The Immortal Clan was established starting with the entry on the Dao of the Gou.

"fine."

Jiang Yun shook his head, staring at the rice and falling into a terrible silence.

Ling'er had no idea what Jiang Yun was thinking.

Through the dim candlelight, one could see that Jiang Yun's expression was indifferent.

Take one last look at the wooden pestle that Jiang Yunsheng had snapped in two.

Many questions arose in Ling'er's mind.

"What's wrong with you today, my husband? You look terrifying."

"When did he become so strong?"

A series of questions filled Ling'er's mind.

She was worried about Jiang Yun, but dared not ask too many questions.

He had no choice but to grip the wooden pestle and painstakingly chisel at the rice that was not yet fully dried.

In the quiet of the night.

Apart from the faint sound of the wind outside the window, the only other sound was Ling'er chiseling the rice with a wooden pestle.

"Ling'er, let's stop chiseling and go to sleep!"

Jiang Yun suddenly grabbed Fang Ling's hand.

This will prevent them from needing to chisel any further.

This method of shelling is extremely inefficient, time-consuming, and labor-intensive.

Even if you dig out a lot of unpolished rice, you can only save a hundred or so coins.

Ultimately, it was because the landlords oppressed the people too much.

One day, when the opportunity arises, let the landlord experience the thrill of husking rice with a wooden pestle late at night.

"Let me tidy up."

Ling'er nodded.

After finishing the harvesting of rice and the coarse rice he had dug out, he went to bed.

late at night.

Jiang Yun tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep.

Survival is so difficult at this stage.

This made him realize that building a powerful family was a long and arduous task.

……

Two days later.

The tenants in Qingshan Village have basically finished harvesting and threshing the rice.

After waiting for the tenants to dry the rice for several days.

The landlords began collecting rent from each household.

Seven or eight oxcarts made their way into the village.

Leading the group were the steward Zhao Xiao and the accountant Xu Feng.

Behind these two men, each oxcart was accompanied by two guards.

Because the landlords did not allow the tenants to handle the rice privately.

So their method of collecting rent is—

They harvested all the rice from the tenant farmers' houses and tallied the total weight.

Half of the total weight was confiscated, which became the rent.

The other half was returned to the tenants at a price of 850 coins per shi (a unit of dry measure).

For several days in a row, the steward and accountant sent by the landlord were busy harvesting rice.

This day.

A cart carrying rice appeared near Jiang Yun's house.

Jiang Yun and Ling'er stood at the door of their house, waiting for the oxcart to arrive.

At this moment, Zhao Xiao and Xu Feng are harvesting rice from the home of Ling'er's mother, Meng Chunmei.

After her family finished harvesting their rice, it was time for her neighbor, Fang Zeping's, next.

Fang Zeping's family of four rented twelve mu of paddy fields and three mu of cotton fields.

During the rice harvest, his family encountered some unexpected events.

"Hmph! Your family rents twelve acres of paddy fields, and the minimum yield for early rice is twenty-six and a half shi."

But now all the rice is only twenty-five bushels, one and a half bushels short.

"Due to insufficient production, the price will be reduced by 50 wen per shi, to 800 wen per shi."

Jiang Yun could hear Zhao Xiao's arrogant voice even standing at his doorstep.

It seems that the total yield of Fang Zeping's twelve mu of early rice did not meet the landlord's minimum yield standard.

The paddy fields in Huaizhou of Dayu were carefully cultivated, and the yield was quite considerable.

Early rice can yield 2.2 to 2.5 shi per mu, while late rice, with its longer growing period, can yield 2.5 to 3 shi per mu.

To prevent tenants from hoarding rice, landlords calculated the yield based on the minimum yield per mu (unit of land area).

Of course, years of disaster are an exception.

Whether it was a year of famine or a year of plenty, landlords always had a minimum standard.

If the price is lower than this standard, the rice that was originally 850 wen will be reduced to 800 wen.

If anyone angered these lackeys of the landlord, they would even lower the price to 700 coins per stone.

Such things happen frequently.

Therefore, Fang Zeping dared not speak out against Zhao Xiao's words.

You should even say something polite.

Even if he did not hoard rice.

It was simply because of a poor harvest.

"Thank you for your hard work, Butler Zhao."

Fang Zeping said politely, but his expression showed extreme pain.

Twelve mu of paddy fields, twenty-five shi of rice.

Each stone resulted in a loss of 50 coins, totaling a loss of one tael and two mace of silver.

One tael and two mace of silver is almost enough to buy one shi (a unit of dry measure) of fine rice.

It would hurt anyone to do that.

"The tenant farmer Fang Zeping's family had 25 shi of early rice. After deducting half of the rent, they had 12 and a half shi left. Each shi cost eight qian, for a total of ten liang."

Beside the oxcart, the accountant Xu Feng shouted instructions loudly while quickly recording information in the register.

As soon as he finished speaking, a follower carrying a cloth bag stepped forward.

The bag was full of silver.

The attendant counted out ten taels of silver from his bag and handed them to Fang Zeping.

They believe in a clear exchange of money for goods.

In reality, this is nothing more than a forced sale.

After harvesting the rice from Fang Zeping's family, the oxcart arrived at Jiang Yun's house.

"The Jiang family's son, he's gotten married?"

Zhao Xiao arrived at the door and saw Fang Ling and Jiang Yun standing together. He smiled with narrowed eyes.

"Thanks to Steward Zhao's good fortune, we've only been married a short time."

Jiang Yun responded with a forced smile.

"It's good to get a wife, so we can have more children and make a good farm in the future."

Zhao Xiao offered Jiang Yun his sincere blessings.

As the landlord's most loyal steward, he naturally hoped that more tenants would help the landlord farm.

"Thank you for your kind words, Steward Zhao."

Jiang Yun remained calm.

Having more children would suit his wishes.

They all farmed, and were tenant farmers for landlords.

Go to hell!

"Excuse me, don't you know the rules?"

After a few casual words, Zhao Xiao got down to business.

He told Jiang Yun and Fang Ling to step aside and ordered his men to search the house.

The purpose of the search was to check whether tenants were secretly hiding rice at home.

After checking and finding no hidden items, they began to weigh the rice.

After weighing, it was loaded into the oxcart.

The landlord's family used a large measuring cup to weigh things.

The large container is used for collecting rent, while the small container is used for lending money.

Landlords' common tricks for exploiting peasants.

Anyone with eyes to see would know that there was something fishy about the large measuring cup used by the landlord to weigh things.

But no one dared to say it.

As a tenant farmer, offending the landlord will not end well.

Jiang Yun watched helplessly as the rice she had worked so hard to grow was taken away by the landlord.

After a wait, the results of the rice weight test came out.

"10 mu of paddy fields, total yield of 23 shi... Young man Jiang, the yield per mu of the paddy fields you rented is quite good."

Zhao Xiao said that.

But I was having some doubts.

The large measuring container was tampered with.

The rice from ten acres of paddy fields, when weighed with this large measuring cup, actually weighed 23 shi (a unit of dry measure).

It seems that Jiang Yun is quite lucky; his rice is growing well.

"Sigh, it was all grown with every drop of sweat."

Jiang Yun sighed softly, showing no sign of joy.

He was not surprised when he learned that the final weight was 23 shi.

After acquiring the immortal bone, the rice yield of the four acres of land where the immortal bone was used for planting was very high.

He can feel it when he harvests.

However, he would never think that all the rice was only 23 shi.

This large measuring vessel, used for weighing, swallowed at least half a shi (a unit of dry measure) of rice, or even a shi.

At this moment, Xu Feng, the accountant, said while taking notes:

"Ten mu of paddy fields yielded a total of 23 shi (a unit of dry measure), meeting the yield target, with each shi priced at 850 wen (another unit of dry measure)."

The rent was paid in the form of 11 shi (a unit of dry measure), leaving 11 shi remaining, totaling 9 liang (another unit of dry measure) and 775 wen (another unit of cash).

He finished speaking.

The follower took out 9 taels of silver, 7 large coins, and 75 copper coins and handed them to Jiang Yun.

Jiang Yun took the money and held it in his hands.

It feels heavy.

He didn't think that a mere nine taels of silver was heavy.

Instead, I feel that being a tenant farmer is fucking too hard!

After six months of hard work, the final income was less than ten taels of silver.

They were completely working for the landlord.

They're even worse than oxen and horses.

Just as he was feeling angry.

A line of small golden text unexpectedly popped up in front of me—

[Congratulations, host, on completing the beginner level achievement of "Hard Work Leads to Wealth"]