The Eldest Daughter of a Rural Family
Chapter 227 You Casanova (9)_1

Chapter 227: Chapter 227 You Casanova (9)_1

"Being an official sure makes earning money easy!" Pei Qian couldn’t help but grumble. Five hundred taels of silver was a lot, but if they had earned it themselves, it would certainly have been more than five hundred taels!

Pei Qin glanced at her, "If someone isn’t capable and has no skills, they can’t be an official – being one without ability would lead to a quicker and more miserable death!"

"Corrupt officials are to be beheaded, and in severe cases, their whole family’s heads are chopped off!" Pei Yuan nodded, this she had heard people say.

Despite that conversation, the siblings were still quite happy. After all, not to mention the cloth for clothes, their home now had an extra donkey, and with the donkey cart, they would no longer need to rent one when they went out.

But with the sudden addition of a donkey that needed feeding, the siblings now had the extra daily chore of cutting grass and shoveling dung.

After the Dragon Boat Festival, the weather turned hot all at once, and the wheat in the fields ripened to a golden hue; the diligent and eager had already harvested a good deal of it.

After the wheat was harvested, taxes had to be paid. Only those with official titles were exempt from taxation. Pei Zongli had a title before, but it had been annulled after his death. Although his household was restored, the title, after being lost for nearly half a year coupled with considerable spending, had yet to be reinstated.

Old Pei’s house still had to pay the grain tax this year.

However, for Pei Qin, when Shen Songming bought the land, the wheat had not yet been harvested. By the time the wheat was ready, and the tax was due, Shen Songming had the title of Scholar, which exempted him from the tax on fifty mu of land. Fifty-three mu of land had been rounded down to fifty mu by Magistrate Wu, just enough to avoid taxation.

Pei Qin had the workers harvest the wheat and then plow a section of land to plant sweet potatoes, shaping it into rows; the grain that was supposed to be taxed, she asked for half after it was threshed.

The taxation in Chu Nation was rather heavy. Pei Qin didn’t know about other areas, but when she inquired about Runing Prefecture’s taxes, she couldn’t help but want to curse. Regardless of other taxes, just the ones on their grain were divided into poll tax and land tax. If a household had many people but little land, it paid according to the number of people. If the land was plentiful but the household had few people, it paid according to the land. In other words, they taxed whichever was greater.

When the family heard they didn’t have to pay the grain tax and that Pei Qin would only take half of what was due, they immediately agreed to deliver the grain to her house after threshing the wheat.

In the sweltering midday heat, Pei Qin, Pei Yuan, and Pei Qian only set up their stall for a short while, selling cold noodles, pulled noodles, and mixed noodles, and then went home as soon as they sold out.

With the heat picking up and agriculture becoming busier, their sugar-roasted peanuts sold less. If they hadn’t roasted the peanuts to a flavor that others couldn’t replicate, they might have sold even fewer.

After packing up and returning home, seeing Pei Qin fiddling with the sweet potatoes, Pei Yuan and Pei Qian realized they couldn’t be of much help, so they took their baskets and went to gather wheat ears instead.

Every year around this time, when almost all the families had harvested their wheat, the Lizheng would announce that people could go and pick up the leftover wheat ears. Many village children would go out with their baskets and bowls. The siblings were always diligent, managing to collect a sack of wheat ears each year, threshing about a dou of grain. If Lady Zhu was happy with them, she might even let them have a meal with white flour buns.

This year, with Lady Fang and the siblings gone, the family was short several laborers. Although Pei Zongli and Qian Wanxiu had returned, bringing maids and old women with them, none of them worked in the fields.

Pei Qin had already built a courtyard of new houses in town. Lady Zhu had been stewing with frustration all spring and would vent on unrelated matters when something didn’t go her way. Wanxiu suggested that they use the silver to build a new courtyard as well.

So, Lady Zhu didn’t dare say anything about having Wanxiu work in the fields and instead sent Lady Chen there. If it weren’t for Kong’s being pregnant, she would have also been persuaded to toil in the fields.

Having lived a life of dignity for over a decade, Pei Zongli couldn’t possibly do the farm work, so he urged Old Pei and Lady Zhu to stop and suggested spending a bit of money to hire help.

While Lady Zhu bemoaned the expense, she also went around praising Pei Zongli for his filial piety.

Lady Chen, however, wondered how much silver the second branch of the family really had! They had given thirty taels to their eldest son for exams, and the second son had probably spent a fair amount reinstating his title at the County Government Office. And now they had to build them new houses. Their hands must hold more than just a hundred and eighty taels of silver!

As she pondered, Lady Chen felt a burning rage. The second son, along with his wife and child, had returned in prosperity. That damn wretched Pei Qin had also earned a significant amount of silver. Only their branch, at present, was without silver, and their eldest son had yet to acquire an official title. They felt completely suffocated under the weight pressing down on the main branch.

So, when Lady Chen heard rumors from town that Pei Qin was looking to buy land – some said three mu, others ten mu, and still others thirty mu – she immediately went home and told everything to Lady Zhu. "Why should that damn wretch buy land!? She’s just built a house, where did she get the silver to buy land!? And she thought, if the second branch had money, then they should all put it together and purchase land, which should rightfully include a share for the main branch.

Wanxiu shook her head, "She’s an unmarried girl, not yet fifteen, thus still a minor; any land bought must be registered in her parents’ names."

Lady Zhu sat up straight away, "Lady Fang is dead, so if she buys land, it must be registered under the second son’s name!"

"It’s likely to be registered under the Fang family’s names." Wanxiu bit her lip.

"She wouldn’t dare! Even if they’ve rolled out of Back Mountain Village by now, the second son is still Pei Daya’s father! If she buys land, it must be registered under the second son’s name!" Lady Zhu cursed.

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