Chapter 40 Wanting to Become a Taxpayer

The village guards, wearing straw hats, banged gongs and called out repeatedly, walking around all the villagers' homes before moving on to the next village.

After the local constables left, villagers came out of their homes one after another, their complaints filling the air.

"They're going to conscript labor again? Are they trying to kill us?" The first to speak was Zhang Si from next door.

"It's terrible! After deducting the tax grain, our family only has a few dozen catties of grain left. It's hard to even last until spring. If we hand it over again, our whole family will be doomed," said Aunt Liu.

There were no strong men in her family, so she was reluctant to part with the food.

One dou of rice weighs fifteen jin, but the official dou is larger than the common people's, weighing twenty jin. After five dou are delivered, the villagers' grain reserves are almost depleted.

Let alone making it to spring, it's difficult to even make it to the end of the month.

Several village women, whose families also lacked able-bodied men, covered their faces and wept bitterly.

Some villagers were skeptical: "Wasn't the imperial tomb already built?"

Someone scoffed, "A cunning rabbit has three burrows. The old emperor was worried that his tomb would be robbed after he died, so he deliberately built several, so that no one could be sure where he would be buried in the end, and no one would rob his tomb."

Actually, no. This was because the crown prince escaped while being taken to the Tatars as a hostage. The emperor suspected that the crown prince was hiding among the common people, so he ordered the construction of the imperial mausoleum, hoping to take the opportunity to investigate all the men in the court.

He also built an even more luxurious imperial mausoleum so that he could enjoy eternal bliss after death.

But the common people knew nothing about this.

Song Li quickly assessed her situation.

Although she had moved out of Song Lao Er's house long ago, she was not allowed to establish a female household because she was an unmarried woman.

Therefore, her and Song Xiaoxiao's household registration is still with Song Lao Er's family. Song Lao Er is thirty years old this year and is a strong man. Since he is going to repair the imperial mausoleum, she does not need to pay five dou of rice this time.

So, all things considered, she doesn't need to worry.

On her way back from Shen's place, Song Li heard cries and curses rising and falling throughout the village.

The one crying is a woman.

They were either too old, or their husbands were too frail to repair the imperial tombs;

Or perhaps their children and grandchildren are disabled or sick, and therefore unable to build the imperial mausoleum.

As for the insults... they were directed at women.

Most of them are mothers-in-law who scold their daughters-in-law for being "unworthy" of having sons to build the imperial mausoleum, and now they can only pay grain in lieu of labor.

The aggrieved wives then turned their anger on their own daughters, scolding them for being "useless" and unable to produce offspring, which caused the girls, young and old, to burst into tears.

Having transmigrated for so long, this was the first time Song Li had ever seen someone else being scolded from an outsider's perspective, and those who were being scolded and crying were the same people who had laughed at her and scolded her in the past.

However, I felt uneasy.

Only families with strong men can escape being conscripted for grain. In this strange world, women are hated!

On the other hand, although the villagers respected the man, their underlying purpose was simply that the man could save food for the family. In the end, he was still a tool, not someone they genuinely regarded as a human being.

Song Li walked home with a sigh.

Because he was still related to Song Lao Er, a strong man, Song Li didn't need to worry about the grain requisition, so life went on as usual.

The next morning, Song Li still took Song Xiaoxiao to town to sell cosmetics.

She now has two products: a whitening liquid and a whitening cushion foundation.

Two products are enough to support a brand, so she came up with a name in advance: Xiao Zi Tang.

Song Xiaoxiao's Xiao.

But perhaps because of the construction of the imperial mausoleum, there were half as many pedestrians on the street today, and her business was much quieter.

As expected, Song Li wasn't in a hurry. He packed up his stall and took Song Xiaoxiao to the next alley.

This is a neat and quiet alley, with clean and intact bluestone slabs on the ground, and white walls and black tiles on both sides, all of which are the gable walls of wealthy families.

The residents here were either retired wealthy men or accomplished scholars who had passed the imperial examinations. According to the system of that era, they were all taxpayers, who were exempt from taxes, corvée labor, and military service for life, and whose relatives and families also benefited from these exemptions.

Since she was going to do business, Song Li decided to do business with these people.

The alley was quiet, and the sisters' footsteps echoed crisply.

"Sister, is Mother helping out here?" Song Xiaoxiao suddenly asked.

Song Li paused for a moment before remembering that she had lied to Song Xiaoxiao's mother about working for a wealthy family. She said, "Of course not, my mother lives in the prefectural city, which is far from here."

She said this on purpose because she was afraid that Song Xiaoxiao would make a fuss about finding her mother.

As expected, Song Xiaoxiao gave a disappointed "Oh".

Song Li pretended not to see it, walked to a side door, and knocked on the door.

Is anyone there?

After a while, the door was slowly pulled open from the inside.

Who is it?

A voice asked, sounding slightly impatient.

She was a maid in her thirties.

What do you do?

The maid looked Song Li up and down.

"Hello, ma'am. I'm from Xiaozhitang, a newly opened rouge shop. This is a sample of our popular small-sized product, White Makeup Liquid. It whitens, moisturizes, and is easy to apply. I'm giving it to you to try."

Song Li presented the seashell-shaped sample with both hands.

Wealthy families have many servants and maids, so she couldn't be stingy when making door-to-door sales pitches. She gave them three trial packs at once.

The maid glanced at them disdainfully. A few seashells? What good stuff could they be?

But when Song Li opened one of them, a delicate fragrance of flowers and herbs wafted out—it smelled even better than the finest face powder from Xiangrongzhai that her mistress used!

The maid's eyes darted around. Who would refuse something for free? She grabbed it and accepted it.

Song Li patiently knocked on doors one by one to promote her product, handing out samples of her whitening liquid to each household until she ran out.

"Sister, are we just going to give it away for free?" Song Xiaoxiao couldn't help but ask.

What a relief!

Song Li smiled and said, "Yes."

"The imperial court wants to build the imperial mausoleum. Those who cannot contribute labor will have to pay five dou of grain. Which family will not be worried? Which woman will have the mind to dress up? Even if they don't pay grain, they still have to pay the annual tax at the end of the month. The end of the year will be difficult. Most people will probably not buy rouge and powder for a while. So we need to find taxpayers to do business with. Only in this way can we make the business bigger and longer."

Actually, she had this idea as early as the first day she set up her stall.

The imperial mausoleum construction incident only prompted her to move her plans forward by a month or two.

Song Xiaoxiao asked, "What is a food tax household?"

Song Li said, "It refers to families who do not have to pay taxes or perform military service, but can still receive silver from the government every month."

Song Xiaoxiao asked again, "Like Dad's monthly allowance?"

Since finding out where her mother was and receiving her father's allowance, she no longer felt like an orphan.

Song Li said, "Father went to serve in the army. His allowance was earned by risking his life on the battlefield. Taxpayers don't have to go to the battlefield, and they have much more money than Father."

This cannibalistic ancient society was utterly unfair!

"How can one become a taxpayer?"

"Take the imperial examination. If you pass, you'll become a low-level taxpayer. If you can become an official, you'll be a mid-level taxpayer. If you become a high-level official, you'll be a high-level taxpayer."

The specific rank depends on the size of the official position, but that's roughly the logic.

"Then I want to take the imperial examination."

Song Li patted her head and smiled, "You have ambition. Then you should learn to write properly first."

"Yes!" Song Xiaoxiao nodded vigorously.

Their innocent eyes sparkled, full of hope without a trace of impurity.

Song Li felt a little guilty after seeing this.

She's lying to the child...

Although in this world both men and women are tools, female tools are relegated to the bottom of the food chain and are the least respected...

But you still have to have dreams, what if they come true?