Chapter 21 Chapter 21 Tax payment day.
Clang clang...
Clang clang...
The next morning, the village chief walked through the fields, beating the gong and shouting the announcement.
"All registered residents of Benguli must hurry to the grain drying ground in Shengchangli to pay their taxes! Those who delay will be imprisoned!"
"Hurry to Shengchangli's grain drying ground and pay your taxes! Those who delay will be imprisoned!"
After hearing this, the people in Benguli quickly put the rice into baskets. Rice was the land tax they had to pay, and they had to pay one thirtieth of the yield per acre.
Some families had a lot of land, so the land tax was naturally high, so the whole family went out to fight, carrying the loads of grain and rushing to Shengchangli.
Those with slightly better conditions could push a wheelbarrow with grain bags stacked on both sides, which was less strenuous; as for those who drove ox carts to transport grain, they were very rare.
Except for Ji Xu and her companions, there were more than fifty households in Benguli, and every household farmed the land. However, the number of households that owned cattle could be counted on five fingers, because cattle were extremely expensive, costing seven or eight taels of silver per head.
Most families had to rent oxen from government offices or wealthy families to plow the fields. Some people simply used human power to pull the plow in order to save money.
"Oh no, sister, I forgot my ruler!"
Ji Feng was walking halfway when he shuddered.
During the busy farming season, the Feng family sold more than ten pigs to the butcher at a good price, and raised the pigs fat for Ji Feng.
Yesterday, Aunt Xu gave Ji Feng two extra coins. Ji Feng was very happy and gave the money to Ji Xu, thinking of paying it back to his family.
Ji Xu didn't want her at all. He told her to keep it and buy snacks, and then she hid in the rat hole under the bed.
The Feng family still has one sow left to give birth. After the autumn harvest, Feng Da will be free and can take care of it himself. Ji Feng doesn't need to go to the back mountain to herd the pigs for the time being. Aunt Xu said that after a few months, when the piglets are born, Ji Feng will be asked to herd the pigs.
Therefore, Ji Feng also went to Shengchangli. Paying taxes was a big day, and there were many people, so he decided to join in the fun.
Besides, the second branch has money in its pocket this year and can afford to pay the mentally calculated fee. Unlike previous years, it was urged by the village official repeatedly and had to wait until the last minute to raise enough money. So Ji Feng was still looking forward to joining in the fun and was very proud of it.
"I have it with me. It's in my lapel."
Ji Xu had a covered bamboo tube hanging around his waist, which contained a heavy amount of money for oral calculation, a total of 143 coins.
She worked as a cook for the Feng family, and with the money she earned from selling steamed cakes over the past two days, after deducting the cost of buying meat and flour, there was still a hundred coins left at home, which she hid in a hole in the wall.
Ji Feng felt relieved, took Ji Zhu's hand, and walked with confidence.
"Is walking tiring? Humph, I have a bullock cart at home!"
An ox cart creaked past, with three bags of grain on the cart. Ji Huhai sat on the grain bags, turned his head, and had a majestic expression on his face.
He especially showed off to Jizhu, remembering that Jizhu didn't want him to collect firewood in exchange for steamed buns.
Ji Yuan was also sitting on the carriage, wearing a newly made skirt that was dyed moon white. This was at the beginning of autumn when she said she had grown taller and begged Jin to buy back half a piece of fine cloth from the county market. Jin loved her so much that she was willing to make her a skirt with such good cloth. Today, when she was going to Shengchangli, a wealthy place, she wore it specially, looking pretty and decent.
Compared to her, Ji Zhi's clothes and trousers were much older, and there were patches on her elbows, but she was still smiling because she could sit on the ox cart.
There were not many ox carts on the road, and those who carried rice by manpower all showed envy when they saw the ox carts.
"Mother, don't let those little devils ride on the ox cart! We have to get there first!"
Ji Huhai was sitting on the ox cart, pointing at the three of them and speaking in a stern voice.
Jin smiled and said, "Not everyone can ride in an oxcart. Some people can only earn enough to feed their stomachs, so how can they afford an oxcart? It's only because we have two wheels that we can get here faster than them."
"Don't be complacent. This isn't your own oxcart. Make the most of the two days you can ride it. If you miss it, you won't be able to ride it again."
The eldest wife could not afford to buy an ox, so this ox and cart belonged to a wealthy family in the county. Ji Fu was driving the cart for that family, and he took leave to go home during the busy farming season, so he drove the ox cart back. These days, he pulled the cart to the fields to pull rice, which made them show off. People said that Ji Fu was a respectable person in the county, and even such a valuable piece of furniture as an ox cart was willing to be used by his boss.
It seemed like no one was sitting there. Ji Feng had a hot temper and couldn't stand them showing off in front of her, so she started to retort them.
"That's better than some people who are dirt poor, have never ridden in a bullock cart, and can only say sour words."
Jin likes to show off.
When the children's eldest mother, Jungu, the daughter of Jin and Tian, was still alive, Jungu would sometimes give Jin half a piece of cloth because Jin gave birth to a boy in the Ji family. Jin would immediately cut it into clothes and show them in front of Tian, mocking Tian for not being able to lay golden eggs.
Or if she got two thin silver earrings, she would wear them and go to Tian's presence. This would provoke Tian's impulsive temper and she would immediately start to curse at her, using sarcastic words to accuse Jun Gu of being biased.
As a result, Tian was not well-received by her aunt and uncle. Nowadays, filial piety is very important, and even if the elders do something wrong, the younger ones cannot blame them.
Even if Tian reported the matter to the local community, the only one who would be criticized would be the daughter-in-law, who would be accused of disregarding her dignity, committing the seven crimes of abandonment for childlessness, and daring to offend her uncle and aunt.
Therefore, Tian had a bad reputation in the village. If the Ji family was not wealthy, she might have been divorced and remarried.
Ji Fengtong was a straightforward person and was about to yell at her.
If her fellow villagers heard this, they would say that this little girl had no respect for her elders and dared to speak nonsense to her aunt.
Ji Xu pulled Ji Feng's arm and stuffed her with a meat-filled steamed bun. The other party came up first, and she couldn't bear to see her sister suffer injustice, so she said deliberately:
"I'm in a hurry to get going, and I haven't had breakfast yet, so I'll just have a steamed bun with meat filling."
The meat-stuffed steamed buns were freshly made by her at rooster crow. She used three parts fat and seven parts lean meat, chopped it up, and blended it with scallion and ginger water to remove the fishy smell. She then added salt sauce and spice powder she mixed herself, and wrapped it in the dough that had been proofed.
The steamed buns were the size of a fist, with the skin soaked in oil. They were fragrant and soft when she bit into them. She planned to use them instead of brown sugar and sell them for two cents each.
Ji Huhai on the ox cart saw that Ji Feng had a steamed bun in his hand. He had eaten steamed buns before. They were extremely sweet and soft, and even had meat filling?
He immediately became greedy and pointed at the steamed buns and said:
"Mom, I want to eat steamed buns too!"
Jin gritted her teeth and could only coax him.
"Steamed cakes aren't very tasty. When you get home, mom will make you some pork stew with lots of sesame oil. That's when it's delicious."
Seeing that Ji Huhai was craving the steamed bun in her hand, Ji Feng didn't need to bother to talk to him. She just needed to eat the hot meat-filled bun in her hand with satisfaction.
It smells so good! My sister’s cooking skills are really good. Ji Xu and Ji Zhu beside her also started to eat it.
This made Ji Huhai on the ox cart drool.
"Steamed buns are delicious! Tiger Boy wants to eat meat-filled buns!"
He started yelling, which made Jin embarrassed. She pushed him over and slapped him on the butt twice.
Accompanied by Ji Huhai's crying, the wheels of the oxcart squeaked as they turned away.
Not long after, another ox cart stopped. The person driving the cart was Feng Da, and sitting in the back were Xu Ai and Feng Fuzhen.
The difference is that their car is specially used for people to sit.
There was an ox cart following behind, driven by Feng Er, pulling a pile of grain. Their family had nearly 100 acres of land, and the land tax they had to pay was also high.
"Xu Nu, quickly get in the car with your two sisters."
Aunt Xu thought that Ji Xu was a good cook and that she could be invited to any banquet at home in the future, so she was very enthusiastic.
This Xu Nu was also capable. She had originally thought that the three sisters would not be able to bear the hurdle of taxes, and Xu Nu would be imprisoned and forced to do hard labor in the autumn.
Unexpectedly, he had a skill and was able to save the money from the tax by calculating it mentally.
"We are all going to Shengchangli, let's get on together."
Feng Fuzhen, who was wearing a silver-red embroidered skirt and a silk flower in her hair, pouted uncomfortably.
The silk flower was bought for her by her grandfather in the county. She wore it in her hair and wanted to show off in Shengchangli and make the girls there envious.
For this purpose, he specifically begged his grandmother to drive two ox carts so that people and food would not be mixed.
Who knew that they would be added to the group midway? It would be so crowded, it would be totally undignified. She frowned and grumbled,
"Why do you want them to sit on it..."
Ji Xu was naturally not tactless and was very polite.
"Thank you, Aunt Xu. I just need to walk so it's more convenient for me to sell steamed cakes along the way. Otherwise, I'd really like to take advantage of this convenience. This ox cart is so magnificent. We've never ridden in one before."
Even though it was a refusal, Xu Mu sounded relieved. Seeing that she was still carrying the basket, she gave up and asked Feng Da to continue driving the carriage.
When Feng Fuzhen saw that they didn't squeeze in, her stern face finally relaxed.
Ji Xu and the others then walked towards Shengchangli, eating steamed buns stuffed with meat, and they felt full of energy even while walking.
The five villages under their Niupi Township are distributed along Niupi Mountain. There is a river near Niupi Mountain called Lingshui River.
The river has a wide basin, irrigating farmland and supporting countless families. The county where they live is called Lingshui County.
Niupi Mountain is shaped like a long and flat ox spleen, with mountains of varying sizes on its outer edge. Settlements like Xiaoshunli, Shengchangli, Benguli, Jinshili, and Liaoshili are the result of years of reclaiming land beside the mountain.
Among them, Shengchangli has the best geographical location, located in a valley with fertile soil deposited by a river.
The mountains behind it are rich in fruit trees and bamboo forests, and there are lakes of various sizes for irrigating fields and fishing. Because the soil is fertile and there are mostly high-quality farmland, the people and households in this area are much wealthier, and the proportion of rich households is also higher.
When he stepped on a road mixed with sand and gravel that was obviously flat, Ji Xu knew that he had arrived at Shengchangli.
Looking along the road, most of the houses are tiled, and occasionally you can see a thatched house, which is also spacious and all surrounded by large courtyards.
In front of the house was a field with exposed stubble, and green straw was piled up in the field to dry. In the yard, there was a neat arrangement of firewood and straw, and some poultry were raised. An old woman was spreading barnyard grass and rice on the ground to feed the chickens.
“Chuckle…”
"Sister, look, if you walk in this way, you will reach the market of Shengchangli." Ji Feng pointed to her with great interest.
I saw the scattered eaves hidden behind the catalpa trees beside the road. When the wind blew, I seemed to hear the hustle and bustle inside.
Shengchangli is the only one of the five villages that has a market within the village, called the village market. The common people here are basically self-sufficient. If they need something, they can buy it at the village market and take it home without having to go a long way to the rural market.
Therefore, Ji Xu had not done much business with the common people in Shengchangli. She wanted to come to the market in Shengchangli to sell her goods, but the business here had already become unique and all the people here were registered as locals, so it was very xenophobic.
It is a good opportunity to come here to pay taxes today.
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