The wonderful life of modern women in ancient times

Lin Xi's house is built on the mountain. It is located at the innermost part, some distance away from other houses.

As she headed towards the rice field in the center of the village, she looked around the entire village.

There are about fifty households in the village, and all you can see are thatched houses in a row. Each house has a very large courtyard, with two courtyards in front and back.

The main road in the village is wide and flat, and a small river runs through the entire village.

Following the main road in the village, Lin Xi and his three companions quickly arrived at the rice field.

At this time, the rice fields were crowded with people, some squatting and some standing!

The village chief was standing on a square stool and shouting, "Look around, have people come from every household?"

"Everyone is here, everyone is here! What happened to the village chief?"

"Yes, village chief, the bell rang and asked us to come here. What happened?"

"Is it another conscription? The last time the bell was rung was five years ago!"

Everyone asked at once, and many people's faces began to turn pale. Those who enlisted in the army last time all died on the battlefield, and none of them came back!

"Quiet! Quiet! What can I say with all the noise you guys make?" the village chief shouted.

The surroundings suddenly became quiet! Everyone stared at the village chief's mouth, fearing that the word "recruitment" would come out of his mouth!

"Not conscription!"

Hearing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"The grain tax has been increased!"

Everyone hadn't completely relaxed yet when they heard that the tax increase was brought up again!

"What? You're going to raise taxes! Are you going to let people live?"

"That's right, it's already 50% tax! After paying taxes all year round, it's barely enough for the family to eat! If the tax is increased again, everyone will starve!"

"That's right. In my hometown's village, families with little land sold their daughters last year!"

Everyone started shouting again, the crowd was outraged!

Suddenly, there was a buzzing sound of a bell, and the surroundings became quiet again.

It turned out that the village chief saw that everyone was shouting and he couldn't speak, so he rang the bell loudly!

"The grain tax has been increased to 70%!" The village chief uttered these words with difficulty.

The crowd was silent for a while, no one could believe their ears, 70%?!

"Village chief, is this news accurate?" someone asked in a trembling voice.

"That's right, the county government has posted a notice!" the village chief replied with a sigh.

This completely shattered everyone's slightest hope. People's faces turned gloomy, especially the elderly in the village. They had experienced fleeing from famine, and so many people died at that time!

"How can we survive? How many people will starve to death?"

"Why doesn't God send thunder to kill this tyrant! Kill these corrupt officials!"

"Hahaha! Just kill me now!"

"Let's discuss this and see if there's any solution! If we really pay 70% tax, we won't have enough food to last for a few days!"

The crowd was seething again. Some were crying and whispering, some were looking up to the sky and laughing like crazy, and some were filled with grief and anger and cursed...

"Mom! What's wrong with you? Wake up, wake up quickly! Don't scare the child!" Suddenly a shrill cry came from the crowd, resounding through the heavens and the earth, and the voice was full of misery and despair!

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw a woman collapsed to the ground, having fainted. A boy about ten years old was shaking her and crying in despair!

This is the village widow Liu, the daughter of the scholar from Dawa Village. She married into Linshan Village before the old scholar died.

Five years ago, her husband was forcibly conscripted into the army and reportedly died on the battlefield, leaving behind an orphan and a widow to depend on each other.

With the help of villagers, the mother and son barely made ends meet. The family had only two acres of thin land. When she heard that the tax would be increased to 70%, she must have passed out in despair. Next to her was her son Chen Yan.

Dr. Zhou, the village's barefoot doctor, hurried forward to investigate, sighed, and shook his head at Chen Yan.

"Mom!" The shrill cry broke the sky!

People stared blankly at the mother and son. The women all lowered their heads and wiped their tears, not knowing how to comfort him.

Seeing this, Lin Xi hurried forward to check on Liu. Unexpectedly, Chen Yan was hugging his mother tightly and crying like a madman!

"I can save your mother, let her go first!" Lin Xi yelled at Chen Yan.

Unexpectedly, Chen Yan had become possessed and seemed unable to hear what Lin Xi was saying.

Seeing this, Lin Xi slapped him and yelled, "Shut up! Stop howling! Let your mother go, I can save her!"

While Chen Yan was in a daze, Lin Xi grabbed Liu and laid her flat on the ground. He checked her neck and found that it was still beating. He hurriedly shouted to the crowd, "Who has an embroidery needle?"

"I have it, I have it!" A woman in the crowd hurriedly took out an embroidery needle from the needle and thread basket in her hand and handed it to Lin Xi.

Lin Xi took the needle, quickly pricked all the acupuncture points of Liu, and kept rubbing them. After a while, Liu slowly opened her eyes.

Chen Yan stared at Lin Xi in a daze, then suddenly came to his senses, wiped his tears, crawled to Liu's side, and shouted in surprise: "Mom!"

"Son, how can we live?" Liu looked at her ten-year-old son and cried bitterly!

"You can only think of a solution while you are alive. What will happen to your son if you die?" Lin Xi shouted.

Hearing this, Liu wiped away her tears and pulled herself together. Yes, she couldn't die, she still had to support her son! But how could she support her son? Her face was still filled with sorrow.

Several women came over to comfort him and helped Chen Yan send his mother home to rest.

Before leaving, Chen Yan kowtowed several times to Lin Xi, which gave Lin Xi a headache.

After seeing Liu off, the atmosphere among the crowd became cold. They had to face the reality of a 70% tax increase.

"Everyone go back and prepare the tax grain. If you don't have enough, use silver instead. Help each other and get through this hurdle first! Each family go back and see how many eggs are left in the field. Plant another crop while the weather is still warm. Don't think about maintaining the land at this time. Fill your stomach first. Staying alive is what matters!" The village chief let out a long breath and shouted these words.

The crowd gradually dispersed, and the whole village became dead silent, no longer as lively as it once was.

At this moment, at Lin Xi's house, the four of them were sitting in the main room.

"Fang Ruo, how much money is left at home?"

"Dad, there are still thirty-five taels, all here!" As she said that, Cao placed three silver ingots and five strings of copper coins on the table in front of her.

"Alas! The grain tax is 70%. There must be villagers in the village who don't have enough food and need silver to make up for it. But we know how the villagers live. A few hundred copper coins are considered a lot. I wonder if there are really some who can't make up for it. Can we help?"

Cao thought for a while, and said softly to Lin Dayong: "I want to keep 10 taels of silver for emergency use. You can use the remaining 25 taels as you see fit!"

"Hey!" Lin Dayong nodded happily seeing that his wife supported him.

"Dad, are you planning to give money directly to everyone?" Lin Xi stared at Lin Dayong and asked.

"Yes, I plan to give this silver to the village chief and ask him to provide food to those families who really can't get enough food. When your grandfather settled in the village, he had no rice or salt and relied on everyone's help!"