Stepmother in charge: Making a fortune through farming and raising her children to fight back

Early the next morning.

Qinjia Village.

Yun Zhenzhen slept in again today, and only opened her eyes when the sun was already shining on her butt.

"Mom, you're awake."

A little kid came over and sniffed, it must be Xiao Nan.

"Good morning, baby, why are you up so early?" Yun Zhenzhen said and yawned again.

"It's getting late, mother. My eldest brother went to work in the fields early. My second brother is still making adobe bricks in the yard. My cousin Yun Jing is helping. They all told me not to wake you up." Qin Nan said with blinking eyes.

Yun Zhenzhen was stunned. She felt a warm current in her heart as she could see that these children knew how to care for others at such a young age.

"Okay, I'll get up too."

Qin Nan hurriedly ran out the door, fetched a large basin of water from the water tank for her to wash her face and hands, and thoughtfully added hot water.

After washing up, Yun Zhenzhen stretched out her body in the yard, thinking about building a house, when she heard a commotion not far away.

She opened the door and met Aunt Zhao next door who was picking vegetable leaves at the door. She asked curiously.

"Sister Zhao, what happened over there? They've been arguing for a long time."

Aunt Zhao looked at her mysteriously: "Oh, it's all because of what happened yesterday."

Rural women love to watch the fun the most. They know everything that happens in the village that day and they know everything about every village.

"Fugui's sister went to town and told him about what happened yesterday. Fugui rushed back overnight and went to the ancestral hall today."

"It's not easy for us country folk to find a wife. When Fuguier married her, her family asked for a huge sum of money. Fuguier even sold his land to raise the money. After she got married, he never asked her to do any heavy work in the fields. He supported her for so many years by running a small business in town, and he paid her money on time every quarter."

"Look at her, she's still not satisfied with this. We don't have that much money to earn a living from farming." Aunt Zhao shook her head and spoke with a hint of regret.

"How was this problem solved?" Yun Zhenzhen was also curious.

"The Wang family head originally wanted to drown Aunt Fugui in a pond as a warning to others, but Fugui couldn't bear it. Moreover, the government is now very strict and doesn't allow private executions, so they finally decided to expel her from Qinjia Village."

"Aunt Fugui didn't have any dowry when she got married. Even her wedding dress was bought by Wang Fugui. But she had no choice but to leave alone."

Aunt Fugui's original name was Chen Xiuxiu. She was married from another village. Wang Fugui asked the clan leader to write a divorce letter on her behalf and threw it to her, then drove her out of the ancestral hall.

After the two finished chatting, Yun Zhenzhen returned to the kitchen and started preparing lunch.

Qin Nan was helping out on the side. He had just woken up today and didn't feel like moving much, so he prepared to make some potato pancakes with dumpling soup for a simple meal.

While they were busy, Qin Li came back from chopping firewood and helped his brother make adobe bricks in the yard.

"Mom, how big a house should we build then?"

Yun Zhenzhen counted as she cooked, "There are four or five people in our family. You two will both get married in the future, so we need at least one room each. Then we can build a bigger kitchen, a living room, and a guest room. If you want to study later, it would be best to build a study and a toilet..."

The most important thing is the toilet!

Now the toilet at home is just a big pit with a few stones on it and reinforced with wooden boards. I have to be very careful every time I go to the toilet, otherwise I will accidentally pile up a strawberry tower.

When Yun Zhenzhen thought of that scene, she lost her appetite. However, it would be difficult to explain it in a short time. She planned to find some time to draw a simple blueprint so that professional workers could understand it at a glance.

Qin Li nodded and continued to work on the adobe bricks.

This stuff will never be too much. He has seen other people building houses and they always need to get several piles of adobe bricks before starting, and some even still don’t have enough. If our house is to be bigger, we need as much as possible.

As he thought about this, he worked harder and harder to make the bricks.

……

the other side.

At the residence of the Yuzhou Governor.

The man sitting at the top seemed to be in his forties or fifties, and the way he sat there exuded an air of majesty without even looking angry.

"This year, the north suffered from drought, and recently, the south suffered from floods. Yuzhou, situated at the junction of north and south, has also been somewhat affected. Fortunately, some of the counties and towns within our jurisdiction have spontaneously planted new crops and discovered a drug that inhibits wheat diseases, saving most of the wheat harvest. The situation near Yunding County in the northwest is good, but in the northeast, a large number of refugees have already appeared. With supplies still not arriving, I'm afraid taxes will increase significantly this year."

"I wonder what you gentlemen think?"

The person who spoke was the governor of Yuzhou, the highest-ranking official in Yuzhou. Sitting below him were the Tongpan, the Transport Commissioner, and the county magistrates of various counties.

Lu Yunfeng, the county magistrate, was originally not allowed to attend this meeting, but the governor specifically asked him to come.

"Your Excellency, I have previously had your advisor reset the tax rate. In Yunding County, except for Qinjia Village, the tax rate for all other villages will increase to 10% tax." County Magistrate Wang stood below and spoke word by word. "This way, the grain harvest this year should be similar to before."

More than half a month ago, when he asked Qinjia Village to help find potatoes, he had already gathered villagers from other villages and told their village chiefs that if the county government needed to help find crops, this year's taxes would be raised. Compared with having nothing to eat after the autumn harvest, high taxes were obviously more acceptable.

The laws that people usually complain about are issued so easily.

The magistrates of several other counties looked at him in amazement.

Some time ago, he said that he had found a new crop that could produce very high yields, but they did not believe him and even mocked him.

Now, the grain output this year was not much to begin with, and now they are forced to collect more grain in addition to paying taxes. The unruly people under their jurisdiction will definitely not agree to this, which is really a headache.

However, the governor has already made it clear that if the grain is not paid in full this year, refugees from other areas will gather together to cause trouble, and the consequences will be even more serious. At that time, he will lose his official hat.

The lesser of two evils.

The magistrate of Changshan County was the first to bear the brunt of the action. He stepped forward and bowed his head, saying, "Don't worry, Governor. We will definitely hand over all the grain in our county."

Upon hearing this, the county magistrates of several other counties also had to express their opinions.

The Governor nodded in satisfaction, stroking his beard. "Increasing taxes this year is unavoidable. Everyone, when you return, make sure to appease the people under your jurisdiction to avoid provoking rebellious sentiments. Furthermore, after the autumn harvest, there will be many refugees scattered around, potentially disrupting public order. Everyone, please strengthen defenses..."

"Yes."

A group of people nodded quickly, took out paper and pen, and wrote it all down one by one.