Chapter 48 - 49: Dividing the Meat

Chapter 48: Chapter 49: Dividing the Meat

Ancient Wen Heng looked with some disgust at the wolf his family was gathered around. Seeing the blood on its sharp fangs, he pulled Jin Qianqian back, and they quietly retreated behind the others.

"Seventh, how do you want to divide this?" Gu Yuanjin was just about to discuss how their two families should split it, but when he looked up, they were gone.

Ancient Wen Heng truly had no interest in this sort of thing, but he couldn’t just bluntly say he found it beneath him. Just as he was about to say he didn’t want any, Jin Qianqian, who was beside him, pulled him back.

"Brother, you can just decide how to handle it. Of course we trust you."

Gu Yuanjin said, "Seventh did most of the work this time, and he’s the one who took the wolf down. You two should take the larger half."

"No need. The smaller half is enough for us. There are only two of us." Jin Qianqian saw Xie Ruyi about to speak and quickly interjected with her own thoughts.

"It’s gone? How is it all gone?" He Tuliang suddenly cried out in alarm. "The heaven-sent gifts are gone!"

He Tuliang was panting heavily. Just a moment ago, those nobles had given him a glimmer of new hope, but he never thought it would be shattered so quickly.

He had planned to offer up these heaven-sent gifts when Ming Tian was distributing water, hoping it might win him a better future. But now, he had nothing.

Seeing people gathering around, he scrambled over to the neighboring ox-carts and threw off the straw covering them. Aside from some baggage, there was nothing else.

"How could they be gone?" Gu Sanbu also rushed to uncover his own ox-cart with his sons. All of their family’s belongings were there, but the containers everyone had carefully stored were missing.

"Did anyone see people come over here just now?"

"..."

Everyone tried hard to recall, but at the time, they were all focused on saving their own skins. Afterward, they were caught up in watching the commotion, so no one had paid any attention to their carts.

"Could it be that Heaven took them back?" someone muttered.

"Impossible. I bet it was those thieves from before. They’re a gang, just like that other group."

Jin Qianqian said, "..."

This disturbance didn’t cause much of a stir. Soon, everyone’s attention was drawn to the hyena carcasses that the nobles had casually discarded.

To the nobles, these wild dogs were nothing worth mentioning, but for the refugees, it was a different story. This was fresh meat right in front of them; how could anyone resist such a temptation?

With so many people, there weren’t nearly enough hyenas to go around. In the end, the leaders of the various groups could only divide the meat based on headcount.

There were too many mouths to feed and too little to share. In the end, the entire Bainiao group only received two of the carcasses.

No one was in the mood to worry about the missing water containers anymore. Everyone was focused on discussing how to divide the meat.

Ancient Wen Heng and Jin Qianqian stared with bitter expressions at the wolf meat before them, along with a piece of dog meat about the size of half a palm.

"What do we do?" The scene she had witnessed earlier kept replaying in Jin Qianqian’s mind. "Are we going to carry this stuff with us for the rest of the journey?"

’Eat it?’ Jin Qianqian quickly shook her head. "Why don’t we give it away?"

Faced with such a hot potato, Ancient Wen Heng couldn’t immediately think of a solution. "How would we explain it? Say we’re disgusted because this animal ate a corpse? Or that we’re too good for this meat?"

Jin Qianqian fell silent. ’We’d definitely get an earful for that.’

Many people were already roasting the meat they held over the fire. A couple like them, who hadn’t even touched their share, had already drawn many curious glances.

"Seventh, you two should hurry up and prepare that meat. It’ll be a shame if it goes bad," Li Cuicui said, seeing the couple just staring into space. She was more anxious than they were.

Jin Qianqian’s eyes lit up. She snatched the chopper from Ancient Wen Heng’s hand and swiftly cut off a large portion of the hind leg. "Mother, Father is injured. Didn’t the doctor say he needs to rest and recover properly? Take this and prepare it for him every now and then to help him regain his strength."

If she weren’t afraid of startling Li Cuicui, she would have shoved all the meat over to her.

Playing along, Ancient Wen Heng lifted the hind leg with one hand and quickly carried it over. As he left, he didn’t forget to send along the palm-sized piece of red meat as well.

"But this is too much..." Li Cuicui was about to decline, but Gu Yuanlei, who was sitting nearby roasting meat, snatched it from her.

"Well, thank you, Brother Qi and Seventh Sister-in-law! I knew you two were the most filial, always thinking of Father and Mother."

Ancient Wen Heng retorted, "Then you should learn from us. Stop favoring outsiders all day long. Be careful you don’t end up with nothing."

Gu Yuanlei’s hand paused. "You’re my own brother. Can’t you wish me well?

"I’ve already told you, what happened before was a misunderstanding. Yingying and her family aren’t like that."

Ancient Wen Heng didn’t want to waste his breath arguing with this simpleton. If he weren’t afraid of upsetting Li Cuicui again, he would have kicked the guy all the way to the Lan Family’s doorstep.

Gu Yuanjin looked at the pieces of meat he had just cut. ’What should I do now?’ he wondered.

Xie Ruyi said, "We have a large family of our own. Between Seventh’s family and our parents, that’s just as many mouths to feed as we have. Don’t you go playing the big shot.

"Look at your sons. They’ve all reached marriageable age. You should be thinking about them."

Gu Yuanjin glanced at his sons, who were working silently up ahead. "Think about what? We haven’t even settled down yet. What do I have to help them start their own families?

"Besides, those are my parents. Even Seventh knows to give some to Father to help him recover. Even if we don’t give as much, we have to at least make a gesture. I’m the eldest brother. If I don’t set a good example, how will my sons learn to be good men?"

Xie Ruyi glared at him. "Who knows when we’ll finally settle down.

"However, a few families have quietly told me that for anything—water, grain—with just a little of that, we could take their daughters off their hands."

"You didn’t rashly agree, did you?" Gu Yuanjin stared at her. "How can our family afford to support another person right now? Don’t just see a bargain you can snatch. We might end up suffering an even bigger loss."

"How could it be a loss?" Xie Ruyi glanced contemptuously at Gu Yuanlei in the distance. "I’m not like your younger brother. If the girl is truly good, we’ll of course get it in writing, black on white, and have the village chief and others witness it.

"I’m telling you, this is a golden opportunity. Once things actually stabilize, who knows what kind of demands these families with daughters will make."

"..."

Having gotten started, Jin Qianqian and Ancient Wen Heng kept finding excuses to give a little to this person and a piece to that one. After a series of surreptitious hand-offs, no one knew how much they had given away or how much they had left.

Even with the remaining scraps, Ancient Wen Heng only roasted them lightly over the fire for a moment before putting them in a separate bag, which Jin Qianqian casually tossed into a corner of her space.

* * *

"The nobles are actually giving out water!" The news was undoubtedly welcome, and a long queue quickly formed at the city gate.

Ancient Wen Heng, however, wasn’t so optimistic. ’For a crowd of tens of thousands, even one bowl of water per person is no small amount,’ he thought.