I traveled through time, this is unscientific

"There are advantages to it, but..." Old Wu started a conversation, then stopped talking about it.

Master Ma stared at him blankly and motioned for him to continue.

Old Wu was not afraid, and finished the second half of the sentence slowly and leisurely: "It's hard to say who will be the victim."

Looking around at the villagers surrounding him, Old Wu felt more confident and continued, "Besides, Master Ma, we are all mountain dwellers. It's hard enough to make a living from the land. We don't even have enough to eat. How can we pay rent? We have just paid the poll tax, and it's been less than four months. It doesn't make sense for us to pay it twice a year, right?"

Ma Ye was furious. He didn't expect that the village chief Wu from Lai'an Village was so difficult to talk to. He thought that coming to the deep mountains to pass on a message would be a good job, and that the village would provide them with good food and drink. But he didn't expect that Lai'an Village was different. He was blocked at the entrance of the village before he even entered the village.

"This is an order from above. We are just delivering a message. Actually, 60% of the rent is not much. You have been having a hard time recently. The fruits and vegetables in the fields will be harvested soon, so you won't have a problem having enough food every day. Besides, you are guarding the mountains, so you can get some food everywhere."

Everything Ma Ye said was what he believed to be the truth, and he was also thinking about the villagers.

"Uncle Ma, you're joking. There's a water shortage this year. You've seen on the way here. The crops in the fields are in such a state that there's no harvest of vegetables or fruits! If this continues, we'll have nothing to eat. We beg the county officials to have mercy on us and forgive us this time. When it comes time to pay the poll tax next year, our village will be the first to go. We must not delay." Old Wu said nothing. His son Wu Wen, at his father's instruction, began to cry poor.

After such a series of combined attacks and defenses, using both hard and soft tactics, Master Ma had nothing more to say. The younger Xiao Yin looked unhappy and wanted to say something, but was stopped by Master Ma.

"Alright! Anyway, we have brought the news to this village. If you don't let us in, we won't go in."

Ma Ye was thinking very simply, since you guys are forcing us not to go in, then we won't go in. He was also afraid that if he forced his way in, he would be in trouble. There were only two of them, and if something really happened, these mountain folks would make excuses and say they had never seen them before, and that would be a disaster. This kind of thing has happened before.

"Old Wu, you just said that you are responsible for conveying this news to every household in your village. Thank you for your hard work, and we can have some free time." Seeing that things were not developing in the direction he wanted, this Mr. Ma tried to maximize his own interests.

Old Wu nodded and bowed: "Not at all, Master Ma, thank you for your concern. I will rely on you in many ways in the future! Look, you have been here for such a long time, but I didn't even let you drink a sip of water. I really... I really..."

"Okay, stop playing such a sham. It doesn't matter if you drink water or not. It doesn't matter if we didn't go into the village today. Just remember, it may not be so easy next time." After saying that, Ma took Xiao Yin to the road out of the village. Xiao Yin was still cursing along the way.

Old Wu watched the people walk away and then he put away the flattering smile on his face.

"Uncle Wu, what do you think the old man meant by his last sentence?" Li Jinniu came forward to ask, scratching his head, unable to figure it out.

"What does that mean? What else could it mean? He's threatening us." Wu Wen was indignant.

Old Wu didn't say anything, but his eyes were rolling around quickly. He had heard the hidden meaning in Master Ma's words just now. This threat was only superficial, and there might be something else underground.

"Village chief, they're gone," Xiao Liuzi came out from nowhere, panting, "I saw them walking down the mountain and turning the corner ahead."

There is only one way out of the village. Turn the corner in front of the village and go down. There is no turning back. It seems that people really left.

Aunt Yu walked towards the open space. Many people came out from all directions, both men and women, most of them holding sticks. No one knew where they had been hiding, and Zhou Xiaozhou didn't notice them.

A group of people gathered together to ask him for advice, so Old Wu led them to sit down next to the thatched shed of the school. Sitting on the steps at the entrance of the thatched shed, Old Wu looked at the crowds of people in front of him.

"What are you all doing here? If you have nothing to do, go home." Old Wu started to drive them away. It would be difficult to come to a conclusion when there were too many people around. What's more, there were so many women around. These Taoists loved to gossip about the neighbors, but when it came to big or small matters, they would shrink back faster than rabbits.

"Village chief, you said that we really have to pay 60% of the rent. What will we eat after paying it?" Aunt Yu ran the fastest just now. Now she was standing in front of Old Wu. Zhou Xiaozhou and Zhang's Wu Sanmei were standing quite far away.

"This is pushing me to death! I can't survive anymore." Seeing that Aunt Yu was about to throw a tantrum.

Old Wu called his man out: "Yu Da, take the man back."

Aunt Yu stopped worrying instantly. Even the face-changing performance in Sichuan Opera was not as fast as hers.

"You all heard what was said just now," Old Wu took out his pipe and knocked on it. "The man made it very clear that he wanted 60% of the rent from us."

"Uncle Wu, didn't you say it just now? We are mountain people. Mountain people have never paid land rent since ancient times." Li Jinniu argued.

"Didn't you say just now that your father-in-law wanted 50% of the grain? How come this man came to us today and asked for 60%?" Wu Wen thought about this and felt that the county magistrate was really ridiculous, with a different explanation every day.

"My father-in-law said 50%!" Li Jinniu looked at his father, "Dad, we went to my father-in-law's place together and talked about something. I guess we didn't hear the wrong thing."

Old man Li nodded: "No, your father-in-law said 50%."

"Why is it 50% in their village but 60% in ours? Are they just trying to force us to death?" Wu Wen's words were agreed by other people in the village.

Old Wu was banging his pipe on the bridge, attracting everyone's attention. "Now is not the time to talk about this. Don't worry about whether it's 50% or 60%. It seems that the county is determined to make us pay the rent. You decide whether we should pay or not."

The noisy sounds suddenly disappeared, as if everyone standing here had become mute.

"Village chief, we are mountain people!" I don't know who shouted this.

Zhou Xiaozhou was a little curious. What happened to the mountain people? Why did people here always make a fuss about the mountain people?