She remembered that although her family had a few acres of land, Gu An'an wasn't particularly interested in farming.

When they ran out of money at home, they went to the Jiang family's old residence...

This question puzzled Jiang Mingyi as well, as he didn't recall ever seeing these tax collectors before.

“What your brother said is not wrong, but we don’t have much farmland here. If I’m not mistaken, the farmland in the village is all reclaimed mountain land, which will be exempt from taxes.”

As for why this family of five wasn't taxed, Gu An'an felt that the issue might be related to Boss Jiang.

After all, the task of collecting taxes was usually handled by the yamen runners in the county government.

Although Boss Jiang wasn't a yamen runner before, he had a good relationship with the yamen, so perhaps there was some kind of deal involved?

"If you want to know the answer to this, you can ask Grandma Li after you come down the mountain. Maybe she can tell you the answer."

Jiang Mingzhu wasn't actually that interested in this issue, but she was somewhat surprised to suddenly hear about such a heavy tax.

"If half the harvest is handed over, will the rest be enough to eat?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Mingyi smiled faintly, "That's why in years of disaster, there's the saying of selling children and exchanging offspring to eat."

Those eight short words made Jiang Mingzhu tremble all over.

She was lucky that she didn't encounter such a thing, otherwise she would probably have become a pile of bones long ago.

The young man's answer made Gu An'an frown. "Don't talk nonsense and scare Zhu'er."

Jiang Mingyi turned his head away. Was he talking nonsense?

He read in the book that during the final years of Emperor Yang of the previous dynasty, the people suffered greatly from hunger and death, and countless people starved to death, which led to the current emperor's uprising.

With overwhelming support, they overthrew the previous dynasty and established the Great Ye Dynasty.

However, it is unknown what the difference is between the one-fifteenth tax rate of Da Ye and the one-fifteenth tax rate of the previous dynasty.

Reading is supposed to enlighten one's mind, but Jiang Mingyi felt that the more he read, the less he understood the principles.

Gu An'an was oblivious to the boy's inner turmoil. She saw the rabbit running past at high speed and quickly chased after it.

When the brother and sister caught up, they saw Gu An'an tying the rabbit securely and tossing it into her basket.

Jiang Mingzhu stared in disbelief. "Is this rabbit really that stupid? It actually ran into a rock on its own."

"Yes, it's a silly rabbit. I'll make you braised rabbit later."

She's thinking about making cold-served rabbit; it would be so delicious!

However, it seems we don't have any chili peppers at home, and cold-cooked rabbit uses a lot of oil.

Okay, I'll just go back to making spicy rabbit meat instead; that's relatively simpler.

Gu An'an had high hopes, but after returning home from the mountain, the rabbit became Bao'er's new toy.

"Bunny is so cute, how can you eat a bunny?"

Gu An'an: "..." Why can't I eat it?

Why did she so cheekily use a rabbit to tease the child?

It was rare to see Gu An'an so helpless, so Jiang Mingyi inquired about tax matters with Aunt Li.

Aunt Li laughed when she heard this, "You're still young and don't know, our Anping County has produced some great figures. I heard that the emperor gave Anping County to General An as his food, food..."

“A fief.”

“Yes, it’s a fief. I can’t even remember it. I heard that we only need to pay taxes to General An, but he’s from Anping County and never collects taxes from us, so we’ve never paid taxes.”

General An.

Gu An'an had heard of this name before.

A few days ago, when she was setting up her stall, she heard some customers mention that General An had won a battle at the border.

But if he doesn't collect taxes, and such a good reputation spreads, isn't General An afraid of making the emperor uneasy?

However, having risen to the rank of Grand General, his considerations are naturally more comprehensive than hers. Perhaps Grand General An is even thinking of making the Emperor uneasy, and maybe even using the opportunity to rebel.

It seems that such a person was mentioned in the book, but the male protagonist eliminated him from the story.

The person Long Aotian wants to get rid of.

Gu An'an thought for a moment, and decided that she would try her best to help if there was a chance.

After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

After receiving the answer, the brother and sister remarked with some emotion, "This General An is a good man. Have you heard of him, brother?"

Jiang Mingyi slowly shook his head. "I don't know."

Whether he is a good person or not remains to be seen.

If General An were to rebel one day, the imperial court would likely target Anping County first.

The imperial court.

When the word came to mind, Jiang Mingyi felt a headache coming on.

The young man unconsciously rubbed his temples, a gesture that worried Gu An'an. "What's wrong? Is your head hurting or you feeling unwell?"

"I probably caught a chill in the mountain wind. I'll be fine after I go back and rest."

Jiang Mingyi tried his best to relax, but Gu An'an was still a little worried as she watched the boy go home.

"Then I'll be going now, Aunt Li. I'm taking the children back to the county town tomorrow and will come back in a few days."

"Going back so early?" Aunt Li asked, somewhat puzzled.

Gu An'an laughed, "This child isn't feeling well, I was thinking of finding a doctor to take a look at him." Didn't Tian Bu'er say that his senior brother was coming? He originally went back to the countryside to avoid Xiaoyao Hou.

But now Jiang Mingyi has a headache again, and Gu An'an thinks it's best to go back as soon as possible.

Aunt Li also agreed, "That's true. It's kind of Mingyi to be such a sensible child. I'll go to the county town in a few days and come to see you then."

Gu An'an readily agreed and carried Bao'er home.

After getting the rabbit, the little girl refused to let go. When she got home, she finally jumped down from Gu An'an's arms and went to Jiang Mingyi's room with the little rabbit in her arms.

Gu An'an was worried that she was heading towards Jiang Mingyi, so she followed her.

"Brother, brother, the little rabbit is so cute, do you want to play with it?"

The boy lying on the kang (a heated brick bed) sat up upon hearing the childish voice and brought Bao'er onto the kang. "You like little rabbits?"

"The bunny is cute."

How adorable! It's white and soft to the touch, completely different from Little Axe.

She loves bunnies so much, they're super cute.

Jiang Mingyi looked at the little girl who was having a great time and patted her head. "Then let's keep her."

"Brother, do you like it?"

This question was a little difficult, and Jiang Mingyi hesitated for a moment. The white little rabbit had already been stuffed into his arms. "If you like it, brother, you can give it to me. Seeing the rabbit happy will make your head stop hurting."

The little girl's words were so innocent that they left Jiang Mingyi momentarily stunned.

Startled for a moment, Bao'er stood up and walked behind Jiang Mingyi. "Every time my stinky brother massages the Empress, she feels so much better. Can I massage you too, so you won't have headaches anymore?"

Hearing this, Gu An'an, who was standing at the door, was overwhelmed with emotion. She looked at the young man, sighed, closed her eyes, and silently left.

How could Jiang Yong'an bear to abandon such sensible children and hand them over to a pack of wolves and tigers?

Thank goodness he's dead, otherwise I would never have let him go!