guo Shi Bu* of the Wu Zetian era, and then to the *Dongjing Meng Hua Lu* of the Song Gaozong period, the banquets involved showed that the etiquette of food and drink was even more cumbersome than playing Go. Most importantly, for hundreds and thousands of years, it had never really been discarded.

When to eat? What to eat? How to eat? Where was it ever up to the hardworking commoners to decide?

But the problem was that this grain was grown in the fields by these very mud-legged peasants! They grew it, yet they had no say in the matter; instead, it was the scholars who did no labor who set the rules, and they felt this was only natural.

The corrupt scholars used so many rituals and doctrines as a framework, subtly and constantly deepening the brand of etiquette. The heavier the brand, the deeper the ideological control, and the more stable the empire beneath their feet became.

Everyone today was indebted to Li You, so naturally, they did not want to violate the taboos of a scholar, and thus they appeared cautious.

"Let's go!"

Li You patted Wang Qiong on the shoulder and quickly walked over; Wang Qiong had been craving this for a long time.

Li You had eaten tapir meat earlier, but he hadn't dared to eat his fill then, so his appetite was still greatly stirred.

Seeing Li You walk over, the miners instantly quieted down, looking at him with joy, respect, or awe in the firelight.

"Hey, everyone, why are you all just looking at me? Is my face more delicious than wolf meat? Hehe, I already snuck a bite today, my belly is quite full. Uncle Liu, Aunt Wang, please scoop the cooked meat onto the board, then put two more pots of meat in, and finally add the black roots and wild vegetables. Let's drink meat soup; today, everyone will eat until their bellies are round!"

Li You said loudly to the miners and salt slaves.

The crowd immediately cheered. Among the miners, Xiang Chu and Xiang Qiang were so hungry they couldn't help themselves and habitually tried to rush to the edge of the pot to grab food, only to be discovered by Dang Xiongxin, who kicked them back.

Li You saw it too, but he did not blame them; he had experienced the feeling of being starved, and it was truly worse than death.

The *Book of Revelation* in the Bible prophesies that before the end of the world, the "Seven Seals" will be opened. The first four seals are depicted by later writers as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, representing plague, war, famine, and death. From this, it is evident that hunger is a disaster feared by all of humanity.

He walked to the side of the chopping board, picked up the decorative axe, and while scrubbing the cooked meat vigorously with a lump of salt, he said: "Come, I will distribute the meat for everyone. Everyone, take your coarse clay pots or stone slabs, one by one. The young and the old come first. Those who have nothing, come last; by then it will be cool, and grabbing it with your hands will be just as satisfying."

Wang Qiong and his two companions, as well as Wa Qingyun and Liu Longjin, were naturally not included in this; Li You let them stand by the chopping board and cut whatever they wanted to eat with their own knives.

Because Yu Zhengchun, Little Orange, and the other children had already eaten and were not that hungry, Li You didn't worry about them for the moment. The first to come up were Liu the Lame and Aunt Wang; the two of them were considered the oldest.

Li You smiled at them, cut the best meat for them, filled a clay pot to the brim, and personally scooped a bowl of soup for them. Both were endlessly grateful.

Especially Aunt Wang, who was moved to tears by Li You calling her "Aunt Wang" repeatedly. She hadn't heard such an affectionate term in a long time. Thinking of this, she couldn't help but think of her own suffering son—could he get meat to eat at the Cao estate?—and tears streamed down her face.

Next were the villagers of the Dang clan led by Dang Xiongxin, and the group of people with the same surname from the Xiang family led by Xiang Hu. After Li You finished serving them, he specifically gave Xiang Hu an extra bowl full of wolf bone meat and said: "Take this to Xiang Ying. Once he eats some meat, he will recover faster!"

Xiang Hu's eyes turned red, he gave a muffled response, and left quickly.

At the same time, he served Lu Yi, Qi Jingkun, and the others, and had Yu Zhengchun and Hei Liuzi deliver it to them.

Every time someone came up, Li You would say a few words to them, calling the older ones "brother" and the younger ones "little brother." Li You's mouth was as sweet as if it had been filled with honey, and he had remembered almost all the members of the mountain bandits.

However, regarding the miners and salt slaves, even Wa Qingyun only remembered people like Dang Xiongxin, Xiang Hu, and Song Jinyin; he didn't know the names of the others. Therefore, this distribution of wolf meat not only served to win over more hearts but was also a great opportunity for Li You to gain a deeper understanding. Information is always the most important thing!

Besides, since Cao Er and Wu Zhuge could not be relied upon, Li You certainly had to keep a backup plan. He wanted to try and slowly build a team from these miners and salt slaves.