Chapter 8
Splitting Meat
Ah Yu’s childish words made the eyes of everyone in the room red. However, the brothers could not stand it anymore.
“Little Sister, in the future, Second Brother will earn money for you. I’ll let you eat loads of steamed buns stuffed with huge amounts of meat every day!”
“Yes, yes, yes. There will also be endless eggs. I’ll buy a lot of eggs and put them at home. I’ll make omelets for you every day!”
“Steamed buns are good too, but it must be a white steamed bun. I heard that white steamed buns are the best steamed buns. They’re very sweet, even sweeter than sugar water!”
The lively brothers said one after another, causing Little Ah Yu to be in a daze. Her eyes widened as she secretly counted with her little fingers and remembered all of this in her heart.
However, Little Ah Yu was actually still a little puzzled.
She seemed to have heard someone say that the best food was not the white steamed buns or even the big meat buns.
What was it?
Ah, she couldn’t remember.
In any case, she just had to remember her brothers’ words in the future.
Little Ah Yu knocked her head with her small hand and stopped thinking. She turned around and leaned into her mother’s arms again.
First, she carefully moved over. When she realized that her mother did not push her away or cough badly, she moved closer.
Mother seemed to have changed a little, but she hadn’t seen her in a long time. She didn’t smell of medicine. She had recovered, right?
“When Mother gets better, Mother’s body will smell good. At that time, Mother will hug you again. Ah Yu can’t cry. Be good—” Someone once coughed and said to her.
The voice was getting further and further away, and it was becoming more and more blurry…
Liu Shi felt the child’s closeness and her already perfect heart softened. She quickly hugged her tighter.
“Mother.” Little Ah Yu looked up and called out timidly.
Liu Shi: “Yes, what’s wrong?”
“Mother,” Ah Yu shouted again.
Liu Shi was still smiling as she replied softly, “Yes, Mother is here.”
Little Ah Yu reached out and hugged her slightly bent neck.
She buried her head in her neck and said happily, “Ah Yu found you!”
Liu Shi was stunned. She thought of something and replied in a louder voice, “Yes! Mother has also found my Ah Yu. From now on, we won’t be separated anymore.”
The other wives turned their heads and rubbed their eyes.
Madam Zhang sighed softly. “Poor child.”
Old Madam w.a.n.g knocked the spatula in her hand against the side of the pot, producing a blunt sound.
“Hurry up and cook! Are you waiting for this old woman to serve you?!”
As they spoke, there was another commotion outside. It was the village elders and the village head.
Old Master Hu could not take the stimulation anymore. He asked the two juniors to call the village chief and the others over while he sat in the central room.
Those who came were all people who had a voice in the village. Before informing the rest of the people, they had to discuss how to deal with so much python meat in advance.
Old Master Hu was the only scholar in the village. Coupled with the fact that the Hu family’s status in the Hu family village was the highest, he was naturally extremely respected.
Seeing that everyone was here, Old Master Hu, who was sitting in the main seat, cleared his throat and said, “Logically speaking, I’m only an elder of the Hu family. I shouldn’t be sitting in your main seat. However, I’ll sit here shamelessly today.”
Old man w.a.n.g sat at the side and hurriedly said, “No, no. You helped us a lot when we came to Hu Family Village. Ahem, I’m not good at speaking. Why don’t we directly talk about how to split the meat?”
The villagers were not so particular about things like social customs, and Old Master Hu did not like that kind of thing either.
Usually, when everyone spoke, there was basically no need to use honorifics and observe certain formalities, lest their mouths and ears felt uncomfortable.
“Alright, everyone is here today. You probably know what’s going on. It’s regarding the granddaughter of Old w.a.n.g. Eh, what’s her name…”
Old w.a.n.g added, “Ah Yu, the child’s name is Ah Yu.”
“Right, Ah Yu, this child is very lucky!” Old Master Hu sighed with emotion and continued, “You’ve all seen the thing in the courtyard. I’m afraid it’s at least several hundred kilograms heavy. According to w.a.n.gzi, they will keep 150 kilograms for themselves. Wait, we’ll leave 200 kilograms for them. As for the rest, each family should get one kilogram first. Then, we’ll see which family is lacking more, and distribute the remainder accordingly.”
The family elders nodded. One of them said, “Our families are considered the more well-off ones in the village. If you like to eat this meat, you can discuss with the villagers to trade with them. A kilogram of meat can be exchanged for a few kilograms of grain. This python meat should not be used to satisfy cravings and delight the tongue, but to save lives!”
Another family elder tapped the ground with his walking stick and said, “You have to remember that no matter how this python meat came about, it didn’t fall from the sky. It was given to us by the w.a.n.g family. Those who obtain the meat have to remember their kindness. If any family thinks that it’s too little or is jealous of them, we old fellows haven’t been buried yet. We can still kick a few people out of the village!”
If they did not say these words ruthlessly in the beginning, it would be their fault if something really happened later.
One could not let others cut his flesh and still cause trouble for him.
The other young people nodded as well. Since everything has been clarified, they did not feel that there was anything wrong.
Python meat was very nourishing. With a bite, one’s body would feel much warmer.
If there were weak people at home, they could also use the meat to boil some snake soup to nourish their bodies. Perhaps they will survive this winter.
Although Old man w.a.n.g looked calm, his hands were already trembling under the table.
He was an honest person. All these years of being strict was just to support the family.
Many important matters were supported by Old Madam w.a.n.g. Old Madam w.a.n.g didn’t want to appear today, so he could only do it alone.
He was actually very apprehensive in his heart. He was afraid that everyone would ask their family to leave only a little for themselves for the greater good, and he was also afraid that taking the initiative to share the meat would cause trouble for the family.
It was one thing to believe in the villagers, but it was another thing to really face them.
What if?
How could human nature be guaranteed to withstand the test of morality!
Soon, everyone discussed the specifics of the rules regarding the meat distribution. The entire village was not particularly large, and the population was small. All of them here were clear about the situation of the various families.
Next, it was time to inform the various families to come and collect the meat.
The sunlight outside had yet to dissipate. Hearing that there was meat to be distributed, even the laziest man would still be kicked out of the house by his wife to collect the meat.
“Hurry up and get it! Even if all of us take just one bite, this meat can last us a few more days. I still want to celebrate the new year!”
When everyone heard that the meat was donated by Old man w.a.n.g’s family, they were all moved. Old man w.a.n.g’s family was the poorest in their village.
But in these trying times, he actually remembered their kindness and did not monopolize the python meat.
There were also people who only received one kilogram of meat and were dissatisfied. “No matter how many people Old w.a.n.g’s family has, do they need 200 kilograms? Our family only got one kilogram, but they have 200 kilograms to themselves…”
Before he could finish speaking, he was punched by the person beside him. “d.a.m.n it, say another word and I’ll take your family’s share too! What are you looking at? Are you unconvinced? Then do you want me to ask the Old Master and the others on your behalf and see what they think about this?”
When some of the supervisors heard this, they directly said, “The elders have already said that whoever feels indignant can leave their share of the meat behind and scram from the village!”
How could they survive if they were chased out of the village for some meat?
Just like that, the small group of people who had objections were suppressed.
Everyone had never seen such a big python before. Even a pig that was specially raised for an entire year would at the most, weigh 100 kilograms. Such a pig was already very fat and strong.
But even by a rough estimation, this python weighed more than 500 kilograms. In the end, after being cut and weighed in batches, the total weight was greatly unexpected!
There were not many people in the village who could read, and not many could do arithmetic. It was Old Master Hu who did the math.
After calculating, Old Master Hu gasped. “Not counting anything else, just the meat alone is almost 2,000 kilograms!”
Someone said, “My G.o.d! Is this monster a Snake Demon?”
Someone gritted his teeth and said, “I’m already so hungry that I’m about to ascend to heaven. Why would I be scared of eating a Snake Demon? In any case, I’m not afraid. I can still eat two more mouthfuls!”
If they were starved for a few more days, the w.a.n.g Family would never dare to take this python meat out. If everyone suddenly saw so much food while they were in an extreme starved state, they would probably fight with their lives for it!
This was almost 2,000 kilograms of meat. The w.a.n.g Family only retained 200 kilograms for themselves. Each family was first distributed with one kilogram, and more were later given to the families who were especially lacking.
In the end, there was still more than 500 kilograms of meat left. These were the bits of meat that were stuck to the bones.
Old Master Hu directly distributed another five kilograms to each family.
The meat was distributed equally to each family, regardless of how many people there were in the family.
Hence, even the smallest family had over five kilograms of meat to enjoy. Normally, they did not even dare to buy so much during the new year. Now, no one had any complaints.
Who wouldn’t want free meat?
When the python’s skin was peeled off and weighed, including the blood, it was 25 kilograms.
The python’s internal organs added up to about 15 kilograms. The snake’s gallbladder was frighteningly large, weighing more than five kilograms alone.
Doctor Hu decided to buy the snake’s skin and gallbladder from the w.a.n.g family..
He gave them 20 taels of silver for it.
These two were good things, and the python’s gallbladder was even better. The price of 20 taels of silver was actually considered low.
But if the price was any higher, Doctor Hu’s family could not afford it.
For some reason, the w.a.n.g family did not really feel the pinch even after selling the items at a loss.
They only said, “When Doctor Hu comes, we’ll let him take a look at our Ah Yu’s body.”