Besides what his mother had just mentioned, this group of people had also managed to acquire 7,000 catties of grain and a large amount of other supplies, including oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar.
All of this was because Lu Yanzheng's wife led the villagers into the mountains and brought back a large amount of game.
Listen to what they're saying: forty-nine wild goats! And tigers, wild boars, wolves, and hyenas...
"How did they do it?" Wang Bo didn't expect to blurt out the question.
Wang the Cripple was among the first to go up the mountain. Upon hearing the question, he immediately began to speak animatedly, spitting as he spoke, “Using nets! Back then, Lu Yanzheng’s family made us make two big nets…”
He recounted how Jiang Qinyu had directed their hunt and how she had led the villagers to Qinggang Mountain to steal grain. He continued, still somewhat unsatisfied, "I told your mother not to flee the famine, but she wouldn't listen and insisted on going to find your sister. Now look what's happened; she's not taking us with her."
After listening, Wang Bo's gaze towards Jiang Qinyu became even more complicated, and for a moment he didn't know what to do.
"I admire such a brave and resourceful woman in the world." Liu Ruyi looked at Jiang Qinyu with admiration in her eyes, and there was also a hint of longing hidden in her eyes.
The ancestral hall in Dingshui Village was open to the public today, and all the influential people were there. Women also came to watch the excitement. The ancestral hall was surrounded by people in layers. If it weren't for the terrain, people behind Jiang Qinyu wouldn't be able to see her from where she was standing.
The four wild goats that remained in the village have all been pickled and are temporarily stored in the cellar of Village Chief Li's house.
In addition, all the game they brought back from the mountains was exchanged for silver, and the silver was used to buy many daily necessities and food for the village.
At this moment, in front of everyone, Village Chief Li read out all of their current common property.
He would read out one item, and Meng Tianze would lead his men to display it for everyone to see.
If it were just heard, the shock wouldn't be so strong, but when thousands of kilograms of grain and nearly a thousand bolts of cloth were laid out in front of them, it was a completely different feeling.
As soon as the Wang family finished their reflections, the people in the ancestral hall burst into cheers.
"Old Meng, you guys are really amazing! You brought us back so much stuff!"
"Yes, yes, not only are they great hunters, but they're also amazing at rummaging through the village!"
“There is indeed a lot of stuff, but you even managed to bring in twelve mules. Those are great helpers for the work!”
"..."
Listening to these words, Jiang Qinyu wondered if they would all be shouting "Long live the Emperor" if this world wasn't a feudal dynasty.
"Quiet, quiet, everyone, let me finish what I have to say." Seeing that the crowd was too excited to calm down, Village Chief Li had no choice but to shout through a megaphone.
The crowd finally quieted down.
"Besides telling you how much stuff we have, I have something else to tell you all today," Village Chief Li said solemnly to everyone.
"What's wrong, village chief? We have so much stuff, there shouldn't be anything bad, right?" someone asked anxiously.
Village Chief Li was speechless and rolled his eyes at the man. "It's a good thing. You fucking wait until I finish speaking before you say anything."
The others immediately fell silent.
Village Chief Li then continued, "Yesterday, Lu Yancai's family came to me asking for a share of our things, saying they were almost starving..."
He recounted how Lu Yancai and his wife had come to cause trouble for him the previous night. Seeing everyone glaring angrily at the couple, Village Chief Li quickly said, "His family certainly isn't starving, but some families in the village do have difficulties in life. We also need to maintain social relationships on a regular basis. What do we do when we're short of something?"
“The village chief is right, it does seem to be true, but didn’t we agree to distribute the supplies every three months? What will we do if we really need them?” someone immediately asked.
Village Chief Li looked at the man and said, "This is the second thing I wanted to talk about. We're currently using a work-point system, so everything we exchange is based on work points. If there are genuine difficulties, we'll use the method of estimating work points..."
He then explained what the estimated work points were, and said, "Those who come to exchange goods or withdraw money before the three-month period expires will be calculated according to this. When the money is distributed, the difference will be adjusted according to the actual situation, with refunds or additional payments as needed."
This way, there's no fear of someone taking the goods early and then defaulting on their payment, since people without work points can't exchange them for goods no matter when, and work points don't support credit.
Those who exchanged their existing work points for goods will definitely still have work points when the three-month period ends and the settlement is completed. If they gained an advantage when exchanging in advance, the points will be deducted according to the specific circumstances when the goods are officially distributed.
"The village chief's idea is good; this way, none of us will suffer a loss."
"That's right, I agree with this approach, let's do it this way from now on!"
"What if someone has no financial difficulties but wants to withdraw money or goods in advance?"
Finally, someone asked this question.
All eyes were on Lu Yancai and his wife.
Ma shrank back slightly, then forced a fierce glare at everyone, "What are you looking at? We didn't get anything, did we?"
Everyone else looked at her with disdain, but Ma didn't care. Her face was full of the expression that others owed her money.
"This will naturally be determined by our inspection team; we won't let anyone change it in advance," Village Chief Li said with a smile.
If everyone withdraws their money in advance, then there's no point in them having this work point system.
With his words, everyone was completely relieved and expressed their support for the decision.
Those families who were genuinely facing difficulties were also considering whether they should withdraw some funds in advance for emergency use.
Outside the ancestral hall, Wang Pozi and her family were now truly anxious.
“Old Wang’s family, we all went to escape the famine because we listened to you. Now that we’re back, it’s because your eldest son said we can’t go to escape the famine. But the village won’t accept us working with them. What do you think we should do?”
The Ma and Deng families surrounded Wang Pozi's family, looking at them with displeasure.
Granny Wang was a little flustered. She had just seen what was happening in the village now, and it would be a lie to say she didn't regret it.
Before they left, Village Chief Li gave them some grain that he had brought from the mountains, but compared to what they have now, it was hardly enough.
But even if they regret it, they can't join without the villagers' approval!
"Aunt Ma, Uncle Deng, don't worry, the village will agree. You should go back first, and I'll come find you again once it's confirmed," Wang Bo said.
The Ma and Deng families still trusted him to some extent, and he immediately declared that if he couldn't handle the situation, they would rely on the Wang family from now on.
"Xiao Bo, how could you say that to them? What if the village still doesn't agree?" Granny Wang was extremely anxious.
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