Super rare beast girl, run away! The emperor's uncle is coming!

Seeing him grabbing the steamed bun with his dirty hands and about to put it into his mouth, Qu Jingyao reached out to stop him.

She wet the handkerchief in her arms by the river and carefully gestured to him to wipe his hands before eating.

Qu Qingchen and Bai Guo reminded her of their concerns.

"Master, be careful he doesn't hurt you."

"Little sister..."

Qu Jingyao smiled slightly, with a faint smile on the corner of her lips. Under the old madman's timid gaze with a frown, she gently wiped the dirt off his hands.

"Okay, let's eat."

The old madman's eyes flashed slightly, and he grinned, holding the steamed bun and began to eat it in big and small bites.

Qu Qingchen looked at him and couldn't bear to remind him: "Eat slowly, be careful not to choke."

As soon as he finished speaking, he was seen choking and stretching his neck, pounding his chest with his eyes wide open. He suddenly ran to the river and scooped up a handful of river water to drink it.

Qu Jingyao looked at the old madman in front of him in surprise. Has he always lived like this?

Bai Guo walked up to his master's side, put his arm around her, and looked at her with sympathy in his eyes: "Master, this... is he going to live like this forever? This is too... doesn't he have any family?"

Qu Jingyao didn't think about it too much. Since he had been in the village for so many years, there must be someone to take care of him, otherwise...

"Hey...where are you going?" Qu Qingchen shouted loudly at the old madman who had already run away.

When Qu Jingyao and her servant looked over, the figure had already disappeared. Bai Guo muttered to herself, "If this man wasn't a lunatic, she would have thought he had Qinggong skills. Just based on his speed..."

Qu Jingyao's eyes flickered slightly, with a hint of suspicion in her eyes, and then she turned around and called the two of them back to the yard.

Baiguo had just closed the door when he heard Dashan knocking on it.

"Qingchen, wait a minute, huh..."

Qu Qingchen turned around in confusion and looked at Dashan, who was panting and gasping for breath. He frowned and asked him what was wrong with him and why he ran so fast. Could it be Grandma Xu...

"Oh! No... no, my father asked me to inform you that the Marquis has brought people to collect the tax. They will be here soon. You should be prepared. The Marquis has no good intentions, so you should avoid a direct confrontation with him."

After he finished speaking, Dashan whispered a few words of advice to Qu Qingchen before turning around and leaving.

Qu Jingyao heard it clearly, but she didn't know much about the ancient taxation, so Bai Guo explained it to her.

The household tax is a head tax. Regardless of gender, people aged seven to fourteen pay a head tax of twenty coins per year, and people aged fifteen to fifty-six pay a capital tax of one hundred and twenty coins per year. Merchants and slaves have to pay double the capital tax.

Qu Jingyao narrowed her eyes slightly and sneered at the corner of her lips. This ancient system really made her "hehe". Hou Li was most likely coming for their family.

I guess this is to vent the anger of Mrs. Wu and her daughter!

"Don't worry, brother. I'll prepare the money. You don't have to worry about this. I'll go tell mother. You can go ahead and do your work."

After he finished speaking, Qu Qingchen frowned, nodded, and walked towards the door of the woodshed.

Soon after Qu Jingyao entered the room, bursts of sighs were heard.

Several people started to complain. This world really doesn't give the people a way to survive. They can't even get enough to eat, and yet they still have to collect taxes. It really doesn't give them any chance to breathe!

Qu Jingyao thoughtfully distributed the money she had earned from the hairpins to several people. Fu and Yu looked at the money in their hands and said awkwardly:

"Yao girl, we won't take this money, we'll just use it as a payment for food..."

"Aunt, put the grain money aside for now and pay the tax first, so as to avoid being troubled by those lackeys."

Qu Jingyao's thoughtfulness made the few people more determined to follow her wholeheartedly and work hard.

Aunt Liu and Aunt Cui Lian also started to grumble while working. Their county magistrate was a filial person, but he was still confused about some things.

"Who says it's not true? But there's nothing we ordinary people can do about it."

Cui Lian bit the silk thread in her hand and groaned.

Qu Jingyao prepared the silver and money and handed it to Baiguo, instructing him to give it to the lackeys when they arrived.

"Master, it's unreasonable for the county magistrate to ask them to collect taxes at this time. Moreover, Ruyang City is King Li's Shu territory. King Li can't..."

Baiguo anxiously explained to her.

Qu Jingyao raised the corner of her lips slightly and tilted her head to ask Bai Guo how she could understand King Li. Maybe he was just like those corrupt officials, a person who did nothing.

"Master, King Li is different from others."

After Bai Guo finished speaking, Qu Jingyao put her hand to her lips and chuckled, raising her eyebrows and jokingly asking, "Could it be that Bai Guo likes King Li?"

Bai Guo's face suddenly flashed with fear, and she quickly waved her hands to explain that she didn't like King Li, she just admired him.

"Okay, okay, okay, I won't tease you anymore."

As soon as Qu Jingyao finished speaking, she heard her brother's voice calling from the yard outside.

"Yaoyao, mother, let's go to the village to gather!"

Qu Jingyao and Liu looked at each other, and then asked the aunts to put down their work and go to the village to see what was going on.

"Let's go." Aunt Cui Lian got off the bed and put on her shoes quickly, muttering and complaining about those people who were just looking for trouble and delaying their work.

Liu smiled slightly and persuaded them a few words, and then they all walked out of the yard.

At this time, all the villagers had gathered around the ancient well in the village.

When Qu Jingyao and his family came over, they listened to the chatter of the surrounding villagers.

"How can we survive? Not only are food prices rising, but now we have to pay the poll tax. How can we survive like this?"

"Yeah! We can't even make ends meet."

These people started shouting at the same time. Mr. Hou and the county yamen runners looked at them coldly, and finally roared in frustration.

"Shut up, everyone! You have to pay the poll tax whether you want to or not. Why are you talking so much nonsense?"

Hou Li then began to order the yamen runners to go from house to house, calling people forward and handing the booklet in his hand to the people below.

"Have Xu Tian's family arrived?"

Hearing their names being called, the crowd responded hurriedly: "We're here, sir, can you please be flexible? I really have..."

"Stop talking nonsense and hurry up. Do you still want to disobey the law and get a beating?" Mr. Hou raised his eyebrows and stroked his short beard and asked.

Qu Jingyao and Liu stood behind the crowd, looking at the families who were called. They always let out wails, and some of them had no choice but to start selling their own cattle on the spot.

Looking at the scene in front of her, Liu sighed helplessly.

When it was the turn of Mrs. Xu from the Qu family, she smiled ingratiatingly at Mr. Hou and said that her two sons were now serving in labor service, so could they be exempted from the population tax?

Hou Li raised his eyelids and glanced at her with disdain, then smiled with the corners of his lips slightly raised.

Old Lady Xu thought he had agreed, and happily tried to please him. She heard that this lawyer was the husband of the eldest daughter of the Wu family...

"You wish! Pay the money and leave!"

The joy on Old Lady Xu's face disappeared instantly. This...

She had previously used all her money to redeem her two sons who were doing labor service, and now she wanted to use the little money she had to buy some food, as there was not much food left at home.

Old Lady Xu struggled for a long time, but finally Hou Li turned hostile and ordered the yamen runners to carry her out of the crowd, shouting that if she didn't pay the population tax today, she would be taken back to jail.

Old Lady Xu was thrown to the ground, slapping her thighs and crying. When she heard the prison meal, she was so scared that she crawled to her feet.

She glanced at Liu's mother and son and others behind the crowd, and a glimmer of light suddenly flashed in her turbid eyes.

She still has the jade pendant in her hand!