Chapter 62: Four Stones Four

Village Head Zhou’s lips quivered, unable to utter a word.

How utterly absurd!

To lose one’s life on the battlefield, only because one could not prove that the person was dead, leaving the elderly and weak at home to continue paying rents and taxes.

How could he ever bring himself to voice such an absurd thing?

The villagers who had followed Old Man Chen were left in a daze, completely bewildered. "What does that mean? Is nephew Dashan still alive?"

Old Man Chen collapsed onto an unfinished stack of hay belonging to someone, slapped his thighs, and wept bitterly. "Being alive would be fine! But the person is gone, and the tax still has to be paid! The person is gone, and the tax still has to be paid! What kind of world is this? What kind of world is this!"

Old Woman Chen was so overcome with rage that she experienced bouts of dizziness. As her body swayed and she threatened to fall backward, she was caught simultaneously by Sang Luo and Qin Fangniang at her side.

The threshing floor descended into even greater chaos, a tangled mess of weeping and cursing that was far more suffocating and despairing than before.

Watching this scene, Village Head Zhou’s lips, which had felt as though they were glued together, moved a few times until he finally regained the ability to speak.

Yet, what could he say? What more could he possibly say? What could he do?

Standing there in silence, listening to the endless weeping and cursing filling his ears, Village Head Zhou closed his eyes.

"Fellow villagers, please all return home for now. We shall discuss the matter of rents and taxes tomorrow."

Yes, they would have to wait until tomorrow; he could make no promises, daring only to utter such a useless phrase.

Clutching the roster in his hand, Village Head Zhou turned and strode toward the outskirts of the village.

Seeing this, his wife hurriedly chased after him. "Where are you going?"

Village Head Zhou shook his head. "I'm going out for a walk."

That walk lasted until the sky had completely darkened, yet he still had not returned. His entire family was frantic with worry, and his sons had already paired up, taking torches to search for him.

Zhou Dalang and Zhou Sanlang met Village Head Zhou on the main road leading toward the county seat as he walked back in the dark. He was still clutching the very same roster from the afternoon in his hand.

Overjoyed, the two brothers shouted "Father!" and hurried forward. "Father, where have you been all afternoon? Returning at this hour, everyone at home was terribly worried and went out in all directions to look for you."

With a low and heavy spirit, Village Head Zhou nodded. "Let's go back."

Upon returning home, Village Head Zhou’s wife heated up the evening meal and set it beside him, but he merely shook his head and did not touch it.

Village Head Zhou’s wife sighed. "What can you possibly do, Village Head? Being called a village head sounds grand, but how are you any different from anyone else in the village? Have some dinner."

Yet Village Head Zhou still shook his head. "I have no appetite. Leave it be for now."

Village Head Zhou’s wife sighed again. "Did you go find Wang Liu this afternoon?"

Only then did Village Head Zhou look up at her and nod.

"What did he say? Did you see the Elder of the Wang family?"

"I saw him. Wang Liu led me to him." He shook his head again. "Elder Wang said there is nothing to be done either. The higher authorities are pressing very hard for grain, and the quotas are directly mandated from above. Our village's situation is far from unique throughout the entire county; the magistrate will not loosen this restriction."

"But there is simply no way to do things like this." Village Head Zhou’s wife drooped her shoulders and sat down nearby. "At the beginning of the year, they said they were collecting this autumn's rent and taxes in advance. For more than half a year, many families in the village haven't eaten a single proper meal of dry grain. Just as the harvest is coming in and before it even enters the granaries, they are demanding next year's taxes as well. Does this mean we will have to tighten our belts all the way until next autumn?"

"If we had known from the very beginning that we would starve for a year and a half, it would be one thing. But now, everyone had assumed they could at least enjoy three months of good meals with peace of mind. To hit them with this now—no one can endure it."

"Besides, even when someone dies, the tax still has to be paid. Where on earth is the reasoning in that?"

"All afternoon, the weeping in the village never stopped."

Weeping for the sons and husbands who had died at home.

Village Head Zhou remained silent for a long time. That sentence was something he did not dare to speak aloud.

He was terrified—terrified that next year would bring no end to it either.

If rent and taxes could be collected half a year in advance, or a full year in advance, they would certainly dare to collect them two years in advance.

Zhou Jiuzhang felt that the lamplight tonight was exceptionally dim. A single bean-sized flame flickered in the draft, casting shifting shadows on the wall like the wailing of resentful spirits. He walked to the threshold of the main hall, gazed out at the night sky beyond the courtyard, and felt that the night was so oppressive it made one's heart race with panic.

...

Stricken with the exact same panic was Sang Luo, who had returned home long ago.

That afternoon, several families had gathered together. Just before Shen An arrived and Sang Luo prepared to leave for home, the various stallholders had regained their wits and finalized the quantities of tofu they needed for the next day's stalls. Realizing that Sang Luo also had to pay rent and taxes—and furthermore had to pay the share belonging to the deceased Shen Lie—eighty percent of them paid in cash, while the remaining twenty percent paid in soybeans.

As for Chen Youtian, he revised his original midday estimate, reducing his order to just ten blocks each of the two types of tofu. To be honest, it wouldn't even require carrying a shoulder pole; it was an amount Old Woman Chen could easily sell simply by carrying a small basket.

Starting tomorrow, doing business in the countryside would become difficult.

After returning home, aside from gathering fairy grass leaves, Sang Luo dug konjac. While still at the Chen family's house, she had already inquired about how taxes were calculated for a household of her situation.

In the household registration document established for them by the village chief, the senior branch of the Shen family was classified as a lower-tier household, with a household tax of four dou;

Shen Lie, who was ninety-nine percent likely to have died in battle but was deemed alive by the official government, had reached the age of eighteen and was registered as an adult male, incurring a poll tax of two shi;

She, along with Shen An and Shen Ning, counted as one half-adult and two minors, with their combined poll taxes amounting to two shi.

Therefore, if she wished to avoid being sent away to perform hard labor, Sang Luo had to come up with four shi and four dou of rent and tax by the fifteenth day of the ninth month.

Four shi and four dou. At seventy wen per dou of grain—ah, she had heard the price had already increased; the grocery store in Sanli Village was currently pricing grain at seventy-seven wen per dou.

Four shi and four dou meant three thousand three hundred and eighty-eight wen, assuming the price of grain did not rise any further before the fifteenth of the ninth month.

Over three thousand wen, in less than half a month—Sang Luo was utterly stunned. Daring not to busy herself with anything else that afternoon, she dug the konjac, asked Old Woman Chen for some seasonings, and set right to work as soon as she got home.

September had just begun, yet the mountain nights were already chilly. While waiting for the konjac tofu to set, Sang Luo took the opportunity to make fairy tofu.

Yet as she worked today, her mind was wandering. First was the need to earn over three thousand wen in a dozen days; more crucially, as she glanced at the sky outside, she feared that the weather might change.

Because they needed to get up at the fourth watch—around the crowing of the rooster—to make tofu, they went to sleep early that night. Yet she tossed and turned in bed, unable to find rest. When she finally drifted off, she plunged into a nightmare of a chaotic world, submerged all night in a relentless cycle of fleeing, fleeing, and more fleeing.

At the crowing of the rooster outside the courtyard, Sang Luo woke up drenched in cold sweat.

Noticing that the sky was still early, she let out a sigh of relief. Pausing briefly to steady herself, she hurried over to the kitchen, lit the oil lamp, and prepared to start grinding the beans.

Before she could even push the millstone, Shen An and Shen Ning had both already woken up. The brother and sister hurried over, saying, "Big Sister-in-law, let us grind the beans."

The two of them took turns grinding the beans.

Ever since the previous night, the little brother and sister had been exceptionally quiet, constantly scrambling to do chores—a tendency that had become even more pronounced today.

Sang Luo looked at the two children, let out a soft sigh, and said nothing.

Shen An kept a careful watch on Sang Luo’s expression. Seeing her like this only made him more nervous; he unconsciously bit down on his teeth so hard that his jaw ached faintly. He kept his head down, working desperately hard to do the chores even better.

Sang Luo fetched water to wash the Sichuan peppers, prepared the seasonings, and set about making spicy oil-dressed vegetarian tripe, vegetarian tripe, and crystal meat aspic. These were the goods Sang Luo intended to bring to the county town today.

While she was still prepping the ingredients, Shen Ning had already gone to fetch firewood to help tend the fire.

Such attentiveness left Sang Luo momentarily at a loss for words.

If she had been too preoccupied all yesterday afternoon to pay much attention—or perhaps noticed without taking it to heart—how could she fail to notice today that the two siblings were even more diligent and cautious than usual?

Sang Luo could roughly guess what the two little ones were thinking. They must have learned about the rent and taxes, and now felt that the two of them—no, all three of them—were a burden.

Sang Luo did not know what to say. To claim she felt no depression at all would be untrue. It wasn't directed at the two little ones; since they had chosen to live together as a family, she was quite willing to pay the one shi of tax for the two children.

What she had never anticipated was that a person who was already gone would still be taxed two shi.

Truly, a single dead man of theirs counted for more than the three of them combined.

Wasn't this simply running into a ghost?

Yet she could not go curse her nominal husband named Shen Lie. If those who died on the battlefield had spirits in the afterlife, they would likely crawl right out of the earth to grab the current emperor by the neck and drag him straight down into the netherworld.

Contemplating all this, coupled with a whole night of nightmares, Sang Luo’s mood was inevitably poor, leaving her listless and disinclined to speak.

By the time the tofu was done, the vegetarian tripe was prepared and packed into pottery basins, and the three jars of crystal aspic were sealed, the three of them sat together and finished breakfast. Calculating the time, Sang Luo removed the stones pressing down on the tofu board, saw that the tofu had set beautifully, and neatly sliced it into blocks.

The sky was already tinged with a faint, pale light, no longer pitch-black and devoid of visibility.

Chen Youtian and Qin Fangniang came to knock on the door, accompanied by Madame Gan and Feng Liuniang. Sang Luo fetched the goods for them and announced that she would be accompanying them to the county town today.

Once everything was moved out and they were ready to set off, the little siblings had originally had nothing that needed their help to carry. Yet each of them eagerly rushed forward to hug a small jar, following along all the way down the mountain.

Chen Youtian had already pulled the pushcart and was ready to leave when Shen An could no longer hold back, panic gripping him.

Walking closely behind Sang Luo for several paces, just as Sang Luo was telling them to go back home and sleep a little longer, Shen An and Shen Ning simultaneously reached out to grab her sleeves.

He glanced left and right, perhaps hesitating because Qin Fangniang and the others were present, unsure of how to speak.

Seeing his expression, Sang Luo simply asked Chen Youtian and the others to wait a moment, walked the little siblings back a short distance, and offered words of comfort: "Don't overthink things. You didn't sleep well last night, did you? Go back and get some proper rest."

Hearing this, the brother and sister shook their heads in unison.

Shen An said in a small voice, "Big Sister-in-law, I'm not tired. I've grown up. Making tofu, doing housework, and searching for things in the mountains—I can do it all. I can help earn money to support the family now too. Big Sister-in-law, please don't abandon me and my sister."

Shen Ning nodded as well. "Big Sister-in-law, I can raise chickens and ducks. If you buy a few more geese, I can raise them well too. In a year, those can be traded for money."

Hearing this, Sang Luo couldn't help but laugh. The gloomy mood that had weighed on her all night seemed to part as the first rays of dawn broke through. She patted Shen Ning's head. "Very well. Once we've paid the rent and taxes and have some money, I'll buy a few more ducklings and geese for you to raise. From now on, our family's supply of eggs and income from selling them will all depend on you."

This arrangement regarding the future acted like half a calming pill for the little siblings. Their faces both blossomed into smiles, and Shen Ning nodded heavily. "Mm! I will definitely raise them well!"

Sang Luo smiled and said, "Go on back. Everyone is waiting, so I won't walk you any further. Take care of yourselves."

Seeing the two siblings give their assent and walk back a certain distance, Sang Luo finally turned around to rejoin Qin Fangniang and the others.

None of the people present were dense. Qin Fangniang lowered her voice and asked, "Did they find out about the rent and taxes?"

Sang Luo nodded. "They're afraid I'll think of them as a burden, so they're working themselves to the bone."

And in truth, they were probably also terrified that she might abandon them and leave.

Everyone sighed.

Among these four households, every single one of them had to pay a two-shi rent and tax for family members who had gone to the battlefield and never returned.

Two shi! On prime farmland, a year of painstaking labor, provided the heavens blessed them with a good harvest, could yield at most one and a half shi of grain. If the land itself was rented from a landlord, they still had to pay rent to the owner, and only what remained after that rent was paid belonged to the family.

This meant that two whole mu of land had been farmed entirely in vain, with the harvest going straight to the government.

Furthermore, with all these taxes to pay, and given how many sons and husbands had been lost over the years to natural disasters, corvée labor, and the battlefield, the labor force was already scarce, and they possessed no draft oxen. Busy from the beginning of the year to the end, how much could they even manage to farm, and how much could possibly remain for themselves?

Madame Gan sighed. "It's a blessing for those two children that they met you."

Had they truly remained in the hands of Shen San and Madam Li, facing yesterday's ordeal, their fate would have been completely unknown.

If pushed to the extremes, let alone finding a nominal sister-in-law to serve as a fig leaf who disregarded her nephews' lives, simply dividing the household and casting the two little ones out separately was entirely possible. After all, in order to collect higher household taxes, the Great Qian Dynasty originally encouraged the splitting of households rather than large, clustered family clans.

Just like the senior and junior branches of the Shi family, their household registrations were actually already split into two distinct households; it was merely because the brothers were close-knit, and Shi Erlang and his wife were especially willing to listen to Madame Gan, that they continued to live together day-to-day.

Thus, had they not previously encountered Sang Luo fleeing from famine, and had Madam Li not seized the opportunity to lump Shen An, Shen Ning, and Sang Luo—their convenient young sister-in-law—into a single household, facing this crisis now, these two little orphans might genuinely have been cast aside.

"The two children are very sensible." Sang Luo was truly fortunate to have crossed paths with them.

Along the way, the conversation inevitably drifted back to the upcoming tax collection. Feng Liuniang sighed with emotion. "Do you all know the family of Zhou the Scoundrel next door to us? Just last night, the whole family was still crying. Their land isn't much, but there are many mouths to feed. They probably won't be able to scrape together this rent and tax, and there's a huge shortfall. If they manage to pay it all, they probably won't survive next spring."

Collecting two years' rent and taxes within a single year was enough to crush any family with even the slightest hardship.

Recalling what Village Head Zhou had read out yesterday, Feng Liuniang asked Sang Luo, "A-Lie's wife, did the imperial court provide disaster relief in your hometown?"

Ever since she first transmigrated, Sang Luo had retained the original owner's memories regarding this aspect, so she shook her head at the question. "I don't know about other prefectures and counties, but where we were, who ever saw disaster relief? We didn't even see a bowl of rice water thick enough to show grains of rice. Otherwise, why would so many people have fled south? My family was originally quite well off, but of all the clansmen, who knows how many managed to survive?"

Sang Luo hadn't spoken much about her family's background, but Qin Fangniang and the others knew a little: they possessed ancestral recipes, were literate, paid attention to all sorts of refinements, and even paved their courtyard with stone-lined flower paths. They were probably no less wealthy than the prominent Wang family of this region.

At this, they all fell silent.

The imperial court claimed that disaster relief expenditures were massive, which was why the court was facing difficulties and forced to collect taxes in advance. Madame Gan, Qin Fangniang, and the others understood nothing of grand affairs of state, but ordinary people were not fools—did successive years of warfare not cost money and grain? Did building imperial palaces and detached villas not cost money and grain?

Where the money and grain exacted by the government ultimately ended up was a ledger everyone kept clearly in their hearts.

From pitch-black darkness to the bright light of dawn, the gates of Qiyang County City finally loomed before them. Those who regularly entered the city to set up stalls invariably saw the same familiar faces—the very same people, though their expressions now carried a heavy load of sorrow and numbness.

Watching the others like this, Sang Luo abruptly realized that if she continued to despair, her own future might not look all that different from theirs. She hurriedly shook off her gloom and rallied her spirits.

Despair could never conjure up three thousand wen. She had to smile—smile as she entered the city to find a good buyer for her wares.