Jianghuai Zeye, the moonlight is faint.
A piece of "driftwood" floats on the river, moving slowly along the water waves.
Suddenly, huge waves rolled up and the "driftwood" sank into the water.
The fat catfish held its white belly and swayed, blowing bubbles constantly from its mouth, and its long beards fluttered to both sides along the water waves.
Unable to move, he rolled around in the water along the waves, regained his balance, and silently stared at the fat catfish.
For a while, the fat catfish felt that the one-man show was boring, and pointed with its ink-like fins and long whiskers.
Unable to move clearly, he turned around and came to the lotus root field, attracting round heads and fists.
The four beasts came together, their heads touched each other, each had its own movements, bubbles rose from time to time, and finally separated, the fat catfish ran to the old clam to make gestures.
"I should guard the lotus root carefully, and there is no need to worry."
After receiving the reply, the fat catfish shook his head and took the lead, unable to move and clasping his limbs together, followed closely behind, followed by fists and round heads.
The old clam has no hands, otherwise it would touch the shells up and down.
"It's strange, I have never seen such an intelligent beast."
The longer he spent with Liang Qu's water beasts, the more surprised the old clam was at the wisdom they displayed, which was completely beyond his current strength.
Just one, that's all, it can't be explained by coincidence.
An ancient relic capable of enlightenment?
The old clam feels that he still knows too little about the world.
I hate not reading when I was young!
…
Fat Catfish was the first to brake, and the three beasts stopped one after another.
His fist failed to brake in time and hit his immobile butt, causing him to be kicked.
The fat catfish pointed forward, and all three animals were lying on the ground, moving bit by bit through the dense forest of aquatic plants.
Climbing out of a certain range, the fat catfish and the three beasts poked their heads out a little.
In the distance, a monster larger than anyone present was lying down and taking a nap in the water plants.
It has large red scales all over its body, has four legs, a long tail, and long spiny fins on its back. Its muscles are bulging under the scales. Its body is extremely majestic and tall. The water surges when it breathes, and the water and grass are covered with water.
The fat catfish pointed at the crimson water beast with its fin, and then patted its white belly.
Unable to shake his head, he tapped his claws on his scales and stretched out towards the crimson water beast.
Yuan Tou looked left and right and chose to withdraw from the argument.
Strong, cute and fat.
Liang Qu issued a new order to the three beasts, requiring him to find qualified water beasts whose strength should be as high as possible.
He was worried that the four beasts would not understand the meanings of these three adjectives, so he meant that those that were immobile like a crocodile represented strong; those that resembled a finless porpoise with a round head represented cuteness; those that resembled a fat catfish represented fatness.
Every time there is a judgment, the four beasts must gather together to make a decision.
The two beasts were debating whether the water beast in front of them was more immobile or more like a fat catfish.
Apparently Fat Catfish is on to something wrong.
There were endless arguments.
The two beasts decided to put aside their dispute for the time being and wait for the gods to decide.
The fat catfish moved a stone and pressed it under the water plants as a mark to exit the red water beast's territory.
…
sulfuric acid! sulfuric acid! sulfuric acid!
The gongs are noisy and the birds are flying.
"The summer tax is collected, the summer tax is collected! Pay the grain at the port, pay the grain at the port!"
"The summer tax is collected, the summer tax is collected!"
The piercing sound of gongs came one after another like a tidal wave, making the crowd very noisy.
Liang Qu opened his eyes in his sleep and stood up suddenly when he heard the shouting.
"Pay taxes? Oops, I forgot to buy food!"
Liang Qu lifted up the thin quilt, put on his trousers, and was about to tie his belt when he suddenly fell back.
"I'm in a daze. I'm an official now and don't have to pay taxes."
Liang Qu held his head.
A false alarm.
I came back too late yesterday and trained with Mirage for another hour. Unexpectedly, I slept until midnight.
Although eight or nine o'clock is not too late, most people get up when the rooster crows, so sleeping until midnight is really something a prodigal can do.
Suddenly waking up, no longer sleepy, Liang Qu stood up and suddenly received a message from Fat Catfish.
"Have you found a suitable sacrifice?"
Liang Qu looked happy, but he didn't expect to see good news when he woke up.
The River God Festival will begin soon, and the sacrifices must be settled as soon as possible.
He immediately put on his clothes, washed up, took Fubo and the anchor, and when he went out, he saw Chen Qingjiang and his father Chen Renxing pushing a cart to pay taxes.
Say hello.
Only then did the two people who were immersed in pushing the cart notice Liang Qu.
"Ah Shui! Are you going out?"
"yes."
Liang Qu stepped forward and took the handle.
He was so strong that he could move a cart filled with four stones of grain and six hundred kilograms of rice smoothly with just one hand. It was not something that Chen Qingjiang and Chen Renxing could do.
"No need, no need. It doesn't weigh much. It's enough for the two of us."
Chen Renxing hurriedly grabbed Liang Qu's wrist, but he couldn't move it. It was like an old tree that had taken root.
"It's okay, I just happened to be going to the port. When did Uncle Chen buy a trolley?"
"I bought it two days ago. I was thinking that I would have to pay taxes soon. I had to move the grain myself before, so I bought a cart for easy transportation. I also plan to buy a donkey! From now on, I can pay the grain and pull the donkey by myself. , there is no need to offend my father!"
Chen Qingjiang's face was beaming with joy.
"It's a good thing. If you have nothing to do, you can rent it out to others to pull grinders and pull carts. It's also a good source of income."
Chen Renxing and Chen Qingjiang nodded repeatedly.
With the help of Liang Qu's bait, the three families of Chen's family and Li's family could earn more than one or two silver coins from the fish they caught every day, which was enough for the family. They lived a prosperous life and added a lot of objects and furniture to their homes.
As for taxes, what I started to worry about a few months ago is now nothing at all.
Chen Qingjiang prepared four stones of rice this time. He was not afraid of the officials making things difficult for him.
After sending the two of them to the pier, there were many unknown old faces behind the desk. Chen Zhaoan asked everyone to separate into teams and line up one by one.
Liang Qu also saw two families, Chen Jiechang and Li Libo. Although they were river officials, they did not enter the rank and still had to pay taxes.
Seeing Liang Qu's figure from a distance, several petty officials hurriedly stepped forward to greet him.
"Master Liang."
The county magistrate of Liushui and the iron-clad subordinates are all locals. How could they not know Liang Qu, a "local snake".
Liang Qu looked around and didn't see the clerk who collected his money during the autumn tax, so he probably didn't dare to come.
He turned around and pointed at Chen Qingjiang, Chen Jiechang, Li Libo and others in the crowd.
"Let these guys pay it first. The loss of one stone and one bucket is almost enough. Above this, we should pay as much as we need. Don't make it too difficult for the villagers."
It is strange but not strange, and it is clear but not exciting.
Previously, Xu Yuelong told Liang Qu not to do things too cleanly in Fengbu County, but he later realized that there were not so many messy reasons.
There are only one person, there are few saints and many ordinary people in the world. Everything is spotless. No one will take you to play with you next time.
Therefore, Liang Qu didn't embarrass the petty officials too much. He just ignored the losses, but he didn't go too far and caused other people's wives to break up.
"Yes Yes Yes."
Several petty officials quickly agreed.
"Thank you for your hard work."
Liang Qu bowed.
"Master Liang worked hard, Master Liang worked hard."
The clerks bowed and watched Liang Qu untie the rope of the boat and float away. They took out the household registration book and turned around and shouted.
"Next, Chen Qingjiang."
"I'm coming."
Chen Qingjiang didn't know why it was his turn so early, so he didn't dare to delay. He hurriedly pushed through the crowd and pushed the cart forward.
After pouring out the grain, he only reached two stones and six buckets, when he was stopped by the clerk.
"enough."
Chen Qingjiang was stunned and hesitated.
Not to mention that the kick has not yet been taken, even if you count the three strokes of the small straight, it is not enough.
But when he saw the official ticking the box on the book, Chen Qingjiang knew that it would be better to do less than to do more, so he hurriedly turned around and left.
"Hey, eh, this is the official, the official."
Liang Guangtian pushed and shoved several people around him, and passed by Chen Qingjiang.
The official didn't even raise his head, and kept making loud noises.
"What's up?"
"My lords, that man just now is my nephew. Do you think this can be done..."
The clerk closed the household registration book and looked at Liang Guangtian with a half-smile.
"Hey, who do I think I am? It turns out it's you, an old guy. Do you think I'm a foreigner and don't know about your relationship with Mr. Liang?"
Liang Guangtian was frightened and said hurriedly: "That is a thing of the past. Every family has difficulty chanting sutras. Who doesn't have some conflicts? Brothers are still at war. In fact, our uncle and nephew have reconciled long ago."
The clerk hesitated a little.
What Liang Guangtian said makes sense, but...
He didn't dare to ask Liang Qu if this was really the case.
Chen Qingjiang was stunned and turned around: "When did you get married with Ah Shui? Why didn't I know?"
The clerk's expression immediately changed.
"Old guy, get out of the way and if you dare to cut in line again, I'll whip you!"
