Chapter 133 Communication
It is impossible for the yamen runners to go to the countryside to collect taxes, no matter how hard they try, especially since the mountain roads in this area are difficult to travel on.
However, although the yamen runners did not go to the countryside to collect taxes, they still had to preach, and the responsibility of preaching fell on the head of the village.
It's just the same old tune again. The autumn tax must be paid by the end of October. Although there is nearly two months before and after, the sooner you pay it, the sooner you can feel at ease.
The Zhou family prepared the grain tax early, packed it into bags and placed it in carts and baskets.
This year their family has a cart, which makes life a little easier than in previous years.
For safety on the road, all the villagers had to go together to pay their grain. In previous years, only the village chief's family had a cart, and other families put the grain in baskets and carried them to the county town. Some families had to hire donkey carts or ox carts to transport the grain because of their small population, otherwise they might not be able to move all the grain even after two or three trips.
There are many males in the Zhou family, so Zhou Dalang takes his three younger brothers with him, and each of them carries two baskets.
This is how Zhou Silang went to the county town last year. He had just returned from helping a white landlord and had not had time to hand in his wages, so he took them to the county town. While queuing up to pay the grain, he couldn't help but give the grain to his three brothers to look after, and he went to squander it himself. This squandering of money cost the Zhou family all their fortune.
This year, neither Qian nor Old Zhou wanted him to go to the county town, but Manbao suggested it, and she also promised to keep a close eye on him. Qian thought about it and felt that there was no reason to guard against thieves all day long, so she let Zhou Silang go. She also wanted to see if this kid would still gamble.
With a cart, the Zhou family no longer has to carry heavy loads, but pushing the cart on the mountain road is also very tiring, so Zhou Dalang thought of bringing Wulang with him, and everyone took turns. However, since the fourth and sixth brothers were going, it would be better to give this heavy work to the fourth brother.
Zhou Silang and his third brother pushed the cart up the hill with great effort, and then Zhou Erlang took over the cart and said, "Okay, my eldest brother and I will do the next part."
Zhou Silang: ...Intentional, they must have done it on purpose.
Manbao sat on the cart. As the cart went down the slope, its speed increased, and there were gusts of wind blowing in her face. She screamed with joy and didn't pay any attention to her fourth brother.
When the group arrived at the county town, they parted ways at the city gate. Zhou Dalang, Zhou Erlang and Zhou Sanlang went to queue up to pay taxes together, while Zhou Silang and his friends went to sell things.
Manbao took them directly to Jishidiang to get two baskets of ginger.
Manager Zheng from Jishidiang was also at the counter. He had been communicating with Manbao a lot over the past six months.
Yes, it was correspondence. Actually, it started with Manbao writing letters to him, and he replied in a daze. Then, they became pen pals.
Every time Zhou Erlang or Zhou Wulang came to the county town, they would bring him a letter, and then take a letter back from him. Although they were not far apart, and what they wanted to say could also be conveyed through Zhou Erlang or Zhou Wulang, they just had the habit of writing letters, which was also a very wonderful experience.
Long before the autumn harvest, Zhou Wulang sent a letter to Manager Zheng when he came to the county town to sell sugar. The letter said that the ginger she planted was about to be harvested, and asked him if he wanted to eat it or buy some.
Today, Manbao came to give ginger to Shopkeeper Zheng, not to sell it to him, but to give it to him to eat. Then he recommended: "Brother Zheng, if your patients want to buy ginger to make tea in the future, remember to tell him that I have a lot of fresh ginger at home. It is the spiciest and most delicious tea made with it."
Shopkeeper Zheng accepted the ginger she gave him and nodded to indicate it was okay. "I was just about to tell you, our pharmacy is going to get a batch of dried ginger. Why don't you leave ten pounds of old ginger for me to dry? I think your ginger is of good quality. If they're all similar, I'll give you sixty coins per pound of dried ginger."
Zhou Xi clenched his hands in surprise, but Man Bao responded as if it was normal: "Okay."
Then, Shopkeeper Zheng took her out the back door of the pharmacy and knocked on the door next door. A young man of about eighteen or nineteen opened the door. Shopkeeper Zheng smiled and said, "Look, this is the Xiao Ding I mentioned to you. His family owns a grocery store, and he's also a peddler. He's the best person to sell your ginger to."
Xiao Ding greeted Zhou Silang with a smile, then looked down at Man Bao and said with a smile: "Your sister is so cute."
Manbao also grinned and said, "I think so too. Brother Xiaoding, how much can you pay for our ginger?"
Xiao Ding glanced at Zhou Silang and Zhou Xi. Seeing that they didn't mind Man Bao talking, he replied, "Thirty-five coins a pound, including the leaves."
He said, "A lot of ginger is ready to be harvested now. Yours is of good quality, so I'm willing to pay this price. I'll only raise the price by a few cents. If you're willing, please send me a basket to the county town every day."
Zhou Xi asked, "Can you sell so many every day?"
Xiao Ding laughed and said, "There are quite a few wealthy families in the county town. They always add ginger to their meat and tea, so ginger is a condiment. Unlike us country folk, we only have meat during festivals and can't afford tea, so ginger is considered a rarity."
Zhou Xi didn't dare to ask any more questions.
Manbao pulled Zhou Silang over and whispered to him, "I've asked Shopkeeper Zheng. Ginger is quite expensive out there right now, selling for between 40 and 50 wen at the market. If you don't have time to come and sell it yourself, I think it's best to sell it to him."
Zhou Silang was reluctant to give up the price difference of five to ten wen, and whispered, "You can make a lot of money per catty."
Manbao didn't care, "Mother won't agree to let you come to the county alone, and Mr. Bai's family needs work, so you have to go to work."
This was really not good news. Zhou Silang lowered his head and said, "Okay, sell it, but we'll only sell one basket today. We'll take the rest to the market."
Manbao said it was no problem.
After asking Zhou Xi, the brother and sister each gave him half a basket of ginger, weighed it and then asked for money. Zhou Xi took the money and followed them out in a daze.
Zhou Silang took the remaining ginger to the market to set up a stall, and Zhou Xi followed him.
But Manbao put some into a basket beside him and planned to go find another friend.
Zhou Silang saw this and stopped setting up his stall. He simply closed it up and said, "Maybe it's a big customer. I'll go with you."
Zhou Wulang was disgusted, "With so many people here, what if the young lady gets scared?"
Zhou Xi quickly asked, "What Miss?" Aren't the people who buy groceries usually adults?
"It's the county magistrate's daughter. Manbao said he would bring her some good things, and they even agreed to meet at the bookstore." It was Zhou Wulang who helped deliver the letter last time. Because they had to rush the autumn harvest, Zhou Wulang sold Miss Fu Er a hundred candies at once and asked her to eat them slowly.
Zhou Wulang thought that Miss Fu Er’s teeth were quite strong as she was not hurt at all after eating so much candy.
I went for an injection today, so I'm late.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
