The happy little days of the Ye family

Ye Xilin came back from Dashan Village and happened to meet Ye Qiushi's grandson at the door.

"Uncle Xilin, my grandfather said that there will be a meeting at the ancestral hall in the evening. There is something important to say, and every household must send someone there."

"What's going on?"

Ye Xilin looked curious and grabbed the little guy who wanted to leave.

"It seems to be a matter of taxation and corvee. I don't know the details. I have to inform others, so I'll leave first."

With that said, the little guy jumped away.

Ye Xilin thought to himself that the autumn harvest had just ended, and grain tax and poll tax were indeed about to be collected.

Moreover, there was no corvee last year, and it is time to do corvee this year.

Ye Xilin didn't care that he had to pay taxes every year. The food was stored in the cellar and had been prepared long ago.

Ye Xilin led the donkey cart into the yard, and then happily lifted a large leg of lamb down.

"Mother, mother, Aunt Yang gave me a big leg of lamb. Let's have lamb stew tonight!"

Hearing Ye Xilin's voice, Ye Mu came out of the house.

"You brat, how many times have you told me not to always bring meat back from the Li family? Every time you bring it home in big and small packages, it's like the autumn wind blowing in the past."

Although the Li family is a hunter, there is no shortage of meat at home, but they have to sell it for money.

Although the Orions make a lot of money, they are very dangerous, and the Li family has no land, so just buying food every month is a big expense.

Many hunters with average craftsmanship have no meat at home, so they sell it for food.

There is no shortage of meat at home, and Ye Mu doesn't want to take advantage of her future in-law's family.

"This wild goat was brought back by Guo'er yesterday. Guo'er said that I lost weight and specially gave it to me to replenish my body."

Ye Xilin was holding a big leg of lamb, smiling very proudly.

"Look at the worthless look on your face." Mother Ye was amused by her son's proud expression.

The young couple have a good relationship, and Ye's mother is quite happy. From now on, someone will take care of this brat, so that he won't have to irritate people all day long.

"Next time you go to the Li family, please send some food." The Li family is short of food, so sending food is the best thing.

"Okay, new grain has arrived. Next time I will send some rice and corn."

In fact, Ye Xilin had sent food to the Li family before, but Yang always stuffed him with money, making him embarrassed to send it again.

Next time he goes there, Ye Xilin plans to move the food to the yard and run away quickly.

The leg of lamb was quite big, and Ye Mu had already thought about how to eat it.

The weather has gotten colder these two days, so steaming hot mutton stew is the best thing to do.

After dinner was ready, Ye Mu brought the whole pot of mutton to the dinner table with a small stove underneath.

The mutton continued to simmer on the charcoal fire, steaming gurglingly, and the aroma filled the whole room.

The smell of mutton penetrated Ye Xilin's nose, making him salivate.

Seeing that Ye's mother was not there, Ye Xilin quickly took his chopsticks and went to eat secretly.

The mutton was still steaming, so I took a few puffs and stuffed it into my mouth.

"Hot, hot, hot!"

Ye Xilin was burned, but he was greedy and reached out to pick up a second piece.

Mother Ye brought a big bowl over and saw him eating secretly, so she slapped the back of his hand.

"You're such an adult and you still eat it secretly."

"I'll help you taste it, mother."

Ye Xilin smiled and held the mutton firmly in his hands.

Ye Mu filled a bowl full of mutton and handed it to him.

"Send it to your sister. Hurry up and don't dawdle. Your sister will have already had dinner if you wait any longer. You are not allowed to eat it secretly."

"Okay, okay, mom, you are getting more and more verbose." After saying that, he quickly ran away with the mutton.

Mother Ye glared at the back of Ye Xilin's head, "You brat, haven't you been beaten recently and your skin is itchy?"

Seeing a large pot of mutton on the dining table, Father Ye also brought out half a pot of rice wine.

While eating the fragrant mutton, Ye Xilin finally remembered that he had to go to the ancestral hall for a meeting in the evening.

"Dad, the village chief's grandson came over in the evening to inform me that he was going to the ancestral hall for a meeting that evening. It seemed to be about taxes and corvee matters."

"The grain has been dried long ago, so we should collect grain tax. This happens every year. You are familiar with this matter. Xilin, please go to the ancestral hall in the evening."

"Okay."

When going to the ancestral hall for a meeting, it is generally assumed that the head of the family goes there.

It used to be Mr. Ye, but in recent years it was his father. Ye Xilin didn't expect that it would be his turn so soon. Thinking about it, he was a little excited.

In fact, Father Ye was busy counting money and was too lazy to make a trip. Ye Donglin also had to give Xiao Qi a bath and coax him to sleep at night.

Ye Xilin was the only one in the family who was alone, so Ye's father sent him over for a meeting.

Before going to the ancestral hall, Ye Xilin also made a special trip to the Tang family.

Tang Shan happily teased his grandson and sent Tang Xiaojing out.

The two of them arrived quite early, but the ancestral hall was already full of people.

The autumn harvest has just ended, and everyone is discussing this year's harvest.

There are two old rice farmers who are good at growing rice. They are surrounded by people asking for advice, and many people want to change rice seeds.

Mr. Ye has been cultivating the fields all his life, and the Ye family's rice is growing very well this year. Several families have already changed grain seeds with Mr. Ye in advance.

Not long after, the new village chief Ye Qiushi came over.

The old village chief is getting older. At the beginning of spring last year, the village chief of Taohua Village was replaced by his son Ye Qiushi.

Ye Qiushi has been following the village chief for a few years, helping to deal with various matters in the village. Everyone is familiar with him and they all trust him.

Ye Qiushi knocked the gong in his hand to signal everyone to quiet down.

The old village chief had previously decided that if anyone spoke casually during the meeting, he would be fined one penny for every word he said. This tradition was continued, and the whole audience was silent.

Although Ye Qiushi is the new village chief, he has been helping his father with work in the early years and has no stage fright at all when facing people in the village.

"The government has issued a notice. In three days, officials will come to collect the grain tax and poll tax. Everyone prepares food and money in advance."

"Same as in previous years, one acre of paddy field can harvest 80 kilograms of rice, one mu of dry land can harvest 140 kilograms of corn, one mu of sandy land can harvest 200 kilograms of sweet potatoes, and one mu of mountainous land can harvest 20 kilograms."

“人头税也是和去年一样，3岁到14岁每人20文，15岁到50岁每人60文，3岁以下和50岁以上的不用交。”

The taxes are the same every year, and everyone has no special reaction. They all want to go back and rest early.

Ye Qiushi didn't care what everyone was thinking and continued:

"Corvee service happens every two years, and I have to do it this year. This time the service lasts for one and a half months, and each household has one male."

When it came to the corvee, everyone who was still absent-minded immediately cheered up.

"This year's corvee is to clean up the river and dredge the areas where silt easily accumulates in the Luo River. There is no wages, but the government will provide food."

"If you don't want to do the corvee, you can pay to be exempted from the corvee. One place will be exempted for 5 taels of silver."

As soon as these words came out, there was an explosion below.

"Weren't you exempted from corvee for two taels of silver in previous years? Why do you need five taels of silver this year?"

"That's right. It's more than doubled. How can people still live like this?"

The people below quarreled and looked at Ye Qiushi with great dissatisfaction, as if he had embezzled the money.