Chapter 56: Craving Meat? Go Into the Mountains and Hunt Yourself!

Zhang Huacheng distributed the meat with crisp efficiency.

Anyone from the old Zhang family who came would receive their share: those with smaller households got a bit less, while those with larger ones got more. Some even walked away with over a dozen pounds in one go.

"Little Huacheng, can I buy some wolf meat?" Chen Yan, the accountant, could no longer restrain herself. Her children cried out for meat every day, and she wanted a taste of it herself.

Wolf meat was prime game, far superior to wild boar. Although wolves were plentiful in those days, neither the mountain guards nor even veteran hunters dared to hunt them.

"Sure. Wolf meat is one yuan per pound, no ration coupons required. Buy one pound and get two ounces of wild boar meat for free."

As soon as Zhang Huacheng finished speaking, an uproar broke out among the crowd.

Even in the old Chen family, excluding the income from the brick kiln, a full day's labor only earned a little over ten cents. Wouldn't buying a pound of wolf meat require ten days of hard work?

"Are you out of your mind? One yuan for a pound of meat?"

"Poverty drove you crazy!"

"Never seen money before? If you go to the county town to buy pork, inferior cuts cost five or six cents, and the good cuts only go for seventy or eighty cents. You're charging one yuan a pound?"

"Our production team's pig is going to be slaughtered soon too, and when that happens, we won't give any to the old Zhang family!"

The brigade's pig was indeed going to be slaughtered, but with so many people, how much could each household actually get?

Zhang Huacheng only sneered.

Not giving them a share was impossible. When a collective distributed collective property, they could secretly manipulate things like sleds and flatbed carts, but when it came to food and pork, if there was even the slightest unfairness, the commune would step in.

"Never mind how much a pound costs in the county town. Do you have meat coupons? Don't you know the market price for meat coupons?"

With Zhang Huacheng's words, the crowd fell silent. Where on earth could they get meat coupons? The production team didn't issue them; only city dwellers received a small, rationed amount of meat coupons each month, and black-market coupons were far more expensive than the meat itself.

"What about the pork?"

Chen Yan couldn't bear to spend a whole yuan on a pound of meat either.

"Pork is sixty cents a pound."

Zhang Huacheng priced it according to the early morning market rates.

"Would fifty cents do?" Chen Yan's eyes lit up; that price was acceptable.

"No."

"I'll take two pounds of pork, from this side!" Gritting her teeth, Chen Yan pulled out a handkerchief rolled into a ball, fished out a one-yuan-two-cent bill from it, and handed it to Zhang Huacheng.

"Ergou, get the scale."

In no time, Chen Yan was holding two pounds of pork.

"Yanzi, why are you buying his meat? What's the point of eating gamey wild boar meat? Isn't the production team's pig going to be slaughtered soon?" Some members of the old Chen family were displeased. The old Zhang family was distributing theirs for free, yet she went out of her way to spend money—and so much of it.

If Chen Yan weren't a brigade cadre, they would have cursed her out loud.

"The brigade can slaughter at most five pigs this time, and each slaughtered pig will only average around a hundred pounds. Even if we generously calculate five hundred pounds of pork in total, our brigade has over a thousand or twelve hundred mouths. How much will actually reach each household? Are we supposed to not eat a single bite of meat during the New Year?"

As the accountant, Chen Yan knew the brigade's situation better than anyone.

Hearing this, the entire old Chen family panicked. By the sound of it, wouldn't they have barely a few bites of meat to eat?

They had been pinning all their hopes on this meat distribution!

"How can it only be five pigs? Aren't there over a dozen pigs?"

"You were planning to sell them? Don't sell them! Slaughter them all so we can share the meat!"

When they did the math, they were dumbfounded. In past years, couldn't every household get several pounds of meat?

Would they really get that little this time? Five hundred pounds of pork?

"Our brigade still owes the commune money. Selling the pigs is to pay off that debt. Things are different now compared to before; in the past, we could play dumb and get away with it, but now the commune is extremely strict. I'm not going to waste my breath on you—buy it if you want, don't if you don't. You wouldn't understand even if I explained."

Chen Yan picked up her meat and left.

Internal matters were known only to them.

The commune was already deeply dissatisfied with them. They hadn't delivered grain for two years, yet the commune's welfare quotas couldn't be reduced. Now that the commune had new leadership, they were preparing to make an example of them. They needed to pay back some of the debt first, or things would get very troublesome later on.

Owe the commune money?

Zhang Huacheng was surprised. Since when did Chen Tang Sanli Canal owe the commune money?

"Little Huacheng, give me two pounds, I'll bring the money over later!" With Chen Yan breaking the ice and no one causing trouble anymore, members of the old Chen family rushed forward to buy meat.

Some habitual freeloaders tried to get meat on credit.

"No credit."

Naturally, Zhang Huacheng wouldn't sell on credit. Bring the money later?

That was a ghost story—not even Chen Gonglin could buy on credit here!

"Now, look here, Little Huacheng, give your uncle half a pound of pork. Your uncle isn't asking for credit, can you give me a bit extra?" Chen Yuanqiao, the barber, unhappily took out three small bills.

He was actually quite well-off, but notoriously stingy.

"A bunch of good-for-nothings, missing a bite of meat won't kill you!"

"Why didn't Chen Biao go hunt? Was drawing lots just for show? Why does our old Chen family have such useless members?"

For a time, deep resentment brewed among the members of the old Chen family.

The old Wang family had managed to get some meat distributed to them, but they had to spend hard-earned money just to eat. As for the old Zhang family, they couldn't even finish all theirs; with so much pork, if they rationed it carefully, it would last straight through the New Year.

"Huacheng, did you hunt all these wild boars and wolves yourself?" Wang Kui stepped forward to inspect the game, noticing that every single one had a bullet hole right between the eyes. A chill ran down his spine. If it were a stationary wild boar at close range, he could pull that off, but wolves?

He knew better than anyone how fast a wolf could move.

"Yeah, hunting these is pretty simple. Ergou and I just wandered around the mountains, and whenever we ran into one, we fired a shot. One shot, one kill, got 'em all."

Zhang Huacheng nodded.

One shot, one kill, mysteriously dropped dead?

If it were just one, he might chalk it up to good luck, but two?

Wang Kui figured he understood now. He glanced sideways at the third elder of the Zhang family, guessing that the old veterans of the Zhang family must have gone into the mountains together. No wonder Zhang Huacheng was willing to take on the job of a mountain guard.

Everyone knew wolves were pack animals that rarely traveled alone, unless they were lone wolves driven out of the pack or old wolves, but this was clearly an adult gray wolf.

To dare take on a wolf pack, these old fellows must have taken action.

No wonder Ergou had been stammering when he spoke last night; it seemed the old Zhang family had really been looking out for Ergou.

"Our old Wang family will buy some more pork and wolf meat!" At this thought, Wang Kui fished over a dozen yuan out of his pocket, gritted his teeth, and handed it to Zhang Huacheng.

He knew the brigade's actual situation; everything Chen Yan said was true.

"Alright, Ergou has put in a lot of effort too. I'll give it to you at thirty cents a pound for pork and fifty cents a pound for wolf meat. But that's only for this amount of money; if you want to buy more later, it won't be this price."

Zhang Huacheng took the money, figuring he would do Ergou a favor.

"We'll take all pork!"

Wang Kui was overjoyed. As long as they could eat meat, he wasn't going to be picky.

The members of the old Wang family who had tagged along all beamed with joy. Thirty cents for a pound of pork and fifty cents for a pound of wolf meat—that was exceptionally, incredibly cheap.

Instantly, they showered Zhang Huacheng and Ergou with endless praise, a scene that made the old Chen family so furious their lungs nearly exploded.

Wasn't this blatantly bullying them?

"Go find Chen Biao!"

"Can't we go hunting in the mountains with Chen Biao? If we bag just one, the family won't have to worry about meat for the whole year. We can't let the old Zhang family take all the benefits!"

"Right, our old Chen family has plenty of guns. If we send a few more men with rifles, we can shoot whatever crosses our path!"

Chen Yinshan was so mad his eyes turned red. Hearing others talk about entering the mountains, he immediately began to shout.

They were certainly not short of guns or bullets.

As the warehouse keeper, he had never suffered such humiliation!

Overhearing this, Wang Kui thought better of saying anything aloud. He glanced at Zhang Huacheng and then at the elderly men of the Zhang family who were enjoying the spectacle. He knew better than anyone how dangerous the Changbai Mountains were in temperatures dozens of degrees below zero.

Even when he led professional hunters into the mountains, he usually chose autumn when the leaves had fallen, a time when they could gather frozen mushrooms and, with luck, bag some game.

As for when snow covered the ground, hunting was not only extremely dangerous, but in the freezing cold, sustaining an injury meant almost certain death, and getting lost spelled the end.

And during the lush summer months, hunting was even more out of the question due to poor visibility, making venomous snakes and fierce beasts impossible to guard against.

As for Su Nini, on the night of the first, after ten o'clock, she changed into a different set of clothes and drove to Jin Yongyi's apartment.

With his wife dead, he was now utterly broken-hearted... What use were wealth and glory to him anymore?

In late September, the weather gradually grew cooler, and the filming of the third season of Journey to the West was drawing to a close. At noon that day, Tao Tao walked in the garden under the blazing sun.

Swallowing the fishy saliva down her throat, Wei Yaoyao felt a tearing pain in her heart, her eye rims turned red, and her nails dug deep into her palms.

Although the two of them deliberately kept a low profile, the fact that they were heading to the capital still attracted attention in the town.

He had originally set up many hidden guards there, but the manor stored numerous bottles of red wine. After those wines were ignited, the fire raged fiercely, allowing Meng Qiyao to take advantage of the chaos and abduct the President.

He should be the one held responsible for this! Besides... didn't she remember him being quite proficient in sports?

On such matters of great principle, she still knew where to draw the line, and she wouldn't hide it to that extent.

Tang Xiao was deeply worried. He led his horse to the vicinity of the city gate and looked around, only to hear the townspeople gathered at the gate pointing and whispering up at the city wall.

I watched at the station for a while, and soon Doghead sent me a message saying the matter was settled and it was time for my entrance. I didn't know whether Yang Zihao or Gong Zhang would be the ultimate winner, so I could only wait patiently.

Hearing this, Tan Jue gave Gui Yuanxia a meaningful look. Not daring to meet his gaze, Gui Yuanxia lowered his head, stepped back a pace, and stood at attention respectfully.

"Two armed spacecraft detected, specific data as follows..." The photonic computer projected a fully analyzed three-dimensional image in the hall. Sheng Yu caught the submachine gun tossed by Maja and stared in absolute shock at the data analysis imagery.

The Liupei Pavilion in the palace was originally built specifically for spring purification banquets and drinking parties. Because the artificial terrain guided the waters of Longyue Pond into winding streams, low stone platforms and rockery had been ingeniously arranged alongside the waterways for sitting and lying down.

Once again, a mountain-shaking cry of "Thanks for the Emperor's grace" rang out, and the crowd nervously got to their feet.

Suddenly, the inscribed leaves on the two large trees outside the Joint Ruling Assembly meeting hall inexplicably snapped off their branches. A couplet of fourteen large characters, "Speak freely for the people, let a hundred flowers bloom to enrich the green garden," drifted down lightly to the ground, but no wind stirred them again, leaving the atmosphere inside the venue exceptionally awkward.

If one thought about it, the fact that so many children were all born to Gu Youran was a violation of common sense in itself; how could Shuangshuang and the others ever believe it?

The Duke spent a full minute extracting the bullet fragment from Su Mubai's shoulder before bandaging it, and then the GRX elites pressed forward.

Brother Dong cast aside his contempt and pursued the fleeing assassin with extreme vigilance.

Seemingly sensing Master Yijie's anxiety, Nie Shao's lips twitched slightly as if he whispered something to him, causing the worry on Master Yijie's face to slowly fade and leaving him with no further doubts about Nie Shao's proposal.

Ade felt suspicious inside, and asked in a sweet, coquettish voice, "Hey, mute, go tell your master that this young lady is leaving, and I'm borrowing his precious treasure for a few days!" With that, she squeezed her legs together, and Chiyan let out a couple of long neighs before bolting away.

Perhaps they had already developed a processor comparable to the 8086. However, they might have deliberately refrained from releasing it, continuing instead to research even more powerful processors. That way, while Intel was feeling smug, they could strike first and preemptively launch an even more advanced processor.

I sighed and said, back in the immortal realm, Yue'er had already recognized Taibai Jinxing as her grandfather.

Just as Dad hadn't told me what he and Tingting had talked about the day before the performance.

Hearing that the Lord of the Phoenix intended to give me the Phoenix Crystal, Yue'er and I grew excited at the same time. Exchanging a glance, I said, "Don't you worry, since we've gone to such great lengths, naturally we won't lose it easily."

The shamaness said, "The situation isn't right; there must still be something underneath. Just this alone couldn't have suppressed things for decades. We need to dig further down and see what other weird things are hidden here."

"I heard there is a Class B club in the provincial capital too? Old Dai, you have many friends, do you know if this news is true?" Sun Junshan asked. This was a matter of concern to them as well. The deadline for registering for the League Category B was approaching the end of the month, and over the past month, various rumors had been circulating, making it hard to tell truth from fiction.

At this moment, the fiend returned, bringing along Fairy Yun and the Jade-Eyed Golden Toad. When they saw that the protective barrier of the mountain-guarding formation had completely dimmed, they were initially puzzled, but after listening to the eight-vine gourd demon's wildly animated explanation, they finally understood.

Just as my display of bicycle maneuvers was coming to an end, I had already sent the horned snake and tiger-headed hound charging forward.

Thus, after the Xiongnu chief of staff dispatched his rearguard for the twelfth time, he also discovered Xu Chu's choice. At this, the Xiongnu chief was no longer calm; their feigned retreat had failed, leaving them with no choice but to fight a hard, frontal battle.

"However, though this strategy is sound, it carries risks. If it fails, not only will Yuan Shao not die, but he will be enraged, and in his anger, he might immediately march his troops south, which would disrupt my layout instead." Tao Cao remained calm, weighing the pros and cons.

"What is your business this time?" Ren Woxing glared angrily at Lin Han, genuinely infuriated by his repeated provocations.

Belial let out a muffled grunt as the venomous tail of Balmung pierced his neck, injecting a massive amount of toxin into his body.

Zhang Yun instinctively thought of Xu Zhigang, though he wasn't entirely certain. He tentatively glanced down at the lower floor and saw a large group of police officers rushing upstairs, led by a middle-aged man with an iron-blue complexion—wasn't that Xu Zhigang?

Gao Changggong's martial power value of 95, in a normal fight, would feel like a mere scratch to Zhang Fei, but this clash made Zhang Fei feel an unprecedented level of strain.

Not far from Hua Wuque, Old Master Zhu and Sect Master Wuque of the Eastern Sect couldn't help bursting into laughter at his expression.

Although many people lived in Langzhong, they had taken cars over from there early in the morning. Some took the expressway, while others took the train. In short, the number of people in Nanbu city was growing steadily, equivalent to the population of Nanbu surging tenfold today.

Especially the events involving Zhou Qing during the first two blizzards, which, thanks to the continuous viral spread of short videos over the past few days, were now deeply rooted in people's hearts.

Xiang Gaojun knew nothing about the Martial Arts Alliance, nor did he know any Ye Jianxiong. He only knew that his sworn brother had severely beaten his opponent today and made the other guy cough up money obediently. In a word: awesome! Naturally, his face was filled with excitement and worship.