"You keep an eye on things," Jiang Nuan suddenly stood up. "If I'm not mistaken, there will be a lot of people selling cabbages later. You and Xiao San keep an eye on them and buy as many as you can. I'm going out for a bit."
"Mother, where are you going?"
Jiang Nuan didn't turn around, "Your uncle."
When Jiang Nuan arrived at Village Chief Huang's house, she did not see the group of people she had imagined.
Sensing the doubt in Jiang Nuan's eyes, Sister-in-law Huang explained, "Everyone in the village has gone to the clan chief's house. Such an important matter as military service is not something your elder brother, as the village chief, can decide."
Ultimately, the clan leader holds the most power.
"Did my eldest brother go too? Where's Father?"
“They’re all not here,” Sister-in-law Huang sighed. “This year’s corvée labor is really killing us. Such a big matter needs to be discussed properly.”
Originally, she had planned to spend two taels of silver to let her son rest for a year, but unexpectedly the amount was doubled.
Last year we bought two acres of land. Although we had some savings, it was less than ten taels of silver in total. We spent four taels of silver at once. What will we do if we encounter a disaster or illness?
However, she only had one son, and she couldn't just stand by and watch him die. Even though it pained her, she had no choice but to pay the money.
“Sister-in-law,” Jiang Nuan took out five taels of silver and handed it over, “Take this money and have some time to spare.”
"What are you doing?" Sister-in-law Huang angrily shoved the silver back. "Why are you giving me your money? Keep it to yourself."
"Sister-in-law," Jiang Nuan smiled ingratiatingly, "just take it, consider it my way of showing my respect to you."
“I have a son, why should you be the one to take care of me?” Although Jiang Nuan’s words made Sister-in-law Huang very happy, she still refused firmly. “If you say you don’t want it, then you don’t want it. Take it yourself. Your mother is in the backyard and has been talking about you for a long time. Let’s go find her.”
“Fine,” Jiang Nuan reluctantly put the silver away, determined to give it to her mother-in-law later.
When the two arrived at the backyard, Old Mrs. Huang was sitting on a small stool pulling weeds.
"Mom, Ya Ya is here. Let's rest for a while and have a chat."
"Yaya's here!" Grandma Huang looked up and smiled happily. "What brings you here today?"
"It's all because of the corvée labor," sighed Sister-in-law Huang. "With such heavy corvée labor, who can sit still?"
Upon hearing this, the smile on Old Lady Huang's face froze. "Who would have thought the corvée labor would be so heavy this year!"
This has been a long-standing practice, but this year, it was changed.
“Mother, don’t worry,” Sister-in-law Huang gently comforted her, “Our family will pay the difference in silver this year, so we won’t have to do corvée labor.”
“Sister-in-law, I’m afraid that won’t work,” Jiang Nuan said, lowering her eyes to analyze. “In previous years, there was no quota, as long as there were enough people, it would be fine. Now that the quota has been assigned, the fewer people who are to perform corvée labor, the heavier the burden will be. This year, I’m afraid no one can escape it.”
In previous years, people used their own money to pay for corvée labor, and no one could say anything about it.
Spending money again this year would be like profiting from someone else's misfortune.
For a village like Huangjiakou, where people share the same roots and clan, this situation would absolutely not be allowed to happen.
"What should we do?" Sister-in-law Huang's face turned deathly pale, devoid of any color. "I only have Dashan as my sole heir."
“What’s the panic?” Old Mrs. Huang frowned. “Your father and husband are here. You don’t need to worry about these things.”
Grandma Huang appeared calm on the surface, but she was very anxious inside.
One person from the family has to go. Since they can't go to the mountains, the only ones who can go are their spouse and son.
However, neither of these two men are young and strong, and they don't usually do heavy work. If they are suddenly forced into corvée labor, I'm afraid...
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