In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 666 Observations (4)

after all……

Although Chenjia Village was generous, it was impossible for them to provide meat to the workers every day. Meat was only provided to the workers once every three days. Today happened to be the day when meat was provided, so Liu Wenqiang and the other workers were able to eat meat.

Normally, they only get enough steamed buns to fill their stomachs.

"There are indeed a few too many."

Li Mingyuan nodded in deep agreement. He was not a martial artist, and being older, his appetite was smaller, so the amount of meat the chef served was indeed a bit too much for him.

"Young man, how about I share some with you?"

Li Mingyuan asked with a smile.

"Isn't this bad?"

Liu Wenqiang shook his head sheepishly. Meat was so precious and delicious; how could he possibly take away someone else's favorite?

"It's okay, I can't finish all of this, I'll share some with you."

Without saying a word, Li Mingyuan picked up the plate and divided half of the meat into Liu Wenqiang's bowl.

Liu Wenqiang was stunned when he saw the overflowing meat in his bowl.

He never expected that the old man in front of him would be so generous as to share half of his meat with him.

"Mr. Li, this is not appropriate. Please take it back immediately."

"It's okay, you eat it! I can't finish all of this by myself."

"No, no, no."

"..."

After some initial refusal, Liu Wenqiang, seeing Li Mingyuan's resolute attitude, finally accepted Li Mingyuan's kindness.

"Thank you, Mr. Li."

Liu Wenqiang expressed his sincere gratitude.

These days, even the closest coworkers wouldn't share their precious meat with him.

The fact that an elderly stranger he had just met was willing to share so much meat with him filled Liu Wenqiang with gratitude.

"It's alright, eat up!"

Li Mingyuan didn't say much and just ate his food with his head down.

Seeing this, Liu Wenqiang could only keep his gratitude to himself and eat the meat in his bowl with his steamed bun.

Today's meat dish is stewed duck meat with cabbage. After the chef's careful cooking, the flavors of the duck meat and cabbage blend together perfectly.

The cabbage, soaked in the brown broth, is refreshing and has a rich, savory flavor. The duck meat is even better, with the aroma of meat and the sweetness of cabbage. It's delicious without being greasy at all, making it very appetizing.

Li Qiao devoured the duck meat in front of him like a starving ghost, praising it as he ate: "The food in Chenjia Village is really good, it tastes even better than the food in Zhengjia Village."

Li Qiao's statement may be somewhat exaggerated, but it truly reflects his innermost thoughts.

The chefs in Chenjia Village were certainly not as skilled as those in Zhengjia Village, but because they were serving the workers, the meat dishes in Chenjia Village were often heavily oiled and salted to satisfy the workers' tastes.

As it happens, Li Qiao, being a martial artist, also enjoys food that is rich in oil and salt, and the food from Chenjia Village perfectly suits his taste.

That's why he had the misconception that the food in Chenjia Village tasted better than that in Zhengjia Village.

"Yes!"

Upon hearing Li Qiao's speech, Liu Wenqiang smiled and said, "If you ask us workers what we look forward to most, it's the meat we get every three days in Chenjia Village. I don't know how they make the meat in Chenjia Village, but it tastes even better than the meat in restaurants in the city."

Liu Wenqiang had never been to a restaurant in the city, but he instinctively felt that there couldn't be anything in the world better than the meat from Chenjia Village.

After all... in the Xia Kingdom, where most people only boil or stir-fry meat dishes with water, the stewed meat prepared by Chenjia Village with plenty of seasonings tastes almost like a game-changer.

After eating the stewed meat in Chenjia Village, eating boiled meat in plain water is like chewing wax, with no flavor whatsoever.

"Is this meat served once every three days?"

Li Mingyuan asked subconsciously. He had thought that the workers ate meat every day when he saw them eating meat earlier, but after hearing Liu Wenqiang's explanation, he realized that this was not the case.

"Yes."

Liu Wenqiang nodded: "We can only eat meat once every three days. We usually eat steamed buns, but it's good enough if we can have enough steamed buns. When I work in the city in the future, let alone steamed buns, I won't even have enough wheat rice to eat."

Upon hearing this, Li Mingyuan nodded inwardly.

Indeed, for ordinary people, having meat every three days and having enough steamed buns every day is already an unimaginable dream of a good life.

Judging from the satisfied look on Liu Wenqiang's face, he is quite satisfied with his current life and is full of gratitude for Chenjia Village.

The existence of Chenjia Village has indeed benefited many people in Taiping County!

Li Mingyuan thought to himself with these thoughts.

…………

…………

Good times are always short-lived.

Before long, lunchtime was over.

Having shared half of the meat with Li Mingyuan, Liu Wenqiang, whose mouth was greasy from eating, heard the foreman shouting for work and quickly stood up to say to Li Mingyuan, "Old Li, I have to go to work now. Thank you for giving me meat. When I become a formal worker in Chenjia Village, I will definitely repay you!"

"Go!"

Li Mingyuan smiled and waved, watching Liu Wenqiang jog towards the construction site, feeling deeply moved.

The enthusiasm of Liu Wenqiang and his fellow workers was worlds apart from that of the laborers forcibly conscripted by the government.

The reason for such a huge gap is that... workers like Liu Wenqiang received wages, while the laborers conscripted by the government not only did not receive wages, but were also not provided with food and had to bring their own rations to work.

Whether or not wages are paid is the most fundamental reason for the huge gap in motivation between the two groups.

In fact, the imperial court and government were not unaware that the enthusiasm for corvée labor was not high, nor were they unaware that paying money could make the laborers more motivated. It was just that the projects the imperial court and government were undertaking were often large-scale projects, requiring the conscription of anywhere from several thousand to tens or even hundreds of thousands of laborers.

With such a large number of people, even with the imperial court's resources, it would be impossible to afford such a high expenditure if wages and food were provided to them. Therefore, the only option was to have the laborers work for free.

In fact, if it were just unpaid labor, the common people wouldn't find it unacceptable. What they really found unbearable was that they not only had to bring their own food for unpaid labor, but also had to face exploitation and oppression from officials and their servants.

In such circumstances, even the most good-tempered person will eventually reach their breaking point, and so...

A vigorous rebellion then naturally broke out.

As far as Li Mingyuan knew, the rebellion in Yuzhou was initially caused by the people's dissatisfaction with increased taxes and forced labor. The laborers who were forcibly conscripted were already dissatisfied, and the oppression and beatings by the officials made them kill the officials in anger, raise the flag of rebellion, and lead a large number of peasants who were dissatisfied with the court's policies and could not bear the exploitation, and successively captured several county towns.