“When we get to a place with mountains, let’s go for a walk in the mountains. Maybe we’ll get lucky and hunt something,” Zhou Sifu said, clicking his tongue.
The others nodded in agreement; they also wanted to try the meat of the roe deer.
The group ate and chatted, and everyone was full in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. There was still quite a bit of meat porridge left over, which was too much, but it was fine to save it for tomorrow in this cold weather.
"Ask the village chief if he wants some. If he does, we'll give it to them. We'll cook fresh porridge tomorrow. We brought plenty of food, so we don't need leftovers." Zhu Lin thought about how the north was suffering from natural disasters and the people were short of food, so he gave some porridge to the village chief as a sign of goodwill.
Zhou Erfu volunteered to personally deliver the remaining large bowl of meat porridge to the village chief. The village chief did not find it offensive and accepted it after expressing his gratitude. However, his family had already eaten.
“To be honest, my family can still fill our stomachs and we are not short of food. However, there is a family in the village with only three young children left. The adults are all gone, and they are always lacking food and clothing. I want to send this porridge to those three children.”
This is an inquiry; if the guest does not agree, then so be it.
Zhou Erfu grinned broadly, "This porridge is yours now that it's given to you. You can give it to whoever you want. Oh, and here's five taels of silver. We've been staying here and used a lot of your firewood. Consider this silver as payment for the firewood."
The money was given to the village chief by Zhou Erfu at Zhu Changge's request; one couldn't just stay at someone's house without giving anything in return.
The village chief was taken aback, then smiled and accepted the silver. He wouldn't have dared to say anything if the other party hadn't given it to him, but since they had, he naturally wouldn't be polite.
"Thank you, young master. If you need any help, please don't hesitate to ask. I will do my best to help if it's within my power." This time, the village chief's smile was more genuine.
"Oh, there's nothing I need to trouble you with for now," Zhou Erfu chuckled, pointing to the porridge in the large bowl. "Are you going to deliver it to someone now?"
The village chief glanced at the sky and shook his head. "We can't go out now, or the refugees will come and cause trouble. Let's wait until dawn."
Next door, the head guard gave the village chief's younger brother ten taels of silver, and then the dinner for all thirty-odd people was given to the village chief's younger brother's family, who also provided the rice, noodles and vegetables.
The village chief's younger brother chuckled as he carried ten taels of silver. Besides taking rice and flour, he also had his son kill a chicken for the guest.
"Dad, food is so precious these days, and we don't have any surplus. With so many people, how much rice and flour will it take to eat dry rice and steamed buns?"
The village chief's nephew frowned, disapproving of his father's actions. Ten taels of silver was a lot, but in this day and age, it was difficult to buy grain even with silver. He would rather save the grain than the silver.
The village chief's younger brother, a middle-aged man in his forties, glared and sneered, "What nonsense are you spouting? Your uncle brought them here, which means even he can't handle them. They have over twenty guards, all armed with knives. Do you think we can fight them? They paid us the money, so just do as we're told. Stop with the nonsense, are you out of your mind?"
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