Chapter 40: Reaching Out of One's League!

The scene of meat distribution was lively and joyous.

Little children skipped and hopped around, chattering noisily, while the adults gathered in groups of three or five, carrying baskets and forming loose queues. The elderly squatted against the walls, puffing on their long-stemmed dry-tobacco pipes and reminiscing about the good old days.

Tang Sanjin, the village butcher, had volunteered to take charge of the meat-partying process. Having served as the village butcher for many years, he not only possessed superb pig-slaughtering skills, but was also exceptionally skilled at dividing and cutting meat.

He claimed each piece would weigh five jin, and with a single stroke of his blade, it would turn out to be precisely five jin, neither more nor less. The onlookers watched in constant amazement.

Tang Jiancheng knew this was nothing more than the result of practice making perfect.

There were fifty-six households in the entire village. Excluding the households of Tang Xingde and Tang Jiancheng, as well as their respective brothers' families, forty-five households remained. Each of them was to receive five jin of meat.

Just like that, two hundred and twenty-five jin of meat was given away!

Even the family of the former village party secretary, Tang Deyi, received their share of meat.

Yuan Yuezhu watched this with a feeling of deep distress, yet she could not voice her objections, and could only inwardly blame Tang Jiancheng for being recklessly generous when they were poor!

Tang Jiancheng, however, merely watched with a cheerful smile.

To engage in planting and breeding in the future, he would inevitably need the villagers' help. Handing out these small favors right now served as a preliminary investment, which would ensure substantial returns down the line.

Having lived his life anew, Tang Jiancheng possessed a completely different vision and perspective. He was no longer confined to immediate gains and losses, but instead looked forward to several years, or even decades, into the future.

Once the forty-five households had received their shares, it was the turn of the brothers' families. There were nine such families in total, and each received fifteen jin, amounting to one hundred and thirty-five jin of meat.

After all of these distributions were complete, what remained belonged exclusively to the families of Tang Jiancheng and Tang Xingde.

By the time all the villagers had received their portions, exactly three hundred and sixty jin of meat had been distributed, which roughly equaled the weight of a single large boar. As for the rest, there were still fully twenty wild boars' worth of meat remaining. Once weighed, it came to two thousand three hundred and eighty-two jin. The remaining hearts, lungs, offal, and other internal organs were not counted by weight, but rather calculated as one set per pig.

There were twenty-one sets of internal organs in total.

Although the rifle belonged to Tang Xingde, the ability to bring down so many wild boars was primarily due to Tang Jiancheng's efforts. Coupled with the fact that Tang Jiancheng had a larger family, Tang Xingde took the initiative during the final allocation to offer Tang Jiancheng a slightly larger share.

Naturally, Tang Jiancheng did not care about such minor advantages, so he proposed that Tang Xingde's family take ten sets of internal organs while his own family took eleven. As for the meat, Tang Xingde would take a round sum of one thousand two hundred jin, leaving his own family with one thousand one hundred and eighty-two jin—a difference of eighteen jin between the two households.

Do not underestimate this difference of eighteen jin of meat; its value was comparable to two or three sets of internal organs.

In this era, internal organs were worthless, and lean meat was hardly worth much either; the truly valuable items were the fat and the lard.

Tang Xingde wanted to re-allocate, feeling that he was taking too much advantage, but Tang Jiancheng laughed and said, "Brother Xingde, let's just divide it this way. If you feel uneasy about it, the next time we go hunting in the mountains together, you can just give me a slightly larger share then."

Seeing the resolute expression on Tang Jiancheng's face, Tang Xingde had no choice but to nod and say, "Alright then, I'll definitely make sure you get a bigger share next time! By the way, Jiancheng, what are we going to do with all this meat?"

Tang Jiancheng smiled. "Keep whatever your family wants to eat, and sell the rest. I'm heading over to the township right now to find that big boss."

"It's getting a bit late now. Shouldn't we wait until tomorrow?" Tang Genshuai asked with concern.

"Jianbing, come with me on this trip."

"You got it, Brother."

Tang Jiancheng picked up two sets of internal organs and, accompanied by Tang Jianbing, strode toward the township.

Upon reaching the township, Tang Jiancheng headed straight for the state-run restaurant.

At this hour, it should have been a busy time for the state-run restaurant. However, Sanchong Township never had many people to begin with, and coupled with the snowy weather, even fewer people came to dine at the establishment.

Yet, for reasons unknown, whatever method Huang Tianyue had employed transformed the normally desolate state-run restaurant into a rather lively place at this moment. There were quite a few people eating and drinking, and business was exceptionally good.

When Tang Jiancheng found him, Huang Tianyue was busy calculating various supplies.

Good business was also a headache, because customers' demands varied widely, and a restaurant open for business could not simply refuse them; it had to satisfy them as much as possible. This required the manager to have a thorough understanding of all the supplies in his establishment, buying whatever was running low immediately. Otherwise, it would be extremely embarrassing if a customer asked for something and it was unavailable.

"Tianyue, you certainly know how to run a business. You've managed to turn what should have been a slow day into such a booming success."

Tang Jiancheng genuinely admired Huang Tianyue's managerial competence.

"Hahaha, Brother Jiancheng, you flatter me. I don't know any special tricks; it's all thanks to everyone showing up to support the place." Huang Tianyue smiled and offered Tang Jiancheng a cigarette. When Tang Jiancheng refused, Huang Tianyue didn't mind at all; he tucked the cigarette behind his own ear and asked, "Brother Jiancheng, coming over at this hour, you surely aren't thinking of having a couple of drinks, are you?"

In the past, Tang Jiancheng frequently visited his restaurant at this exact time, ordering a cup or a bottle of liquor and drinking it alone and gloomily in a corner.

"I actually do want to have a couple of drinks."

Tang Jiancheng smiled. "However, I hunted quite a bit of game in the mountains today and want to dispose of it as quickly as possible. I was wondering if you, Tianyue, might have any connections? This is a set of internal organs I brought for you, and the other set is for Township Head Chen. I brought them both here together so you could help me pass them along."

Tang Jianbing hurriedly handed the two sets of internal organs over to Huang Tianyue.

Huang Tianyue glanced at them, instructed the head chef to send both sets of organs to the kitchen, and then smiled at Tang Jiancheng. "Did you bag some more wild boars?"

Tang Jianbing excitedly raised two fingers and said, "My brother bagged this many!"

"Two?"

Huang Tianyue felt amused inwardly. To be so excited over just two wild boars—how completely inexperienced they looked. Still, he said with a smile, "That's not bad either, definitely worth a couple of drinks."

Tang Jianbing lowered his voice. "Not two, twenty!"

"What?!"

Huang Tianyue let out a loud cry that startled the diners in the hall, causing them to turn their heads and look over. Huang Tianyue quickly cupped his hands in apology and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, sorry, got a bit too excited. Please continue with your meals."

Then, lowering his voice again, he asked Tang Jiancheng, "Is what your younger brother said true?! Twenty? How on earth did you manage to bring them down?"

Tang Jiancheng briefly recounted the hunting process from that day.

The look in Huang Tianyue's eyes as he gazed at Tang Jiancheng shifted instantly.

Previously, he might have simply thought that having one more friend meant one more path, and coupled with the fact that Tang Jiancheng's speech and perspective differed from ordinary farmers, Huang Tianyue was willing to befriend him. But at this moment, he realized he didn't understand Tang Jiancheng at all.

Being able to befriend Tang Jiancheng was practically him punching above his weight!

Going into the mountains alone to hunt and taking down twenty-one wild boars—was that something a normal human being could do? This was absolute divinity!

"Brother Jiancheng, when you said you wanted to dispose of the game as quickly as possible just now, you meant the meat from these twenty-one wild boars, right?" Huang Tianyue's eyes rolled as he decided to forge an even closer bond with Tang Jiancheng. He said, "You can send all the wild boar meat to me. I'll take the lot at the previous price of thirty fen per jin."

Tang Jiancheng said, "That's over two thousand jin of meat. Your restaurant..."

"You don't need to worry about that. Just send it over," Huang Tianyue laughed. "Rest assured, I never do business at a loss!"

"Alright then. Knowing how capable you are, I won't stand on ceremony," Tang Jiancheng said. "Do you want us to deliver it, or will you send a vehicle to haul it?"

"Since it's over two thousand jin, I'll arrange for a vehicle to go with you and haul it back."

With that, Huang Tianyue gave a few instructions and stepped out with the two Tang brothers.

Before long, he secured a tractor and headed straight for Daping Village.