Chapter 864 I'm Not Afraid When You're Here
Li Qingyan and Yun Kexin wandered around the village and met many people from the village on the way, including men, women, young and old.
They greeted Yun Kexin and Li Qingyan very enthusiastically.
Even after walking far away, Li Qingyan could still feel those people's gazes on him.
At present, he is the only outsider in the entire village, and he is full of novelty to these people.
When she was about to reach the edge of the village, Yun Kexin slowed down her pace.
There is a dense forest in front of us. From here, we can only see trees and nothing else.
Yun Kexin wrote on the small blackboard: Can’t go forward.
Li Qingyan asked, "Why? I want to go into the woods and take a look."
His current activities are limited to the village and he has never left the village.
It is impossible for him to live here forever. Once his injuries are healed, he will have to leave.
Although everyone in Dafu Village showed great enthusiasm for him, he could not put all his hopes on others. He had to leave a way out for himself.
He wanted to go outside the village, understand the terrain of this area, and try to find a way to leave.
After observing for a period of time, he found that people often appeared at several exits of the village, but only this piece of woods had never been set foot by anyone.
So he turned his attention to the woods.
Maybe by going through this woods, we can find a way out of the mountain.
Yun Kexin didn’t have as many thoughts as he did. She was obviously very afraid of the forest in front of her and didn’t want to go in.
Seeing that she refused to move, Li Qingyan said.
"You go back first. I'll go in and look around by myself."
Yun Kexin immediately shook her head and quickly wrote on the small blackboard: I'll go with you!
Li Qingyan: "Aren't you afraid?"
Yun Kexin wrote: I am not afraid as long as you are here.
Li Qingyan looked at the six words on the small blackboard and couldn't help but smile.
This little girl is really cute.
The two walked into the woods.
The woods were very quiet. The sunlight shone through the gaps between the branches and leaves, casting large spots of light on the ground.
The wind blew the branches and leaves, making a slight rustling sound.
Yun Kexin followed closely behind Li Qingyan, holding a small blackboard.
Her foot was accidentally caught by a vine and she almost fell. At the critical moment, Li Qingyan reached out and supported her.
She stood up hurriedly, looked up at Li Qingyan, gratitude in her eyes.
Perhaps because she can't speak, her eyes can always express a lot of emotions, allowing people to know what she is thinking at a glance.
Li Qingyan was afraid that she would fall again, so he simply held her hand and walked forward.
Yun Kexin felt that the hand that was being held was particularly hot, and her palms were sweating.
From childhood to adulthood, this was the first man other than her father to hold her hand.
She recalled the scene of Li Qingyan touching her head before, and silently added in her heart -
He was also the first man other than her father to touch her head.
Perhaps because her mind was filled with Li Qingyan, she even forgot her fear of the forest.
Until they passed through the woods and saw a wetland.
Yun Kexin suddenly remembered that this piece of woods was a forbidden place in Dafu Village!
Li Qingyan stopped and looked at the scene in front of him, a look of horror appeared on his face.
Dozens of tiny skeletons were floating in the black mud.
Judging from their shapes, these skeletons should all be premature babies.
Li Qingyan's heart was in turmoil.
If it was an epidemic, there wouldn't be only the remains of babies.
Unless someone is intentionally killing the baby.
No wonder people in the village never go this way, and no wonder Yun Kexin showed fear when facing this forest.
They must have known that these woods contained many infant skeletons!
Li Qingyan suddenly turned his head and stared at Yun Kexin.
Many thoughts came to his mind. If these babies were killed by the people from Dafu Village, then what kind of devils were they? !
Yun Kexin’s face turned pale and her body trembled slightly.
She noticed the anger and doubt in Li Qingyan's eyes, and hurriedly wrote on the small blackboard: We didn't kill the child!
Li Qingyan asked, "Who killed him?"
Yun Kexin's fingertips were trembling as she pinched the white stone, and the handwriting she wrote was far less neat than usual.
But now she couldn't care less about that. She quickly wrote down a paragraph:
This happened many years ago. At that time, taxes were extremely heavy and many people could not afford to pay the head tax. They could only strangle their newborn babies to death and throw them into the deep mountains and forests. This is the place where children's bodies are abandoned.
When Li Qingyan saw these words, the shock and anger in his heart dissipated a little.
But his expression was still extremely ugly.
The poll tax is a tax levied based on the number of people. Some taxes are paid once a year, while others are paid twice a year. There are no specific regulations to regulate this amount.
Some officials who were blinded by greed took advantage of this loophole.
They would increase the number of times they collected head taxes in order to make up for deficits or to make their performance look better.
The most exaggerated statement Li Qingyan had ever heard was that a certain place required the people to pay a head tax every ten days.
Of course, the grass on that official’s grave is now as tall as a person.
But this is enough to prove that in some small places far away from Shengjing City, there is indeed forced multiple taxation.
If the people could not afford the head tax, they could only use their fields and houses as collateral. If they lost even their fields and houses, they could only sell themselves into slavery and become slaves to the local wealthy families.
Some people were unwilling to sell their land, and even less willing to be slaves, so they had no choice but to kill and throw away their newborn babies.
Because according to an unwritten rule, if a baby dies before its full term, it is not counted in the head tax.
Li Qingyan had only heard of these things before and had never seen them with his own eyes.
Looking at the tragic scene in front of him, he felt extremely heavy-hearted.
These are real lives. Just because their families could not pay the taxes, they were killed by their own parents and families and their bodies were abandoned in the wilderness.
Yun Kexin felt uneasy when she saw that he had a sullen face and didn't say anything.
She wrote on the small blackboard: Don't be sad, we don't need to pay taxes anymore, and things like this will never happen again in the village.
Li Qingyan was stunned at first, then frowned: "You don't have to pay taxes? Why?"
It was impossible for any citizen of the Great Sheng Dynasty to avoid paying taxes, except for those privileged aristocratic families.
Yun Kexin continued to write: Because this place is too remote, the government did not know that there was a Dafu Village here, so no one ever came here to collect taxes.
This place is almost isolated from the world.
It was outside the control of the imperial court.
The people living here do not need to pay taxes, nor do they need to perform corvee labor or military service.
Correspondingly, the laws of the Great Sheng Dynasty could not take effect here.
If someone really does something illegal here, the government will not know about it.
(End of this chapter)
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