coobybook Chapter 119: The Secret of Taxation
Chapter 119: The Secret of Taxation
There was such a big commotion in the yard, but Gu Yongming didn't show up, so he was obviously not at home.
Both Mr. Gu and Mrs. Li ignored her. Gu Yongmei had no one to turn to for help and could only run desperately towards Gu Wenxuan's house.
It is worth mentioning that Gu Xing’s fighting ability is very strong. In just a short while, Gu Xing not only pulled her hair loose, but also swollen her face. The two bags of pastries she brought were also thrown away by Gu Xing.
"Get lost! Go back to your in-laws' house!" She pointed at Gu Yongmei with resentment in her eyes, "If you dare to come to Baijia Village again, I will go to your in-laws' house to make trouble!"
Gu Yongmei didn't dare to talk back to Gu Xing. Not to mention that she couldn't beat Gu Xing. Even if she could, could she beat the group of strong men in Gu Xing's mother-in-law's family?
Even if she gathered all the men from her natal family and her husband's family, Gu Xing's husband's family could easily defeat them.
Gu Yongmei didn't want to be beaten again, so she wiped her face, got into the carriage dejectedly, and directed the stunned coachman to drive away.
This coachman was the same one who had previously sent Gu Jin and Gu Yongwen to Baijia Village. He had been transporting goods back and forth for Gu Yongmei's in-laws for a long time and was very familiar with this family. This was why when Gu Yongmei came to Baijia Village, there was no one from her natal family or in-laws' family with her.
In the morning, Gu Jin and Gu Yongwen were beaten out, and this coachman had already opened his eyes once, and now Gu Yongmei was beaten out again...
The gossipy soul in the coachman's body was burning fiercely. He repeatedly recalled the conversation between the two groups in his mind, trying to piece together a complete story.
Gu Yongmei had no idea what the coachman was thinking. At the moment, she was feeling sad for having lost face.
Mrs. Li, Gu Xing, and Mr. Gu all felt proud. Mrs. Li held Gu Xing's hand and said, "Thank goodness you're here, otherwise I would have just kicked her out."
Gu Xing knew that Li was not the type of person who could speak eloquently. She patted her sister-in-law's hand and said, "I've wanted to scold her for a long time. What the hell is this? I don't know how she still has the nerve to come to Yongming."
Li sighed, "Maybe he thinks that as long as she sheds a few tears and tells her about her grievances, Yongming will be soft-hearted towards her, the sister he has protected since she was a child."
Gu Xing sneered, "She wishes!"
Li nodded, "That's just wishful thinking."
Her son is not stupid. After being hurt like that, how could he still protect Gu Yongmei, such an ungrateful person, as his sister?
Of course, in order to prevent Gu Yongmei and Gu Jin and his son from using other means against their family, Mr. Gu and Mrs. Li still emphasized the family's determination when everyone gathered together for dinner that day.
They reminded their family members to be vigilant and not to be schemed against by outsiders.
In addition, Li also told her family another piece of gossip that Gu Xing told her.
So, early the next morning, when Gu Wenxuan saw Bai Jingzhou, who came with his younger brother and sister to practice martial arts, she immediately asked Bai Jingzhou, "I heard that your grandparents want to marry your aunt's cousin to you?"
Bai Jingzhou didn't expect Gu Wenxuan to hear about this so quickly. He said, "My mother has already refused."
Then, Bai Jingzhou quickly gossiped with Gu Wenxuan about the old grudge between his mother and his aunt.
Gu Wenxuan nodded as she listened, "Your mother is right, that man is indeed not a good person."
Who in their right mind would go and see the elder sister, only to end up hooking up with the younger sister?
After a pause, Gu Wenxuan continued, "I think your mother is very sensible and knows that this is not just your aunt's problem."
Bai Jingzhou smiled, "That's right."
In this era, it is normal for women to embarrass other women. People like his mother are quite unusual. But he and Gu Wenxuan undoubtedly prefer people like his mother.
The two of them talked for a while, and Gu Wenxuan told Bai Jingzhou about the two weird relatives of hers who shamelessly came to visit.
Bai Jingzhou had also heard about this matter, but he didn't know the details. Now that Gu Wenxuan was willing to tell him, he listened with great interest as if it were a fun thing.
It is worth mentioning that Gu Wenxuan was just joking when she said it. Being angry or depressed did not exist.
After all, who doesn’t have annoying relatives? What the other party did was not enough to offend their bottom line and make them kill him. They couldn’t just kill him.
While they relieve stress by mercilessly abusing the scumbags, they should just regard those people's weird behavior as an opportunity to see the diversity of species in this world, and there is no need to waste their emotions and time on them.
Just two days after the two families regained their peaceful days, the annual rush to harvest began.
Gu Wenxuan and Bai Jingzhou, who had already harvested all the vegetables and crops in the small valley, also joined their own harvesting team.
As for the rush to harvest work on the farm, the two men sent people they rescued from the bandit camp who had good character and ability to supervise it.
In addition, the two also bought a lot of pork, eggs, tofu, white flour and other things to ensure that their family members and those on the farm could eat well during the harvest period.
But even so, everyone still lost a lot of weight during the harvest period.
There was no other way around it. Gu Wenxuan and Bai Jingzhou could only slowly supplement nutrition and increase weight for everyone later.
Taxes have to be paid after the autumn harvest. Now the force they belong to has many taxes and levies, and taxes are collected twice a year.
Summer taxes were relatively simple, and people only had to pay a few copper coins based on the number of people, assets, and land in their family. Since the amount was not large, almost every family could pay it.
Autumn taxes are much more complicated and arduous. Not only do people have to pay two to three times the amount of summer taxes in silver or new grain as the main tax according to the number of people, assets and land in their family, but they also have to pay additional taxes that are complicated and changeable, and the amount of tax is often several times more than the main tax.
Do you think this is the end? No, it is not over yet.
In addition to the regular taxes and additional taxes, the imperial court would also assign additional corvée labor for that year.
Families who do not want to serve in the military must raise money for exemption as soon as the corvée labor is assigned to them.
Exemption money is also called assistance money or substitute service money. According to the service law (exemption law) introduced by the imperial court, the people can pay exemption money and the government will recruit people to serve on their behalf.
It is worth mentioning that paying the exemption fee does not mean you don’t have to perform labor service.
Sometimes, even if the people paid the exemption money, the government would still assign other corvee labor to you. This is what is commonly referred to as "additional labor service."
Because Qingshan County has a good county magistrate, the taxes and labor service fees that the people need to pay every year have never been added by the local county government. This one item alone has benefited countless ordinary people who are struggling on the line between life and death.
But even so, there are still many families in Qingshan County who are forced to leave their homes with their families because of the increasingly heavy taxes and corvee labor imposed by the imperial court year by year.
This year is the same. The joy of the autumn harvest cannot offset people's worries about the taxes and corvee labor that the court will soon impose.