The whole village will need to buy it next year, so we have to order it this year, it can’t be too late.

　　”Yes, yes, yes, Village Chief, I will give you the money in advance.”

　　”All my ten acres of paddy fields are used.”

　　”The fertilizer from my fifteen mu of paddy fields.”

　　Everyone is talking at once.

　　The village chief was annoyed by the noise and said, “After paying the grain tax, we will register at the dam. If you are worried about my purchase, you can go with me then.”

　　The matter is settled.

　　This year, at least 70 households in Xiping Village have planted fertilizers. Although they planted only five or three acres of land, the total amount is much more than last year, and the grain tax of the Li family is particularly noteworthy. There is so much grain that all the men in every household have planted some, some pushing carts.

　　Li Da’s grain tax was collected by riding on the village chief’s ox cart, which weighed more than 200 kilograms.

　　”This time I sell the grain and buy a cow for my family.” Li Da said to Zhou Zhou and Gu Zhao during dinner.

　　Li Zhouzhou had no objection. This year, there was more grain, so it was not good to borrow the village chief’s ox cart every year. Li Da thought the same thing. It was only for emergency use, and it could not be done all the time.

　　Gu Zhao asked the price.

　　”A calf costs five or six taels of silver. When it grows up and can be used, you need to add two or three taels to see how good it is.” Li Zhouzhou said to his husband.

　　”Just buy a small one. You won’t need it this year. Just feed it well and it will be ready for harvesting rice next October.” After Li Da finished speaking, he saw that his son-in-law wanted to say something, “Zhao’er, what do you want to say?”

　　Gu Zhao said to his father: “I just want to think about buying a mule? It can be used to plow the fields and pull goods.” There was one thing Gu Zhao didn’t say. If they went to the prefecture and county, a mule would be more convenient and easier to use for moving things at home.

　　”A mule is fine too. It’s about the same price as a good cow.” Although Li Zhouzhou didn’t know why his husband wanted to buy a mule, the villagers bought cows, which were more durable and good for plowing the fields and pulling grain. Although they walked a little slower, what his husband said must make sense, so he looked at his father and said, “Dad.”

　　It’s still dad who makes the decision on buying big items.

　　Li Da thought about it and thought that the price of the mule was not bad, but mules were not as good as cows in the fields. However, he thought that his son-in-law was a man with ideas in mind, and he thought about the future. He was like the fertilizer in the field. He had worked on the dry fields and the paddy fields. He also bought stone powder with the village and got a discount of 30 wen. So he agreed immediately: “Okay, let’s buy a mule.”

　　In early November, Xiping Village went to the town to deliver grain.

　　After waiting in a long line, we finally arrived at Xiping Village. The village chief handed in the registration book, clasped his fists and bowed to the grain officer, with a shy smile on his face, “Sir, this is the paddy field grain tax that our Xiping Village paid this year. The total is…”

　　The literate grain officer took the booklet and began to copy and record the paddy field grain harvest in the autumn of the 48th year of Kangjing in Xiping Village, Ningsong Town, as well as the name, acreage, harvest, and grain tax of each male head of the village.

　　The person registrar reported a name, and the grain officer would open the sack and check the grain. After confirming that it was correct, he would circle the last column with a red pen.

　　At the beginning, it went smoothly. The grain registrar read on, but the voice gradually stopped. The grain officer who was checking did not hear the sound, so he turned his head to look, wondering what was going on.

　　The village chief also became nervous and apologized carefully, “Sir, I have checked the grain in our village. There is no shortage of grain. Is there something wrong?”

　　The grain officer who was inspecting: “I told you to talk, stand aside.”

　　The village chief was so frightened that he dared not say anything and just stood aside with his back bent.

　　”No.” The grain registration officer frowned, “It’s not less, it’s more.”

　　I thought it was nothing to check, but it’s not good to have too much.

　　”Too much. The Li family has 22000 dan of rice in 10 mu of paddy field.”

　　Mr. Li was supposed to weigh 218 kilograms, but he actually weighed 240 kilograms.

　　This is how grain tax is paid nowadays. The tax rate is low, but when people hand over grain, it is impossible for it to be exactly the amount given by the village. Generally, they will give one more bucket to prevent it from being sent to the town where the grain official’s scale is different from theirs.

　　It is better to have more than less. But generally the error is not very large, about ten kilograms, and a figure of more than a hundred kilograms is too exaggerated.

　　The grain registration officer opened the grain tax record of the previous village. One family had ten mu of paddy fields and the harvest was twenty-one dan, so they registered one dan and one dou of grain. The others were similar except for the Li family in Xiping Village, where the tax was recorded as forty-three dan for ten mu of paddy fields.