Several gluttonous children knew that today there was a banquet at the ancestral hall with plenty of meat, and they stared longingly, unwilling to leave.
Their families were very poor, and they rarely got to eat any meat all year round; now seeing so much meat, they couldn't even move their legs, and drool hung from their chins.
One of the women chopping meat saw this and couldn't bear it; there were big and small baskets full of meat at the entrance of the hall, and it wouldn't make much difference if they took some, so she chopped off a few chicken legs, gave one to each kid, and told them to eat in a secluded spot, warning them not to be seen by others, or she wouldn't be able to take the responsibility if everyone started coming for the meat.
The kids, clutching their chicken legs, promised and ran off happily to the nearby grove.
Madam Ruan saw this unfold and she fancied some meat too, so her eyebrows knitted together as she schemed.