Farmer's eldest sister becomes rich

"That's because you and I are of the same mind and hardworking, that we have the good life we ​​have now without having to worry about food and clothing." An Yue praised the three of them.

All three of them laughed sheepishly.

Chunzhi suddenly said, "Miss, we have saved a lot of chicken and duck eggs these days!"

An Yue smiled and said, "Well, okay, let's prepare the ingredients for making preserved eggs in the next two days. Let's make all these duck eggs into preserved eggs and store them."

Daniu stopped what he was doing and asked, "Miss, the preserved eggs we made last time are not edible yet?"

"It's not edible yet. It needs to be kept for another month."

Daniu nodded somewhat disappointedly: "Yeah, yes... it's quite put aside."

Chunzhi leaned over and teased Daniu: "Brother Daniu, are you greedy?"

"I...I didn't, I was just...just asking casually." Daniu argued with a guilty conscience.

Several people were chatting and laughing, while their hands were still busy.

Zhou and Zhang were in the kitchen, listening to their conversation in the yard.

......

In this way, many days of ordinary farm life passed by unknowingly.

In the year of severe drought, the people had no harvest in their fields, and their lives were miserable and the people were unable to survive.

But who would have thought that misfortunes never come alone. First there was a drought, and then a locust plague broke out. When the locust plague came, before anyone could react, there was another flood with violent storms and heavy rain.

All these disasters undoubtedly made the already impoverished people even worse off.

When drought broke out, the people hoped that the government would open its granaries to provide relief.

Little did we know that those officials sitting in high positions were indifferent to the life and death of the common people.

Amid drought and locust plagues, they were still urging the people to pay summer taxes.

Just then, a sudden storm slowed down the government's tax collection progress.

In order to collect taxes, the government sent twenty people to clear the obstacles on the road caused by landslides.

After many days, they finally cleared the road caused by the landslide, and it is now passable by horse-drawn carriages.

In order to collect the summer taxes, they had to work hard this time.

......

This day, the morning sun rises.

A group of officers and soldiers drove several horse-drawn carriages and brought relevant tax collection documents into the village, preparing to collect summer taxes from the villagers.

When the village chief learned that the officials were coming to collect taxes, he knew that An Yue was smart and had many ideas.

So, he turned to Anyue's house to discuss with her how to deal with the matter.

An Yue thought about it and gave the village chief an advice.

......

Soon, a group of officials drove their horse-drawn carriages to the road near Anyue's house.

As soon as they arrived there, they were blocked by the villagers, young and old, holding farm tools. The villagers would not let the officers and soldiers move any further into the village.

The leading man said to the officers and soldiers: "My dear officers, now there is an outbreak of plague and malaria in every village. In order to prevent Baili Village from being infected with the plague, please go back! Please don't blame me!"

An officer standing at the front said, "We are also carrying out the mission assigned by our superiors. Everyone, please cooperate."

A village woman standing in the crowd said, "We no longer have any grain left to pay the summer tax. I'm afraid you will return empty-handed today!"

An officer standing behind shouted angrily: "You bold and shrewd woman!" As he said that, he began to draw the sword at his waist.

Seeing this, all the men in the village picked up their weapons.

The leading officers and soldiers knew very well that there were nearly a hundred households in Baili Village. If they really provoked them, not only would they not be able to gain any benefit, but they would not even be able to collect a grain of food. They would then not be able to give an explanation to the county magistrate.

So the leading soldier turned around and said to the man behind him, "What are you doing? Put the knife back!"

Then, the leading officer turned around, raised his hand and smiled, signaling the villagers not to be impulsive. He said, "Everyone, he was indeed a little impulsive, but he didn't mean to offend you. Everyone, calm down first, calm down."

After a few breaths.

Seeing that the villagers' emotions had eased a little, he said, "We are here today to discuss important matters with Village Chief Li. I hope you will let us pass first."

At this time, the village chief walked slowly from the crowd and said, "Oh? What do you want to see me for?"

The leading official said politely, "Village Chief Li, we are here today under the order of the county magistrate to collect taxes from Baili Village. I hope you can help us."

After saying this, the leading officer handed the official order to the village chief Li Huairen for review.

The village chief took the document and glanced at it casually.

His face gradually darkened, and he said with an embarrassed look: "My dear officials, I believe you all know that we farmers who depend on the weather for our livelihood have suffered natural disasters one after another. Every household can't even afford to eat. How can we have any surplus grain to hand over?"

The leading official also showed an embarrassment, and spread his hands and said, "Village Chief Li, we know how difficult it is for you. But... you see, we are just a group of people helping to run errands. If we fail to complete the task, we will not be able to explain to the county magistrate when we return!"

Li Huairen has been the village chief for so many years. What kind of debt collectors has he not seen?

Seeing that the leading officer was complaining, he was ready to cry out as well.

So he also spread his hands and pretended to be helpless and cried miserably: "Oh, I am not trying to embarrass you officials! It's just that the villagers in our village have no grain to pay!"

"The officials also know that first there was a drought, and then there was a locust plague. Before we could catch our breath, there were continuous storms and rainstorms. How could there be a single grain of harvest in the fields?"

"Now! Many houses in the village have collapsed. I can't sleep at night. Day and night I hope you can bring disaster relief food and save us from the dire situation!"

The leading officer spoke again: "The government is sympathetic to the people. It has already reduced the tax by half!"

The village chief pointed to the fields and farmlands beside the road and said, "Look here, sirs. Where can we harvest even a grain of food?"

The officers looked at the place the village chief pointed to, and indeed there was only bare wheat straw.

The village chief sighed deeply and continued, "Even if we reduce the tax by half, we still can't afford it."

The officer behind the leading officer stood up again and said in a tough manner: "You have to pay this tax whether you want to or not!"

Seeing that the man had such a domineering attitude, the village chief simply stopped complaining.

He put his hands behind his back and said with a firm look in his eyes: "As the head of Baili Village, I, Li Huairen, must consider the villagers. The villagers really do not have any surplus food. If the government must collect taxes, then let me pay them!"

When the villagers heard what the village chief said, they all shook their heads at him, indicating that he should not pay it.

Li Huairen waved to his son Li Jing.