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

Because of this incident, the whole family was in a low mood. They no longer had the heart to study and went to bed early.

The next morning, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law got up as usual to prepare green jelly. The oil lamp was dim. At first, Xu Yingtao did not notice anything unusual about Jiang. After Zheng Wu was sent away, it was already bright outside. Only then did Xu Yingtao notice that Jiang's cheeks were unusually red.

I reached out my hand and found it was hot.

"Mom, you have a fever." Xu Yingtao hurriedly helped her into the house and lay down.

Feeling dizzy, Jiang took out a tael of silver and some documents from under her pillow and handed them to Xu Yingtao.

"Cherry, I'm useless. I'm sorry."

"Mom, don't say that. Everyone has headaches sometimes. You are exhausted. It just so happens that you can't go out to the stall these few days. You should rest at home. Xiaobai and I will take care of the tax payment."

According to the original plan, the family should have gone to the town together, but maybe the tax issue was too much of a blow to Jiang, or maybe she was frightened after witnessing Xiong Laowu hanging himself, but now it was obvious that Jiang could not go.

Xu Yingtao soaked the cool handkerchief again and again and gently applied it to Jiang's forehead until the temperature dropped, and then she was ready to leave home.

Before leaving, she specifically told Xie Li to take good care of Jiang, and then she took Xie Bai out with her.

On the way, Xu Yingtao pretended to casually unfold the document, her eyes quickly swept between the lines, and then she couldn't help but swear in her heart.

This cannibalistic feudal society bullies the common people because they are illiterate!

It was clearly written in black and white on the paper: "I have heard that Xie Song, a corvée laborer, has unfortunately passed away. In order to honor his loyalty and provide relief to his family, we will exempt his family from taxes and corvée labor for three years."

Taxes naturally include agricultural taxes and poll taxes, but now the government is saying one thing in public and another behind the scenes. No one knows whether the county magistrate is deliberately squeezing people out, or the runners who came down to deliver the orders wanted to enrich themselves.

When passing by the eldest wife's house, Chen was complaining incessantly while working with her husband and sons to move the heavy bags of grain onto the cart.

She caught sight of Xu Yingtao and Xie Bai from the corner of her eye. She was startled at first, then nudged Xie Daniu's stomach with her elbow, wondering, "Boss, am I seeing things? How come they look a lot fatter and look a lot better?"

Xie Daniu was in no mood to observe all this. He pretended not to hear anything, put down the food bag and called out to Xie Bai.

"Xiao Bai, I went to ask the village chief last night and heard that your family also has to pay the head tax. Have you prepared the money?"

Xie Bai was about to answer, but Xu Yingtao beat him to the punch and said softly to Xie Daniu, "Uncle, we are worried about this matter. We are planning to go to the village chief's house to see if we can borrow some money for emergency."

Upon hearing this, Xie Daniu's face darkened, and his tone was somewhat reproachful: "I am your uncle. If you have any difficulties, you should consult me first. Why are you thinking of borrowing from outsiders? How can this be ridiculous!"

After saying this, he unloaded a bag of grain from the cart without hesitation, strode up to the two men and put the grain down.

"This is fifty catties of millet, enough to pay the head tax for your family."

Chen finally realized what her husband had done and immediately went crazy and tried to snatch food, but Xie Daniu grabbed her arm and pulled her into the house. The scene was chaotic for a while.

On the side, Xie Zhao looked at Xie Bai with concern and asked, "Xiao Bai, can you two carry all this food? If it's too much trouble, I can help you take it to the town on the way."

Although Xie Bai was puzzled by his sister-in-law's sudden claim that she had no money, he firmly believed that she must have her reasons for doing so, so he nodded and said, "It can be lifted. Thank you, brother."

Upon hearing this, Xie Zhao suddenly thought of his deceased cousin Xie Song. Xie Song used to call him brother, but who would have thought that they would be separated from each other forever in the blink of an eye. He felt very upset.

At this moment, Xie Bao rushed out, but he did not swear like he did in the past. Instead, he swallowed his saliva and said to Xie Bai with a bit of flattery: "Xie Bai, how about I help you carry the food, and you give me a bowl of the chicken you stewed last time, how about that?"

Xie Bai said expressionlessly: "No need."

"Use it, use it!"

Xie Bao was not giving up. He bent down and tried to pull the bag of grain, but Xie Zhao quickly grabbed him by the collar and carried him back to the house like a chicken.

The uncle and his wife worked together to carry the grain into the Zheng family's gate. After learning the whole story, Mrs. Zhou nodded with satisfaction: "Thank you, Daniu, for doing a good deed."

Xu Yingtao smiled and said, "Grandma, let's keep the food at your house for now. We brought the money instead of the food."

Mrs. Zhou didn't ask any more questions, but nodded lovingly: "Okay, your grandfather has already gone to the town, you two can just follow your uncle Wen and Aunt Zhou."

Xu Yingtao naturally agreed, and added: "My mother has a high fever and can't get out of bed at the moment. Xiaobai and I don't know if we can make it back by noon. If we can't make it back in time, please bring a bowl of lunch for my mother and A Li."

Mrs. Zhou then realized that Jiang and Xie Li were not here, and she quickly agreed: "Don't worry, I will personally go and bring them food."

In the past, when I went to town, the mountain roads were empty, and except on market days, it was often difficult to find any pedestrians on the road.

But today, people from Nanxi Village and Beixi Village went out together, some carrying loads on their shoulders, some pushing carts, and they marched in a mighty procession. The team was very long, and everyone had a lifeless look on their face. No one wanted to talk to others, as if they had exhausted all the energy to converse.

When we arrived in the town, the usually bustling streets were shrouded in a depressing atmosphere due to the arrival of the officials.

Except for the aristocratic class, all the people of Dayu could not escape the heavy burden of taxes.

Xu Yingtao went to the bank to exchange one tael of silver. The bank owner remembered her and saw that she wanted to exchange the silver that she had just exchanged for copper coins. He did not even charge her the handling fee and just sighed and said, "Life is difficult."

Under the horsetail pine trees at the head of the town, dozens of ox carts were lined up in a row, and there were more than 40 officers who were responsible for weighing, keeping records, and maintaining order. Each of them was equipped with a knife and looked murderous and very intimidating.

The villagers of Nanxi Village spontaneously gathered around the oxcart team led by Village Chief Zheng.

While checking the list with the grain collector, Village Chief Zheng glanced toward the main road from time to time. Seeing Xu Yingtao and others coming, he waved to them from afar.

As soon as the first family who weighed the grain poured it into the measuring cup, the servant next to it kicked the measuring cup with lightning speed. Immediately, a lot of grains fell to the ground due to the vibration. After several kicks, there was a pile of four or five pounds of grain on the ground.

The spilled grain is not included in the tax weight and is considered a loss.

In the past decade, this operation has become the norm when the officials collect grain, and the people have long since gone from being angry to being numb.

Each household even prepared a few extra kilograms of food for this purpose.

However, when they saw the grain they had grown with great effort being loaded into the truck in bags, many people still wiped away their tears out of heartache, and some even sat on the ground and burst into tears.