Reborn in the Great Northern Wilderness in 1982, I farmed and hunted to support my whole family.

He waved his hand: "Keep the cigarettes, share them with the brothers. Everyone worked hard today, consider this a reward."

Upon hearing this, the cashier smiled and accepted the money and cigarettes. Jin Dajiang lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and slowly exhaled. He watched Li Mu and the others leave.

Jin Dajiang turned to Dahei beside him and asked, "Dahei, what do you think of these young men?"

Dahei stroked his chin: "Not bad, that kid named Li Mu is smart, he'll definitely achieve great things in the future. Look at his performance today, neither humble nor arrogant, knowing when to advance and when to retreat, and he even came up with a new way to cook sea bass in two ways, he's really a clever man."

"Let me know next time he comes; I'm looking for some fresh faces."

When Li Mu and his group returned to Lijia Village, it was already dusk. Lights were on in every household, and wisps of smoke were rising from the chimneys.

"Come on, let's divide the money among ourselves! Tiger, bring out the ledgers. Let's divide the money according to the ledgers. That way it's fair and no one will get less."

As Li Mu spoke, he pulled out a thick stack of banknotes from his pocket. Tian Xiaohu opened his notebook and looked at the records of the web crawler, checking them one by one.

"First, Brother Ganzi, you caught a lot of fish, two baskets of fish, twenty-three fish, that's six hundred and ninety-five yuan. Brother Ganzi, did you count them correctly?"

The guy took the money, his rough fingers counting it one bill at a time. After he finished, he grinned and said, "Yes, that's right, that's all."

Li Mu then handed the money to the next person: "Then it's Tiger's turn. You have one and a half baskets, fifteen fish, that's four hundred and fifty yuan. Count it."

Tian Xiaohu took the money, counted it carefully, and after confirming that it was correct, he smiled and said, "Brother Mu, you counted the money very accurately."

Then, Li Mu distributed the money to the others, and finally Li Siming had only 700 yuan left. After deducting Li Mu's own 500 yuan capital, he only had 200 yuan left as profit.

"Fourth Brother, here's your hundred yuan."

Li Siming didn't take it. He glanced at the fish basket in Li Chuzi's hand and frowned slightly: "What? Is this all I got?"

The tone was off, and the atmosphere immediately became awkward.

Li Mu explained, "Fourth Brother, it's not like that. You caught fewer fish today, and a few died on the way, so you received less money."

“But Mu Zi, I put in just as much effort as you, you can’t treat me like this,” Li Siming said with some dissatisfaction.

Li Mu looked at Li Siming and understood his thoughts.

He sighed, "Fourth Brother, I know you're upset. But you've seen the situation today. The number of fish is limited, and the quality varies. We should distribute the money fairly, with each person receiving a share based on the quality of their fish. That way, everyone will be satisfied."

"But Mu Zi, I really caught a lot of fish today, and it wasn't my fault that the ones that died on the way died." Li Siming was still unwilling to give up.

"I did have a little less fish, but Mu Zi, fine, it's on me. I'll consider this 100 yuan a lesson learned. But we need to make things clear in the future, so I can't be the only one who suffers a loss."

Li Chuzi, Li Ergou, and Zhang Biao and the others remained silent, exchanging glances.

Tian Xiaohu then spoke up: "We can't take that too seriously, Fourth Brother. Today's situation was special, as we all saw. Mu Zi divided the fish very fairly, so we have nothing to say. Let's work together in the future, catch more fish, and earn more money, isn't that enough?"

Li Siming, having drunk a bit, became even more hot-tempered: "Xiao Hu, don't take his side! He's deliberately targeting me today! I won't swallow this!"

Li Mu's expression darkened slightly, and he raised his hand to stop Tian Xiaohu: "Fourth Brother, can we talk over there?"

Upon hearing Li Mu's words, Li Siming paused for a moment, then nodded and followed Li Mu to the side. Li Mu looked at Li Siming, his expression serious: "Fourth Brother, what you said today went a bit too far. I know you're upset, but what you said puts everyone in a difficult position. We're brothers, we're out here to make money together, what do you mean by saying these things?"

"What do I mean? I worked hard all day, putting in the same effort as you, and in the end I only got this little bit of money. How can I not have a problem?" Li Siming was agitated, spitting directly at Li Mu's face.

"Alright, then how about I give you this money? I'll pretend today's accounts were wrong and recalculate them for you. But Fourth Brother, you have to understand, we're all working together, it's not like anyone owes anyone anything. Everyone sees the effort you've put in, but the money you get has to be distributed according to the rules."

As Li Mu spoke, he took out a wad of cash from his pocket, counted it, and handed it to Li Siming: "This is five hundred yuan. Adding the one hundred yuan you had before, it's six hundred yuan in total. This is the most I can give you. Take it."

Tian Xiaohu rummaged through the snow, glancing at the two men's actions.

"Why is Brother Mu giving so much money to Fourth Brother? This is unacceptable. Didn't we agree to split the money according to the quality of the fish?"

Li Ergou and Zhang Biaozi both understood what he meant. Li Siming felt uneasy, his face flushing red and then turning pale as he looked at the money in Li Mu's hand, somewhat at a loss. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but didn't know how to begin.

Li Mu stuffed the money into Li Siming's hand and patted him on the shoulder: "Fourth Brother, we're brothers, we're out here making money together, I don't want this little thing to ruin our relationship. Take this money and don't overthink it."

"Let's go, Fourth Brother."

When they reached the village entrance, everyone dispersed. Li Chuzi glanced at Li Mu, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back, but Li Mu pretended not to see him.

When they got home, Jiang Xuefen lifted the thick curtain and came out of the house. She noticed that his expression was not right.

"What's wrong? Why do you have such a sour face as soon as you get back?"

Jiang Xuefen walked a few steps to Li Mu, reached out and touched his forehead, "You don't have a fever, why do you look like this?"

Li Mu sighed and told Jiang Xuefen everything that had happened that day.

After hearing this, Jiang Xuefen exclaimed, "What?! Li Siming actually dared to treat you like this? Is he even human? You went out to work together, how could he cause trouble for you just because he got less money? Besides, you didn't get much money either, and you even gave him five hundred yuan. Aren't you stupid?"

Li Guozhang also came out, and Jiang Xuefen immediately scolded him: "Look at you, such a spineless coward! Your son is being bullied, and you don't even know to say a word!"

Li Guozhang was completely bewildered by the scolding. He scratched his head and asked, "What happened? Mu Zi, why were you bullied? Tell Dad about it."

Li Mu shook his head helplessly: "Dad, it's nothing, just a small misunderstanding. We've already resolved it."

Jiang Xuefen persisted, "What misunderstanding? I think it's just that kid Li Siming deliberately picking a fight! Mu Zi, don't be afraid, Mom will go and confront him tomorrow!"

Li Mu quickly pulled Jiang Xuefen back: "Mom, forget it, don't go. We really handled it ourselves, and I don't want the whole village to know about this little thing."

Li Siming is his elder, after all, so he can't afford to fall out with him over such a small matter.

We'll still have to see each other all the time in the village, so it's not good to make things too tense.