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The inspection round ended, and Magistrate Wu returned to the county government office.

His carriage was not only loaded with two gourds, large and small, but also with a basket of grapes and a basket of yellow duck pears.

Mister Liao, who was squeezed off the carriage, could only huddle on a donkey cart with two scribes, gnawing on a duck pear in one hand, deep in thought.

His hometown lay in a small town in Zhouhe County, roughly the same size as Chuanhe Town. The life of the people there was very hard; they were not only oppressed by the harsh conditions of life, but also by the local squires and petty officials.

His family used to live quite comfortably until they offended the relatives of the local Lizheng. From then on, his family fell into misery.

The Lizheng would find all sorts of reasons to tax the Liao family. Every time his family bought a new sickle or raised a chick, Lizheng would come to collect taxes. Even when children wore flowers on their heads for festivals, they were reported and had to pay taxes.

In the end, with no other options, his parents had to sell their land and move to Qinchuan county to live off his meager salary.

Although their life in Qinchuan County was impoverished, at least they did not live in constant fear, unlike his two elder brothers who were still struggling in that small village.

If only their family could live in Chuanhe Town, where the local customs were simple and honest and the village and local officials were upright and honest. With him looking after them, there would be no worries about daily life.

Alas, when he returned to the county government, he would discuss with Mingfu and see if he could allow the Liao clan to settle here.

If possible, he would have his relatives settle down in Chuanhe Town. Even if they had to cultivate wastelands, it would be better than struggling for survival in Zhouhe County.

Dongchen Village.

As soon as the Mingfu official left, someone came to the East Village asking to buy cotton seeds.

These people were dressed extravagantly, obviously stewards of wealthy households.

The villagers of the East Village had been instructed by the Lizheng and the village officials not to sell cotton and cotton seeds to outsiders, so they paid no attention to these out-of-town people who looked like stewards.

Unexpectedly, these people did not give up and raised the price of cotton seeds to one tael of silver per catty.

The news caused a stir among the villagers.

Someone was tempted and secretly sold fifty catties of cotton seeds, earning fifty taels of silver.

He set a precedent, and the steward repeatedly found him, asking him to sell more cotton seeds.

Ultimately, this situation ended up being discovered and reported to the village officer, Chen Sanyou.

Chen Sanyou was furious and immediately went to his elder brother, Chen Fu, demanding an explanation for the villagers.

Indeed, the one selling cotton seeds was the second son of the Chen clan leader.

The clan leader, Chen, was also very angry. He immediately summoned his second son, Chen Jiazhen, and questioned him as to why he had sold the cotton seeds privately.

“It’s just a few catties of cotton seeds, not a big deal.” Chen Jiazhen replied dismissively, “You can sell too, one tael of silver per catty, it is more profitable than selling Jin’er. Who would pass on earning money?”

Chen Fu was so angry that he raised his stick to beat him.

Chen Sanyou was also furious, pointing at his nephew and scolding him: “Don’t you realize this is a request from the county magistrate? Are you short of money?”

Chen Jiazhen ducked his father’s bamboo stick while protecting his head, not forgetting to retort, “Can the county magistrate give us one tael of silver per catty? I’m not crazy. Why reject making money and choose instead to sell cheap to the government?”

Chen Sanyou was momentarily speechless, but he agreed with the words of the county magistrate.

Once the cotton seeds were taken by wealthy families, it would not be easy for other villagers to plant cotton.

Chen Sanyou did not bother to argue with his second nephew, and directly said to his brother Chen Fu: “How many cotton seeds does your family have left? Take them all out. The cotton seeds were originally given by Jiang Sanlang. I will return them all to the Jiang family. You should not plant cotton in your family in the future to avoid such incidents and prevent the whole village from losing face.”

When the government officials come to collect the cotton seeds, what would happen if they did not get a single catty? Where would he put his old face then?

“Why should we?” Before Chen Fu could speak, Han Miao, his second daughter-in-law, jumped up, “These are all ours, why should we give them to the Jiang family?”

Chen Fu, angered, slammed the table, “Everyone shut up!”

He pointed to the cotton in the room: “These are all my cotton, it’s not your turn to make decisions!”

The family had harvested over two thousand catties of cotton, which could be peeled to produce a thousand catties of cotton seeds.

Next year he was planning to plant another thirty acres. Considering ten catties of seed per acre, he would need more than 300 catties of cotton seeds.

The rest, originally, should be sold to the county government according to the requirements of Mingfu, but now there was this mishap.

His face was practically completely lost by his unfilial son.

His family was, after all, considered a first-class household, far superior to those third, fourth and fifth-class households. But what his second son has done is worse than a fifth-class household. It was highly humiliating. How could he face others in the future?

Chen Jiazhen and his wife, seeing their father really angry, dared not say anything and squatted silently on the ground.

Chen Fu said to his brother Chen Sanyou: “Call someone to carry away all the cotton seeds. Leave me three hundred catties. If all are kept at home, who knows what will happen.”

Chen Sanyou was waiting for his elder brother to say this. He immediately called a few people to transport the cotton seeds in their house to Jiang Sanlang’s house for weighing.

In the following days, Chen Sanyou tirelessly collected cotton seeds and temporarily stored them at Jiang Sanlang’s house.

Those in the village who hadn’t planted cotton but were planning to do so next year were asked by Chen Sanyou to register to reserve the cotton seeds.

After registration, the remaining cotton seeds were handed over to the county government to be taken away as soon as possible. The task of deciding whom to distribute them to was left to the county magistrate.

The fall harvest was over in a blink of an eye, and Sun Licheng came to urge the villagers to pay their taxes.

However, the people of East Village did not need to be urged. They simply handed in their tax money without a shortfall.

Sun Licheng chuckled: “The tax collection in your Dongchen Village is always smooth, never needing a second reminder.”

Li Dayong, Li Eryong and several others also laughed: “Isn’t it all thanks to our Jiang Third Brother? If we didn’t plant Jin’er, where would we get the money to pay the tax?”

“Exactly. ”

Sun Licheng strolled around with his hands behind his back: “I’ve seen plenty of you villagers building houses on the South Slope. I’ll come over and have a look next year.”

Household evaluations were done every three years, and the coming year was a three-year term, so many households in Dongchen Village were expected to be regraded.

“Hold on a minute, Uncle Lizheng. We are just building a mushroom shed on the South Slope, not a residential house,” one villager explained.

Once rated as a middle or high-class household, the annual tax would increase significantly, and the villagers did not want to ascend in household level.

Moreover, in times of famine when the imperial court provided disaster relief, only the lower-class households would receive grain. Upper and middle-class households would not receive any.

Sun Licheng gave him a sideways glance, “The mushroom shed is also your property, and it should be included in the tax project.”

Actually, Lizheng was quite envious of the Jin’er in East Village, but the villagers stood together and refused to sell mushroom spores to outsiders.

However, the cotton in their village was also good, and he had quietly obtained some cotton seeds from a government official, so he would be able to plant some next year.

Sun Licheng came to Jiang Sanlang’s house and saw his daughter teaching two of her cousins to read under the fruit tree.

Seeing Lizheng coming, Yingbao promptly stood up, “Grandpa Lizheng, are you looking for my dad?”

Sun Licheng waved his hand and asked, “Yingbao, where is your family’s big gourd?”

His visit today was for the purpose of bringing back a shop signboard gourd for his son’s shop..