The crowd gathered in front of the house was larger than ever before, with people asking for beekeeping techniques and calligraphy from Yun Chu. Some even came with lanterns to queue up at the end, not as if they were just there to watch the show, but as if they were there to get a bargain.
Yun Ruoxia immediately sensed something was wrong. None of the people who came were good people, and each of them was carrying a piece of red paper. It wasn't harvest time yet, so they must have some ulterior motive.
As for what she was plotting, Yun Ruoxia immediately thought of the old lady she had met at the matchmaking corner in the city before the Lunar New Year when she accompanied Yun Ling to open some kind of online gambling site.
This refers to the fact that the head tax for unmarried women will increase from 120 to 600 this year. More importantly, if a family is poor and does not have the money to get married, wealthy households in the village can provide financial assistance.
Rich people! Rich people! Rich people!!!
Yun Ruoxia's face darkened at the sight of so many people!
"It's getting dark, so why don't you all go home first and discuss this again tomorrow? Wouldn't that be more appropriate?"
"Tomorrow? With so many of us around, who knows if you'll just slip away tonight?"
Zhang's gentle words were clearly no match for these wolves and tigers; Old Lady Lin could easily send her running back into the courtyard with a single roar.
"I don't need much. There's only one youngest son left in the family who isn't married yet. He's fallen for a young lady in the city. Her family is quite well-off, and they started preparing her dowry when she was very young. Our family can't let them outdo us. I've calculated it, and this is enough to prepare."
With unwavering composure, Old Lady Lin revealed the red paper. One end of the paper fell to the ground first, pulling out a roll of densely written red paper that left everyone speechless.
Old Lady Yun stomped on the red paper that had rolled to her feet, her anger rising rapidly.
"Your mouth is so wide open, two mice could crawl in."
“Hua’er’s mother, what are you saying? The young ladies in the city have more than this as dowry. If our family didn’t have this much, how could we get married? And this isn’t much either. I did a quick count, and this is less than a hundred strings of cash.”
"Oh, so you're not here to get married, you're here to buy goods from us, right? It's still cold outside, you'd better not lose face."
“Hua’er’s mother, you don’t need to say such harsh things. Your family is capable of making money, buying cotton and building houses. Even if each household were to give us a hundred strings of cash, we wouldn’t be poor.”
Old Lady Yun immediately looked at the broom by the door. She had no interest in arguing with these shameless people, so she simply swept them away with the broom to settle things.
The others who accompanied Lin were overjoyed when they heard that Lin had asked for a price of one hundred strings of cash. They wished they could use three strings of cash to marry off their sons and keep the remaining ninety-seven strings in their pockets. Even if they didn't work for four or five years, they could still eat well and dress warmly.
So he chimed in, saying:
"That's right, that's right. I've seen Sister Xia go to the city almost every day. Heaven knows how many copper coins she brings back. As the saying goes, it is more blessed to give than to receive. If you give us all your money, you'll surely earn back a hundred or a thousand times more copper coins."
“Who says otherwise? Hua’er’s mother also believes in this cycle of cause and effect. Your family helped us, which is a great act of kindness. Even if you die, you will be a god in heaven and be spared the suffering of hell.”
"One hundred strings of cash isn't much, really. We have to pay for the betrothal, the banquet, and bribe people. We might even have to pay some of it out of our own pockets."
"..."
Old Lady Yun had a fiery temper to begin with, and hearing these shameless words, she grabbed a broom and swept it straight at the group of people, striking them with incredible speed and precision.
Seeing this, Yun Ruoxia, who was not far away, also clapped her hands. Xin'an had also learned this skill. If she encountered this situation again, she could use this method to solve the problem quickly and easily.
But Old Lady Lin, whose face was covered in dust, was not about to give up. She wiped her face with one hand, put her hands on her hips, and cursed:
"You, Madam Pan, are going against the county magistrate's orders and defying the Emperor's decree. You will be thrown in jail, or even your whole family will be executed."
"Since you value money so much, then we don't want the money. We'll take this to the county government and have you and your whole family imprisoned. Let's see if you're still so smug then."
Old Lady Lin's words intimidated everyone present, but they couldn't intimidate Yunling.
Yunling jumped off the donkey cart, ran to the front of her house, and said:
"Grandma Lin just said that my grandmother disobeyed the county magistrate's orders and defied the emperor's decree. I don't know what orders she disobeyed or what decree she defied."
For some reason, when facing Yunling, Old Lady Lin felt a little flustered. She didn't know how her family could produce such a clever and mischievous little devil, who was also very talkative, just like a little devil, making her annoying and repulsive.
But in order to show off and get the hundred strings of silver, she still gritted her teeth and retorted:
"The county magistrate is following the decree of the current emperor, which states that any villager who is too poor to find a wife can be helped by the wealthy households in the village. Anyone who disobeys will be imprisoned."
Yunling nodded and calmly replied:
"Is your family very poor? So poor that you can't even afford to eat?"
"right."
Old Lady Lin wasn't afraid of a response. The definition of being starving was based on her words. If they really came to her house, she wouldn't mind putting on a tantrum in front of everyone. Then she'd see what they could do to her.
Yunling didn't intend to do anything to her; she only wanted to get the person back as soon as possible.
"Grandma Lin must remember these words, and everyone else here must also remember them. The county magistrate said that if a village is so poor that it cannot find a wife, the wealthy households in the village can provide financial assistance. Anyone who disobeys will go to jail."
Those present nodded in agreement.
Yunling continued:
“But if the people in the village are pretending to be poor and unable to find wives, and they also trick the rich households in the village into giving them money, they will also go to jail. Sister, quickly take out your pen and write these people down. Tomorrow, go and ask the village chief if they are so poor that they can’t even afford to eat.”
Yun Chu nodded in agreement. Many people began to get restless and wanted to leave, but Lin Laoniang's words calmed them down.
"I don't see what's wrong with saying we're so poor we can't even afford to eat. Our family has several branches, and the branch where the bride is getting married is the one that can't afford to eat. Is there anything wrong with that?"
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