Chapter 103 Chapter 103 He couldn't bear it.
When Zhang Jingxian found Grain Officer Weng, she felt a little embarrassed. However, after Grain Officer Weng knew the purpose of her visit, he was very straightforward and directly gave her the document regarding the autumn tax.
Zhang Jingxian didn't quite understand at first, so he stroked his beard and explained each line to her one by one.
Mrs. Zheng, the old wife of Weng Liangguan, sat beside them, slowly baking a few greasy mutton patties.
Zhang Jingxian did not go to the house of Weng Liangguan empty-handed. The mutton used to make cakes was brought from her house, and there was also a ceramic jar of pickled fish.
After she roughly understood the name of the autumn tax, the mutton patties were baked.
Mrs. Zheng smiled and asked her to eat the meat pie. Zhang Jingxian did not refuse and ate it in big mouthfuls while it was still hot. The meat pie tasted very delicious and she kept squinting her eyes.
But after a while, the children of Weng Liangguan and Madam Zheng came to visit them with their families. More than a dozen people came in, and at this time, Zhang Jingxian could no longer stay.
She stood up and said goodbye to the grain official Weng and Mrs. Zheng, carefully placed the autumn tax documents on her body, and walked a few meters under the curious and burning gazes of more than a dozen people.
The delicious taste of the meat pie lingered on her tongue. Zhang Jingxian stopped for some reason and shamelessly asked Mrs. Zheng for another one.
While listening to the explanation of the grain official Weng, she saw that Mrs. Zheng added some pepper to the meat pie, which made it taste slightly spicy.
Mrs. Zheng readily agreed. She was very thoughtful and took out a smaller ceramic jar, put the meat pie in it and handed it to Zhang Jingxian to keep it warm.
Holding the pottery jar, Zhang Jingxian sincerely thanked the white-haired old lady.
She led the foal and slowly disappeared from the sight of Weng Liangguan and his family.
"Father, Mother, is she really the envoy's wife? She doesn't look like one. Shouldn't the envoy's wife be surrounded by servants and be elegant and regal?"
"Yes, big brother, you are right. I think the only valuable thing on her body is a jade hairpin. She doesn't even have a carriage."
"Father and Mother, what is the Envoy's wife doing here? Why did she even ask for two meat patties before leaving?"
"I heard that she was just a commoner before, and her background was far inferior to ours, not to mention the Zheng family where she and my mother were born and raised."
Zhang Jingxian didn't know that after she left, a group of people were talking about her, from her background to her dress, and the words they used were not friendly.
However, the first person to shout down the question was the seemingly kind-looking Madam Zheng. She told her children to shut up, "In ancient times, Yi Yin was a slave but was appointed prime minister by the King of Shang. You guys keep saying the word 'Zheng' all the time, but you haven't achieved anything!"
"That's the truth." Grain Officer Weng agreed while eating a meat pie.
"Mother, Father, we were just chatting casually. We rushed over as soon as we heard the news to show our respect to the envoy's wife."
The group of people looked embarrassed, but they didn't care in their hearts. But if they could talk to Zhang Jingxian, wasn't that the purpose of their rushing out?
…
Riding on the pony's back, Zhang Jingxian returned to the mansion in just a quarter of an hour.
When she walked from the stable to the front hall, Shu Jian had already left, and Gong Chengyue was not there either. Instead, there were three or five unfamiliar officials who were reporting something to Xie Yun. When they saw her, they immediately stopped strangely.
Zhang Jingxian ignored it and placed the still-hot pottery jar in front of Xie Yun. She went back to the shorter and narrower desk and opened the document that Weng Liangguan had given her and began to read it.
"What's in the pottery jar?" Xie Yun's eyes fell on her the moment she entered the door. After taking a look around, he asked her softly.
Those officials seemed to be ignored by him.
"The meat pie baked by Madam Zheng is still hot." The mutton was taken from her house, and there was no money or silk to buy it, so Zhang Jingxian "asked" for one for him.
Her expression was calm and composed, as if she was discussing serious business matters.
Meatloaf, hot.
When Xie Yun heard her words, he lost his mind in front of several officials, and his thoughts drifted back to that quiet night. He actually lied to her.
That day, before it got dark, he left the small fenced yard and waited in the woods with a simple candlestick.
By the time he realized what was happening, the moon was already high in the sky. He was always so proud that he couldn't help but spit on himself. His face was very cold and ugly. He simply couldn't believe that there would be a day when he would miss someone uncontrollably.
That person was just a peasant girl who couldn't be found even in a crowd.
But even though he was filled with anger, he did not turn back. Instead, he kept waiting, kept listening, and kept trying in vain to identify the outline of a person in the darkness.
It was a dark night, and he could faintly hear her voice talking to someone, followed by the sound of light footsteps. All of Xie Yun's anger and disdain faded away in an instant, and his heart softened.
He was sure that she wanted to see him.
The result made Xie Yun satisfied, and she even smiled heartily, because her silly look obviously showed that she was surprised and happy by his sudden appearance, and there were tears in her eyes.
He opened the earthenware jar, took out a meat pie from it without caring about the heat or his manners, and began to eat it as if no one was around.
After taking the first bite, the spicy taste of pepper rushed into his throat. Xie Yun paused, feeling a slight sourness in his heart.
He couldn't help but look at the peasant girl.
She sat behind the desk, staring at a page of paper intently with a serious expression. Although she had only learned to read for less than half a year, she seemed to be more serious than everyone else here.
Xie Yun was fascinated, chewing her mouthful by mouthful, savoring his favorite flavor, his bottomless black eyes wanting to swallow her into his stomach.
The room was quiet for a while, no one spoke.
But gradually, some officials lost their patience. They came to report important matters to the envoy, but what was wrong with the envoy staring at his wife and ignoring them?
However, no one dared to directly remind the envoy.
Over the course of a few years, almost all the officials in Changling were purged. When the envoy wanted to punish someone, he would never show mercy and would use cruel methods, sometimes even sparing old family friends.
"Madam, are you looking at the documents for the autumn tax? Do you have any doubts?" The impatient man shifted his attention to Zhang Jingxian, with a forced smile and a sarcastic attitude.
Can a commoner like you understand the autumn tax?
"Well, here, the tax amount for the land here is exactly the same as in previous years, but the Ding tax has increased. Have you sent someone to investigate on the spot?" Zhang Jingxian really pointed out a suspicious point. After becoming a Ding, one would get his own land according to the rules, and the land tax should increase along with the Ding tax.
"Maybe there are only so many good farmlands down there, and there's no point in dividing them up." The person who asked the question answered casually, not taking it seriously.
"Maybe? You're using an unproven answer to evade such a serious matter as the land tax." Zhang Jingxian looked up at him, the gleam in her eyes unmistakable. "Did Changling keep you here so you could serve the envoy and the world with endless 'maybe's'?"
Seeing the gentle and easy-going woman display her aggressiveness in front of everyone for the first time, her calm tone was actually frightening to the ears.
The official being questioned was in a trance for a moment and subconsciously looked at the envoy's reaction. When he saw a happy smile in the envoy's eyes, cold sweat poured down his face.
The lady’s intention is the lord’s intention.
"I wonder which areas, Madam, have noticed discrepancies in the land and capitation taxes? We will go investigate immediately."
He suppressed his contempt. Zhang Jingxian glanced at him, her expression remaining calm. "For now, there are only two counties. When you investigate, you must find out if there are any women who haven't been allocated land."
Zhang Jingxian remembered that it was only with the concerted efforts of her uncle and others that she was able to securely obtain the twenty acres of land that belonged to her.
Although half of the land is in the deserted mountains, my uncle said that the head of Xishan Village is a fair and kind person, because women from other places cannot even get one acre of land.
The village head and village elders refused to allocate land to them, but the tax they collected would not be reduced.
When Zhang Jingxian noticed that the amounts of land tax and poll tax were a bit strange, she immediately remembered what her uncle had said.
If she were a mayfly trapped in Changling, she felt that helping other mayflies would be more meaningful than sewing headbands in frustration every day.
Perhaps God would see her actions and show mercy to her and let this insignificant little mayfly live on in this world.
Zhang Jingxian didn't want to die, and she also wanted to do the things she had wanted to do but didn't do in her previous life.
She was a humble peasant girl, but she was willing to work hard to make life less difficult and more dignified for those who were considered "lowly" in the eyes of the superior aristocrats.
Even if it's just a few people.
She was lost in thought, and when she came to her senses, Xie Yun had sat down beside her and taken the document from her hand.
After noticing the discrepancy in the tax amount, he casually pointed his finger and said that Yanping County was very close to Changling County. "Ah Xian, do you want to go and investigate in person?"
He leaned sideways and asked her.
Zhang Jingxian's eyes widened instantly, and she asked in disbelief, "Are you willing to let me leave Changling?"
Of course she wanted to go there in person, not only to experience the power he talked about, but also to avoid him for a while.
He stayed in Changling and she went to Yanping County. During the time they were separated, it would be easy for Zhang Jingxian to escape as long as she made up her mind not to care about her cousin and villagers in the Beifu Army.
"Of course I do. Ah Xian is already my wife, as announced to heaven and earth. Do you think I'd be afraid that you'd run away?" Xie Yun smiled, and his long, oily fingers gently rested on the tip of her nose.
He sighed, and the light-colored mole seemed to have become much brighter.
Zhang Jingxian looked up at him, her breathing became disordered. This was another temptation that could not be refused. He dared to throw it to her... and she dared to accept it.
"I want to go!"
After she said these words loudly, the smile in Xie Yun's eyes deepened slightly, "Okay."
He would find someone to accompany her, someone who made him feel most at ease.
The next day, before Shu Jian had time to return to Jiankang, Zhang Jingxian packed her luggage and left the house, leading the lively colt.
The yellow warbler did not leave with her this time. The weather was getting colder, and it was too lazy to fly around anymore. There was no shortage of charcoal in Changling's mansion, so it could adapt better.
Fortunately, its human friend explained to it seriously that its departure was only temporary and it would come back in perhaps three to five days.
Weng the grain official was too old to go with her, so apart from the officials from yesterday, there were only a dozen or so soldiers accompanying her.
Among them were Wei and Yi Yu, people she was more familiar with. When Zhang Jingxian saw them, a bright and cheerful smile appeared on her face, and she felt extremely happy.
She was still planning in her mind that once the official business in Yanping County was finished, she would take advantage of Xie Yun's absence to find a fellow villager and send another letter to her uncle and aunt.
"Is there anyone who is not good at riding a horse?" When Zhang Jingxian saw a carriage outside, she suspected that it was prepared for the official she questioned yesterday.
Judging from his appearance, he seems to be used to a life of luxury and can't stand the bumpy ride on horseback.
No one answered her question.
Zhang Jingxian pursed her lips, feeling a little strange, but the next moment, the facts confirmed her intuition.
The carriage door opened, and she was stunned when she met a pair of deep black eyes. Didn’t he say that he was not afraid that she would run away?
"Ah Xian, I won't interfere with what you want to do, but I can't stand not seeing you when I wake up." Xie Yun said lightly, without lying to her.
"Ah Xian, my legs hurt."
The nightmares he had every night became the most vicious torture for Xie Yun. Only when he opened his eyes and saw her lying obediently in his arms could he endure the severe pain of his head and heart exploding.
But if he couldn't see her, just thinking about her, the blood in Xie Yun's body would freeze and solidify, and he would become a real, uncontrollable madman.
Kill people, seal off the entire Changling, find her, seek help from ghosts and gods... For a moment, Xie Shijun, who never panicked, didn't know what he would do next.
Her presence allows him to distinguish between dreams and reality, but when she is not around, he will mistake dreams for reality.
Can't stand it? Leg pain?
When Zhang Jingxian heard this, she really couldn't imagine that he could say such words, especially since she was not the only one who heard it. But they could pretend nothing happened, but she couldn't.
She was afraid that if he continued, she would lose face, so she glared at him quietly, and uttered a sound through her lips, "Don't say another word."
She was angry and depressed, so her tone was cold.
Xie Yun smiled and stretched out a hand towards her from the carriage.
Zhang Jingxian turned around and led the colt to the back with a calm expression. She felt that he was lying to her, even though it hurt her to death. It didn't rain today.
"Ah Xian, I let you go once last night." Xie Yun's arms were still stretched out, and she spoke calmly. Without his kindness last night, she would definitely not be able to ride a horse today.
In fact, he has always been very tolerant of her and has never tortured her.
The soldiers around lowered their heads. Zhang Jingxian also saw the official from yesterday hurriedly step back several steps. She patted the colt, asked it to follow the black horse, and stepped into the carriage.
Xie Yun held her hand.
Zhang Jingxian struggled a few times but failed to break free, so she let him do what he wanted.
When she gets the chance in the future, she will still leave him without hesitation and shake off his hand.
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The author has something to say: Muah, here I come~
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