CHAPTER 97: CHAPTER 97: IF NOT FOR US, YOU WOULDN’T HAVE CAUGHT A SINGLE PIG

Aunt Lin watched as Shu’er asked this question, yet she wasn’t in a hurry to answer.

She seemed to want to savor Shu’er’s anxious expression.

Shu’er rolled her eyes, as if this was some kind of crazy sickness.

She couldn’t be bothered to cooperate with Aunt Lin.

Seeing Aunt Lin act like this, she went to treat other people.

Yinxing and others, seeing Shu’er annoyed, stepped forward to stop Aunt Lin, who was smug.

Shu’er managed to treat a few people until most of the severe cases were handled.

Aunt Lin, face pale, squeezed in front of Shu’er, eyes filled with menace.

"Shu’er, what do you mean by this?"

Shu’er raised an eyebrow, looking at Aunt Lin rather bewilderedly.

Aunt Lin took a deep breath, knowing at this moment she couldn’t keep stringing Shu’er along; she had to let her know the leverage they, the mother and daughter, held.

"Let me tell you, Shu’er, Niu Qian was part of the previous group of exiles."

As she spoke, she gave a thumbs-up.

Shu’er responded with a disinterested "Oh," since she was still part of this current group of exiles.

Was she proud of it?

Had she been bragging about it everywhere?

Aunt Lin, satisfied, lifted her chin and reached out to tug Shu’er.

"So, aren’t you going to treat me? These people have been here for years, very familiar with this place. Be careful not to provoke me, or I’ll have him bring people to deal with you."

Shu’er slapped Aunt Lin’s hand away heavily.

"Get lost!"

Aunt Lin looked at her reddening hand in shock, was about to curse Shu’er, when suddenly she heard Tang Zan’s cold voice.

"Aunt Lin, haven’t you suffered enough?"

Aunt Lin looked at Tang Zan’s somewhat pale face, instinctively took a step back, and ran towards Tang Qingrou.

She needed to quickly distance herself from this demon; she was terrified of Tang Zan.

Shu’er said, "Why are you here? Aren’t you distributing the boar meat?"

Tang Zan pursed his lips, looking at Shu’er, noticing her face showed no signs of having been wronged, and her ferocity seemed to have dissipated a bit.

"Waiting for you to divide the boar meat yourself."

Shu’er laughed, "Isn’t there you?"

Tang Zan raised his eyebrow, "In the third household, it’s always the wife’s duty to manage this."

The word "wife" was emphasized by Tang Zan.

Looking into Tang Zan’s dark eyes that gave a false sense of gentleness, Shu’er’s cheeks felt a bit warm.

Shu’er walked over with a smile, and upon meeting everyone, they were all staring at her eagerly, eyes filled with anticipation.

Everyone said, "Miss Pei, can you take a look, how should we divide this wild boar?"

Shu’er said, "These last two boars are for our third household. The previous three boars can be divided a bit more among everyone. Is that alright?"

Most people had no objections, but a few started to feel dissatisfied.

"Miss Pei, you said the pork should be divided among everyone. Your third household taking two whole boars is a bit too much, isn’t it?"

In other words, instead of distributing five boars, everyone was now getting only three.

Though those three boars were big, everyone wanted a bigger share.

Seeing these people getting agitated, Shu’er’s eyelids fluttered.

"What, is the division not right?"

Those who understood the situation didn’t say anything.

As for those who were unreasonable, they started shouting loudly in protest.

"We don’t accept it, we all worked for those five boars."

Shu’er raised her eyebrows, looking at a slim man.

"You worked? Are you sure you did? Weren’t you just standing by watching, without even pulling the rope? What kind of effort did you put in?"

The slim man, stunned by Shu’er’s barrage, was momentarily flustered but then regained his composure.

"I see you just don’t want to give me a share, so you’re erasing my contributions."

"Everyone, look here, Shu’er is bullying an honest person, simply because our family has no power or influence."

As he spoke, the man shamelessly lay down like a woman, kicking and screaming.

Shu’er was speechless, his behavior was overly exaggerated.

Shu’er sneered, "Since you claim to have contributed, why don’t you show us your hands?"

The man froze, looking confused, and then, sensing something, began to hide his hands behind his back.

Zhang Chao quickly stepped forward, pulling the man over and opening his hands.

The crowd found some wounds on his hands, resembling scrapes, but nothing else.

They didn’t understand what Shu’er was looking for.

Shu’er said, "Didn’t you say you helped? Then why are there no rope marks on your hands?"

The man’s face changed, then he said, "It’s been so long, how could there still be rope marks?"

Shu’er nodded, "You’re right, it’s been so long, the rope marks would have disappeared."

The man let out a sigh of relief, thinking Shu’er had no evidence.

But then he heard her continue speaking.

"But don’t forget, your hands have other wounds. They seem to be from before you pulled the rope. If you had pulled the rope, those wounds would have been abraded further."

But he didn’t have any abraded wounds on his body at all.

With these words, those who still wanted to take advantage turned pale, unable to say a word.

Shu’er looked at their expressions, almost confirming who was trying to exploit the situation.

Shu’er said, "It’s best to be honest, only those who participated will get meat."

"Claiming undeserved credit takes away from everyone’s common interests, giving less meat to others."

If it was irrelevant to others, they wouldn’t care.

But Shu’er’s words had turned these opportunists into adversaries of everyone else.

Now, a single morsel of meat could make anyone crave it desperately, and no one wanted to share that much meat with someone who didn’t contribute. That’s madness.

Thinking of this, everyone eyed those few coldly, and some even started identifying the imposters.

A few people were pointed out and then removed from the meat distribution queue.

Now, the legitimate queue for distribution began.

The problem circled back to the beginning.

Those who wanted a share could only divide three boars, but what they really wanted was to divide five.

Even though it was a weak argument, profit was above all.

Finally having a chance to get meat, no one wanted to waste such a precious opportunity.

This was wild boar meat, extremely rare.

If they missed this chance, who knew when they would next have the opportunity.

Seeing their insistence, Shu’er said, "During the last three boars, everyone let go, and our third household almost died there."

With these words, everyone’s face changed.

"You previously asked us to tighten the ropes, not to be responsible for your safety."

Shu’er nodded, "Yes, but did you tighten them?"

No.

They didn’t tighten them.

Shu’er said, "Those three boars, aside from intercepting at the beginning, no one did anything more."

"Moreover, no one made any remedial actions later on."

Shu’er understood it wasn’t anyone’s fault. They hadn’t been trained.

In such a dangerous situation, no one could do anything.

But she couldn’t just give up her rightful benefits.

Aunt Lin sneered, "If it weren’t for everyone stopping the five boars beforehand, you couldn’t have subdued them, so everyone ought to divide the five boars!"

With those words, everyone seemed to find a backbone, their eyes lighting up.

"Yes, if it weren’t for us, you wouldn’t have caught even one boar."