When he got home, he discovered that his clothes were frozen solid, and Su Dalang kept sneezing and rubbing his nose.

Seeing this, the old lady quickly pulled the three brothers to the stove and warmed them by the fire.

The daughters-in-law also brought clothes for their husbands, boiled hot water to wash their faces and hands, and changed their clothes.

Grandma Su was extremely anxious, seeing that her precious child's trouser legs were all wet.

"Oh dear, what happened? It's all wet, what if you catch a cold?"

He then turned to Su Laosan and scolded, "It's so cold, the river is frozen over. How can you take the child to the riverbank in such cold weather?"

Su Sanlang nodded, "I won't go next time."

They changed into clean clothes before quickly eating their meal.

Su Sanlang said to his mother, "I'll go to the market in town first thing tomorrow morning. See if there's anything you need at home, and I'll buy it. New Year's Day is coming soon, and we need to prepare the New Year's goods for the family."

"Okay, let me think about it first, and I'll tell you everything when I've thought it through..."

the next day

Before dawn, Su Sanlang got up early to check on the fish in the kitchen. Seeing the fish still jumping around in the large wooden tub, he was finally relieved.

Last night, fearing the fish would freeze to death, they specially put some firewood in the stove and slowly boiled a large pot of water.

The fish were kept in a large wooden tub in the kitchen, because we were worried that the water would freeze and the fish would die at night.

When the group arrived in town, they found that there were more people than usual, probably because it was the end of the year and everyone was at the market to buy New Year's goods.

Most of the people in Taoliu Village came to the market to sell their fish today, since they had caught so many fish yesterday.

Su Sanlang turned around and saw the tax collector again, and sighed inwardly.

Quickly pick up the two not-so-small live fish and give them to the tax collector.

This time, they didn't just come to occupy a spot; their cart also took up quite a lot of space.

If you don't build good relationships with these people, they can kick you out in a heartbeat.

The imperial court levied many taxes, including fishing tax, city entry tax, household tax, commercial tax, and vehicle and horse tax.

Because their town is a small town, there is no such thing as a "city entry tax".

However, there are other taxes as well, and the city tax is mandatory, but the fishing tax and vehicle tax depend on the circumstances.

After all, the fishing tax is mainly paid by those who make a living by fishing; only fishermen living along the river have to pay this tax.

Although they catch their own fish and sell them at the market, if things get serious, they really have to pay the difference, so maintaining good relationships is quite important.

"The fish sellers from Taoliu Village are here again."

A man in his forties, Xiang Zhi, walked over expressionlessly and pointed to the fish on the ground.

"Now that you've opened your business, it's time to pay your taxes."

Su Laosan quickly responded with a smile, took out 18 coins and handed them to the village head, and then took out the two fish that he had already prepared and handed them over.

"Sir, it's almost the festival, and we don't have anything good at home. This is something fresh that we specially saved for you. Please have a taste."

The village head didn't stand on ceremony, reached out and took it, then gestured to the person next to him and said to Su Sanlang, "This is my colleague, he is in charge of fishing taxes."

Su Sanlang, quick-witted and agile, swiftly took out two more of the same size and handed them to the person next to him.

"It's just a small token of my appreciation. I only caught some fish in the river because it's almost the end of the year and I wanted to sell them to supplement my family's income."

Yu Zhi readily accepted it, saying, "Okay, I understand, but this won't happen again."

After seeing the two off, Su Sanlang finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The other villagers weren't as cunning as Su Sanlang; they basically collected two taxes.

Just as Su Sanlang was still hawking his wares, the rich man who had bought fish earlier walked over with a protruding belly.

"Oh, you're selling fish again? Do you have any fish as big as last time? Fresh ones are preferred, as we're having a family ancestral worship ceremony soon, and we'll need them."

"Yes, yes, yes! Look at this one, it weighs over 100 pounds, and it's still alive!"

The rich man nodded repeatedly upon seeing this, clearly very satisfied.

"I'll take all of these, give me a discount."

Su Sanlang replied shrewdly, "What are you saying? We're a regular customer, of course we can't charge you too much."

In the end, the fish sold for more than ten taels of silver.

Su Sanlang and his men were beaming with joy. This one fish alone, weighing 120 jin, sold for 10 liang and 8 qian.

The three Su brothers didn't pack up and push their cart home until all the fish had been sold.

I originally wanted to buy more New Year's goods to take back, but seeing how crowded it is, I thought I'd bring my mother over next time and sell them together.

When Grandma Su saw the three brothers return and noticed they hadn't bought anything, she assumed the fish hadn't sold, and finally asked, "How much did you make?"

"Mom hasn't ordered it yet."

Su Sanlang placed the money bag on the table, and the three brothers gathered together to start counting the money.

"The total is 14 taels and 30 cash."

"Our family is about to strike it rich, hehe _(:d)∠)_"

Su Sanlang smiled smugly: "If those two fish hadn't died, there might have been even more."

The brothers handed the money directly to Old Mrs. Su.

The old lady smiled as she held the money bag, took two taels of silver from it and gave each of the three brothers two taels, and then gave Xiao Fubao two taels as well.

Feeling quite pleased with himself, he took the remaining money and went back to his room.

When Su Sanlang received the two taels of silver from his mother, he thought of giving some to Fu Bao.

Unexpectedly, my own mother also gave Fu Bao two taels of silver. Well then, I won't give her any more. After all, my little darling is still young, and I can't keep too much money on me.

Both Su Erlang and Su Sanlang carried heavy copper coins, and their steps became much lighter.

Su Dalang remained expressionless, wondering whether he should give some of the money to Meijuan.

The beautiful woman Su Dalang brought back from outside was named Qin Meijuan.

Qin Meijuan said she was from the capital, and her family fell into poverty because they were framed by villains.

She returned here, originally intending only to live a peaceful and uneventful life, but unexpectedly, her parents passed away not long after, leaving her alone in this world.

As fate would have it, Su Dalang ran into Qin Meijuan after work that day. She was being harassed by someone, and that's how the story of the hero saving the beauty and winning her heart unfolded.

Qin Meijuan felt that finding an honest and hardworking farmer to spend her life with would be a good choice.

In addition, Chen Dalang was kind-hearted and honest.

Even knowing that he had divorced another woman and had two sons, Qin Meijuan still agreed to marry this simple-minded farmer.

She had thought that the Su family would accept her, a woman of unknown origin, but to her surprise, the family was kind and kept her without asking any questions.

At this moment, Old Mrs. Su approached Qin Meijuan and asked, "Are you really planning to marry my eldest son? After the marriage, you'll have to be a stepmother to two children. Do you think that's acceptable? If my eldest son marries you, he'll be doing well."

Qin Meijuan blushed and nodded with her head down.