"Uncle Village Chief, you can divide it up, we're listening."

"Yes, there's no problem with the food supply; we all agree."

The villagers began to speak up, urging the village chief on, their eyes burning with desire, as if they wanted to melt the silver.

The village chief counted them; there were a total of forty-eight or forty-nine silver ingots in the jar, each worth five taels.

He said, "It's still the fourth brother, Chief Escort Liu, Sister-in-law Qiong, and Doctor Zhang..."

Before they could even get started, Madam Cui spoke up, "Village Chief, we've already distributed plenty of grain, so we don't need the silver. Everyone should share it; there's no need to count Sister Qiong's share."

Sister-in-law Qiong nodded, "I just went in to put the drug in; I didn't do anything."

Doctor Zhang waved his hand in return, "Yes, I don't want any money, just food is enough. I only contributed a bottle of medicine, and no one even went, so why should I share any money?"

Li Laosi looked at his mother, who nodded, and then turned to Madam Liu, who also quickly nodded.

The two families reached an agreement, and Li Laosi said, "Uncle Village Chief, let's split the silver equally. Everyone who went to suppress the bandits contributed their efforts and took risks. As for the brothers who stayed at home, let's give them something too, since they didn't go with us to protect our families."

When the group said this, especially since Li Laosi had even considered the able-bodied men who hadn't gone, everyone was grateful and happy. They felt embarrassed to take advantage of them!

“Uncle Village Chief, the only problem with going with us was the long and tiring journey. Out of more than thirty bandits, we only managed to kill four or five. The rest were handled by Fourth Brother and Chief Escort Liu. They deserve to get a bigger share of the silver.”

"Yes, we were scared half to death at the time. We managed to kill a few of them by hacking them to death when we got together. If it weren't for Fourth Brother, Chief Escort Liu, and Jiayi Liu Yang, we probably would have lost our lives."

Those who stayed at home also said, "We didn't go; we stayed at home. How can we get a share of the silver? We can't accept it."

Uncle Wu kept waving his hands, saying, "You all went to save my child. I won't give you any money to thank you, let alone share any silver with you. I don't want any!"

The village chief and Uncle Zhao were overjoyed; the villagers were so united and reasonable.

Seeing the two sides pushing each other back and forth, the village chief said.

"I've made the decision. Let's divide it equally. There are twenty-one people who went to suppress the bandits. Each of them will receive two silver ingots. The remaining few silver ingots will be enough for each of the people who stayed at home. That's settled!"

As he spoke, he began to distribute the silver. In the end, everyone held the heavy silver ingots and were all overjoyed.

Even Sister-in-law Qiong smiled and gave the silver ingot to Madam Cui.

Of course, there was also the bag of ransom money. The women from each family quickly stepped forward, took their own money back inside, and put it back in the same bag.

The village chief called to Tao Hongying, "Hongying, you've been taking care of Madam Cui and Mr. Wen. Take a look at this pile of things and see what's missing from the small cave. Pick it out first. As for the rest, you women can divide it up."

"Okay, uncles, you guys rest, we'll take care of the rest."

Tao Hongying quickly gathered the women from various households and first selected a kettle and tea set, a set of pots and pans, a jar of vegetable oil and some salt, etc. She also asked for two sets of bedding.

The women watched with smiles, and after she finished choosing, they quickly divided up the rest.

The village chief called out to everyone, "Go back and rest. Those boys at home, don't just take the money for nothing. Keep a good watch tonight. Let the fourth brother and the others get a good night's sleep. We'll discuss it again tomorrow and decide on shifts from now on."

"Understood, Uncle Village Chief."

The crowd responded with a clamor, and they all carried their own grain and belongings back to the cave.

The Li family reaped a great harvest this time. Not only did they get twenty taels of silver, but they also carried back nearly four bags of grain. One bag of millet was subsidized by everyone, and the other bag of sorghum was extra money that the fourth brother and Jiayi earned by risking their lives.

The remaining bag of sorghum flour and half a bag of japonica rice were enough to feed the dozen or so people in the family. The last half bag of fine flour was given to Jiayin by everyone.

After all, the children in the family had been eating special meals with Jiayin all along, and they had eaten plenty of the eggs that the Li family had "picked up," as well as the dumplings and porridge.

Grandma Li was overjoyed. She put all the silver and copper coins back in and then kissed her granddaughter's cheek.

"Fu Niu, do you see? You should always be kind-hearted. Good people will always be rewarded, right?"

Jiayin hugged her grandma, kissed her on the cheek, and said sweetly, "Grandma, have some dumplings!"

These past few days, every meal has been sorghum porridge mixed with dried vegetables, so thin you can see your reflection in it; Jiayin's little belly has shrunk.

To be honest, her father brought back food. If he had come back empty-handed, she would have done anything, even become a monster.

The old lady was happy and hesitated for a moment before saying, "Have your mother make some dumpling soup tonight, and we'll have dumplings when your third brother comes back tomorrow."

Before Jiayin could speak, Jiaxi and Jia'an, who had been eavesdropping, were already overjoyed, shouting, "Eat dumplings! Eat dumplings!"

Old Mrs. Li quickly picked up her pipe and tapped each of them with it, shouting, "What are you yelling for? Your father's sleeping!"

Jia'an and Jiaxi immediately shrank their necks, nimbly climbed down the cave, and went to show off to their other friends.

Each family received a fair share of grain, and everyone was eager to have some fun.

Hearing that the Li family was going to make dumplings tomorrow, everyone started planning as well. No matter how many, they'd make a few to make the children happy.

Inside the small cave, Madam Cui took the blood-written letter from the Guo family women and sighed softly.

"Madam Guo and I were quite familiar with each other back in our school days, but after we both got married, we gradually drifted apart and lost touch. I never imagined I'd hear of her death here today, and in such a tragic way..."

Sister-in-law Qiong quickly advised, "Madam, the Guo family has buried the remains properly and left a mark, so it will be easy to find them later. We just need to send the keepsake to the Guo family, and you will have fulfilled your friendship with your classmates from back then."

Madam Cui nodded. "I am... Alas, this world is so difficult, fortune and misfortune are truly unpredictable. I thought I was already in dire straits, but now I have found a place to stay here, survived, and am living a peaceful life. I never imagined the Guo family would be even more pitiful, truly..."

Mr. Wen chimed in, “We were lucky, otherwise we would probably be frozen to death in the mountains by now. However, we can’t give this blood letter to the Guo family. Just like the villagers say, we must keep the fate of Madam Guo and the others a secret. But people’s hearts are unpredictable, so we should keep this blood letter just in case.”

Is this to prevent the Guo family from suspecting the villagers?

Madam Cui and Sister-in-law Qiong both felt it was unlikely, but they didn't object...

The next day, after the sun rose, a bonfire was lit again in the mountain stream. The village chief and Uncle Zhao and a few others gathered all the able-bodied men in the village to discuss important matters.

“We lost Gousheng this time and suffered a great loss. We must learn from this and not think that we are safe just because of the heavy snow. Not to mention whether there are other bandits in this forest, we still have to travel through the mountains after spring. If we continue to be lazy, we will become too lazy to climb mountains.”

The village chief, holding his pipe, spun around on the ground with his hands behind his back, speaking earnestly.