“It’s good enough to be able to eat it once. This thing is not only precious, but also extremely rare,” said Huang Youquan, the hunter who had the most say. “I have been a master hunter for more than 30 years. I often go to the back mountain. In all these years, I have only caught about ten. I can’t bear to eat them myself. I exchange them all for silver.”

Hunting a single deer is worth two months' worth of his catch. Even the cheapest venison can sell for two ounces, which, if exchanged for pork or mutton, would be enough to eat for half a year.

“That’s right,” Village Chief Huang said with a pained expression, “One bite and it’s all copper coins.”

Upon hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement.

Their eyes simultaneously showed a different color.

Even those who benefited from it felt that Jiang Nuan was incredibly wasteful.

Such precious food, and they actually gave it to a bunch of outsiders to eat, what a waste!

Jiang Nuan noticed that everyone's eyes were on her and assumed they were disappointed, so she immediately explained, "We only made half of it today. We'll make the other half tomorrow, and you can have another meal."

"There's still meat?" Village Chief Huang looked at Jiang Nuan with a conflicted expression. "Ya Ya, why don't you get something else tomorrow?"

"Hmm?" Jiang Nuan asked, puzzled. "Big brother doesn't want to eat? Venison is very nourishing. Cultivating the official path is too much of a burden on the body. He needs to nourish his body. The family has already prescribed medicine. But we didn't cook venison today because we didn't know if it would cause any adverse reactions."

She really couldn't understand how anyone could dislike such delicious meat.

She wouldn't have been willing to take it out if the corvée labor hadn't been so arduous.

“No,” Village Chief Huang said with a bitter expression, “this is a bit of a waste of money.”

A dose of herbal medicine costs only two hundred coins, and one pot can last a day. It's much more cost-effective than eating venison.

I knew before I started working that everyone's meals cost a lot of money, but I didn't have a real sense of it until I experienced it firsthand.

I only realized it now, and my heart is bleeding with pain.

“We’re in good health,” Brother Huang patted his chest first, then said hesitantly, “If you’re talking about being weak, the women in the family are. If you really have any left, you might as well share them with everyone.”

"Divide it up?" Jiang Nuan rolled her eyes and refused, "If you can't finish it, just take it back. There's no need to divide it up."

“That’s right. Everyone buys meat with the skin and bones on. If you give a little more or a little less, people will complain. It’s better to cook it all. Anyway, it’s all in your stomach, so you won’t be able to tell,” Village Chief Huang paused and continued, “If you want to take it back to your wife, bring a bamboo tube with you tomorrow and pour out half of it before eating.”

“Village chief,” Huang Sige said, blushing slightly, “I was just saying it casually, how could I actually have the nerve to share the meat?”

They ate because they were performing corvée labor, which was considered a contribution to the village. However, distributing the raw meat was a different matter altogether.

On the way back, Xie asked, puzzled, "Mother, why can't we divide the meat?"

She saw it clearly: the moment her mother heard her fourth uncle's words, her expression changed slightly.

Although dividing up the remaining venison would mean our family would have to pay for an extra day's worth of food, if Mother really cared about that, why would she be willing to spend such expensive venison?

“This is related to what happened tonight,” Jiang Nuan patted Xiao Liu, signaling it to stop, before explaining, “Our clan leader is doomed this time, and there will be great changes in the village. Our family may be the one that benefits the most.”

The clan chief has always been the eldest son of the family, but this time, his whole family was implicated. His eldest son, Huang Zhen, deliberately misled the villagers into a conflict with the officials, which offended the entire village, making it impossible for him to become the clan chief.

As for the grandchildren, the oldest is only ten or so years old; they can't handle anything, so the chances are slim.