The arrogant little husband is desperately flirting with the hunter

After the autumn harvest, the government will have to pay taxes. Most families prepare money in advance, but some families, whether because they are really in difficulty or just not doing their job properly, always drag their feet and fail to raise enough money.

Before Chu Xiao and Yan Zhenshen went down the mountain, their home was already a little uneasy. Perhaps everyone knew that Chu Xiao had made a lot of money selling medicine and land, so people in the village, whether they had connections with him or not, would come to borrow money, and they didn't think his home was far away.

As soon as they came down the mountain, they ran into an aunt who came to borrow money. Seeing them, she greeted them warmly: "Hunter Yan is back. You must have caught a lot of prey this time."

Yan Zhenshen was not particularly familiar with the villagers, but he knew them basically. He responded lightly and had nothing else to say.

Chu Xiao had no impression of this face at all, mainly because he seldom walked around in the village.

"What are you doing here, big sister?" Zhao Guizhi knew what was going on but still greeted her politely: "My home is far from the village. Is this your first time here?"

"Yes." The woman smiled a little embarrassedly. She had indeed never been here before. Even when Yan Zhenshen got married, she did not come to join in the fun. After all, the Yan family was too poor at that time, and she was always afraid that if they had some friendship, the Yan family would need to borrow money from her in the future.

Zhao Guizhi said, "Come in and have a glass of water first."

The woman waved her hands, and then said with some embarrassment: "Sister Guizhi, I really have no choice but to come to you for help. You know that I have many children. The second child just got married in the spring. The head tax for the old and the young is more than one tael of silver, and there is also the corvée tax. I really can't come up with that much money in a short time."

As she spoke, she began to cry: "I don't have the face to ask your family for help, but there is really no other way. I don't know where the corvée is going. What if I can't come back?"

Zhao Guizhi had no idea how many times she had heard this in the past few days. Every one of them was just crying poor and pitiful. They said that no one in the village had a harder life than her family, and she had never seen these people come to help.

"Big sister, you see my family is full of old and young people. We earned some money this year, but most of it was spent on buying livestock. Winter is coming, and I, the head of the family, still have to buy medicine. There is really no money left."

The woman wiped the tears from her eyes and glanced at the yard. She didn't really believe what Zhao Guizhi said, so she said hesitantly, "Then lend me one or two taels of silver. I'll let the eldest and second son go to the county town to carry the big bag in a few days, and I guarantee that I'll pay it back before the New Year."

"Big sister, it's not that I don't want to lend it, but my boss's medicine cannot be cut off, and Xiaobei has to go to school, and the monthly tuition must be prepared. Otherwise, the weather is so cold, and I can't let the boss go up the mountain to hunt."

The woman was speechless for a moment.

Zhao Guizhi looked at her eldest son and said, "Why not let your son follow my eldest son to the mountains. There are a lot of wild boars in the mountains right now. If you kill one, you can save the rest, not to mention the taxes."

The woman was stunned. She actually let her son go to the mountain to hunt wild boars. That was a life-threatening job. How could she bear to let her son take the risk? What's more, her son didn't have the physique of Yan Zhenshen. If he failed to kill the wild boar and got injured, wouldn't it be a waste of time?

Then I thought about it again, everyone in the village said that the Yan family made money, but with a medicine jar to support, it was a bottomless pit, so I didn't dwell on it any more.

"I'll go ask somewhere else."

Zhao Guizhi smiled and said, "Okay, if the boy from the eldest sister's family wants to go into the mountains, I'll let the eldest take him there."

The woman smiled awkwardly and walked away quickly.

Chu Xiao looked at the man walking away with a puzzled look on his face, and then he asked, "Who is this person?"

"From the village." Zhao Guizhi sighed, "They are all short-sighted people. They don't interact with us normally, but now they come to borrow money. No matter how nice they say, don't even think about getting it back. When your father was doing business, there were always people borrowing money. When your father got injured and went to ask for the money, they wouldn't even let him in the door."

"The eldest brother was only fourteen at the time. Some unreasonable people wanted to fight him because he was a boy. If he fought back, they would say he was disrespectful to his elders and asked him to pay for the medicine."

"People in the village who are very particular won't talk to you casually. We don't need to care about these things that have nothing to do with us. Even though she is crying miserably now, if we really lend her the money, we will be the ones crying in the future."

Chu Xiao nodded as if he was learning from someone. He didn't understand the ways of the world very well, but he wasn't stupid either. He naturally knew that giving should be mutual, and he didn't like people who just wanted to take advantage of others.

What's more, that aunt also said that there are many boys in the family, and Yan Zhenshen alone in the Yan family can support the whole family. Could it be that all the people in that aunt's family are disabled and no one can work?

A young man from this family can't even pay the taxes. If we tell others about it, they won't be afraid of being laughed at.

At dusk that day, another old man came with a half-grown child to borrow money. He walked with a trembling hand. Zhao Guizhi did not say anything, and Yan Zhenshen took out 120 coins and handed them over.

The old man knelt down and wanted to kowtow, but Yan Zhenshen held him back. Zhao Guizhi shook her head helplessly and went to the kitchen to make some steamed buns and handed them to the child.

After everyone left, Zhao Guizhi explained, "Old Sun from the west of the village was a soldier who fought in a war. He was said to have injured his penis and never married or had children. He picked up the child. He doesn't have to pay taxes, but children over seven years old have to pay a head tax."

"His family originally had a few acres of land, but last year the old man fell down while working in the fields. In order to treat his illness, the grandson took the initiative to sell some of the land. Now they only have two acres of land. The annual harvest is barely enough for food and daily necessities, but they have trouble with other areas that require money."

In the next two days, Chu Xiao gained a lot of experience. It is said that wealth should not be shown to others. Unexpectedly, it was not only people from Anning Village who came to borrow money, but even people from the neighboring village came to try their luck. Some even brought their children with them, crying very sadly, as if the Yan family would kill them if they did not lend them money.

There were even people from Liujiawan who came to Lu Chengxue to borrow money, without even thinking about how a girl like her, who was staying at someone else's house, would get the money to lend to others.

As a result, the only food on the Yan family’s dinner table these days was porridge and pickles, and even black-faced steamed buns were not on the table.

There is no other reason. After all, if you eat rice and flour but say that you have no money, others will believe it. If everyone comes to play the sympathy, then they can only pretend to be poor.

Fortunately, Yan Zhenshen only brought back some rabbits and pheasants this time. Everyone in the village knew that these things could not be sold for much money. If he had really brought down a deer or a roe deer, I'm afraid those people would not be able to drive him away.

Chu Xiao looked at the thirty or so wild boars in the space and decided to let them stay in the space for a while until the tax issue was over.