“Yes,” Ji Quan echoed, “We have plenty of vegetables here, you can eat them yourselves.”
"It's alright, I specially saved it for you. We don't have enough to eat," Huang Lao Er said when he heard Jiang Nuan calling him. He didn't bother to explain much. "You eat first. My mother is calling me, so I'm leaving now."
After Huang Lao Er left, the people of Jijia Village immediately formed a circle around him.
"Brother Quan, it really is meat. Auntie brought us some meat."
“Hmm,” Ji Quan’s eyes were a little red, and he waved his hand to signal everyone to be quiet, “Line up, I’ll get you some meat.”
He was truly grateful for Jiang Nuan's timely help.
These past few days I've been carrying soil every day, and my physical strength is being depleted quickly. I can't keep going without some oil and fat. Although I prepared some at home, the quantity is small, and I can only eat three to five pieces a day, which is not very useful.
With this extra half-bowl of meat, plus the sliced meat we had at home, things will be a bit better. Plus, they can drink bone broth.
I don't know what's in it, but every time I drink it, I feel warm and my body feels much lighter.
He also made soup with bones at home, but found that it didn't have the same effect at all.
He guessed that his aunt had put something else inside.
Jiang Nuan didn't put anything else in; she just put a ladleful of water from her space.
After long-term observation and experimentation, she determined that the well water in the space was beneficial to people, so she would scoop two ladles into the water tank every morning.
The quantity was small, and the effect was not obvious. Apart from the slightly sweet taste, no one could detect anything wrong with it.
Considering the heavy physical burden of corvée labor, she would add some to her cooking and soups. It wasn't much, but it could gradually improve her health and prevent her from collapsing.
She had no intention of telling anyone about her good intentions, so she was unaware that someone had already noticed something amiss.
If she had known someone was so sensitive, she certainly wouldn't have dared to be so blatant.
Although she wasn't afraid of trouble, she didn't want to actively seek it out.
Unaware of all this, Jiang Nuan handed the spoon to Huang Lao Er and then walked over to Village Chief Huang, asking, "Brother, what are your plans? Will you continue to help us in the future?"
"This is the plan," Village Chief Huang said, swallowing the meat in his mouth before revealing his intentions. "With more people, we can work faster and finish our corvée labor sooner. Even if it's cloudy or rainy, we won't have to worry."
He paused for a moment, then continued to explain, "That's the plan, but the specifics depend on Lai Zi's attitude. If he doesn't object, we can continue to help; otherwise, we'll have to find someone else to do the work."
“Okay,” Jiang Nuan nodded. “If that’s the case, I’ll prepare more food in the future. Only when we’re full can we work.”
Speaking of this, Village Chief Huang smiled and said, "Yaya, your meals are really good, even better than at home. This goose is stewed so tenderly, and the meat is so fatty. It tastes incredibly delicious. Many young men don't want to switch places, just for this meat at lunchtime."
"That's an exaggeration. They don't want to replace him because they don't want their brothers to suffer along with them."
I always felt that it was okay for me to suffer a little, but I couldn't let others suffer the same way as me.
This idea is bizarre, but it's the mainstream thinking now. At least half of the people think this way, so the people doing the work have hardly changed.
Meat was indeed tempting, but it couldn't withstand the heavy corvée labor. What drove them to endure the arduous work was this invaluable spirit of sacrifice.
It's silly, but adorably silly, and it's touching.
That's part of the charm of this era.
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