Chapter 137: Chapter 136: Paying the Grain Tax

After a brief day of rest, Liu Ji took his living expenses and hurried back to the academy.

Once again, it was Qin Yao who took him to Jinshi Town, and then he traveled to the county on his own.

On her return trip, Qin Yao bought a lot of daily necessities and inquired in the town if there was any land for sale.

Land is the most important asset for common folks, and generally, people would rather not sell unless they’re at their wit’s end.

Because she frequently bought meat, and each purchase was at least two pounds, the butcher in town already recognized Qin Yao. Hearing that she was inquiring about land for sale, he advised her to go to the county’s pawnshop directly.

“But be careful, those clerks at the pawnshop are very shrewd; be careful not to be deceived by them,” the butcher warned.

Qin Yao hadn’t considered pawnshops as a means for buying land, so she curiously asked, “Aren’t pawnshops supposed to deal in pawned items? Do they sell land too?”

“You might not understand this,” the butcher brother said with a smile. “Think about it, what is the most valuable thing for us ordinary families?”

Gold, silver, and jewelry are stuff that only wealthy families can afford. For regular people, there’s nothing more pawnable than land, right?

Qin Yao suddenly realized, so that’s how it is.

If that’s the case, there must be many land deeds and field contracts pressed at the pawnshop.

The butcher added, “However, if anyone in your village wants to sell land, it’s better to buy from fellow villagers.”

People hate to go to two places, the government being one, and the pawnshop being the other. It’s best to avoid them if possible.

“Thank you, Brother Butcher,” Qin Yao paid for the meat and took the three pounds of meat she just bought, nodding gratefully to the butcher before turning away.

However, upon inquiry at Liu Family Village, she found no one wanted to sell land at the moment, so she put the idea aside for now.

She planned to ask again before next spring; in January or February, when grain supplies run out and the wheat hasn’t matured, someone might want to sell.

Still, Qin Yao didn’t want bad land. If she were to buy, she’d only buy quality land, at least as good as the good fields she currently rented. Whether for growing herself or for selling when desperate, they all carry more value.

Of course, quality land is also expensive. She had asked Old Liu, and Liu Dafu mentioned the ten acres of good land he rented her could sell for eight to ten taels per acre.

Calculating like this, Qin Yao realized the hundred taels of silver she currently had could only buy about ten acres.

So rather than buying now at a high price, it was better to wait to see if a better opportunity arises while saving more silver, aiming for a one-time purchase.

Buying in larger quantities might even score a wholesale price!

Having made up her mind, Qin Yao decided not to touch the hundred taels of silver for now and focused on managing the water mill factory.

Half a month passed in a blur.

At the water mill factory, the workers had already mastered the production process, and the assembly line initially showed its effectiveness.

At the current production rate, they could deliver the thirty small water mills by mid-October.

Liu the carpenter also felt more at ease, joining Qin Yao and Shunzi, whom Qin Yao had picked, to work on sales, making occasional trips to the towns and other villages.

While maintaining old customers and developing new ones, they managed to bring back an order every few days.

Although it couldn’t compare to Qin Yao directly securing seventeen sets, a steady stream slowly and smoothly flowed, very stable.

The village chief led people to collect the grain tax, making the village busy for several days.

This year was a bountiful year, and the grain tax was much lower than in the old dynasty. It was rare to see unwilling faces on the villagers.

However, for families with many mouths to feed but little land, the one-fifteenth grain tax still posed a huge burden.

Qin Yao’s family had little land and only submitted over a hundred and ninety pounds of grain, completing the process with two bundles.

Old Liu’s family, on the other hand, had much more. They planted a hundred and ten acres, and with shelled grain, the total harvest was twenty-four thousand two hundred pounds, requiring a grain tax of sixteen hundred pounds, leaving over twenty-two thousand five hundred pounds in surplus.

This year’s bumper crop across the county led to a steep drop in grain prices, with Liu Dafu’s family selling their grain for only three coins per pound, half of the previous year.

Old Liu’s family, after accounting for their annual consumption, sold the remaining grain to make forty-eight taels of silver.

With nine family members currently, and soon with Mrs. Qiu another mouth to feed, totaling ten next year, if there were no other taxes, they could be considered well off.

Without natural or manmade disasters, a few years of accumulation could indeed reach a comfortable living standard.

However, only those who had experienced such tough times, like Old Liu and Mrs. Zhang, felt both joy and relief in this year’s harvest.

Because they knew that fate could suddenly strike anytime.

They dared not sell all the surplus grain this year, only half of it.

After selling the grain, they only dared to use part of the twenty-four taels of silver they earned.

Because Liu Fei was of marriageable age, the family needed to build an extra room as a new house.

After paying the grain tax, Qin Yao suddenly remembered that the academy’s rest day had arrived.

She had initially thought Liu Ji would come back before dark, as he did last time, but to her surprise, he didn’t return at all that night.

Qin Yao woke up twice in the night, once startled by the barking of a new puppy at Granny Wang’s house at the village entrance.

The other time was when Old Huang in the stable neighed, thinking someone had passed by.

Yet, when morning came, the person who should have returned hadn’t done so.

In the morning, Da Lang asked, “Auntie, is my father not coming back?”

“Perhaps something delayed him last night,” Qin Yao replied uncertainly.

Da Lang seemed worried that something might have happened to his father in town.

Qin Yao also found it odd; after breakfast, without seeing him return, she decided to take Old Huang out of the stable to head to the county.

Just as she took action, she perked her ears, briskly walked to the open yard in front of the house, and looked down towards the riverbank, seeing a cart slowly approaching her home.

However, Liu Ji was nowhere in sight on the cart.

Qin Yao recognized the cart driver, who often traveled between Lower River Village and Kaiyang County. Both she and Liu Ji had taken his cart before.

The cart driver stopped the cart at the foot of the mountain, walked up by himself, and upon seeing Qin Yao waiting at the intersection, said while walking:

“Sorry, sorry, Miss Qin, did I make you wait long? I originally planned to come last night, but something urgent came up at home, delaying me. Traveling at night was too dangerous, so I waited until this morning.”

Upon hearing this, Qin Yao had a guess in mind, “Did Liu Ji send you?”

“Yes, yes, yes!” The cart driver nodded vigorously, “It was indeed Mr. Liu who sent me here for help!”

He still remembered the scene the last time he took Qin Yao from Jinshi Town back to Liu Family Village, where her husband rushed down the mountain to meet her. Such a handsome couple was a perfect match.

Back then, he thought her husband had the aura of someone not ordinary, and little did he know, he was a student at the academy, familiar with Fan Xiucai and others—those were indeed the Scholar lords, quite remarkable.

Thus, when Liu Ji asked him to return home to help with the living expenses, the cart driver agreed readily, even with a bit of flattery.

Qin Yao invited the cart driver inside, while the four Da Lang Brothers and Sisters stood outside the main room door, pressing their ears against the wall to listen intently.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep