Don't worry about traveling through time, she has an all-powerful senior sister to help her

Outside the door, more people were arriving, and they were looking at the uncle with eager eyes.

Third cousin Shen Desheng turned around when he heard the footsteps and said, "Niece-in-law, the dowry I just mentioned does not include your fifty acres of farmland and the thousand-worker bed.

The bed has been disassembled and placed in my house, and I haven’t found a craftsman to install it yet.”

When Mrs. Hu nodded and bowed to him, he looked at his eldest grandson beside him and said, "Ah, what are you doing standing here? Go home and clean up two rooms for your fifth uncle and his family to stay in."

"Third cousin, we can just stay here for the time being." Shen Huai breathed a sigh of relief when he learned that his brother was not in trouble because of him. He prepared to settle down and inquire carefully about the previous situation.

Shen Lingzhu thought the old man would be kind enough to invite her again, but he nodded without hesitation and said, "It's fine to live here. We can move in after we build the old house."

But someone immediately objected: "No, they can't live in the school dormitory."

"Second brother, the clan school was renovated with funds from Huai'er. What's wrong with him staying here temporarily?" Shen Desheng looked unhappily at his second brother Shen Dexian who had pushed his way through the crowd to come in.

"Hello, second cousin." Shen Huai waved to his family to come over and saluted the old man with a serious face.

Shen Dexian only hummed a sound, then turned to the crowd gathered outside the door and said, "What's the point of crowding here? If you have anything to say, you have to wait until Wu Huai is settled before you can discuss it. Dismiss!"

Shen Lingzhu found that the words of this second-ranked uncle were very effective. After the noisy crowd dispersed, someone was still considerate enough to close the door.

She was just thinking that the room in the yard was locked and everyone had nowhere to sit when her second grandfather took out a bunch of keys from his pocket and opened the door for her eldest brother.

Shen Lingzhu and her sister naturally moved the stools together, and thus missed the first opportunity to find out why they could not stay here temporarily.

When they moved the stool out, Second Grandpa had already left.

I only heard my uncle say, "Don't worry, Third Uncle, I will handle this matter properly."

"Oh, that's good, that's good. By the way, why haven't I seen Shen He and the others?

Is there something else being transported in the back?" Shen Desheng sat on the stool brought by Shen Lingzhu, puzzled.

Shen Huai said: "We didn't meet on the road, probably because we missed each other on the rainy day.

When the drivers from Dashuangdian leave in the afternoon, I'll find two young men and go to Dashuangdian to greet them."

"Coachman? You said those two outside aren't your followers?" Shen Desheng stood up suddenly, knocking over the stool.

Shen Lingzhu spoke for his uncle who was reluctant to speak up, "Third Grandpa, our home in Beijing was completely ransacked. We couldn't even eat at one point on our way back.

The servants were dismissed early, and the money for hiring a carriage was borrowed from a friend of my uncle.

There was nothing valuable in the car except my aunt's medicine."

Then she saw the old man slap his thigh and said, "We all promised you that we would settle the accounts as soon as you came back.

I thought that after you had been in Beijing for a few years, you would have some backup plans for yourself.

I don't know how much money Chi Ge'er has left, and he's on his way back, so how can he pay it back?"

"What money?" Shen Lingzhu and his two siblings asked in unison.

The old man said angrily: "Your father owed it."

"Someone, Jian Zhang, go back home and bring some rice and flour. We can't let the people they're escorting go hungry."

"Okay grandpa."

"Forget it, forget it. I'll go get it. I feel uncomfortable sitting here."

After a few words, the old man hurried away with his eldest grandson.

"What kind of money does my father owe? How much is it?" asked the senior sister after closing the door.

Seeing that his uncle also stood up, opened the door and left, Shen Lingzhu turned around and shook his aunt to ask for clarification.

Mrs. Hu thought about it and decided to tell her three children.

As Shen Lingzhu listened, her little face almost wrinkled into a bun.

It turned out that the sisters' father not only took the money for building a house in order to go to another place to pray for a child, but also collected three years' worth of donations in advance from the fields in the village that were exempted from military service and were registered under the name of their uncle.

This is nothing. As long as my uncle continues to be an official, the village’s fields can be exempted from most taxes and labor service.

But now my uncle only has the status of a Jinshi, and he cannot avoid doing a lot of farm work and menial labor.

Fortunately, the land deed that the village presented to my uncle was a blank deed, otherwise it would have been confiscated.

Everyone in the village was terrified, and on the day of the house search, the county government notified everyone that the summer taxes and summer labor service in Beigou Village would return to normal this year.

As the saying goes, brothers should settle accounts clearly. What's more, we are from the same village. In the past, relying on your protection, we naturally paid you a portion of silver or grain. Now that there is no exemption, we can't ask everyone to pay double, right?

"Aunt, how much silver is it in total?" Shen Miaozhu didn't know how much tax exemption was given to those who had made contributions in this dynasty.

Hu said, "That's equivalent to more than three hundred taels of silver."

"Fortunately it's not over a thousand taels." Shen Lingzhu's heart slowly returned to normal after beating wildly.

She said, "Could you talk it over with everyone and give it to me later?"

Mrs. Hu shook her head. If the money was not returned as soon as possible, it would be difficult for the Shen family to survive in the village. "No, it's not easy for farmers to save money. Some people have to hand over the money they borrowed.

We still have to deliver the summer grain in June, so we really can't delay any longer."

"But mother, do we still have ten taels of silver on us?" They had spent a lot of money in the county town. Shen Xianzhu's scalp tingled just thinking about three hundred taels. His second uncle was not afraid that it would be unsafe to carry so much silver.

He didn't expect that his second uncle Shen Chi could exchange the silver money for bills that could be exchanged nationwide.

Mrs. Hu comforted him, saying, "Don't worry, I still have fifty acres of prime land that can be sold for just four hundred taels."

The three siblings said in unison: "No."

"We'll find another way." Shen Miaozhu planned to ask her third grandfather if she could still save some of her mother's dowry.

Whoever did it should take responsibility for it, and since they are not at home, she will be in charge temporarily.

"Aunt, if we give our fellow villagers some means of making a living, can it be used to offset this silver money?" Shen Lingzhu still had some naive thoughts.

But the aunt laughed and said, "How much money can dozens of families in the village make from one business?

If you don't do the same thing, can you come up with dozens of ways to make a living?"

That can't be done? Shen Lingzhu looked at her senior sister again, hoping she would have some good ideas.

The senior sister spread her hands and said, "No, she really couldn't get more than three hundred taels of silver in a short time."

"Silver, please fall from the sky and hit me!" Shen Lingzhu sighed to the sky.

Halfway through sighing, the senior sister straightened her head and said, "Let's go outside and buy some vegetables with everyone."

"You can give more money, not less." Mrs. Hu asked the two to take out a hundred copper coins from a package.

The two sisters were finally able to get away from their family's sight, and they exchanged some ignored issues as they walked.

As they talked, they realized that they couldn't figure out where Third Uncle's house was.

They definitely couldn't ask anyone, as it would easily expose themselves. As they searched slowly, they met an old man who asked them for directions.

The old man who asked for directions had a gentle look on his face. "Excuse me, young ladies, for waiting a moment. Do you know where Master Shen Huai is currently staying?"

"Who are you and what do you want from Mr. Shen?" Shen Lingzhu asked back. She was sure that this person was not from Beigou Village.

The old man who asked for directions said: "It cannot be said, it cannot be said."

It was Shen Miaozhu who got the point straight and said, "We are Master Shen's nieces."