Farmhouse Green Plum

Chapter 376 Coaxing

Song Ying said modestly, "It's getting hotter, and Yan Xing has to go back and forth between the city and the village every day, which is really hard. So I scraped together some money to buy a shop. The location is not very good, but the only advantage is that Yan Xing can have a place to rest in the city."

"Oh, that's incredible! How old are you, and you've already run such a successful business? After all, we're getting old. I heard that housing prices in the north of the city are not cheap now."

Song Ying didn't want to show off his wealth, so he changed the subject, "Auntie Chen, I just happen to have something I want to ask you."

Aunt Chen was a little surprised. "You still have something to ask me? I don't know any medical skills."

"It's not a medical issue. You know we've only been doing business for a short time. We've been groping our way through everything. We don't know a lot of things. That day I ran into Wang Sicheng from the Taxation Department and learned that we have to pay commercial taxes to run a business. Auntie, how much commercial taxes do we have to pay?"

"So that's what it is," Aunt Chen suddenly realized, and then she became confident. "You asked me the right person. Let me tell you this, if you earn 200 coins, you have to pay 3 coins of business tax."

"Is it so low?" Song Ying was surprised. "Why do I feel that it is much less than the summer tax and autumn grain?"

"It's less than the summer tax and autumn tax. For every 3 dou of grain, you have to pay 4 to dou of tax, and that's not counting the lingjian kickhu. Moreover, the yield per mu is not calculated based on the actual yield per mu of each household. The government determines a number every year, and then the whole county collects grain based on this yield per mu."

Song Ying was dumbfounded. "Didn't the imperial court emphasize agriculture and suppress commerce? How come the commercial tax is so much less than the agricultural tax?"

"We businessmen have a low status."

"Then I would rather be a wealthy merchant of low status than be a farmer. This feeling of low status is just talk." Song Ying's words were filled with some sarcasm. It turned out that the so-called ranking of scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans was used by the court to deceive farmers.

The taxes on farmers are more than twice as heavy as those on merchants, not to mention all kinds of ridiculous things like "dripping the tip of a spear" and "kicking the hook". The actual taxes are even higher!

"My mother's family was also a farmer. I didn't know the ins and outs of this until I married into my husband's family. I was even more shocked than you were at the time." Aunt Chen sighed and said, "The agricultural tax in our Daqian Dynasty was considered low. I heard from the older generation that the tax in the previous dynasty was much heavier than it is now. Most of the grain harvested from the fields was used to pay taxes."

*

In April, the midday sun has begun to show its scorching heat, burning people's faces.

In Xinghua Village, the villagers who had worked hard for the whole morning returned one after another and took a rest under the paulownia trees at the entrance of the village. The lush tree canopy provided them with a cool shade.

When Li and her two companions returned, the entrance to the village was already full of people. Seeing Li, Xiaoxiang's wife Zhang stood up and said, "Aunt Li, come and sit down."

Li didn't bother to be polite with her and sat down in the seat she had given up. Yang then placed the hoe horizontally on the ground and pulled Zhang to sit down with her.

After sitting down, Li found a middle-aged woman she didn't recognize. She was plump and kind-looking. Her family was well-off. She couldn't help but wonder, "Hey, this lady looks unfamiliar. Whose relative is she?"

Aunt Meihua smiled and said, "This is Aunt Wu from the He Mansion. She's here to tell the Xu family the good news. Yuzhi is pregnant. Doctor Ma said she's been pregnant for three months!"

Behind the bushes at the intersection, Luo Yanxing looked at Song Ying and asked in a low voice: "Has Xu Yuzhi been to the clinic?"

Song Ying shook her head, "I had to go out from time to time these two days, and I didn't meet her."

As they were about to walk over, they heard Madam Wu say, "So you are Doctor Song's grandmother. Your granddaughter is really amazing. I heard that her master came from the palace and used to treat the nobles in the palace. You will enjoy a good life in the future."

Song Ying winked at Luo Yanxing and planned to go around instead of entering the village from the entrance. If they went there, they would have to talk for a long time, which would waste time.

Li's voice rang out, "What kind of happiness is that? That damn woman doesn't even see a single hair of a human being every day, and she still enjoys happiness. What a lousy happiness."

Mother Wu was a little embarrassed. "Now that I have the skills and am learning skills, I am naturally busy."

"She is a girl, what can she be busy with? Can she be busier than the emperor? She hasn't come back since the New Year. I'm thankful that she doesn't make me angry.

She comes back to make me angry. She gets into trouble after just a few words. I have never seen a more unfilial child in my life!"

Song Ying rolled her eyes when she heard this. She knew that no matter what she did, Li would not say a single good word to her.

"Grandma Li, your words are as rude as a dog!" Luo Yanxing was so angry that he turned around the bushes and walked out. "Song Ying hasn't come back yet, but you asked me to bring you meat and vegetables every few days. Everyone in the village knows about it, but you just said a few words and wiped out all the good things about Song Ying.

If you continue like this, even if I bring you mountains of gold and silver, they will still be useless and you will still consider them unfilial.

Your son is very filial. He catches eels every day. How many times have you eaten them in a year? Three times? Not to mention last year, this year alone, Song Ying has cut meat for you more than ten times!

I heard that you hung the leftovers on the chimney of your house to smoke. When you see the meat while cooking every day, you can’t remember Song Ying’s kindness at all, right…”

She suddenly appeared and made a series of rapid conversations, leaving Li and the others stunned.

Li was stunned for a while before she stood up angrily and pointed at her and said, "You damned girl, what kind of family education do you have in the Luo family? You contradict your elders in public..."

Luo Yanxing rolled his eyes and said unhappily, "I'm just telling the truth. Not only the people in our village, but also many people along the way have seen me carrying meat back. They all know that Song Ying bought it as a gift to you. But when it comes to you, there's not a single good word to say!"

"Who do you think you are?" Li glared at Luo Yanxing angrily. If she was not her own family, she would have beaten her.

Luo Yanxing only knew that he had said something wrong, but he was so angry that he didn't think so much and was about to say a few more words.

"You are a junior, why are you arguing with your grandmother Li?" Aunt Meihua held her back and quickly changed the subject, "Why are you back so early today? Don't you usually come back when it's almost dark?"

Aunt Meihua was very glad that she had married her daughter off last year. Otherwise, these two girls would have dared to talk back to their elders in front of outsiders. If the news got outside, how would the girls in Xinghua Village have a good reputation?

"I opened a shop in the city to sell pancreas. Song Ying's recipe for making it also counts as a contribution. I came back with her specially to invite Grandma Li, Second Aunt Yang, and Second Uncle Song to attend the ceremony and have a feast."

As he spoke, Luo Yanxing glanced at Li again, "But now it seems that I don't think it's necessary. Anyway, no matter what I do, I won't get a single good word."