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

Chapter 225 Overjoyed

"Ah."

Chen Dao nodded, then said, "Then I'll leave this matter to you, Village Chief Li. Try your best to select fifty diligent and able-bodied young men!"

After saying that, Chen Dao reminded him, "I hope Village Chief Li can be fair and not engage in any private dealings!"

Upon hearing this, Li Qiang immediately assured him, "Brother Dao, don't worry, I, Li Qiang, am fair in dealing with matters in the village and would never show favoritism!"

"That's good!"

Reassured, Chen Dao turned and left.

After Chen Dao left, everyone's eyes fell on Li Qiang, and everyone's eyes gleamed with fervor.

"Village chief, do you think I'm very suitable for this road repair work?"

"Village chief, I'm strong and healthy, and I'm definitely an expert at road repair. This spot must be given to me!"

"I need a spot too! My family is starving!"

"Village chief, I must have a spot, or I won't agree!"

"..."

Looking at the villagers with their burning gazes, Li Qiang couldn't help but feel a headache coming on. There were only fifty spots available, but hundreds of villagers in Xiahe Village wanted to do this job to make a living. With so many people wanting to do more than the available spots, it was really difficult to handle!

"Don't worry, everyone!"

Li Qiang hesitated for a moment and then said, "I'll tell you about the allocation of this quota after I go back and think about it!"

"No! We must decide now!"

"Yes! There's no need to overthink it, just give me a spot!"

"We can't go back to think about it!"

"..."

The villagers were clearly unwilling to let Li Qiang go back and consider it. Although they trusted Li Qiang as their village chief, this was ultimately a matter of whether they could have enough to eat!

Who knows if the village chief will go back and consider giving this good job, which guarantees a decent living, to someone close to him? We need to get the village chief to make a decision now.

"This……"

Li Qiang seemed surprised by the villagers' strong reaction. Faced with their excitement, he said helplessly, "There are too many people who want to work in Chenjia Village. It's hard for me to allocate these spots!"

Upon hearing this, everyone frowned. Putting themselves in Li Qiang's shoes, they realized that they would also have a hard time allocating these 50 spots!

After all, there are already about a hundred people here who want to work in Chenjia Village. If you include other people in the village, there are probably no fewer than two hundred, or even three or four hundred people who want to work, but there are only 50 spots available. How to allocate them is a huge problem.

"father."

At this moment, Li Mu suddenly spoke up: "Since we don't know how to allocate them, why don't we draw lots? Whoever draws the lot gets the spot!"

"good idea!"

Li Qiang's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly said to everyone, "Let's go! To my house. Also, Xiao Mu, go tell the other people in the village this news and have them all come to my house to draw lots."

"it is good!"

Li Mu rushed off, while Li Qiang led the villagers who had been watching the commotion from the edge of the field, crowding towards their homes.

Soon after, the other villagers who had been notified by Li Mu also hurriedly arrived at the open space outside Li Qiang's house. At a glance, the open space in front of Li Qiang's house was full of people.

"Village chief, you must give me a spot to work in Chenjia Village. My family hasn't eaten for three days!"

"Go to hell! You lie without batting an eye, my family hasn't had enough to eat for a month!"

"I haven't eaten in six months! Please, village chief, give me a spot!"

"I haven't had enough to eat for days, and I haven't even had a chance to poop. Village chief, please give me a spot!"

"..."

Listening to everyone's exaggerated remarks, Li Qiang remained unmoved. As the village chief of Xiahe Village, he knew a little about every household in the village. Take the guy who said he hadn't eaten for three days, for example. It might be true that his family was starving, but not eating for three days was complete nonsense.

As for those who say they haven't eaten for half a year, that's even more outrageous. If you can survive half a year without food, how come you haven't gone to see the King of Hell yet?

Li Qiang gestured with his hands to quiet everyone down, then said, "Alright! Enough with the nonsense! Now come over and draw lots!"

As he spoke, Li Mu took out a large number of crumpled paper balls and said, "Some of these paper balls have words on them, and some don't. When you draw a paper ball with words on it, you will get a spot to go to Chenjia Village to work. If you draw a blank paper ball, you will lose that spot. Do you all understand?"

"Understood!"

The villagers stared intently at the crumpled paper, as if trying to discern whether there were any words inside!

Soon, the lottery began!

Old Jiang, with lightning speed, grabbed a crumpled piece of paper, quickly unfolded it, and an excited smile immediately spread across his face: "Haha! I won! I won! I can go to Chenjia Village and have a good meal!"

Old Jiang was so excited that he danced around wildly, almost like a madman.

Not far from Old Jiang, however, many villagers looked disappointed. The crumpled paper they had chosen was blank, without a single word!

This means they lost a rare opportunity to have a full meal.

"I won too! Hahahaha! I can finally eat my fill!"

"Damn it, this note of mine is completely blank!"

"Hahahaha! I won! Now I can eat steamed buns every day!!"

"..."

At this moment, the expressions on the faces of each villager were exceptionally different. Those who drew slips of paper with words on them were overjoyed, while those who drew blank slips of paper were dejected. The contrast between the two groups of people's emotions was particularly obvious.

Looking at the villagers' drastically different reactions, Li Qiang sighed inwardly. For the villagers of Xiahe Village, this job that provided enough food was truly a rare find, it was just a pity...

With only fifty spots available, it's destined that some will be happy while others will be sad.

"Congratulations on getting this opportunity to have a full meal."

Li Qiang turned to Lao Jiang and the others, who were beaming with excitement, and said, "But I have to remind you all here that when you go to work in Chenjia Village, you must work hard and not slack off, so as not to embarrass our village, understand?"

"understood!"

The crowd answered in unison, their voices merging together and carrying far, far away.

Even without Li Qiang's reminder, they wouldn't have thought of slacking off. There's no way around it; these days, jobs that provide enough to eat are too rare. If they lost their jobs because of laziness, they would probably regret it to the core.

Therefore, those who got the spots, like Lao Jiang, had no intention of slacking off at all. On the contrary, they were determined to work hard, be diligent, and keep this hard-won job that provided them with enough to eat!

"Row."

Li Qiang nodded and said, "Then you can all leave now! Those who drew the paper ball with words on it, come to me tomorrow, and I'll take you to Chenjia Village."

"Alright! Village Chief, we'll be off then!"

"I'm leaving now! I'll come back tomorrow!"

"Goodbye, Village Chief!"

"..."

Those who won the spots, including Lao Jiang, left in high spirits and with cheerful steps.

Those who didn't get a spot didn't question Li Qiang's unfairness; instead, they returned home dejected and disappointed.