Chapter 182
182 Snatching the Beauty Back
Tu Gang rode a short old horse and only arrived in Qingchuan City at midnight the next day. After entering the city, he went straight to his lover, Little Peach, who lived in West City. He stood in front of the door and knocked on Little Peach’s courtyard door. Little Peach pulled her shoes and muttered as she walked, “Damn it! If you had come later, I would have fallen asleep.”
The moment the door opened, Tu Gang hugged her. Tu Gang kissed Little Peach’s lips and teased, “Little baby, did you miss your Brother Tu?”
Peach poked Tu Gang’s chest with one finger and looked at him seductively. She said coquettishly, “What’s the use of thinking about you? You can’t come every day.”
“Aren’t I here now?!” Tu Gang carried Little Peach into the house and rolled her onto the bed. After the rain stopped, Tu Gang asked Little Peach, “Is there a county magistrate who will take office?”
Leaning against Tu Gang’s chest, Little Peach narrowed her eyes and said lazily, “Yes, I heard from Old Madam Huang next door that he’s a handsome young man. She even said that the county magistrate’s wife is like a fairy. The couple makes people unable to take their eyes off them. Why are you asking about this?”
“Nothing! I was just asking! I’m resting. I’ve been riding a mule all day. I’m exhausted.”
Tu Gang lay down and was still thinking about Little Peach’s words. “I have to go and take a look at a fairy-like woman. If she’s really as beautiful as a fairy, I’ll snatch her back as an offering to Big Brother.”
Hearing Tu Gang sound asleep, Peach sat up quietly. She took out a token from Tu Gang’s cassock and imprinted it on a piece of oil mud. After quietly putting it back, she fell asleep.
After writing the letter to Qingzhou and the official document, Zhou Jia discussed the follow-up regulations with Mr. Qian. The two of them were busy drafting regulations in the study until midnight. Zhou Jia smiled at Mr. Qian and said, “Sir, are you hungry? If you’re hungry, let Ruyi cook a bowl of noodles.”
Mr. Qian shook his head and said, “It’s better not to trouble Ruyi’s wife. In the past, I used to eat two meals a day. After I arrived at your house, I started to eat three meals a day. Look, I’ve been with you all the way and even gained weight.”
Zhou Jia cupped his hands politely and said, “No, it’s been hard on you to come so far with us.”
The two of them packed up the letters and returned to their rooms to rest.
Zhou Jia returned to his room and saw Li Yu’s flushed sleeping face. He couldn’t help but kiss her. Li Yu looked at Zhou Jia in a daze and said lazily, “You’re back! Hurry up and rest.”
Zhou Jia changed into his sleeping robe and went to bed to hug Li Yu. Soon, he fell asleep.
The next day, as soon as dawn arrived, Zhou Jia got up and handed the memorial, letters, and documents to Xu Chun, asking him and Xu Gui to rush to Qingzhou and send the news as soon as possible.
After breakfast, Zhou Jia, Mr. Qian, and Dian Shi went to the government office to do their work.
Li Yu asked Ruyi to buy two women from the brokerage to help Xiaoyu take care of the house. She brought Yang Wei out of the city.
Yang Wei sat on the duster, looking at the scenery along the way and swinging his legs.
Li Yu saw that some fields outside the city were deserted and no one was farming. There were also farmers busy harvesting rice. Li Yu got out of the carriage and walked to the side of the paddy field. She saw that the rice ears were shorter than the rice ears in West Mountain Village. There were also more shriveled seeds on every grain.
Li Yu thought to herself, “With this harvest, I’m afraid there will be little food after harvesting an acre of farmland. It’s fine if it’s their own field, but if it’s planted by tenants, I’m afraid they’ll have to go hungry.”
The farmer who was harvesting the rice saw a noblewoman with a child, who looked like an eight or nine-year-old servant, driving a carriage to the side of the road. Looking at his rice fields, the old man said to his wife, “Go take a look.”
The woman nodded and walked up the field with the sickle. She walked five to six steps away from Li Yu and asked uneasily, “Madam, is there a problem with my rice?”
Li Yu looked at the woman’s tanned face and smiled. “Sorry to disturb you, Auntie. There’s nothing wrong with the rice. I’m just looking around. May I ask how many acres of land you have at home? Are you from your own family or are you a tenant? How much tax do you pay? Can you eat your fill?”
The woman was stunned for a moment when she saw Li Yu’s smile. She blushed and said, “I have five acres of farmland and three acres of land. They all belong to my family. After paying the tribute, I can’t even fill my stomach.”
Li Yu looked at the woman and comforted her. “Then you don’t have to worry about starving this year. From this year onwards, the Imperial Court will waive the taxes of the farmers in Qingchuan County for five years. According to your family’s output, it should be enough to eat with some coarse grain. Someone from the government office will inform you in a few days.”
The woman’s eyes lit up. “Five years of tax exemption? Madam, how did you know?”
The woman suddenly remembered that the bandits were about to come to get the food. She had to hand over 60% of the food to the bandits. If she gave the food to the bandits, the entire family would go hungry again. If she didn’t give it to them, her family would lose their lives.
The woman said sadly, “Madam, it’s useless. You don’t know Qingchuan’s situation. Take care, Madam. I’ll go cut the grains.”
Li Yu saw that the woman’s eyes were red as she rushed back to the field to get busy. She sighed and got into the carriage to walk forward. She asked a few more farmers who were harvesting, and they all said the same thing as the woman.
Li Yu thought angrily, “It seems that the bandits are really fearless when facing the commoners! Who is supporting them? They raised the bandits to do evil so unscrupulously.”
Yang Wei raised his head and looked at Li Yu’s angry expression. He ran to the field and picked up a handful of straw. He made a straw cage and handed it to Li Yu. “Madam, look at the straw cage I made.”
Li Yu looked at Yang Wei’s smile and took the bamboo cage. “You made it up well. I didn’t expect Ah Wei to be so skilled.”
Yang Wei comforted Li Yu like an adult. “Madam, don’t be angry. They’re timid and insensible.”
“Madam isn’t angry with them.” Li Yu smiled. “Let’s go back!”
When the farmers saw Li Yu leave, they gathered together. The tall man said, “Did you hear what that madam said just now? She said that the Imperial Court will exempt us from taxes for five years. Is that true?”
The older man smiled bitterly and said, “Yang Dashan, so what if it’s true? Think about it, what’s the difference with the exemption? Other than two years of drought, we haven’t paid taxes to the Imperial Court for two years. Don’t forget that there’s still a small Imperial Court in Qingchuan!”
The old woman said with red eyes, “That’s right! We’ve handed it all over to those bandits. The government is too useless. They attempted to catch bandits every year and we paid a lot of money. They didn’t even touch the corners of the bandits’ clothes.”
“Sigh!” The old man sighed heavily. “That’s right! There’s no hope. I’ll leave it to the bandits to buy stability!”
“Can it be stable? A few days ago, when the little girl from the neighboring village was washing clothes by the river, she was dragged into the forest by bandits passing by. Be careful. Don’t let the good-looking girls go out.”
“Sigh!” Everyone sighed when they heard that.
Tu Gang had just slept until the sun was high in the sky. After he came out of Little Peach’s house, he rode his horse to the entrance of the county office and saw that there was indeed someone working inside. Only then did he believe Little Peach’s words. He thought to himself, “Looks like Third Master and those brothers are doomed. I should go back and tell First Master first.”