Lying Flat Was Out of the Question

The villagers were overjoyed and hurried to the center of the village to collect their shares of meat.

In the past, the village chief would have presided over things, while the villagers scrambled to divide everything up in a chaotic mess. Once they were done, they would dump the leftovers at Gao Yiye's house and run off. There was no order to it whatsoever, and some people would even sneak an extra share.

But ever since San Shier had arrived at Gao Family Village, the village, once an unorganized heap of loose sand with no chain of command, had gradually begun to develop an organizational structure.

Instead of scrambling to divide the meat themselves, the villagers looked expectantly at Gao Yiye and San Shier.

Gao Yiye stood off to one side to lend her authority to the proceedings. Her presence as the holy maiden kept everyone in line, reminding the villagers at every moment that the Heavenly Venerable was watching them and keeping the restless ones from acting up.

San Shier handled the actual work, waving a hand as he gave instructions. "Gao Chuwu, you cut the meat. Bring over a scale to weigh it, too..."

"Gao Laba, two taels of pork." As San Shier called this out, he wrote Gao Laba's name on the paper and added a check mark to show that he had received his share.

"Wang Ergou, received."

"Zhong Datou, received."

"Zheng A Niu, received."

"Gao Sanwa, received."

Only after more than a hundred people had lined up and received their shares did San Shier distribute meat to Gao Chuwu, Gao Yiye, and his own family. Having the "management" collect their shares last demonstrated their "lofty character and spotless integrity."

Once everyone had received their share, it was finally the two sculptors' turn.

The two had long since grown impatient. Seeing that everyone else had received meat except them, they felt rather wronged, unable to understand why the holy maiden and the secretary had left them until last.

Gao Yiye beckoned to them, and they immediately came trotting over eagerly. "Holy Maiden, what are your instructions?"

Gao Yiye said, "The Heavenly Venerable has decreed that all the remaining pork is to be bestowed upon you."

Both sculptors froze, their eyes going perfectly round. They turned to look at the remaining meat. Although more than a hundred people had each taken two taels, what remained was still as large as two washbasins-at least several dozen jin.

Gao Chuwu grinned, then brought his knife down, chopping the enormous piece of loin in half. "Here. Half of what's left for each of you."

The two sculptors said, "Th-this much? It's all for us? Everyone else... only got two taels."

Gao Yiye said, "The Heavenly Venerable said he was very pleased with the Victorious Fighting Buddha Statue you carved. This meat is his special reward for you."

Overjoyed, the two sculptors prostrated themselves and knocked their heads against the ground several times. "Thank you, Heavenly Venerable! Thank you, Heavenly Venerable!"

Standing beside them, San Shier lowered his voice and said sternly, "From now on, you two must keep striving and serve the Heavenly Venerable well."

The two sculptors said, "Of course, of course! We will certainly serve him well."

When wealthy people had hired them to repair temples and build Buddhist statues in the past, they had received occasional rewards, but those had only amounted to a few filling meals or a few copper coins. When had they ever had the chance to receive such a huge piece of pork?

Even if they could not eat all this meat, trading it with the other villagers would still bring them an enormous fortune.

In years of natural disaster, nothing held its value better than food.

But... fresh pork would not keep for even two days.

Looking embarrassed, the two asked, "Could we also..."

San Shier smiled. "Here, two bags of salt. Take them and make cured pork."

Delighted, the two hurriedly thanked the Third Secretary, then took the bags of salt, shouldered their shares of pork, and ran toward their temporary little homes. "Wife! Eldest! Second! Our family's struck it rich! Hahaha! Our family's struck it rich!"

Before long, the two had piled up pine branches in the open space behind the village and begun smoking their cured pork. Everyone knew what smoking pork smelled like, and everyone nearby was green with envy.

The other villagers craned their necks, thinking to themselves, When will I be able to earn merit in the Heavenly Venerable's service and receive a special reward like that?

Such was the human heart!

When people had nothing to eat, they longed only for a mouthful of food. But once they had food, they wanted more than everyone else, and that desire spurred them to keep climbing higher.

Of course, there were also those who were content to slack off.

Take Zheng Daniu, who had come from Zheng Family Village. He felt no envy whatsoever toward the two sculptors smoking their pork. Not only had he eaten his fill, but he had also eaten two taels of pork. Rubbing his round belly, he felt fantastic. We've already eaten our fill, so why are you fellows still working yourselves to death? Why bother struggling to climb higher? Isn't it better to lie down and rest?

Except...

That fat nerd happy water I drank last time really did make me happy. I'd love some more. Too bad there's none left.

Damn it, I can't lie flat. I really want a reward from the Heavenly Venerable. I really want some happy water.

Zheng Daniu sprang to his feet with a carp kip-up, hoisted his axe, and charged out of Gao Family Village. While the sun's last lingering rays still lit the mountain woods, he rushed into the trees and searched all over. Before long, he actually found a good, thick tree.

Zheng Daniu swung his great axe. Thock, thock, thock! With a full belly, he had plenty of strength, and it did not take him long to fell the large tree. Then he chopped off the best section, a thick length of trunk just over two meters long. It was too heavy to carry, so he dragged, rolled, and levered it along, finally managing to get it down the mountain.

Pushing the log, he rushed up to Gao Yiye with excitement written all over his face. "Holy Maiden! Holy Maiden! Look, I brought this back from the mountain. It'll be perfect for carving the next divine statue. Look, this is useful, isn't it?"

Gao Yiye had no idea whether it was useful, but she raised her head and listened to the voice from the heavens, and a smile appeared on her face. "Zheng Daniu, you did very well. The Heavenly Venerable praised you."

Zheng Daniu was delighted.

Gao Yiye said, "The Heavenly Venerable said he could reward you with some..."

Zheng Daniu hurriedly said, "I... this humble one... this humble one dares to make an unreasonable request."

Gao Yiye said, "?"

Zheng Daniu said, "This humble one doesn't want meat. I just want... just want... a sip... another sip of fat nerd happy water. Just one sip will do."

Gao Yiye paused, then smiled. "The Heavenly Venerable says that's no problem. Do you have a washbasin at home? Hurry and fetch it."

Zheng Daniu had come from Zheng Family Village. Although he had arrived utterly penniless, with nothing to his name, within a couple of days he had made himself a wooden basin. Hearing this, he hurried home, brought his washbasin back, and set it on the ground.

In Li Daoxuan's eyes, his washbasin was only three millimeters across, pitifully small. He could only draw a little cola from his bottle with a needle, then gently press the syringe's plunger to release a single drop...

That one drop filled Zheng Daniu's washbasin to the brim, with some left over that spilled out.

Zheng Daniu cried out loudly, "It won't fit... it's spilling out! There's just too much! Ah, this is terrible... the extra happy water is soaking into the ground... heavens... it's soaking into the ground..."

San Shier loudly scolded him from the side. "You already have an entire basinful! What does it matter if a little extra spills over? What the hell are you wailing for? Get lost!"

Li Daoxuan chuckled to himself, then confirmed two things:

1. There was a grove of trees not far beyond the village, but unfortunately, it lay just outside his field of view.

2. When distributing things to the villagers in the future, he could have them bring their own containers. That would conserve more resources and prevent him from wasting a huge amount every time he handed something out.