The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 148 - 137: Tax Payment (Extra update for 90,000 recommendation votes from Cloud Rise)

Chapter 148: Chapter 137: Tax Payment (Extra update for 90,000 recommendation votes from Cloud Rise)

Manbao was somewhat curious about the grain tax collection. After Zhou Sanlang came and finished the remaining buns, she followed him to join the excitement.

All the men in line were of age; let alone a child like Manbao, not even an adolescent like Zhou Liulang was there, so the surrounding people cast a curious glance at them.

Manbao quickly squeezed in just in time to see a tax officer measuring the grain with a vessel. After checking the household registration and the note clipped in the registry book, he sang out, "Zhou Hu, two adult males, must deliver four dan of grain, four zhang of silk, and four liang of cotton."

Zhou Hu immediately stepped forward with his load. Oddly, the officer didn’t weigh the grain but measured it with a dou. Ten dou make one dan, so four dan was forty dou. Manbao thought this was so troublesome and was about to speak when she saw the officer scoop a full dou from Zhou Hu’s sack, even heaping it, and then tossed it high into a cart next to him, confirming no impurities were mixed in, before singing out, "One dou!"

Another dou was measured out, heaped before being sprinkled down, "Two dou..."

Manbao was stunned and pondered as she watched the tax officer measure the grain, while the surrounding people were long accustomed to the scene.

Zhou Hu was followed by the village chief’s household, which had more adult males, four in total, so they had to hand over eight dan of grain.

Manbao crouched nearby, watching intently. The tax officer glanced at her several times and, seeing that the child wasn’t causing trouble, didn’t chase her away.

After the village chief’s household was done, it was the Zhou Family’s turn. Zhou Dalang hurriedly handed over the household registration and the clipped note. According to the current dynasty’s laws, men reached adulthood at eighteen. Zhou Silang was lucky; he still had two months before turning eighteen, so he wasn’t considered an adult yet.

The Zhou Family had four adult males and needed to deliver eight dan of grain as well.

The tax officer was unsparing with the Zhou Family’s grain, benefitting a full dou each time before dropping it, singing loudly each time he did, while an official next to him recorded each measure, completing sixteen characters in the ledger to signify the taxes were paid in full.

Manbao watched from the side, looking at the dwindling pile of grain, finally understanding why her father had added so much extra when weighing the grain the previous night.

At the end, there was only a thin layer left in the last sack of the Zhou Family. Zhou Dalang took the token to the side to swap documents while Zhou Erlang placed the grain sack and the remaining bits of grain onto the cart and withdrew to the side to wait.

With the documents in hand, Zhou Dalang went to take Manbao by the hand.

This place was full of men, and Zhou Xi felt it inappropriate to come and watch; she stayed behind. As soon as they emerged, she quickly greeted them with a smile and asked, "How did it go? Is it all taken care of?"

"It’s done, went quite smoothly."

Zhou Xi glanced at the remaining grain in the sack and whispered, "Why did they measure so much more this year?"

Zhou Dalang also sighed and shook his head, "Fortunately, they didn’t increase the measure. I heard that last year the county next door added an inch of wood to the dou."

Zhou Xi couldn’t help but spit, "That’s utterly shameless."

Manbao stood to the side, unable to stop herself from asking, "Big Brother, are they embezzling?"

Frightened, Zhou Dalang quickly covered her mouth, looking nervously around before saying, "Little ancestor, save those words for when we’re at home. We can’t say such things out on the streets."

Manbao couldn’t help but hum twice and ran off to find Silang and Fifth Brother, proposing, "Fifth Brother, let’s sell a bit more sugar to Second Sister Fu. Silang, the next time you go to the county town to sell ginger, remember to visit the back door of the Fu Family, and ask for a higher price without hesitation."

She added, "And those, the Chief Accountant’s and the Magistrate’s households, pay their back doors some visits too."

Silang, seeing her huffing and puffing, touched her forehead and asked, "What did they do to upset you?"

"Hmph, they’re no good officials. We need to earn their money back."

Silang was now very interested in making money. Hearing this, he perked up and nodded, "No problem, I’d visit those places without you saying so; there aren’t that many in this county town who can afford our tea."

Although Silang had been to the county town less often than Wulang, he had many more friends. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have ended up at the gambling houses in the first place.

Their family grew quite a lot of ginger. Besides selling it cheaply to Jishi Hall and the sundries shops, the price for retailing was always higher, and he preferred selling it himself.

The cheapest was forty wen per catty. Forty-five wen, fifty wen—he would adjust the price based on the market. And right now, the ginger was tender, offering a unique taste that Silang truly didn’t understand—the spicy ginger soup didn’t seem to have any special flavor, but that’s what Manbao had said, and he thought perhaps scholars think differently than they did.

So, Silang was bold enough to carry the ginger and hawk it through the streets. He was daring and thick-skinned; where Wulang would start at forty-five wen, he would open at fifty wen immediately and praise his ginger to the skies, all based on the effects Manbao had told him about.

Things like how the ginger was grown at the foot of the mountain, watered daily with the sweet spring water from the mountain, nurtured with the best farm manure. The location near the hillside was spiritually potent, an excellent feng shui site where the ginger grown had especially good healing effects and taste.

Then, he would add, looking at how dear ’Sister’ (Aunt) is, "I’ll give you a two-wen discount per catty. What, five wen off? That’s too much. Let’s settle for three, we farmers work hard to grow this ginger..."

Indeed, Silang had anointed himself as a herb farmer.

With the ginger sold at forty-seven wen per catty, Silang also took the opportunity to promote the soon-to-ripen yams. After praising their medicinal value and flavor, he made deals with people to bring some for them to try once they were ripe.

Wulang watched with wide eyes throughout, thinking he was already rather capable, having done business for a year, yet he never expected that Silang would surpass him and get the hang of it so quickly.

Silang was not only talented at selling goods but also slick at skimming money.

He looked around and, while no one paid attention, he took two wen from the money he had just collected and slipped it into another pocket then cheerfully took Five to the next household to peddle their goods.

Wulang blinked, pretending not to notice, and followed obediently.

Silang was cunning, choosing to sell in wealthy areas or places where county officials resided, where people were more willing to spend. Since he sold everyday necessities and the ginger was fresh, many were willing to make a purchase.

He bypassed the market entirely, sold all the ginger in these two areas, then shook his hands, ready to go shopping.

Wulang then said, "Silang, let’s go home."

"Go home? It’s still early, let’s stroll a bit more before heading back."

"Mother said if I lie, she would break my legs when we get back, so Silang, I won’t cover for you with lies."

Silang stiffened, then slumped his shoulders, "Alright, let’s go back. Mother really is too strict. We’re already so big and she still keeps such a tight leash."

Wulang felt that "we" shouldn’t include him, "When I came to town before, Mother never had to remind me of that. She’s worried about you."

Silang muttered, "I’ve already corrected my ways."

Wulang thought quietly to himself, "Yeah, right!"