During the season when sweet-scented osmanthus blooms in Shunde County, the streets are filled with fishmongers using donkey carts to pull wooden barrels, shouting "big, fresh fish" and hawking through the streets.
"Brother Xiao Yi, are you coming back from the county town? There are plenty of sweet-scented osmanthus fish this year. How many are here to pick out?"
"Come back!" Zhang Xiaoyi cupped his hands perfunctorily, and while answering the neighbor's questions, he frowned and hurried home. The neighbor looked at him in a hurry, raised a smile on his lips and said, "It's hard to find money, Brother B!" The word "oh" had an upward pronunciation, as if it was provocative.
Zhang Xiaoyi turned a deaf ear and entered the dark door alone. Butler Zhang Gui greeted him, looking at him with questioning eyes. Seeing that Zhang Xiaoyi had no intention of talking to him, he reported the matter and said: "Master Haojiao knows that Dad Qiao's Ping An'er has been polishing the spinner here for a long time and has to wait for the master. When I asked him what happened, he said that the matter in Guangzhou was over. Dad Qiao, please come over and sit down if you are free tomorrow."
Zhang Xiaoyi nodded to indicate that he understood, looked at Zhang Gui and asked, "Is uncle coming home?"
Zhang Gui hurriedly replied: "My uncle has been here for a while. He is in the old lady's room." Zhang Xiaoyi first took the hand towel he handed over and wiped his head and face, then told him: "There are fish sellers outside, go and pick a few." It's fat. Once it's trimmed, I'll let my uncle take it with him when he leaves."
Zhang Gui agreed and went out. Zhang Xiaoyi walked quickly and reached the main room where her mother lived.
Standing at the door, Zhang Xiaoyi took a deep breath, stood solemnly and said to the room: "Mother, my son is back."
Mrs. Wu heard in the room: "Come in quickly! Your uncle is here too."
Zhang Xiaoyi opened the curtain and greeted his uncle Wu Yun first as he entered. Wu Yun waited for Zhang Xiaoyi to sit down and then asked: "Xiao Yi, what do you think Mr. Sun said?"
Zhang Xiaoyi took a sip of tea and said with a wry smile: "Master Sun didn't say anything. The newly arrived Wangzhi County heard from someone that his nephew was in the sixth room, so he sent someone to call his nephew." When Wu Yun heard about it, he leaned forward and said : "I heard that the magistrate came back from Burma and was a scholar, but he was vulgar. Is this true?"
Zhang Xiaoyi shook his head and said: "Uncle, please don't listen to Dong Heng's nonsense! This County Master Wang is a ruthless character! This man has no airs about his officialdom at all, but in a few words he explained the income and expenditure of our factory accurately."
Wu Yun frowned when he heard this. He twisted his thumb and index finger together, looked at his nephew and asked, "Can you——?"
Zhang Xiaoyi smiled bitterly and said: "I first called me poor. I said that the Buttercup Silk Factory closed down the year before last and we were hit by famine. I have earned a few dollars in the past two years and have paid off my debts. If the tax doubles, I will have no choice but to suffer." Later he said I offered some sponsorship to the county, but he waved it down."
Speaking of this, he imitated the accent of Wang Zhixian with a sad face and said: "I know the situation in Xiandi's family! But the pilot project in Guangdong was just an imperial edict from the imperial court. It was urgently urged, but there was nothing we could do about it. Zhang Xiandi's The Silk Cutting Factory is one of the best in Shunde, so I set an example and I will definitely be rewarded."
When Mrs. Wu heard her son's imitation, she spat and said, "That's very polite. What can he give in return? I gave him a lot of free money, but he was a poor man. He only made us suffer."
When Wu Yun heard about it, he looked at his sister and said with a smile: "Your strange illness has only been cured for half a year, so don't get angry again. Even if the tax is doubled, your family will still make money - it's not hard to say."
After saying that, Wu Yun said to Zhang Xiaoyi: "I wonder what the reward that Mr. Wang said is?"
Zhang Xiaoyi sighed and said, "They said that if the taxes are paid in full, we will be given a plaque saying 'It's an honor to pay taxes' to light up the lintel of the door. He also said that if our family's reputation is not bad, we will be given the title of 'virtuous country squire' next year. You can sit in the county council to discuss affairs.”
Wu Yun smiled and interjected: "This county council started doing it after the big reform. After all these years, I haven't heard of any council member taking advantage. On the contrary, they are building bridges and repairing roads, and taking more medicine when giving out soup- —But it’s true that the reputation is good, and it can also boost the family’s reputation.”
Zhang Xiaoyi frowned and said, "What's the use of those false names? My nephew did a detailed calculation yesterday. If our silk-cutting factory keeps the raw materials and ex-factory price unchanged, it will need to pay an extra thousand and a half per year according to the new tax system."
Mrs. Wu on the side was startled, a mouthful of tea choked in her throat, and she started coughing desperately. Zhang Xiaoyi quickly stood up and asked Annan's maid standing aside to pat her mother's back gently. Wu coughed for a while, turned red and gasped: "We work hard, we can only make this much in a year, who will do it after paying taxes?"
Zhang Xiaoyi couldn't laugh or cry and said, "Don't worry, mother. The thousand and a half I mentioned are silver dollars, not silver taels." After hearing this, Mrs. Wu breathed a sigh of relief.
Seeing that her mother had calmed down, Zhang Xiaoyi frowned and continued: "The county official said that as long as the taxes are paid in full, all the 'miscellaneous factions' and 'shared factions' from now on will be eliminated. I did the math, this can save sixty-six dollars a year." Seven hundred - I just don’t know how far he can go.”
After hearing this, Wu Yun frowned and sighed: "It's hard! Last month, Mr. Song Xunzong went to the county for inspection. That day, the three-foot-tall old county official sent a post to my house. I had one fresh pig and two fresh sheep. , six jars of fruit wine, twenty kilograms of first-class Dahongpao, four knives of gold paper, and sixteen taels of silver - the county welcomed them. It was us merchants who contributed money and effort. Is it possible that after the tax was paid, these posts not coming?"
Zhang Xiaoyi nodded, took the words and said with a smile: "What my uncle said is true. It was also last month. When Liu Tixing came to the county, he made sure to stay in Chunfeng Building - it's good to have a tea party and drink flower wine to investigate the case. It’s surprising. What Mr. Xia Xia did is even more ridiculous. He sent a message to his nephew and said that his nephew has a silk-cutting factory at home. The Zapa sweat towel costs 160 square meters. The sesame seeds cost gold and the color of purple grapes. Sichuan damask, gold and emeralds pierced with flowers and phoenixes, pearls and eight broken pearls, etc., totaling eight styles of twenty square meters each - it cost my nephew about thirty taels."
Before Zhang Xiaoyi could finish speaking, both the Wu siblings couldn't stop laughing. Wu spat hard on the ground and said: "A gentleman sees money like a fly sees blood - if the tax system is changed, they will not eat this miscellaneous acres of land, but the sun is rising in the west!"
After she finished laughing, she sighed again: "Well, they all say that in this peaceful and prosperous age, the Great Reform is good. We can live together with our mother and father, and we won't have such troubles now! The emperor will attack Annan today and tomorrow. Myanmar—all wants us to pay money, but we’ve never seen any benefit!”
Wu Yun had a strange look on his face when he heard this. He looked at Annan's maid standing behind Wu and smiled without saying a word. When Mrs. Wu saw her brother looking behind her, her face turned red and she said, "Although this slave is cheap, he is clumsy and has a clumsy tongue. I don't know how much of my family has been broken by her!" After saying that, he glanced at the little girl and said : "Someday, find someone to sell you to Yazi!" The frightened little girl knelt down and kowtowed, her head shaking like a rattle, Wu Yun and Zhang Xiaoyi both laughed.
After laughing for a while, Wu Yun lowered his voice and said to Zhang Xiaoyi: "I heard that there are scholars in the government who are instigating a strike. Is there any movement in the county?"
Zhang Xiaoyi's expression turned serious, he shook his head and said, "I didn't hear what they said. But I heard from Section Chief Sun of the Sixth House that our new county magistrate was very ruthless when he was in Myanmar - his head can make a whole city stand. He He brought a companion named Huo, and as soon as he took office, he fired the official Ma Dian and made this person named Huo the official."
When Wu Yun heard this, he was surprised and said: "Although the official is not a high-ranking official, he is still registered in the Ministry of Personnel. How did this companion get an official position?"
Zhang Xiaoyi said: "This guy surnamed Huo has worked with him in Burma for five years. Isn't it easy to get an official position in Burma? It's a shame that my nephew didn't have that knowledge back then, otherwise he would have tried to become an official. How much better than ordinary people would he be?" Angry."
When Wu Yun heard this, he couldn't help but digress: "I can't help but envy you. You only saw them eating meat, but you didn't see them being beaten - how many people have died in Myanmar over the years? I read the newspaper a few days ago, saying that officials were killed somewhere in Myanmar. They rebelled and tied the Han people to the river beach to feed mosquitoes, and the county magistrate was bitten to death by mosquitoes."
After hearing this, Mrs. Wu was so frightened that she recited the Buddha's name. Wu Yun returned to the subject and said: "I wonder what the court is so anxious about? The new tax law was only published in the newspaper in May, saying it was to solicit public opinion. It was trialled in Guangdong in less than four months - our province is also unlucky, what's going on? We can all be the first in the round, and we were the first ones when Zhang Heizi got a whip."
Zhang Xiaoyi said with a smile: "Who said we have a lot of money? In the past few years, they said that the court's taxes and taxes should be given to the southeast - in fact, we in Guangdong and Fujian are the ones who have the most money, and the court knows everything."
Wu Yun whispered again: "What Xiao Yi said is true. I heard that the emperor wanted to set up a tax bureau in order to collect taxes. There are national taxes and local taxes, and there are tax soldiers. These soldiers were trained by Yu Dayou in Lianghuai. ——The newspaper said that resisting taxes is a violation of national law—I don’t know what kind of national law it is, but in the future, I’m afraid that some people will have their homes confiscated and beheaded.”
After hearing this, Mrs. Wu kept chanting Buddha's name.
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