Chapter 27： God punishes lazy dogs

Chapter 27 God punishes lazy dogs

Old Mrs. Li was holding Jiayin in her arms and watching the excitement, her back straight.

Having many sons and a prosperous population is the Li family's greatest confidence.

Li Laoer took the roster and charcoal given to him by the village chief and calculated the grain tax that each household would pay before the Yamen arrived.

Qingshui Village has a small population, so the government government only sent two government servants.

Far away, everyone saw a donkey cart coming at the entrance of the village.

When the donkey cart came near, the two servants from the carriage jumped down. One was tall and thin, the other was short and fat. They looked quite happy.

“Hey! Your village is doing very well this year. There is no need for us to go door to door to urge you.”

The tall and thin yamen servant has a sharp look on his face and speaks in a strange manner.

The pudgy yamen servant said nothing. He walked to the nearest bag of grain with a sullen face and kicked it with his feet.

"The harvest is good this year, and the taxes and grain must be paid in full. Don't cheat with the court and take advantage of it just because you have served as a soldier."

“The official is really good at joking. Our village pays the most in taxes and grain every year. We shed blood for the imperial court back then, but now we are still short of a few kilograms of grain.”

The village chief felt angry after hearing what they said was unpleasant, and his response was stiff.

The rest of the villagers looked at the yamen servants with bad expressions.

These government servants who rely on human power are the worst things.

Without saying any ability, it is on weekdays to oppress the people under the banner of the county officials.

Moreover, he is an iron-clad government servant and a smooth-working county magistrate.

No matter whether the county official is honest or corrupt, these government officials will not be affected. How can they bully the people or continue to bully them.

The people had no way to redress their grievances, so they could only swallow their anger.

The two government officials naturally saw the villagers' eyes, but they were not afraid, and their eyes were still very disdainful.



The tall and thin government servant sneered and took out a booklet with the land and population of Qingshui Village.

“A new family settled in your village a while ago? There was no harvest this autumn, so his family will start paying grain tax next year.”

The tall and thin yamen servant turned over two pages and said to the village chief.

The village chief nodded and looked at the Li family.

Li Laoer stood up at the right time, carrying a basket of apples and pears in his hand, and came forward with a smile to say hello.

"My lord, you are talking about our family. Thank you for your understanding. My two lords will keep these fruits. It will be good to quench your thirst on the way."

These apples and pears were both "picked up" by Li Laosi from the mountain.

Not to mention these government officials, even the county magistrates of Junyang County may not be able to eat fruits of such good quality.

The yamen servant knew the goods well and saw that they were good ones. His eyes lit up immediately and he smiled towards Li Laoer.

“You are quite sensible, kid.”

He carried the basket and shook it, feeling even more satisfied.

“This is all as it should be. It’s really hard for the official to come all the way here.

There is nothing good in our poor and remote country, and this is the only fruit that is pretty good. If the official doesn't despise it, that's our blessing. "

Li Laoer had a smile on his face, and his words were flattering but not annoying, which made the two yamen servants look even better.

The short, fat yamen officer came over, looked at the basket of fruits, and his throat moved slightly.

Upon seeing this, Li Laoer quickly took out two yellow pears, wiped them clean on his clothes, and then stuffed them into the hands of the two government officials.

"Two officers, it's still early, it won't be long, let's try a pear and take a rest."

The two yamen servants naturally did not refuse and started eating. They both liked the sweet pears. Li Laoer took this opportunity to chat occasionally, and soon they were laughing and joking.

"What the official doesn't know is that our family also came here to escape famine. We saw too many victims who starved to death along the way. There is still a harvest in the fields here, but there is really not a single wild vegetable or weed over there. Speaking of ordinary people, It’s not easy to live..."

When the tall and thin government official heard this, he asked, "Where did your family come from?"

“Beyond the Great Wall,” Li Laoer responded quickly, “I have been escaping for a month. Fortunately, I met a noble man who took our family on a boat, and we got here.”

The tall and thin yamen servant nodded and sighed.

“My uncle’s family is also outside the Great Wall. When I heard the news a few days ago, it was said that everyone was gone. You are lucky.”

“My condolences, sir, there are not even one out of ten of our folks there, and there are too few who survive.”

Li Laoer sighed and took the opportunity to show his favor.

"If you want to eat something outside the Great Wall, can you come and sit at my house?"

"It's just a casual comment." The tall and thin yamen servant ate the pear in his hand in several mouthfuls, then stood up and patted his companion, "Go and do some calculations, and go back early to deliver the work."

The short, fat yamen servant had already finished eating. After hearing what he said, he got up and took a bucket to weigh the grain.

According to the rules of previous years, it was their benefit to fill the bucket with a full tip and kick it, so that the grain scattered on the ground could be collected again.

But just as the short and fat yamen servant was about to lift his feet, he was held back by the tall and thin yamen servant.

“Forget it this year.”

The short, fat officer frowned. This "kicking fight" was a must-do every year.

The county magistrate is a shrewd man. They don't get much benefit on weekdays, and they only rely on the autumn to make a lot of money.

The tall and thin yamen servant did not explain much and began to calculate the grains handed in by each family according to the number in the register.

The villagers were not stupid either. They all saw that the tall and thin yamen servant had been "bought" by Li Laoer, so they quickly weighed, packed the bags, and stacked them on the donkey cart.

When the two yamen servants were sent away, everyone was happily holding the remaining food saved and thanked Li Laoer one after another.

“It’s all thanks to Yusheng, otherwise we would have had more food deducted this year!”

“Yes! Yusheng is so awesome, he helped us save a lot of food!”

“The Li family are all good people. They have helped us a lot these days!”

Listening to the villagers' compliments one after another, the Li family were all happy, and the fatigue from a busy morning was instantly gone.

In the afternoon, the villagers sent another wave of things to Li’s house.

The family with plenty of land was given ten or twenty kilograms of sorghum, and the family that was having a hard time was given dried vegetables and mushrooms. All in all, we did our best.

The Li family also accepted them generously, which made the villagers feel that the Li family was really trustworthy.

The day after paying the grain tax, the temperature dropped sharply, and an autumn rain poured down with coolness.

The villagers could take shelter from the rain at home, but the Liu family was completely dumbfounded.

Previously, their family had to pay the grain tax. After Guo's urging day and night, Liu Tiezhu reluctantly went to the fields to collect some grain and brought it back.

I thought that after paying the grain tax, I would slowly collect the remaining grain.

Unexpectedly, this autumn rain directly broke all plans.

“What evil have I done? I let you wasteful things stand here? I didn’t harvest the good grain, but let the rain wash it away..."

Thinking of the grain that had not been harvested in time, Mrs. Guo sat on the kang, patted her thighs and cried.

The tax was paid on the little grain that was collected, and the family had no grain left at all. How could their family survive the winter?

“Mother, who did you say this to? Tiezhu already has a backache, so it would be great if he could get back the taxed grain. On the contrary, the second brother has been fooling around in the county town and has done nothing!”

When Su Niang heard what Guo said, she immediately became unhappy.

(End of this chapter)