The beloved baby has a space

Chapter 8 Divide the Meat
Ayu's childish voice brought tears to everyone's eyes. The older brothers, however, couldn't bear to listen anymore.

"Little sister Ayu, your second brother will earn money for you from now on, so you can eat steamed buns every day, big meat-filled steamed buns!"

"Yes, yes, and we can't finish all the eggs. Buy lots of eggs and keep them at home, so I can make you pancakes every day!"

"Steamed buns are fine too, but they must be white flour steamed buns. I've heard that white flour steamed buns are the best, they're very sweet, even sweeter than sugar water!"

The lively older brothers each said something, leaving little Ayu completely bewildered. Her little eyes widened, and she secretly counted on her little fingers, trying to remember everything.

But actually, Xiao Ayu still had some doubts.

She seemed to have heard someone say that the best food wasn't white flour steamed buns or large meat-filled buns.

what is it then?

Ah, she can't remember.

Anyway, I'll just remember what my brothers said from now on.

Little Ayu tapped her head with her little hand, stopped thinking about it, and turned to snuggle into her mother's arms again.

She first moved closer cautiously, and when she found that her mother didn't push her away or cough badly, she moved even closer.

Her mother seems a little different, but she hasn't seen her mother in a long time. She doesn't smell of medicine anymore, so is she better now?
“When Mother gets better, Mother will smell nice. Then Mother will hold you again. Ah Yu, don’t cry, be good—” Someone said this to her while coughing.

The sound grew farther and farther away, becoming increasingly faint...

Feeling the child's closeness, Liu's already happy heart softened instantly, and she quickly hugged her tighter.

"Mother," little Ayu raised her head and called out timidly.

Liu: "Hmm, what's wrong?"

"Mother," Little Ayu called out again.

Liu smiled and replied softly, "Yes, Mother is here."

Little Ayu stretched out her arms and hugged her slightly bent neck with a bit of force.

She buried her little head in it and said happily, "Ayu, I found you!"

Liu was stunned for a moment, then, as if she had thought of something, she replied in an even louder voice, "Yes! Mother has found my Ayu too. From now on, we will never be separated again."

The wives turned their heads away and rubbed their eyes.

Little Zhang sighed softly, "He's a pitiful child too."

Grandma Wang tapped the spatula on the side of the pot, making a dull "bang bang bang" sound.

"Hurry up and prepare the food! Do you expect me to serve you?"

Just then, another noise came from outside, and it was the arrival of the village elders and the village chief.

Old Master Hu was a little overwhelmed by the shock, so he sent two young men to fetch the village chief and the others, while he sat in the main room.

Those who came were all influential people in the village. No one else had been invited yet. We needed to discuss and come up with a plan beforehand on how to handle so much python meat.

Old Master Hu was the only scholar in the village with an official title, and since Hu was the most common surname in Hujia Village, he was naturally highly respected.

Once everyone was present, Old Master Hu, who was sitting in the main seat, cleared his throat and said, "Logically speaking, I am only an elder of the Hu family and should not be sitting in the main seat. But I will take the liberty of sitting here today."

Old Wang, sitting next to us, hurriedly said, "No, no, you've helped us a lot since we came to Hujia Village. Well, I'm not good with words, so why don't we talk about how to divide it?"

The villagers weren't so particular, and Old Master Hu didn't like using classical Chinese phrases.

In everyday conversation, people generally don't use honorifics, to avoid feeling uncomfortable speaking or hearing them.

"Alright, everyone's here today, so you probably know what's going on. It's about Old Wang's little granddaughter, ah, call, call..."

Old Wang added, "Ayu, the baby's name is Ayu."

"Yes, Ayu, this child is very lucky!" Old Master Hu exclaimed, and then continued, "You have all seen the things in the yard. There must be at least eight hundred catties, if not a thousand. According to Wangzi, his family should keep three hundred catties for themselves. My idea is to keep four hundred catties for them. The rest, each household should take one catty first, and then see which family is in dire need, and give them more."

Several clan elders nodded, one of them saying, "Our families are among the better off in the village. If you like this meat, you can discuss with the villagers about exchanging one pound of meat for a few pounds of grain. This meat isn't for satisfying your cravings; it's for saving your life!"

Another elder tapped his cane on the ground before saying, "You all must remember, no matter how this meat came about, it didn't fall from the sky; it was given to you by the Wang family. Those who received the meat must remember their kindness. If any family complains that it's not enough, or is envious of others, we old folks are still alive, and we can still expel a few people from the clan!"

If they hadn't said these things more harshly beforehand, and something had actually happened later, then it would have been their fault.

We can't let people suffer losses and then get into trouble.

The other young people nodded in agreement. Everything had been explained clearly, and they didn't feel there was anything wrong with it.

Python meat is very nourishing; just one bite can warm you up considerably. If there's someone in the family who's weak, snake soup can help them get through the winter.

Despite his calm demeanor, Old Wang's hands were trembling violently under the table.

He's an honest person, and his strictness over the years was just to support his family.

For many important events, it's still Grandma Wang who makes the arrangements. Grandma Wang doesn't want to show up today, so it has to be him alone.

He was terrified, fearing that everyone would ask his family to keep only a little meat, and also fearing that taking the initiative to share the meat would bring trouble upon his family.

It's one thing to believe in your fellow villagers, but it's quite another to actually face the situation.

What if?
Human nature can't withstand being tested!

Soon, everyone agreed on the specific rules. The village wasn't particularly large, and the population wasn't many either. They knew the situation of each household.

Next, we need to notify each household to come and collect the meat.

The sun was still shining outside, and when she heard that meat was available, even the laziest man would be kicked out of the house by his mother.

"Go get it! If each of you eats a bite, it'll last for a few days. Your old mother still wants to celebrate the New Year!"

When everyone heard that the meat was sent by Old Wang's family, they were all deeply moved, as Old Wang's family was the poorest in their village.

They actually remembered their kindness and didn't keep it all to themselves.

Some people only received one jin (500 grams) of meat and were dissatisfied: "Even if Old Wang's family has a lot of people, do they really need four hundred jin? We only got one jin, but they got four hundred jin..."

Before he could finish speaking, he was punched by the person next to him: "If you say another word, I'll take your share too! What are you looking at? You don't like it? Should I ask the old master and the others what they said?"

One of the supervisors overheard this and said directly, "The elders already agreed that anyone who disagrees will have their flesh left behind, but will be expelled from the clan!"

How can one survive if they are kicked out of their tribe for a little meat?
This suppressed the few who had objections.

No one had ever seen such a big creature before. It was a fat pig that weighed a maximum of 200 jin (100 kg) a year, and it was already quite plump and strong.

They estimated the python to weigh over a thousand pounds, but after cutting it up and weighing it in batches, the total weight was far beyond their expectations!

There weren't many literate people in the village, and even fewer who knew arithmetic. It was Old Master Hu who taught them.

After calculating, Old Master Hu gasped: "Not counting anything else, the meat alone weighs 3,686 catties, 7 taels, and 2 mace!"

Someone exclaimed, "Hiss—is this not a snake spirit now?"

Some people gritted their teeth and said, "I'm starving to the point of ascension, what's there to be afraid of eating a snake spirit? Anyway, I'm not afraid, I can even have a few more bites!"

If they go hungry for a few more days, the Wang family would never dare to bring out any food; if everyone saw it, they would probably scramble to grab it!
Of the more than 3,000 jin of meat, the Wang family kept 400 jin, distributed 1 jin to each family first, and gave a few more jin to those who were particularly short of meat.

As a result, there were still more than 1,000 kilograms left. The meat that was distributed was pure meat, and what was left was meat with bones.

Grandpa Hu then added another ten catties to each household's food.

When dividing the meat equally, it was done on a household-by-household basis, regardless of the number of people in each household.

So even the smallest family had eleven pounds of meat. They didn't dare buy that much for the New Year, and now no one complained.

Who wouldn't want free meat?
The python's skin, including the skin and blood, weighed fifty pounds.

There weren't many internal organs, weighing a little over 30 pounds in total, but the gall bladder was frighteningly large, weighing over 10 pounds.

Dr. Hu's family decided to buy the snake skin and snake gall from Old Wang's family.

They were given twenty taels of silver.

Both of these are good items, especially the python gallbladder, which is exceptionally valuable. At twenty taels of silver, the price is actually quite low.

But no matter how many, Dr. Hu's family couldn't afford them.

Old Wang's family didn't know what to do, but they didn't feel bad about selling it.

They simply said, "When Doctor Hu returns, let him examine Ayu's health."

This story is set entirely in a fictional world, and uses a unified system of weights and measures.
1 jin = 10 liang

1 Zhang = 3 meters

1 shi = 150 jin

One wen (文) is approximately equal to one yuan (RMB). (Prices are set in the text.)

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(End of this chapter)