Er Ya nodded: "Yes."

"That's great!" the woman continued to coax Er Ya. "Look how poor my family is. We haven't eaten for three days. Can you lend me a piece of meat? I don't need much, just a pound or two will do."

"Pah, Zhang Dani, how dare you ask such a question? You've always been the one who spoke ill of their family the most. How can you have the nerve to ask her to lend you some meat? If I lend you the meat, it'll be like throwing meat buns to a dog—gone and never to be returned, hahaha."

"Yes, yes, Er Ya, don't give her the meat. It's better to give it to me. At least when your grandma beat you and wouldn't let you eat last time, I gave you half a cornbread."

Er Ya thought about it carefully. Her family still needed to live in the village, and they couldn't afford to strain their relationship with the villagers. Anyway, there was a lot of meat this time, and the restaurant couldn't possibly eat all of it in a day. The weather was too hot, and it wouldn't keep well either. So, why not...

After Er Ya had thought it through, she said loudly, "Listen to me, everyone. We can't finish all the meat in our house. I know many of you haven't eaten meat in a long time. We're all from the same village, so I can sell some of this meat to you so you can have a treat when you get home."

Someone asked, "How will it be sold?"

"This is fresh wild boar meat. Although it doesn't smell as good as domestic pork, it's still very delicious. It's 70 cents a pound. If you want some, you can come to my house to buy it. The earlier you come, the better you can pick out the meat you like."

The first woman to ask a question, Zhang Dani, persisted, asking, "Er Ya, about what I just told you, you..."

Er Ya said with a smile, "Auntie, didn't I just say that you can buy whatever you want from my house? It's much cheaper than at the market. We're from the same village, so I'll give you a big discount."

Upon hearing that money was required, Zhang Dani spat out a mouthful of phlegm: "I wasted half a day of my breath. How can you be so heartless, not giving me any face at all? Who wants to buy that wild boar meat? Get out of my way and let me out."

Zhang Dani walked slowly, thinking that Er Ya would call her back, but Er Ya didn't tolerate her bad habits and ignored her. She was so angry that she scolded Er Ya for a long time after she got home.

She left, but it didn't affect the mood of the remaining people who wanted to buy meat at all. Er Ya was right; it was even cheaper than at the market. Besides, the market was so far away; it would take half a day to walk there. It wasn't as convenient as this.

After doing some mental calculations, everyone said that buying from Er Ya was much more cost-effective. Some people even thought that they hadn't visited their parents in a long time, so they decided to take this opportunity to grit their teeth and buy an extra half jin (250g) to send to their parents.

Er Ya pushed through the crowd and said, "After lunch, those of you who want meat can come to my house. I'm hungry, I'm going home for dinner."

Once Er Ya had walked away, the crowd quickly dispersed. They were joking, weren't they? Didn't they hear what Er Ya said? The first ones to arrive get the best meat. They should hurry home, cook, and eat so they could go buy more meat!

Er Ya clapped her hands and said to herself, "Alright, everyone's gone, it's finally quiet now, I have to hurry back."

When she finally wobbled home on her short legs, Jiang's mother and the others had already cleaned the meat and were laying it on a clean cloth to dry.

Jiang's mother cut off about two or three pounds of roe deer meat, intending to make stir-fried roe deer meat with chili peppers, and handed it to Li Taohua to cut into small pieces.

Looking at the white, glistening piece of meat, everyone chatted happily: "Er Ya is so lucky! Others go up the mountain every day and never even see a wild boar's hair, but look at us, we've already killed two wild boars."

Jiang's mother smiled but didn't say anything: "What do you mean two? We've clearly encountered three. It's just that no one knew that time, and Lin Jianguo and his group secretly took them to the market to sell."

Chen Xiuhua continued, "Auntie, it's not that exaggerated, it's just a coincidence."

“Really, her grandma, I didn’t believe it at first either, but you don’t know, that wild boar was perfectly fine that day, and then it just crashed into this door and died. You can’t believe how strange that is.”

"Their place is near the mountains. Maybe the wild boar ate something poisonous in the mountains and died here. Your family doesn't live here. If your family did, maybe the same thing would happen."

As Li Taohua cut the meat, she said, "That's not necessarily true. Not everyone has the good fortune of Er Ya."

A sweet, childlike voice called out, "Mommy, Grandma, Auntie, I'm back!"

Jiang's mother quickly stepped forward and pulled Er Ya aside, asking, "I was just saying I was going to look for you. Your grandpa and the others have been back for ages. Even if you walk slowly, you should be back by now."

Er Ya explained why she was stopped on the road and told them that she had promised the villagers that she would come to buy wild boar meat in the afternoon.

Jiang's mother asked in confusion, "We have plenty of meat, so why did you agree to sell it to them?"

Besides, they're all from the same village, so they'll probably start arguing endlessly about who wants this piece and who wants that piece, and there might even be someone trying to take advantage and get something out of it.

What Jiang's mother didn't know was that someone on the road was already trying to get Er Ya to give her some meat. If she found out, she would definitely scold that person for being shameless and only trying to fool children.

Er Ya took a sip of water, caught her breath, and said, "Mom, we're going to stay here for a long time. You don't want to have such a bad relationship with the villagers, do you? Let's do them a favor and give them some meat. Let's see who dares to speak ill of our family after that. They say a close neighbor is worse than a distant relative. Look at us, aren't we closer to Aunt Tao Hua than family?"

Jiang's mother muttered, "Not everyone can be like your aunt. You can't find another one like her in the whole village. There are plenty of people who take advantage of you and then turn around and cheat you out of their kindness."

Chen Xiuhua objected immediately upon hearing this: "Er Ya is right. You see them every day, so it won't hurt you to have a good relationship with them. We country folk are all about one thing: unity. Don't be fooled by their tendency to gossip; when something really happens, they'll side with us."

Er Ya nodded vigorously, indicating that she completely agreed with her grandmother's words.

Even though Jiang's mother still had some reservations, she held back because her daughter and her mother had spoken up. She hoped things would turn out as well as they imagined.

Just then, a series of ringing bells rang out. It turned out that Lin Jianguo had returned. He had received orders from Jiang's mother early that morning to go to the market to buy things. He carried large and small bags and was so tired that he was covered in sweat.

Er Ya ran excitedly to Lin Jianguo, stretched out her hand and said, "Dad, it's my birthday today, where's my present?"

To be continued!