Chapter 42
42 Tax
Li Yu came out of Li Mei’s house and returned home. Madam Qian looked at Li Yu and frowned. “Xiaoyu, the village chief came just now. The village chief said that we will need to pay the farm tax and head tax tomorrow.”
Li Yu looked at Madam Qian. “Auntie Qian, do you still have to pay taxes if you don’t have fields?”
“Why not! It’s fine now. There’s only the head tax and the farm tax. From what the old people said, there were all kinds of taxes in the previous dynasty. You’ll even have to pay taxes for drinking water!” Madam Qian smiled bitterly. “Fortunately, I earned my salary from you. Otherwise, my family wouldn’t even have the money to pay the head tax of 200 copper coins per person.”
“That’s right! It’s still us commoners who suffer.” When Li Yu heard this, she felt that these people who lived at the bottom of the food chain in ancient times had really suffered too much. There were all kinds of taxes and hard labor. Once they encountered a natural disaster, they could only sell their children or even starve to death on the streets. No wonder the great poet Du Fu wrote that the wine and meat in the red gate stank, and there were poems about freezing to death on the road.
The next morning, when Li Yu went to Shun Feng Inn, she saw the villagers pulling food to the village chief’s house in twos and threes. After Li Yu returned from paying the bill at Shun Feng Inn, she asked the bailiffs if she could pay for the food. She decided to pay and save the trouble of sending food to Green Mountain City.
After the taxes were collected, the government office began to recruit laborers to repair the river. For a moment, the village was gloomy. Everyone sighed. The wealthy families paid three taels of silver to exempt their people from serving as laborers, and the poor could only work as laborers to repair the river. Li Mei paid the money to exempt Liu Changmin from the labor. Li Yu’s family and Xiao An’s family were also exempted from the conscription.
After paying the taxes, Li Yu also had a load on her mind. She began to prepare for winter seeds.
Li Yu prepared to start digging the reservoir. Li Yu chose a few places with lower terrain and went to the blacksmith to order two shovels and two wide-toothed iron plowshares. She hired Chen Yaohui and his wife to round up the Li family, and the Qian family to dig the few reservoirs into a two-meter square. They kept an inlet at the same level as the ground so that it would be easier to discharge the water into the reservoir on a rainy day.
Then, they placed the soil that they had dug out of the reservoir around the pool to be reinforced. Chen Yaohui borrowed a stone arena from the village and sealed up the earthworks around the pool.
The few of them were busy for a few days before they finished digging the reservoir. After Li Yu chose the land to plant rapeseed and wheat, Chen Yaohui drove the cows to plow the ground. Li Yu then brought Madam Qian and Madam Li and began to spread the fat.
Madam Li grabbed a handful of compost and was put off by the sour and rotten smell. Madam Li felt that it was strange. Where did Li Yu learn to use the rotten soil in the forest? She wondered if this thing could be used. Not only would it be a waste of effort to destroy the ground, but it would also cost money and seeds.
Madam Li smiled and asked Li Yu, “Xiaoyu, look at the wasteland that those people plowed. The land is more fertile than yours. It will take three to four years to raise it. Can you really raise the land with these rotten leaves?”
“Aunt Li, I’m just guessing. I think the leaves in the autumn will fall and rot in the forest with those weeds. They pile up year after year and are wedged underground before they turn into this black rotten leaf soil. It’s possible that it’s this rotten leaf soil that makes the trees and weeds in the forest grow so lush. I thought that since my house doesn’t have fertilizers, I’ll try using this rotten leaf soil.”
When Madam Li heard this, she felt that what Li Yu said made sense. “Xiaoyu, now that you mention it, even I want to try.”
Li Yu smiled. “Why don’t you try?”
After the group finished scattering the leaf compost, Chen Yao plowed the ground again. He divided the ground into six feet wide and drove out the carriage ditch and the surrounding ditch to drain the water. Everyone was busy until the end of August.
Li Yu’s bean paste was also ready. After sealing the sauce jar, she stopped stirring it and prepared to go to the restaurant to promote it when she was free.
Li Yu began to tidy up the planting bed. She mixed the rotten leaves, fertilizer, and fine soil together with the plant ash. She scattered a thick layer on the divided ground compartment and prepared to sow the rapeseed. When the planting bed was ready, Li Yu exposed the rapeseed, which had already been sifted out, to the sun for two days. She mixed the plant ash and scattered it evenly on the planting bed. After scattering it, she covered it with the mixed fine ash.
Madam Li and Madam Qian followed Li Yu and sowed seeds. They were shocked by Li Yu’s meticulous farming method. The two of them were secretly looking forward to seeing what kind of harvest they could get.
After the rapeseed was planted, Li Mei’s house was finally completed. Li Mei’s family came to help Li Yu plant wheat.
Li Yu brought out the wheat seeds that had been screened. In order not to soak the wheat, Li Yu spread the seeds out on the sun pad. It took two days to mix the wheat seeds with plant ash. She took out the iron wide-toothed plow and tied a large rock to the back of the plow. She then pulled the wheat out of the groove and scattered the seeds in the groove. Finally, she covered the wheat seeds with wood and soil.
After the seeds were sown, they began to water the plants. It had only been a day when it started to rain. Li Mei even laughed at Li Yu’s luck. It rained as soon as she began to watering the plants. The autumn rain was cold, and the sky became cold.
Li Yu took out cotton and cloth and handed them to Madam Qian to make cotton clothes and shoes. She and Xiao An began to burn charcoal.
Li Yu found a green hill forest in the forest at the back of the mountain. She knocked down the green hill fruit and got Xiao An to carry it home. Li Yu specially chose a thick tree trunk to cut down and dug a few holes in the open space to burn charcoal. Just as she was placing the firewood and covering them with soil to light the fire, Xiao An came to look for Li Yu and said that Ah Qing’s teacher had come to thank her.
Li Yu pointed at the two smoke vents at the top and bottom of the pit and instructed Xiao An, “Xiao An, look, the fire has reached the hole below. Block the two holes with soil, understand?”
Xiao An nodded. “Got it.”
Only then did Li Yu walk back in relief. Just as she reached the courtyard door, she saw Ji Xiang and that troublesome person sitting at the entrance of the central room. There was also a pile of gifts under the eaves.
When Ji Xiang saw Li Yu step forward, he was about to kneel. “Miss Li, thank you for saving my life.”
Li Yu hurriedly stopped him from kneeling and smiled politely. “It’s just a matter of convenience. Don’t be so polite. Besides, I’ve already received a thank-you gift!”
Zhou Jia bowed to Li Yu. “Miss Li, the life-saving grace can’t be confused with the things you took. We escaped because of your help.” As Zhou Jia spoke, he bowed to Li Yu. “Miss Li, we’re here to sincerely thank you for saving our lives.”
Seeing that Zhou Jia bowed deeply, Li Yu smiled and said, “Mr. Zhou, I appreciate your gratitude. Besides, the matter has already passed. If you hadn’t come, I would have forgotten.”
Only then did Zhou Jia get up and smile at Li Yu. “Alright, it’s all in the past. Miss Li, please accept the gift.”
Li Yu looked at the pile of gift boxes and nodded with a smile. “Alright! I’ll accept the gift. Can we forget about this?”
Seeing that Li Yu had accepted the gift, Zhou Jia also felt relieved. He smiled at Li Yu and said, “Alright, I’ll listen to Miss Li. This matter will be over.” Zhou Jia changed the topic. “Miss Li, your brother is very talented at studying. Do you want to continue nurturing him to take the scholarly examination?”
Li Yu thought for a moment. “It’s important to obtain scholarly honors and bring honor to our ancestors, but it also depends on Ah Qing’s thoughts. If he wants to take another step forward, I agree.”
Zhou Jia nodded and said, “Alright, I know what to do. Miss Li, we’ll take our leave.”
“Alright, Mr. Zhou, take care.” Li Yu sent Zhou Jia and Ji Xiang to the door and returned to the house.
Madam Qian looked at Li Yu and smiled. “Xiaoyu, why is Mr. Zhou even more good-looking than a girl? Look at him standing there elegantly. He looks like a painting.”
Li Yu smiled and nodded. “Yes! He’s quite handsome, but he’s too troublesome.”
Auntie Qian thought that Li Yu felt that Mr. Zhou’s etiquette was too troublesome. She smiled and said, “Aiyo! That’s how scholars are. They’re very polite.”
Li Yu carried the gift box into the central room. “Well, he did bring quite a lot of gifts.”