The eldest sister-in-law became rich by farming in the mountains

Zhao's anxious voice came from outside the yard.

"Sister-in-law, Cherry, something big happened!"

The whole family was shocked and dropped the charcoal sticks in their hands and ran out of the house.

"Auntie, what happened?" Xu Yingtao asked.

Zhao was panting, patting her chest to catch her breath and saying anxiously, "Taxes are coming, and your family has to pay too!"

Jiang's eyes widened when she heard this, she couldn't believe it: "How could this be? My family clearly has a tax exemption document issued by the government!"

Zhao looked embarrassed and explained, "Sister-in-law, I just heard my father mention it. I don't know the specific details. He went to Beixi Village to find the head of the village in the afternoon. Now he is summoning all the villagers to gather at the sunbath. I came here specially to inform you as soon as possible so that you can be prepared."

Jiang suddenly panicked and subconsciously looked at Xu Yingtao: "Yingtao, what should we do?"

Although Xu Yingtao was shocked, she was much calmer than Jiang.

"Mother, take the documents and money with you. Let's go to the sun dam and check the situation first."

"The money is with me, I'll go get the paperwork now!"

Zhao hurriedly stopped him: "No need to bring those, my father just called everyone together to announce the tax amount, and we have to go to the town tomorrow to pay the tax."

Xu Yingtao understood, and took her whole family and followed Zhao to the village to dry the dam.

They lived far away, so naturally they arrived late. When they arrived at the drying dam, there were already hundreds of people gathered there, and it was very noisy.

Village Chief Zheng stood under the yellow poplar tree. When he saw them, he struck the gong and said, "Be quiet, everyone is here. I will announce the amount of agricultural tax this year!"

The scene suddenly became quiet.

Village Chief Zheng gritted his teeth and announced in a deep voice: "This year's agricultural tax is 20% to 5%."

As soon as these words were spoken, the originally quiet crowd suddenly exploded.

"Twenty percent tax and five percent tax! Will the imperial court let us live?"

"Why is it going up again? Last year it was still 20% tax and 4% tax!"

"This is an attempt to kill us!"

Village Chief Zheng frowned, and struck the gong again with a tense face, his voice a little hoarse: "This time the court is in urgent need of money and food to pay the army. When you go to the town to pay the agricultural tax tomorrow, you must also pay the head tax. Each person is 180 coins, and you must pay it in full within three days."

As soon as these words were spoken, it was like a drop of water poured into a hot oil pan, and the crowd burst into even more intense accusations again.

An old woman immediately fell to the ground, crying and shouting: "The agricultural tax has increased, the head tax has also increased, why doesn't the court just come and rob them!"

One man was so anxious that his eyes turned red: "We fight every year and lose every year. All our men have died and all our money has been spent. Now they want to squeeze the oil out of us. It's death either way. I won't hand it over. Let the damn court kill me!"

"Yes, I won't pay either!"

The crowd was filled with indignation and responded one after another.

"Boom-"

With the sound of a gong, the noisy drying dam returned to silence.

"Everyone, calm down!" Village Chief Zheng's voice was not loud, but it was full of unquestionable majesty. "Now is not the time to say nonsense. If your head is broken, it will only leave a scar the size of a bowl. But tax evasion is not as simple as death. It means your whole family will be exiled to do hard labor. Think about your parents and children. Who can bear such a punishment?!"

"But even if we pay, the people in the house will still starve to death." The man who shouted first squatted on the ground, holding his head in pain with both hands, pulling his hair hard.

Village Chief Zheng took a deep breath and said in a voice full of vicissitudes: "I still have three taels of extra money at home. If anyone needs it, please take it from me first."

A woman wiped her tears and said, "Village head, you have worked hard for the village over the years, and everyone has seen it. You also have a large family to pay head tax, so how can we get money from you? We will find a way ourselves."

Everyone agreed.

Village chief Zheng looked up at the sky and let out a long sigh.

The crowd gradually dispersed, and Xu Yingtao and her daughter-in-law finally followed Zhao back to the Zheng family. She also had to ask the village chief whether her family also had to pay taxes.

"Yes, you have to pay it." Village Chief Zheng's originally straight back suddenly hunched a little. "I asked the head of the village, and your family is only exempted from agricultural taxes. You still have to pay the head tax."

Upon hearing this, Jiang's eyes instantly turned red.

Xu Yingtao didn't feel anything, she even finally felt a sense of solidity as if the second shoe had landed on the ground.

"Is the money enough? If not, I can get it for you." Mrs. Zhou looked at Jiang.

"That's enough." Jiang pressed the corners of her eyes with her sleeves to hold back the remaining tears.

Jiang stopped crying, but Zhao, who was always loud and noisy, couldn't stop crying. She didn't care if her mother-in-law would scold her or not. She cried with snot and snot, "What if the tax goes up again next year? How will we survive?"

Seeing that the two families, including Xie Bai and the other children, were all shrouded in a cloud of sorrow, Xu Yingtao sighed and tried to change the subject: "Grandpa, grandma, I'm afraid I won't be able to set up a stall these days, but I have to deliver the jelly promised to Gejiazhuang. I was thinking, can I ask the two uncles to help? Whoever is free, please help deliver it. I won't let the uncles run for nothing. The daily wage is twenty coins."

These words successfully diverted everyone's attention, and Zhao stopped crying.

Village Chief Zheng objected, "Let them run errands, but don't pay them. They have made a lot of money these days thanks to you. Don't even take the money if you send them to the town or the county."

After all, Xu Yingtao was willing to help his family make money entirely based on the relationship between the two families. Human relationships are as thin as paper, and they cannot be greedy, lest they disappoint others.

Now that dad has spoken, the two brothers should obey.

No matter how Xu Yingtao persuaded them, the Zheng family refused to charge for running errands anymore. Xu Yingtao had no choice but to give up. Anyway, she could always get it back from other channels in the future.

After agreeing on a time to pick up the goods, the family was about to leave when they heard a sudden scream from a house not far away, breaking the tranquility of the evening.

"Help! Someone help my dad! He hanged himself!"

"Something happened to Dongni's family!" Upon hearing this, Mrs. Zhou stood up suddenly and ran out anxiously, shouting, "Come and help! It must be that Xiong Laowu couldn't bear to drag his daughter down, so he wanted to commit suicide!"

Fortunately, Xiong Dongni discovered it in time, and the Zheng family arrived quickly, so Xiong Laowu was still breathing weakly when he was rescued.

Everyone pinched his Ren Zhong acupoint and helped him breathe, until he slowly opened his eyes and his vision regained focus.

At this moment, Village Chief Zheng could no longer suppress his inner anger and grief. He rushed to Xiong Laowu and gave him a loud slap in the face without hesitation.

"Snapped--"

The crisp sound shocked everyone present.

"Xiong Laowu, you are a coward. The northern Tartars' knives didn't kill you, and you didn't freeze to death on the way home. But now you want to hang yourself. You can just give up and die, but what will happen to your daughter and grandson?!"

Village chief Zheng's voice trembled with emotion, and he choked up as he spoke.