The government was sending out wives, and I ended up with a princess from the previous dynasty!

"Why are you kneeling?" Jia Daoshi was completely bewildered.

"My lord, I shouldn't have touched your bookshelf! I'll never do it again!" A-Jiu knelt on the ground, trembling. "I just... I just wanted to wipe it down..."

Is that all?

Jia Daoshi was speechless.

"Okay, get up."

He casually put the ancient book back in his hand on the bookshelf, then stepped forward to help the young woman up.

Unexpectedly, perhaps because she was too weak, or because she had walked too much in the snow, and because she had an injury on her foot, Ah Jiu swayed and fell when she got up!

He fell right into Jia Daoshi's arms!

It smells familiar and pleasant, like the scent of Xiangxuehua.

"Um……"

Ah Jiu exclaimed in surprise.

Jia Daoshi looked down at the rosy little face in his arms and couldn't help but feel a little confused and infatuated.

She's my wife, so it's normal for me to do something about it, right?

Thinking of this, he picked up Ajiu and reached into her skirt.

But at that moment, Ah Jiu's face turned pale again!

Then, she struggled to break free from Jia Daoshi's embrace and knelt on the ground again!

"My lord! I truly dare not do it again!"

This time, even Ajiu's voice was trembling!

Jia Daoshi looked at the trembling body and was completely bewildered.

Could it be that guy left some kind of psychological trauma on this young lady?

"What happened? I haven't done anything to you, have I?"

Before Jia Dao could finish speaking, Ajiu was so frightened that she kept kowtowing:

"My lord! I know you hate those books! I was just dusting the bookshelf; I didn't intentionally pull down the curtain!"

"My lord, you injured my right leg last time, and I am already unable to move around easily. If my left leg is also injured, then I will not be able to serve you!"

Upon hearing what Ajiu said, Jia Daoshi turned his head to look at the bookcase again. Sure enough, there was a piece of black cotton cloth lying on the ground next to the bookcase.

It seems Ah Jiu was right!

but!

Such a sensible, beautiful, and well-behaved woman—how could that brat have the heart to hurt her and injure her leg? What a beast!

"Alright! It's such a small thing, how could I blame you? Get up quickly, you still have an injury on your leg."

Ajiu was taken aback.

"My lord, are you really not angry anymore?"

"Of course," Jia Daoshi reassured him. "I'm really not angry. Whoever gets angry is a little dog!"

As he spoke, Jia Daoshi made a face at Ajiu.

"Pfft!"

Ah Jiu had never seen Jia Daoshi like this before, and caught off guard, she burst out laughing.

"Scholar Jia! Scholar Jia!"

Just then, shouts rang out from outside the house: "Hurry up! The village is having a meeting. The village head wants everyone to go, and he specifically named you as someone who must be there!"

The village head is the chief of a village.

The person rushed to the door, shouted something, and immediately turned and left.

However, this also made Jia Daoshi aware of his true identity.

He was just a scholar?

Cultured people!

"Let's go, let's go to the meeting. Also, thank you so much for what you did earlier." Jia Daoshi smiled slightly at Ajiu.

Ajiu: "..."

The Jia Daoshi standing before her felt somewhat unfamiliar.

Could it be that my husband has changed his ways and become a better person?

"Wait! My lord, I'll go to the meeting with you."

Ah Jiu glanced at the ginger soup on the table, picked it up casually, walked back to the kitchen, poured it into the slop bucket, and then hurriedly went out again.

……

Jiajiazhuang.

Threshing ground.

By this time, quite a few people had arrived!

The old man in the very center had gray hair, a snow-white beard, and a deeply lined face. He was wearing a black cotton-padded jacket.

He was the village head.

Beside the old man, several local militiamen were maintaining order.

When the villagers saw Jia Daoshi, they looked at him with a variety of expressions: disdain, surprise, pity, schadenfreude... and so on!

Not only that, but they all started whispering among themselves.

"Scholar Jia is here! The poll tax will be due in a few days, that kid's dead meat!"

"That's right! At the beginning of the year, this kid brought several young women with him, but a year has passed and not a single child has been born! Since he can't contribute any offspring, he has to pay a head tax! If that's the case, he'll have to pay a head tax of five people, right? That's a huge sum!"

"It's a pity for Scholar Jia. He's been exiled to the frontier. Who knows how long he'll live! And his wife, if she's lucky, she might be sold to a brothel; if she's unlucky, she'll only end up at the Xinghua Brothel..."

"..."

Hearing these words, Jia Daoquan's face showed a strange expression.

Judging from this, it seems that he doesn't only have Ajiu as his wife?

What's the situation?

"Ahem...Alright, everyone, stop talking!"

The village head coughed lightly and continued, "You've all seen it, haven't you? The county government has sent people. It's almost the end of the year, and it's time to pay taxes again. If your family has a male child born this year, you can get a tax reduction for each male child. If you don't have any, you have to pay the full amount! If you dare not pay, the men will be sent to the army, and the women... well, they can only go to brothels or be sold into slavery to wealthy families."

"Alright, that's all I wanted to say today."

"Everyone, go back and get ready."

"By the way, you heard about that scholar from the Jia family, didn't you? Your family didn't have a single child this year, so you'll have to pay the taxes." After saying that, the old man gave Jia Daoshi and Ajiu a deep look. "Ajiu, you...you'd better make plans as soon as possible..."

With that, the old man sighed and left.

Ah Jiu had her head down, seemingly lost in thought.

Jia Daoshi hesitated for a moment, then took a deep breath: "Ajiu, let me ask you a question. Besides you, do I have any other wives?"

Ajiu was taken aback, then looked up at Jia Daoshi with a puzzled expression: "Young master, did you really damage your brain in the fall on the mountain? This spring, you took me, Sister Lin, Sister Shuang, Sister Yu..."

Jia Daoshi: "..."

He couldn't believe his ears!

After a while, through Ajiu's explanation, he slowly came to understand his current situation!

The Great Jing Dynasty was constantly at war with the northern tribes, and its population was decreasing year by year, especially the number of males, which was already critically low!

The entire Great Jing Dynasty was in a state of Yin dominating and Yang declining!

In order to stabilize the population, the Great Jing Dynasty began to implement official matchmaking, allowing local county governments to allocate wives. Anyone who dared to marry three or more wives would be rewarded!

If a male offspring is born within a year, another reward will be given!

Jia Daoshi was so poor back then that he accepted four rewards in one go!

Moreover, this Jia Daoshi, who considers himself a scholar and a talented man, looks down on those strong peasant girls and chooses a frail young lady from a wealthy family like Ajiu!

Most importantly, Ajiu wasn't alone at the time, but with four sisters! The four of them had sworn that if they were to marry, they would all marry together, or they would commit suicide!

In that case, who would dare to marry her?

If we marry her, she'll be skinny and weak and won't be able to do farm work. Won't she just starve to death?

Only someone as reckless as Jia Daoshi would dare to do such a thing.