"I understand, thank you, Uncle." Qiao Lian'er was somewhat touched.
These past few days have been turbulent, and it's definitely not a good time to rent a shop, so she hasn't been in a hurry to hang up any signs.
We only have a little over twenty taels of silver left at home, which is just enough to give those people an explanation.
"This shop is much bigger," Qiao Zhizhi said as she entered the shop.
It was at least a third bigger, and there was a small partition on top, so it was like a small warehouse for storing things.
Qiao Lian'er knew that 300 taels was already an emergency price; otherwise, she could have sold it for 330 taels, or even a little more.
After locking the shop again, Qiao Lian'er drove the carriage to the abandoned courtyard.
"Move all this grain into the warehouse and lock it up," Qiao Lian'er said. "These are just a few poor children; those people won't come here again."
Ah Da and the others quickly got to work.
"Sister Lian'er, are those people coming to your village?"
"Yes, we're almost there."
“Sister Lian’er did the right thing. Those people are like robbers. We can’t let them get away with it.”
The children were busy, two of them carrying one bag, and A-Da even asked Xiao-Wu to watch over them in the alley, away from people's eyes.
After a long day of work, everyone was panting, and Qiao Lian'er rewarded each of them with a string of candied hawthorns.
The children licked the candied hawthorns, their faces beaming with joy.
After noon, Lingyin's family sold out of kimchi, so they found a restaurant to eat at before heading home.
When they arrived at the entrance to Lingjia Village, they saw a large amount of grain piled up there, sacks stacked into a small mountain. The servants kept pushing oxcarts to the entrance, the carts loaded with grain.
A row of large horse-drawn carriages was parked on the road, so large that they couldn't even fit through the village road. The servants had to move the grain onto the carriages.
"They were too fast," Qiu said with lingering fear. "If we had been even half a day slower, all the money and grain in our house would have been looted."
It seems that it was that girl Lian'er who saved their family again.
Qiu was deeply moved.
"They've stolen so much grain, and now they're going to steal silver too. How are ordinary people supposed to live?" Ling Yin said angrily.
Judging from the situation, at least 70% of the goods have been stolen from each household.
"The higher-ups' requirement is to collect half, but in practice, how could they possibly let go of this opportunity to skim off the top? Whatever they grab is theirs," Qiao Lian'er said.
Da Yong: "A petty thief or scoundrel."
“You can’t be so heartless. We have 3,000 catties of rice, and you took more than 2,000 catties. How are we supposed to survive with more than a dozen people like us?”
“Our family takes 2,000 catties, and you take more than 1,000 catties. Is there no justice in this world?”
“Our family has four thousand catties of grain, and you took three thousand catties. After paying the grain tax, twenty people will starve. The authorities ordered you to take half, but you took seven or eight tenths of it. You also took all the silver, leaving only a few copper coins. This has cut off our way of survival.”
"If you are unrighteous, don't blame us for being unjust."
Shouts of resistance rose from all sides, and then about thirty men carrying sticks and machetes rushed toward the servants.
They felt wronged and resentful, but were determined to go all out.
"Give us back our grain."
With a cold laugh, the leader waved his hand, and the servants drew swords from the oxcarts and horse-drawn carriages. These specialized swords were incredibly sharp, gleaming as they were carried.
There was a special team guarding this place, about a hundred people, all of whom were armed with swords, and they all drew their swords in unison.
The villagers were surrounded by more than a hundred people. They were outnumbered and had not received any special training. They were no match for the group and were quickly beaten to the ground, with broken arms and limping legs, howling in pain.
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