The whole family stocked up on supplies two years in advance, so they could live a life of luxury wh

Zhang didn't know how to answer yet. She saw Li Zheng walking towards her house through the bamboo grove ahead.

She didn't expect that the village head would arrive so soon after the old steward left.

The village head was in charge of five villages. Xinghua Village was small, so there was no village chief. The village head was in charge of it.

The village head, who had just arrived, saw the people of Xinghua Village bustling about. Without wasting any words, he gathered everyone together and began to discuss the taxes that should be paid this autumn.

He kept fiddling with the abacus:

"Those with children in the family should pay their share. This year it is 120 coins, 63 coins per person for the donation fee, 40 coins per person for the transport tax, and 1 tael of silver per person for other allowances."

"You all need to collect your silver and hand it over to my room tomorrow. Don't try to delay it. If you delay too long and the court sends you to repair the river, don't blame me for being ruthless."

The villagers of Xinghua Village turned pale upon hearing this. They had already paid taxes once after the autumn harvest, and they never expected to be asked to pay taxes a second time so soon. The amount to be paid the second time was five times that of the first time.

While Zhang was still making her calculations, the village head had already called her aside. "I heard that your family sold some mountain products and got some money. You should pay the money first, which will set an example for our Xinghua Village."

This year's is a bit more than last year's; you only need to give me ten taels and six mace and two qian.

Zhang's face was somber. The family originally had forty taels of silver, but they spent twelve taels on buying stone and timber, and another fifteen taels on paying off debts, which took away twenty-seven taels of silver.

Now the family only has twelve taels and one mace left. The rest of the money was used to buy grain to cook for the villagers.

Once this money is handed over, the family will only have one tael and four mace and eight qian left.

She sighed and reluctantly handed over the money.

The other villagers were also helpless. Only Li Laowu was an old man living alone, so he had the least burden. Everyone else went back to get money with bitter faces. This trip almost wiped out all the money from the autumn harvest.

The village headman comfortably collected the silver and that was it. In the end, only Chen Sanmei's family and Li the Cripple's family were penniless. The village headman glared at them and fussed.

"It's your problem if you can't come up with the money. You have three days. If you still can't produce the silver, we'll use people as collateral."

After he finished speaking, he left carrying a large money bag.

Only the villagers, looking pale and sickly, remained.

After paying the money, everyone became penniless, and these next few days they could only hope to get a couple of full meals at Fusheng's house.

The Zhangs and others kept sighing, but Li Fusheng had a good attitude. He smiled slightly and said, "What's there to be afraid of? We've paid the taxes, paid off the debts, and Xing'er is sensible now. Are we still worried about not being able to live a good life?"

"That's true, but so much money just passed through my hands, I... I feel terrible."

"Don't be sad, things will definitely get better."

As he was speaking, all the men in the village crowded around him, and the oldest of them, Old Man Li, sighed:

"Fusheng, we've thought about it. We won't eat your food or help you build a house. We only have one request: let Xing'er take us hunting to find mountain produce."

"We don't have any other ideas, we just hope we won't be so hungry this winter that we can't get out of bed."

After he spoke, Li Laojiu also chimed in:

"Fusheng, your Xing'er used to be a troublemaker, but no one bothered her much. Now that she has a way to make money, we think the same way as Uncle Li, and we won't make things difficult for you."

Each family will send one person to go into the mountains. We will take full responsibility for our own lives. If we run away and bring trouble upon ourselves, we will never blame Xing'er.

Li Fusheng frowned. He didn't know how to refuse, so he just kept his head down and didn't say anything.

He knew the dangers of the mountains, and if it weren't for Xing'er's ancestral protection, he wouldn't dare let her go into the mountains to take risks.

But it's different for villagers. What if something happens to them?

Old Mrs. Li said hesitantly:

"Well... as you all know, none of us can make decisions for Xing'er. We'll have to wait for Xing'er to come back before we can discuss anything else."

"Yes, yes, everyone knows Xing'er's personality. She's stubborn. Even though I'm her father, she might not listen to what I say."

Hearing this, Li Ertian sighed deeply. Everyone in the village knew Xing'er's temperament, but he still wanted to try harder. "Xing'er is sensible now."

"Life in the village is so tough. We didn't even mind that Xing'er stole someone's eggs or duck eggs. You should talk to her again. If she really doesn't want to, there's nothing we can do."

Looking at her three sons, Wang knew that it would cost a lot of money to get them married in the future. She really wanted to go and collect wild game, but there were tigers and wolves in the mountains, so she really didn't dare to go.

"Yu Niang, you are her mother. When she comes back, talk to her more. People won't ask her for help unless they really have no other choice, as you know."

It's been raining for days, and all my rice seeds have gotten moldy. I don't have any extra money to buy new seeds right now. What am I going to do when winter comes?

The adults were talking, and the village children didn't dare to speak, hoping that Sister Xing'er would come back soon.

.........

As Xing'er walked along, she looked at a small river winding its way out of the mountains. The river was full of silt, and once the houses were finished, the villagers could use the silt to dredge the river into the fields.

In addition, wood ash should also be used. When the weather clears up, turn over the soil to plant sweet potato grass. When the sweet potato grass flowers, press the mature sweet potato grass into the soil and let it decompose freely.

This pressing process greatly increases the organic matter and nitrogen content in the soil.

Another method is composting.

She looked at the silt in the river and thought to herself as she carried her load quickly toward the village.

By the time she finished carrying her load and headed home, it was already late afternoon.

I looked up at the sky.

It must be said that the sunset in the village was beautiful, but unfortunately there were also many mosquitoes. Her exposed arms were covered with large welts, which were painful and itchy, and scratching them made it even more painful.

Xing'er appeared before the villagers carrying a full load of shepherd's purse and a bunch of sprouting mushrooms. Looking at her, everyone seemed to see endless hope.

Gou'er and Tiedan quickly ran over to help her carry the carrying pole inside. Only then did they take it from her. Li Yushan and Li Lanhua also came out, hands on their hips, and said:

"Brother Gou'er, we'll take care of it."

"No need, no need. We used to do it for Sister Xing'er. We're fine with this."

After saying that, the two children quickly carried the carrying pole back.

Li Lanhua said angrily:

"This is my third sister, not their third sister. They act like they're even closer to her than we are."

Li Dashan also came over. He first patted the heads of his two younger siblings and then walked towards his third sister, smiling and saying, "Don't mind them. It's normal for you to get along well with Gou'er and the others."

"Your family used to neglect you; it was always Gou'er, Tie Dan, and Hu Tou who helped you. Even I, as your eldest brother, never protected you."