Thinking of the supplies in the ancestral hall, Village Chief Li broke out in a cold sweat. He forced a smile and bowed and scraped to the leading officer, saying, "Officer, please don't be angry. We are all honest, ordinary people. How can we not pay our taxes?"
He pointed to the visible land outside the village, "But as you can see, sir, our village didn't have a harvest this year. Not a single grain of rice was grown in the fields. Even if we wanted to pay, we have nothing to pay!"
"As for what you said about us not fleeing the famine, that's because everyone was reluctant to leave their roots!" Village Chief Li turned around and pointed to Yunshan. "Look at it, we've practically stripped Yunshan bare. We have no food left; we're eating grass roots and tree bark!"
Just then, at the entrance of the village, several families had some wild vegetables and edible leaves that they had found in the mountains a few days earlier drying in front of their doors. Village Chief Li pointed at them and burst into tears, "Officer, look! I'm telling the truth!"
The leading officer actually took several steps forward and even carefully examined what was being dried in the sun.
When they discovered it really was just grass roots and leaves, their expressions immediately soured.
That's not right. The county magistrate clearly said that Dingshui Village had a large amount of grain stored up. If they had enough to eat, why would they need to eat grass roots and tree leaves?
This person clearly has never experienced hardship since childhood. Although Dingshui Village has a batch of grain, with more than 300 people in the village, the daily consumption is not a small amount.
In addition, nature is unkind; who knows when the land will yield a harvest? So, they have to make the most of what they can find to store up some food, or are they really going to wait to go hungry?
"Officer Wang," at this moment, another constable wearing a sun hat came to the side of the leading constable and whispered, "the county magistrate said that if they don't hand over the goods, we'll search the village!"
The leading officer glanced at the man and unconsciously curled his lip. He was hiding his true intentions; he was definitely not a good person.
But since the county magistrate had allowed him to come along, he couldn't disobey him.
After looking at the drying wild vegetables and leaves, Officer Wang turned to Village Chief Li and asked, "Does your village really not pay taxes?"
"Officers, it's not that we don't want to pay, it's just that we really don't have it!" Village Chief Li was extremely uneasy, very afraid that these officials would really search the village.
Even if they search, they couldn't possibly find the ancestral hall, could they? That's where the ancestral tablets are kept.
Officer Wang suddenly grinned menacingly, waved his hand at the constables, and roared, "Search! Every house, look for cellars, and take away anything with a large amount of grain!"
The people of Dingshui Village turned pale, and many of the older women and aunties rushed forward, crying and wailing.
"No! We only have that little bit of food left. If you take it away, our whole family will starve to death!"
Upon seeing this, Jiang Qinyu whispered quickly to Village Chief Li, "Uncle Village Chief, don't worry, they won't find anything."
After saying that, she hurriedly ran home.
Shufan and Pan'er are still at home; these people shouldn't frighten the children.
Village Chief Li was taken aback, not understanding what she meant, but considering her extraordinary abilities, he decided to believe her.
"Village chief, say something! Are we just going to watch them search the village like this?" Liu Erleng was extremely anxious, but he didn't dare to rush up and argue with the officers carrying knives.
"Yes, village chief, how can we... how can we let them search the village?" Jiang Dacheng was also anxiously pacing around.
The grain in the ancestral hall was something they had bought from the prefectural city at a great expense. If it were taken away, what would they do this winter? What would they do when the harvest was scarce next year? Should they really lead the villagers to move to the mountains?
"Let them search. They won't give up even if we don't." Village Chief Li clenched his fists, his heart pounding with anxiety.
What exactly did my niece mean by that? Was she sure the officials wouldn't search the ancestral hall?
"Huh? Let them search? No... I have to go and keep an eye on things!" Liu Erleng didn't expect Village Chief Li to say that, and couldn't help but run after the group of officials searching the village.
Village Chief Li also said to the others, "Everyone, follow along. Although we are law-abiding citizens, we cannot let others bully us. If they go too far when searching the village, we will fight them!"
"Yes! If they cause trouble, we'll fight them to the death!"
Hearing this, everyone finally felt reassured.
Even if the officials found the grain in the ancestral hall, wouldn't so many of them be able to stop them from taking it away? They would fight to the death to protect the village's grain!
Officer Wang did not search personally, but instead checked the situation everywhere.
He found that Dingshui Village was indeed strange compared to other villages; the people here were more energetic than in other places, with a kind of vitality that showed no signs of losing hope in life.
Moreover, the scenario he anticipated—encountering fierce resistance from the villagers during the search—didn't materialize. Did they really have no food? Was the county magistrate's information wrong?
Jiang Qinyu wasn't worried, since most of the villagers only had enough food for two months for their families, and even that was a meager amount; it didn't amount to much at all.
Needless to say, she only left three days' worth of food outside at home, and stored the rest in her spatial storage.
As soon as Jiang Qinyu got home, her two children rushed into her arms.
"Auntie, I'm scared." Pan'er hugged her waist tightly.
Shufan's little hands gripped Jiang Qinyu's clothes tightly as he looked at the courtyard gate, his face filled with panic and fear. "Auntie, they're here!"
Two officers stormed into Jiang Qinyu's house with blank expressions, ignoring her and her two children.
After searching the entire house, including the cellar in Jiang Qinyu's room, the two officers left empty-handed.
"Auntie, who are they? Why are they searching our house?" Shu Fan asked, looking up at Jiang Qinyu.
This was the first time he had ever seen government officials, and today's events had a great impact on Jiang Shufan's young mind.
Jiang Qinyu patted his head and said, "They are officials from the county government, here to collect this year's tax grain."
"Police officers? Are they the ones who catch bad guys in the stories Grandpa and Grandma told us?" Pan'er asked, tilting her head.
Jiang Qinyu nodded, "Yes."
"Then why are they treating us like this? We're not bad people!" Shu Fan looked at her, puzzled.
Jiang Qinyu thought for a moment and said, "Shufan, Pan'er, you must remember that not all officials in this world are there to catch bad guys."
The two nodded, seemingly understanding but not quite.
Jiang Qinyu led them by the hand and walked quickly outside.
As soon as they came out, they heard all the officers reporting to Constable Wang.
"Boss, we've searched everywhere, and it's just as they said. Each household only has some food rations; there's definitely no newly harvested grain."
Officer Wang looked towards the ancestral hall. "Has that area been searched?"
"No," the man replied, shaking his head immediately, "I'll send the brothers right away..."
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