“Lai Zi,” Jiang Nuan pondered, “has the situation become so serious that the government is encouraging this kind of helper work?”

“We neither encourage nor discourage it,” Lai Zi sighed. “There are only a few people who are required to perform corvée labor. They can’t finish it even if they work themselves to death. If no one helps them, the corvée labor will not be completed. This year is different from before. The higher-ups will send people to verify it. If there is any mistake, the county magistrate will not be happy.”

"If I had known it would be this troublesome, I should have paid with silver," Huang Lao Er said with a face full of regret.

The corvée labor was tiring, but I could accept it. It was all the daily hassles that were incredibly annoying.

"Don't talk nonsense again," Jiang Nuan said, rubbing her forehead. "If that were really the case, what would happen to the corvée labor?"

“Exactly,” Huang Xiaosan nodded. “If that were really the case, those merchants would have already taken the money.”

“Merchants are different from us,” Lai Zi said, revealing the key point. “They pay five hundred taels for each instance of corvée labor. That amount of money is enough to buy dozens of servants, so they are reluctant to spend the silver and usually have their servants take their place.”

"Let the servants take the place? Is that even possible?" This was the first time Huang Lao Er had ever seen servants serve this purpose.

“In principle, it’s not allowed,” Lai Zi smiled meaningfully, “so this time of year is when we make our fortune.”

Aside from tax collection, this is the only time the government offices can afford to get some oil.

Although it wasn't much, going to brothels a few times was no problem.

“Lai Zi,” Jiang Nuan suddenly remembered Manager Jin, “Do you know anything about the Jin family? How are they doing lately?”

For some reason, she always felt that the Jin family was not very stable.

“The Jin family,” Lai Zi looked up, “the Jin family of Wuweilou?”

"Yes," Huang Xiaosan was also very concerned about this issue, "Is nothing wrong with the Jin family?"

“The Jin family,” Lai Zi tapped the table and spoke hesitantly, “I don’t know much about them either. I heard they’ve been selling off a lot of things recently, so they might be up to something big. I haven’t paid attention before, but I’ll look into it later.”

"Selling things?" Jin panicked. "You just sold people a while ago, and now you want to sell things? What are you trying to do?"

Neither of these two things is a good omen.

“There’s no use thinking about it,” Jiang Nuan sighed. “Let’s wait for your father to come and ask him next time.”

I always felt that Golden Fox was hiding something, which was why she had been avoiding me.

“I’ll go and ask around later,” Lai Zi said, burping as he stood up. “Auntie, you can talk to the village about the corvée labor, and I won’t get involved.”

If he were to actually say it, people would think it was retaliation.

Although he doesn't care about his reputation, he still doesn't want to take the blame for this.

“Okay,” Jiang Nuan agreed, “I’ll go and tell them.”

This is really bad timing; it would have been so much better if it had happened a day or two earlier.

The second wife encountered this unpleasant thing right after taking over; she's really unlucky.

Despite her grumbling, Jiang Nuan still went to find Old Man Huang and told him what had happened.

“Father,” Jiang Nuan said, “I also think the corvée labor should be resolved as soon as possible. If it is delayed, things will change. We are just ordinary people. We can only listen to what the higher-ups say. Even if they change their minds three times a day, we can only do as they say.”

“That makes sense, but,” Old Man Huang sighed, “there’s still work to be done in the fields. If everyone goes to work, who will do the weeding, catching insects, watering, and fertilizing? You women can’t do these things.”

"And another thing," Village Chief Huang added, "I've never heard of such a thing before. If we rashly ask the villagers to do this, they won't agree."

“It’s not a matter of whether we want to or not,” Jiang Nuan spread her hands, “but we have no choice. Labor service is a big deal. If we delay, we will be punished. This year, the whole village is sending people by household. If something happens, no family can escape responsibility.”