That evening, Zheng Qingshu and Tie Qingfeng ate at the Zhou family's house. Zhao Guihua specially killed a chicken and a rabbit, and asked Zhao Guizhi to make braised pork with bayberries and spicy rabbit head. Zheng Qingshu and Tie Qingfeng were very pleased, and they basically finished both dishes.
"His culinary skills are superb, comparable to the chef in my Zheng family." Zheng Qingshu was referring to the head chef of the Zheng family in the capital, not the chef in the government office.
Zhao Guizhi was pleased by the praise, which gave her even more confidence in opening the tavern in the county town.
After eating and drinking to their hearts' content, Zheng Qingfeng took the Sweet Potato King with him when he left, which made Xingxing stomp her feet in anger. "I'm so angry! The Sweet Potato King that I dug up with great difficulty was just taken away like this. I'm so angry!"
"Don't be upset, don't be upset, we still have plenty of sweet potatoes at home, we won't have to worry about not having enough to eat," Zhao Guihua comforted her.
"It's a pity we still have to pay taxes, 60% of which we have to hand over, leaving only 40% for ourselves." Zhou Erfu's face was a bit sour, but he was helpless.
“Brothers, you must pass the imperial examinations in the future. This way you can be exempt from land taxes and corvée labor. Otherwise, our whole family will work ourselves to the bone, only to have to pay a large portion of it in taxes in the end.” The teacher said that passing the imperial examinations would exempt a lot of land taxes, and Xingxing remembers it all.
Chow Tai Fook wholeheartedly agreed, "Big Brother will definitely work hard, just wait and see."
Zhou Sanfu nodded slightly, "At the earliest, it will be three years before we can take the imperial examination, and only those who pass the county-level examination will be exempt from land tax."
The task is arduous and the road ahead is long.
Within two days, officials came to the village and took away the sweet potatoes and the sweet potato vines used for planting. The oxcarts were filled with them and transported back to the county town. A few days later, they came to collect the dried rice. After paying the taxes, the remaining grain was only enough for everyone to last until the summer harvest next year.
They usually have to eat sparingly, so the villagers will all go up the mountain to pick more wild fruits and mushrooms to fill the gap in their food supply.
After the villagers of Yegou Village had cleared the land and planted the sweet potatoes, Zheng Qingshu came again. This time, he brought seeds that no one had ever seen before. It was said that these seeds were also drought-resistant and high-yielding.
"These are corn seeds, not many. You can distribute the seeds and each family can plant them in their own backyard or other nearby dry land for easy care. This batch of corn cannot be eaten as food; we need to cultivate the seeds first," Zheng Qingshu said to the village chief.
The village chief tentatively asked, "Are these corn seeds available in every village?"
"Only your village got the corn seeds. These seeds were hard to come by. The foreigners wouldn't sell us more, so we had to cultivate enough seeds ourselves." Therefore, Yegou Village bore a heavy responsibility.
The village chief felt immense pressure. The seeds, which had been bought at a high price from the foreigners, had to be taken good care of. If anything went wrong, he feared he would be punished by the authorities.
However, if they succeed, they will also receive credit. At the very least, their village will get more corn seeds and be among the first to taste the corn.
"Uncle Village Chief, is Uncle Village Chief home?" Xingxing's sweet little voice came from outside the door. The little girl's voice was slightly raised, and her excitement was obvious.
"Uncle Village Chief, Xingxing brought you melons. We ate some yesterday, and they were so delicious! Let me tell you..." Xingxing started chattering away before she even saw anyone, but she stopped when she entered the courtyard and saw Zheng Qingshu.
The little girl's dark eyes darted around, and she realized that she was in a bad situation. She had come at the worst possible time. How had she run into the magistrate again?
No, she couldn't let him see her big melon. The little girl turned around and was about to run back, but it was too late. Zhou Erfu had already walked in carrying a big melon.
"Second Brother, run! Someone's going to steal the melon!" Xingxing was still making a last-ditch effort, hoping that Zheng Qingshu hadn't seen the big melon.
Unfortunately, the melon was really too big. As soon as Zhou Erfu came in, Zheng Qingshu noticed the big melon. His expression changed, and he stood up abruptly, his voice trembling slightly, "Pumpkin, how did you get a pumpkin? Where did you get it?"
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