Chapter 31.1 corvee

Li Zheng didn’t have time to stay at Tang Chunming’s house and chat. As he was assisting the government officials in their work and coordinating conflicts that might arise between the villagers and the government officials, his job was not easy.

After seeing off Li Zheng and the yamen, Tang Chunming returned to the house and couldn’t help but feel happy when he saw the scene in the house. His son A-Lin was helping him entertain the guests, taking out the food packed from Jinji and the food he bought in town.  Shen Fulang was eating, still holding the cloth tiger in his arms.

When he saw Tang Chunming coming in, he said happily: “Ah-Lin is so good. When he grows up, he will be as capable as his mother.”

Ah-Lin was a little shy of the praise and twisted his body to go to his mother. Of course, Tang Chunming was happy when his son was praised, and he accepted the reality that “he can do it too” without modesty. He held his son’s little face and took a big bite, making Ah-Lin giggle.

Tang Chunming was teasing his son while talking to Shen Fulang: “I didn’t hear about this yesterday, so why did it come suddenly today? No one was mentally prepared. And what will the corvee do this year?” The villagers were unhappy. The imperial court stipulated that every household must pay corvée every year, or a month of free hard labor every year. The so-called silver he paid instead of labor was nominally for the government to use the money to hire someone else to replace him. Corvee. But Tang Chunming also knew that it was hard to say whose pocket the money handed over would end up in.

“My husband said it was sudden, and my brother-in-law has never said anything about it,” Shen Fulang said with a smile while watching the mother and son play,

 “Who among us ordinary people can tell clearly about becoming an official, brother?”

 “My brother-in-law and his underlings also listen to the orders from above and do whatever they say. However, this year’s corvee work is different from previous years. In the past, they usually cleaned rivers and built official roads. This year, the place they went to was a bit far away, and they had to go to Dingzhou.

 On the other side of the government, my brother-in-law asked someone to pass a message saying it was related to the newly built barracks, but I can’t figure out the specifics.”

“Barracks?” Tang Chunming was a little curious, “There are officers and soldiers stationed in Dingzhou Prefecture, right? What can be said about this new barracks? By the way, isn’t Brother Yu Mu also a soldier? He should still be on duty, right?”

Li Feng and Yu Mu didn’t look like ordinary soldiers, especially Li Feng. His calm but powerful aura made Tang Chunming feel like he was leading troops. Of course, he didn’t say this. Others talked about it, it was just a flitting thought.

Shen Fulang could only show his hands to Tang Chunming, unable to answer his questions. He stood up and patted his butt to leave:

 “You just paid the money here and saved a lot of trouble. Others are not going to easily get through it.” 

Okay, I’m going to see if the head needs help. Just get busy when you come back, and I’ll talk to you later.”

Tang Chunming stood up and gave it away, grabbed a bag of food stuffed it into Shen Fulang’s hand, and said: “I made a business deal with Jinji Restaurant in town today. This is a gift from their restaurant. From now on, the vegetables in my backyard will be sold to them.” They will all come to collect them.”

 Tang Chunming briefly explained his situation, so that Shen Fulang, who was often concerned about his situation, could rest assured. Shen Fulang was happy after hearing this and repeatedly praised him and he didn’t refuse to take the snacks again.

When he got to the door, Shen Fulang turned around and told Tang Chunming something that happened during the day:

 “You don’t know, the Zhao family made a fuss again, and the government officials who came found their family intolerable. The third uncle of the Zhao family didn’t know how to settle the corvee.

  In previous years, their family’s corvee was handed in from the money dug out by Dahu, but it’s inconsistent this year. Without Dahu as a source of wealth, Grandma Zhao is reluctant to dig out the money, so the yamen servant can only circle out Zhao Daniu’s name, but how could Wang Chunhua agree? His husband knew that he couldn’t bear the trouble at all, so he got into trouble with Grandma Zhao. Fortunately, you went to the town to go to the market today, otherwise, maybe they would say It’s all your fault.”

Tang Chunming raised his eyebrows and sneered. It was a good excitement. It’s a pity that he couldn’t see it with his own eyes. He narrowed his eyes and said with a smile:

 “Then how was it solved in the end? Grandma is wicked, and my uncle is so vicious. How much money is spent throughout the year, but the same son refuses to pay even this small amount of money, no wonder the eldest brother is making a fuss.”

Shen Fulang also burst into laughter. Brother Ming is also a bad person. Hearing these words, he seemed to sympathize with his elder brother. If Wang Chunhua heard this, the Zhao family would sooner or later fall apart. Of course, now it was not very stable either. He patted Tang Chunming’s hand and continued: 

“These two people fought over money, but the yamen official didn’t have time to watch them make trouble. He wanted to take Zhao Daniu away after talking. You know what happened in the end.

 It was Zhao Daniu and Wang Chunhua who started a quarrel. When Zhao Daniu saw that he was about to be taken away, Wang Chunhua appeared to have agreed. He knew that Wang Chunhua had saved a lot of private money, and insisted on Wang Chunhua giving the money to him.

 Even Grandma Zhao sided with Daniu, saying that Wang Chunhua and his grandma have the same temperament, they hold the money tightly, and anyone who touches their money will be treated like a dead person.

 Daniu was adamant this time, saying that Wang Chunhua would divorce him if he didn’t take out the money.

Wang Chunhua was so agitated .”

Tang Chunming’s eyes froze when he heard this. This was critical. Not to mention the Zhao family before, even Pingshan Village knew that Zhao Daniu was obsessed with Wang Chunhu. Although the brothers in the village looked down on  Zhao Daniu, a lazy man, they didn’t look down on Wang Chunhua’s personality but also envied Wang Chunhua’s comfortable life.

 It turns out that such a comfortable life requires major conditions, that is, someone can provide them with a comfortable life. Once these obligations do not exist, what will happen? All obedience and thoughtfulness are all bullshit, and everyone’s true colors have been exposed.

Tang Chunming always felt sorry for the former “brother Ming”. He didn’t take revenge directly because he knew that according to the temperament of his family, life would not be easy without Zhao Dahu, so he could just toss him away. Look, about spring plowing and corvee labor, in just half a year, family relations have declined sharply. There is nothing more comforting than hearing such news.

Feeling relieved in his heart, Tang Chunming looked surprised on the surface and said, “Isn’t this eldest brother… the one who always loves his geer the most? He would rather watch his geer suffer hardship than pay with his own money?”

Of course, Shen Fulang knew that Brother Ming would not sympathize with that family. Naturally, he still had to pretend on the surface. He also suppressed a smile and said: 

“I won’t talk about you anymore. Even Zhao Daniu couldn’t believe that Wang Chunhua had a lot of private money in his hand. After the yamen servant left, the two of them still quarreled. So, you should be discreet over here,  and also be careful about your safety and put away the valuables at home. “

  Shen Fulang reminded Tang Chunming that if life is good, some people will inevitably be jealous. In addition, Brother Ming has another younger ger, which makes people even more worried about safety. Fortunately, it seems that there is Feng Xiaozi It’s not that he’s not interested at all, but now is not the time to mention this matter. Dahu’s filial piety period must be passed.

“I know, I’ll be careful.”

Tang Chunming was in a very good mood. He hummed a tuneless song while feeding the sheep and chickens. Not long after, the Damao and the Ermao came too. Today, although Tang Chunming couldn’t watch their homework in the morning, he still left something for them to write. As for the task, the two children came over obediently and asked Tang Chunming to check and accept it.

“Ming Amo, Uncle Yu said he was leaving. Uncle Yu and Uncle Feng were packing rabbits and pheasants and said they would bring them over later for Ming Amo to cook some good dishes for them. Ming Amo, if Uncle Yu was leaving. Where are they going? When can they come back?” Er Mao asked chirpingly. His temperament was not as calm as Da Mao’s, which can be seen from the characters he wrote, but for a child of this age, he was still very serious.

　　”Leave?” Tang Chunming touched Ermao’s head, “I don’t know either. They mostly listen to what you say about their affairs, but even if Uncle Yu wants to leave, Uncle Feng should still be there, right?” It didn’t take more than two days. This child fell in love with a big man like Yu Mu. When Ah-Lin heard this, he immediately got off the ground. He quickly grabbed two pieces of food from the table, pulled them into his arms, and then looked at his mother and said: “Mom, I want to see Uncle Yu,  Ah-Lin will miss Uncle Yu.”

　　”Go, say goodbye to Uncle Yu. Remember to say thank you to Uncle Yu for taking care of you.” Tang Chunming waved and let them go out to play by themselves. Er Mao grabbed Ah-Lin’s hand and ran away. As he walked out, Da Mao quickly followed.

　　To say that Yu Mu is Li Feng’s subordinate, let alone Tang Chunming, even Zhang Xiu doesn’t know about it. Li Dashan is reserved, and he is also the best at keeping secrets. In Dashan’s opinion, since it was something that even Li Zheng didn’t know about, he had better not tell it to them. He couldn’t stand some people in the Li family, so he didn’t even tell his ger.