Before Village Chief Li announced how the supplies brought back last night would be distributed, most people assumed they would be divided equally.

From one end of the village to the other, villagers walked in groups of three or five, discussing how much grain they would each receive.

Jiang Qinyu overheard a few words as she went out.

"Last night, only my youngest daughter and a few grandchildren were left at home. I don't know how much food we'll get."

"Didn't they say it wouldn't be based on the number of people? I heard that every family gets the same amount!"

"Really? Wouldn't families like mine be at a huge disadvantage?"

"You have a large family, so isn't it only right that you contribute more?"

"Why should it be like that? You have quite a few people in your family, so why did only two men go to your house last night?"

"My house is..."

The two old women started arguing as they talked.

Chen leaned closer to Jiang Qinyu and whispered, "You were right. If it were split equally, someone would definitely cause trouble."

The real trouble comes from those families with more members. They contribute the most, but receive the same amount as those who didn't contribute at all. How can they not complain?

"No matter how it's divided, someone will make a fuss." Jiang Qinyu was quite open-minded about it. After all, the extra money was taken from the bandits of Qinggang Village, so who wouldn't want a bigger share?

After thinking for a moment, Chen nodded, "That seems to make sense."

As they spoke, they arrived at the big locust tree.

Village Chief Li was surrounded by many villagers, and the towel around his neck was soaked with sweat, showing how anxious he had been that day.

"Stop arguing, everyone. I'll talk to you all once everyone's here. Get out of my way, are you trying to kill yourselves with the heat?" Village Chief Li lost his patience and waved his hand to shoo people away.

Those people weren't angry, since they were sure they would get their share of the food, so they retreated to the foot of the straw platform.

Jiang Qinyu and Chen Shi found a small mound next to the grass platform to stand. This position allowed them to hear what was being said on the platform clearly, see the reactions of everyone present, and most importantly, avoid being noticed by others.

After a while, when everyone in the village had gathered, Village Chief Li shouted at the top of his lungs, "Fellow villagers, our village did something big last night! We went and got back the grain that had been stolen!"

As soon as he said this, applause and cheers immediately erupted from below.

Village Chief Li pressed his arm down, "Besides taking back what we originally had, we also brought back their ill-gotten gains and grain! All of this is thanks to everyone's hard work. Here, I want to give a thumbs up to the men and women of Dingshui Village. You are all great!"

"Good! I'm the best!" Someone shouted from the crowd, which drew a burst of laughter from everyone.

Those who participated in last night's battle with the bandits all wore expressions of pride, each holding their head high and striving to stand at the very front.

Village Chief Li smiled and gestured for everyone to be quiet before continuing, "Just now, I discussed with a few elderly people in the village and the village head, who has a good reputation, and we came up with a plan on how to handle the things we brought back."

Now I'm going to tell you how to divide those things, but I hope you won't interrupt me no matter what you hear. Wait until I finish before asking any questions, okay?

"Understood!" the students replied in unison, automatically maintaining discipline as they prepared to distribute the items.

Then the village chief continued loudly, "Last night, in addition to finding several thousand catties of extra grain, we also found a total of 328 taels and 6 mace of silver in the bandits' house, as well as 58 copper coins! This money will be divided equally among the 56 households in our village!"

The crowd below cheered again. More than three hundred taels of silver were to be divided equally, and each family would receive nearly six taels. That was six taels!

Many of them couldn't save that much money in a year, and many families' total annual expenses were less than six taels of silver, which was undoubtedly a huge sum for everyone.

With money, we can buy grain, and our family can survive a few more days.

Jiang Qinyu secretly gave Village Chief Li a thumbs up. Distributing the silver first calmed everyone down, making the rest easier.

Sure enough, Village Chief Li said again, "We can split the silver equally, but we must divide the grain properly."

After saying this, he picked up the teacup he had brought from home, gulped down several mouthfuls of water, and then continued, "After I finish speaking, each family should send someone to me to register how much grain each family has been robbed of, and we will distribute all the stolen grain to you!"

"Huh? Are they only sending those to us who got robbed?"

"No way! There's still so much grain!"

"Can't you guys let people finish speaking? The village chief hasn't even finished speaking yet!"

The people below whispered for a few moments, then quickly perked up their ears to listen again.

Village Chief Li took a deep breath, reorganized his thoughts before speaking, "As for the surplus grain we salvaged from Qinggang Mountain, I, along with several village elders and those fair and selfless village leaders, all feel that this grain should be temporarily managed by the village and used uniformly by the village during the continued drought!"

These words immediately caused an uproar.

"Why should I? What was I working so hard for last night? Just to get a bigger share of the grain! How can you just refuse to give it to me like that?"

"That's right, why shouldn't we get a share? I'm not having it!"

"I disagree! We demand that the grain be divided equally!"

"How can we divide it equally? Dividing it equally is unfair, we can't divide it equally!"

"If you ask me, those who put in more effort should get more, and those who put in less should get less. That's the right way!"

"..."

Immediately, opinions were divided, and the argument was so heated it was giving everyone a headache.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!