Chapter 31

Seeing so many people gathered at her door, Mother Liu was subconsciously a little afraid, and only learned the ins and outs of the matter through the villagers' chatter.

Hunter Wang had already told his son to go home and get a knife, and after asking Li Xinyue, he very skillfully bled the wild boar.

The pig's blood filled a large basin, looking like red jelly, though it had a faint, bloody smell.

Hunter Wang volunteered to help butcher the pig; he used to work in a slaughterhouse and was very skilled.

Li Xinyue naturally would not refuse, thinking to herself that she would give him a larger share later.

Just as Hunter Wang was butchering the pig, Li Xinyue saw the original owner's grandfather, Li Guang, smacking his dry tobacco pipe while mingling in the crowd.

Li Xinyue naturally knew what the man was thinking, but how could she let him have his way?

Soon, Hunter Wang removed the pig's offal first, and a group of village women scrambled to help clean it; some quick-eyed ones went to the river to fetch water, as Jiang Jinshi's home certainly didn't have enough.

Everyone tried their best to find something to do, fearing they would miss out on the good fortune.

A scene of such concerted effort had not been seen in the village for many years.

Conversely, the few who had put in the most effort were a bit dissatisfied; with so many people working, the owner might not want to share the meat, as more people meant more to give away.

Of course, their dissatisfaction was only directed at the other villagers who came to snatch the "blessing," and they kept working without stopping.

Soon, Jiang Jinshi's courtyard was orderly; a group of women gathered to wash the offal, people kept coming with water buckets, and Hunter Wang was surrounded by many people, with help available whenever he called for something.

Li Guang, however, found a place out of the sun to lean against, thinking that even if he did nothing, he would still get a share of such a large pig.

What puzzled everyone was that no one from Jiang Jinshi's grandfather's family had come.

Thinking about it, the two brothers Jiang Fu and Jiang Gui had just come to cause trouble two days ago, so they probably didn't have the face to come again.

Soon the pig was cleaned thoroughly, and Hunter Wang finally had time to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

Even though there was no work left, the crowd did not leave, all chatting idly.

Li Xinyue knew it was her turn to step up; if this were the modern era, she would have to host a pig-slaughtering feast, but current conditions didn't allow for it, so the feast was out.

Standing in front of the wild boar, Li Xinyue said apologetically to Hunter Wang: "Uncle Wang, I still have to trouble you to help divide the meat."

Hunter Wang naturally wouldn't refuse; he happily rolled up his sleeves, taking the opportunity to show off his muscular arms.

Li Xinyue turned to the Village Chief and said: "Please, Village Chief, help maintain order."

The Village Chief had been feeling quite depressed standing on the sidelines, because he was the only one from his family who came, and only after arriving did he realize it was such a good thing; he couldn't go home to call people, and he couldn't really help with the work.

He had thought there would be no share for his family, but he hadn't expected this girl Li Xinyue to take the initiative to ask for his help.

To be honest, there was no need to maintain order at the scene, and the Village Chief understood that Li Xinyue was just finding an excuse to give him some meat.

Feeling a bit embarrassed and wanting to refuse, he thought of this rare heaven-sent item and finally accepted with a flushed face.

Hearing that the meat was to be divided, everyone was overjoyed; they had been busy for a long time, fearing the owner wouldn't share, and they couldn't exactly go up and grab it, could they?

Besides, meat snatched by force probably wouldn't have the "blessing" effect and might even have the opposite effect.

Mother Liu and little Li Zi had no objections to Li Xinyue's decision.

Although there were many people, Li Xinyue saw everyone's contributions; those who worked the most should naturally get the most, and those who worked less would get less.

If multiple people from one family contributed, they would get multiple shares.

Then Li Xinyue began to call out names, and those called stepped forward to receive their meat; the order was, of course, from least to most.

Even so, the smallest share was two taels of meat.

Don't think two taels is very little; there were dozens of households in Da Jiang Cun, over two hundred people, and more than a hundred were present.

Although not everyone contributed, dozens were eligible to receive it; if you gave a lot to those who contributed little, what would you do for those who contributed a lot?

Those who received the meat were incredulous, even feeling that two taels was too much, as they had arrived late and hadn't helped much.

Hunter Wang's hands were steady and precise; basically, whatever amount Li Xinyue said, he would cut without error.

Those who received the meat were in no hurry to leave, wanting to see how much the others would get.

For a time, those who received the meat were incredibly proud, talking to those around them as if showing off.

Those who didn't receive meat were frantic, all wondering if Li Xinyue had seen them when they were helping earlier.

There were always some unsociable people in the village; some hadn't helped earlier, thinking that since they weren't close to Li Xinyue, there was no need to help, and now they were silently praying that she would give them a piece.

Li Xinyue was still calculating the contributors in her heart and had no intention of giving alms to those who had been lazy.

"Jiang Ze, take four taels of meat."

Hearing this, a young man in the crowd with a disappointed expression immediately beamed with joy.

Everyone knew that Li Xinyue's order of distribution was from least to most; Jiang Ze, who had thought he would only get two taels, had assumed he wouldn't get a share when she didn't call his name, but who would have thought he would get four taels, more than the adults!

The crowd looked at Jiang Ze and whispered, but no one envied him for getting four taels.

"This child is much more sensible than my own."

"His father is dead, his mother is crazy, and he has to take care of his sick grandmother; he wouldn't have grown up if he weren't sensible."

"Sigh! Poor child!"

In fact, there were many similar situations in the surrounding villages, namely that there were few middle-aged men.

This point was naturally related to the war; first, this location was close to the border and there was constant conscription.

Secondly, most poor families couldn't survive, and for them, the best way to improve their lives was to join the army.

The husband of Widow Wang in the village, Jiang Jinshi's father, the father of 'Li Zhaodi', Jiang Ze's father, and many others were all like this.

When Jiang Ze's father died in battle, Jiang Ze was still young, and his mother couldn't handle the blow and became insane, leaving the grandmother to take care of them both.

After Jiang Ze grew up a bit, his grandmother finally collapsed and was bedridden for years, and the burden of the family fell on Jiang Ze.

At the age of ten, Jiang Ze began to learn to plow the fields and do farm work like an adult; being small and weak didn't matter, it just took more time.

In this way, little Jiang Ze supported a big family; looking at his thin frame, the crowd could only sigh, having no other way to help.

Li Xinyue saw Jiang Ze's help; it could be said that these four taels of meat were well-deserved.

Although Jiang Ze could only carry one bucket of water at a time, he ran three full trips without resting, and even when he saw the meat was almost finished, he still made one last trip to fill the water vat at Jiang Jinshi's home.