Home fighting is worse than fighting (4)
During the years when Zhong Qi Yuan was still in the Taoist temple, Zhong Qi Yuan practiced talismans and learned alchemy instead of medicine. If she hadn’t often tried pills, she wouldn’t have died of poisoning at such a young age.
Of course, Zhong Qi Yuan would not be so stupid as to allow Meng and Zhong Chu Yuan to follow her in performing alchemy. Although there are no immortals in this small world, there is still a little bit of spiritual energy. As long as the method of strengthening is appropriate, coupled with proper medication, Meng’s illness can still be cured.
Therefore, Zhong Qi Yuan first had Meng perform Tai Chi every morning while she picked up the little turnip head to run and practice military boxing.
A few days later, Meng was delighted, “This Taoist boxing technique is really effective, I’m feeling much better lately.”
“This is just the beginning. You have to be persistent in everything to see results. Mother should not take it lightly.”
Meng’s face was worried, “Of course I know, but I haven’t brought any work back for a few days, so if things continue like this, our family won’t be able to make ends meet.”
Every day, Meng would go to the nearby embroidery workshop to pick up some work for the women to do to subsidize the family. Because Zhong Qi Yuan did not overwork her, her progress was much slower. She had to spend three days on work that used to be done in a day.
She certainly didn’t blame Zhong Qi Yuan, but her eldest daughter is only thirteen years old no matter how stable she is. Meng is a mother of two daughters, so naturally, she can’t slacken off.
Zhong Qi Yuan recalled the plot and remembered that Zhong Zao had left Meng in her old home just so she could serve two elders. The two elders died a few years ago and when Zhong Zao came back to mourn, he blamed Meng for not taking good care of his parents and used this as an excuse to cut off Meng and Zhong Chu Yuan from the family.
Meng’s dowry was almost spent when he was studying and after he became an official, his salary was used to support his combines and their children. The expenses for the funerals when her in-laws passed away were also paid using Meng’s dowry. After the dowry was spent, she had to find a livelihood to make ends meet.
Meng’s temperament was weak and often worried about Zhong Zao’s reputation, fearing that his reputation would be ruined and would affect his career, so she never complained to the public. Therefore, after her death, Zhong Zao only shed a few tears in hypocrisy and the world praised him as a good man. His boss, Shi Wong, felt that he was sentimental and righteous so he promised his widowed sister to him.
The system lamented, “Men are all big pig’s feet!”
Zhong Qi Yuan, “What did the pig’s feet do wrong to bear the infamy of such trash?”
The system asked, “What does the host want to do?”
“What to do?”
“Don’t you want to save Meng Shi?”
Zhong Qi Yuan said indifferently, “I said I would cure her disease, I didn’t say I would treat her brain. I’m here to do a mission, not to be a saint.”
System, “. . .”
It really can’t figure out what this big villain is thinking. . . but if her thoughts could be speculated according to common sense, then she wouldn’t have taken the path of a villain and been exiled to the barren space for more than four thousand years.
The system thought that she at least knew that there was a mission in place, but as a result, her focus changed after Meng mentioned that the family’s tenants haven’t been paying rent and taxes.
“There are still fields at home?”
“Yes, but the permanent fields were sold, leaving only 80 acres of land. No one in the family can manage it, so they rented it out to tenants. But this year’s harvest is not good, the remnants can’t afford to pay the rent. . .”
Zhong Qi Yuan learned that this dynasty was implementing the equalization system. Males could be granted 80 acres of rented land and 20 acres of permanent land. The rented land belongs to the court’s assets and must be recovered after the male’s death, while the permanent land will become the male’s private property, which can be bought and sold.
After all, the population was growing too fast and there were not so many land resources available to allocate. With the addition of land merges, the land equalization system only existed in name. However, after Zhong Zao became an official, the court still gave him a hundred acres of land.
The 80 acres of land would not yet be reclaimed since he isn’t dead yet, but he wasn’t in his hometown, and the Meng and her daughter had no power to bind the chicken, so the field was rented to the tenants to cultivate.
“But there was no harvest?” Zhong Qi Yuan asked.
“It’s not that there’s no harvest, but there are many taxes caused by natural disasters, so this year’s harvest has been reduced by 30%”
Zhong Qi Yuan asked, “Did the government collect taxes from us or from the tenants?”
“Our family, but the governor exempted our family from the tax.”
“Then it means the taxes are not on the heads of the tenants at all. Then why don’t they pay the rent when they rent our fields?”
Meng sighed, “The tenant family is really not easy. They have a family of more than a dozen people to feed. . .”
Zhong Qi Yuan, “. . .”
“Mother, we are so poor that we can’t even have something in the pot, how do you still have the heart to pity others? 80 acres of fields, if I just randomly sowed some seeds, three months later I can harvest a few stones of rice, but there isn’t a single stone when rented out. If the harvest is not good, then they should pay less rent, rather than not pay at all. Who is vulnerable and who is justified?”
At first, Meng thought that her daughter was a bit cold, but after careful consideration, she found that it was very reasonable. She pitied the tenant’s family, but who would pity them three, two orphans and a widowed mother?
But she still had no confidence, “Aye, you’re not home and you don’t care about family affairs. He doesn’t have any uncles and brothers to help like us. . .”
Zhong Qi Yuan resolutely said, “I will go and see tomorrow.”
Meng was worried about her, but after seeing her chopping wood with an ax using one hand, her movements still crisp, decisive, and ruthless, Meng swallowed her words of caution back into her stomach.
Her daughter is so fierce that she doesn’t seem to need her worries.
The next day, when Zhong Qi Yuan went out, the little turnip head, Zhong Chu Yuan quickly climbed into the cart, “Where is sister going? Yuanyuan wants to go too!”
Meng was worried that Zhong Chu Yuan would run around and cause trouble for Zhong Qi Yuan, so she said, “Yuanyuna, some down. Sister has business to do.”
The little turnip head looked at her mother pitifully, “Yuanyuan wants to go with sister to her business.”
Zhong Qi Yuan said, “Let her follow. I will keep an eye on her.”
After several days of getting along, Meng found that her eldest daughter, although young, was very creative. She was a bit like Zhong Zao, but she didn’t act impetuously. Rather, she makes people feel at ease.
Since she could not persuade her eldest daughter, Meng had no choice but to accept the result of being persuaded.
Not long after Zhong Qi Yuan and Zhon Chu Yuan left the house, they ran into the Yun family’s carriage.
Looking at Yung Cong Wan, who had a servant and a maid running around in front of and behind the door, Zhong Qi Yuan asked the system, “Why didn’t you pick such a good background in the first place?”
The system replied, “The auditor can’t affect the development of the plot, so the selected identities are all passers-by with a very low sense of presence in the plot. The host is different. In order to achieve the best assistance effect, it will arrange with an identity that has many opportunities in communicating with the son of luck.”
Zhong Qi Yuan also just said casually.
When she was a villain, she had been the richest person who was unkind, a treacherous minister who caused trouble in the court, a brutal tyrant, a worthless beggar, a notorious villain, a paranoid and vicious psychopath, and also a vicious stepmother/sister/classmate/ex-girlfriend of the son of fortune.
It can be said that identity, status, and power have long been unattractive to her. Only during those 4,000 years of farming and infrastructure in the barren land could she slightly feel the joy of harvest.
Thinking about this, she was a little bit eager, “Hurry up, my 80 acres of fields are still waiting for me to cultivate them!”
System, “. . .”
It heard that Zhong Qi Yuan treated the exile land as her own back garden and played the farming and building game. Today, is she also planning to spread her name as a big planting farmer and infrastructure tycoon to a very small world?
Zhong Qi Yuan didn’t want to delay, but as the saying goes, there will be a blockage when two cars meet, not to mention that the Yun family has more than two cars and Zhong Qi Yuan is blocked to the inch.
Yun Cong Wan seemed to be unaware of the congestion caused by her own family as she smiled and asked, “Are Yuanyuan and sister Zhong going out this way?”
Zhong Chu Yuan was a little excited, “Well, Yuanyuan is going out with sister to do something big!”
“Big event?” Yun Cong Wan was curious.
Zhong Qi Yuan’s identity is still a 13-year-old girl while the son of luck is only six years old. What kind of big event can this pair of sisters do?
But as long as Zhong Qi Yuan doesn’t kill the son of luck and make the small world collapse, then it has nothing to do with her.
It’s rare to travel in her real body, oh no, business trip. How can she not take this opportunity to enjoy the scenery of the small world?
She can’t wait to enjoy this picnic.
Zhong Qi Yuan thought that she was here to monitor her and curled the corner of her lips to reveal a cold smile, “You need useful servants.”
Yung Cong Wan looked around and came to a realization, “Sorry, we’ll leave now.”
A cart loaded with ingredients was in the front, two ox carts carrying people were in the back and three ox carts walked slowly in front of Zhong Qi Yuan. It wasn’t until they drove two miles out of the county that they needed to stop to feed the cattle. Yun Cong Wan opened the door of the carriage and curiously asked, “Why does sister Zhong keep following me?”
Zhong Qi Yuan, “. . .”
She said to the system, “I remember that auditors are the kind of serious and decent people who are expressionless and impartial. Why is this auditor so. . . underhanded?”
The system did not relay this to Yun Cong Wan and answered, “She is a senior auditor with a reputation in the industry, She certainly did not do it on purpose. The reason why the host feels that she is cunning must be because the host herself is cunning.”
“I think you’re the one who’s more cunning. Look at that pile of cow dung, shouldn’t it look like you after being rebuilt?”
System, “Hum, I was wrong.”
After intimidating the system, Zhong Qi Yuan looked up to meet Yun Cong Wan’s gaze and answered indifferently, “Going to Bei Wei Li at Xianxiang.”
Yun Cong Wan was surprised, “Our destination is the same!”
Zhong Qi Yuan thought to herself, “You’re here to spy on me, so naturally our destinations are the same.”
But she said, “Our families are from the same village, so it’s not strange that our destinations are the same.”
Yun Cong Wan, substituting her current identity, suddenly realized, “Yes, the Zhong family and the Yun family are from the same hometown. Then what are you doing there?”
The little turnip head answered, “Rent collection!”
The maidservant of the Yun family told Yun Cong Wan that the cows were full and they were ready to continue their journey, so Yun Cong Wan said to the little turnip head, “Oh, then you guys go ahead.”
The cart reeled down the dirt compact road. The dust was flying everywhere and Zhong Qi Yuan at the back ate a mouthful of dust.
Zhong Qi Yuan, “Needless to say, this woman was deliberately sent by the Lord God to increase the difficulty of my task.”
The system turned its head and tattled on Yun Cong Wan.
Yun Cong Wan, “. . .”
No, I didn’t, I was wrongly accused!
Home fighting is worse than fighting (4)
During the years when Zhong Qi Yuan was still in the Taoist temple, Zhong Qi Yuan practiced talismans and learned alchemy instead of medicine. If she hadn’t often tried pills, she wouldn’t have died of poisoning at such a young age.
Of course, Zhong Qi Yuan would not be so stupid as to allow Meng and Zhong Chu Yuan to follow her in performing alchemy. Although there are no immortals in this small world, there is still a little bit of spiritual energy. As long as the method of strengthening is appropriate, coupled with proper medication, Meng’s illness can still be cured.
Therefore, Zhong Qi Yuan first had Meng perform Tai Chi every morning while she picked up the little turnip head to run and practice military boxing.
A few days later, Meng was delighted, “This Taoist boxing technique is really effective, I’m feeling much better lately.”
“This is just the beginning. You have to be persistent in everything to see results. Mother should not take it lightly.”
Meng’s face was worried, “Of course I know, but I haven’t brought any work back for a few days, so if things continue like this, our family won’t be able to make ends meet.”
Every day, Meng would go to the nearby embroidery workshop to pick up some work for the women to do to subsidize the family. Because Zhong Qi Yuan did not overwork her, her progress was much slower. She had to spend three days on work that used to be done in a day.
She certainly didn’t blame Zhong Qi Yuan, but her eldest daughter is only thirteen years old no matter how stable she is. Meng is a mother of two daughters, so naturally, she can’t slacken off.
Zhong Qi Yuan recalled the plot and remembered that Zhong Zao had left Meng in her old home just so she could serve two elders. The two elders died a few years ago and when Zhong Zao came back to mourn, he blamed Meng for not taking good care of his parents and used this as an excuse to cut off Meng and Zhong Chu Yuan from the family.
Meng’s dowry was almost spent when he was studying and after he became an official, his salary was used to support his combines and their children. The expenses for the funerals when her in-laws passed away were also paid using Meng’s dowry. After the dowry was spent, she had to find a livelihood to make ends meet.
Meng’s temperament was weak and often worried about Zhong Zao’s reputation, fearing that his reputation would be ruined and would affect his career, so she never complained to the public. Therefore, after her death, Zhong Zao only shed a few tears in hypocrisy and the world praised him as a good man. His boss, Shi Wong, felt that he was sentimental and righteous so he promised his widowed sister to him.
The system lamented, “Men are all big pig’s feet!”
Zhong Qi Yuan, “What did the pig’s feet do wrong to bear the infamy of such trash?”
The system asked, “What does the host want to do?”
“What to do?”
“Don’t you want to save Meng Shi?”
Zhong Qi Yuan said indifferently, “I said I would cure her disease, I didn’t say I would treat her brain. I’m here to do a mission, not to be a saint.”
System, “. . .”
It really can’t figure out what this big villain is thinking. . . but if her thoughts could be speculated according to common sense, then she wouldn’t have taken the path of a villain and been exiled to the barren space for more than four thousand years.
The system thought that she at least knew that there was a mission in place, but as a result, her focus changed after Meng mentioned that the family’s tenants haven’t been paying rent and taxes.
“There are still fields at home?”
“Yes, but the permanent fields were sold, leaving only 80 acres of land. No one in the family can manage it, so they rented it out to tenants. But this year’s harvest is not good, the remnants can’t afford to pay the rent. . .”
Zhong Qi Yuan learned that this dynasty was implementing the equalization system. Males could be granted 80 acres of rented land and 20 acres of permanent land. The rented land belongs to the court’s assets and must be recovered after the male’s death, while the permanent land will become the male’s private property, which can be bought and sold.
After all, the population was growing too fast and there were not so many land resources available to allocate. With the addition of land merges, the land equalization system only existed in name. However, after Zhong Zao became an official, the court still gave him a hundred acres of land.
The 80 acres of land would not yet be reclaimed since he isn’t dead yet, but he wasn’t in his hometown, and the Meng and her daughter had no power to bind the chicken, so the field was rented to the tenants to cultivate.
“But there was no harvest?” Zhong Qi Yuan asked.
“It’s not that there’s no harvest, but there are many taxes caused by natural disasters, so this year’s harvest has been reduced by 30%”
Zhong Qi Yuan asked, “Did the government collect taxes from us or from the tenants?”
“Our family, but the governor exempted our family from the tax.”
“Then it means the taxes are not on the heads of the tenants at all. Then why don’t they pay the rent when they rent our fields?”
Meng sighed, “The tenant family is really not easy. They have a family of more than a dozen people to feed. . .”
Zhong Qi Yuan, “. . .”
“Mother, we are so poor that we can’t even have something in the pot, how do you still have the heart to pity others? 80 acres of fields, if I just randomly sowed some seeds, three months later I can harvest a few stones of rice, but there isn’t a single stone when rented out. If the harvest is not good, then they should pay less rent, rather than not pay at all. Who is vulnerable and who is justified?”
At first, Meng thought that her daughter was a bit cold, but after careful consideration, she found that it was very reasonable. She pitied the tenant’s family, but who would pity them three, two orphans and a widowed mother?
But she still had no confidence, “Aye, you’re not home and you don’t care about family affairs. He doesn’t have any uncles and brothers to help like us. . .”
Zhong Qi Yuan resolutely said, “I will go and see tomorrow.”
Meng was worried about her, but after seeing her chopping wood with an ax using one hand, her movements still crisp, decisive, and ruthless, Meng swallowed her words of caution back into her stomach.
Her daughter is so fierce that she doesn’t seem to need her worries.
The next day, when Zhong Qi Yuan went out, the little turnip head, Zhong Chu Yuan quickly climbed into the cart, “Where is sister going? Yuanyuan wants to go too!”
Meng was worried that Zhong Chu Yuan would run around and cause trouble for Zhong Qi Yuan, so she said, “Yuanyuna, some down. Sister has business to do.”
The little turnip head looked at her mother pitifully, “Yuanyuan wants to go with sister to her business.”
Zhong Qi Yuan said, “Let her follow. I will keep an eye on her.”
After several days of getting along, Meng found that her eldest daughter, although young, was very creative. She was a bit like Zhong Zao, but she didn’t act impetuously. Rather, she makes people feel at ease.
Since she could not persuade her eldest daughter, Meng had no choice but to accept the result of being persuaded.
Not long after Zhong Qi Yuan and Zhon Chu Yuan left the house, they ran into the Yun family’s carriage.
Looking at Yung Cong Wan, who had a servant and a maid running around in front of and behind the door, Zhong Qi Yuan asked the system, “Why didn’t you pick such a good background in the first place?”
The system replied, “The auditor can’t affect the development of the plot, so the selected identities are all passers-by with a very low sense of presence in the plot. The host is different. In order to achieve the best assistance effect, it will arrange with an identity that has many opportunities in communicating with the son of luck.”
Zhong Qi Yuan also just said casually.
When she was a villain, she had been the richest person who was unkind, a treacherous minister who caused trouble in the court, a brutal tyrant, a worthless beggar, a notorious villain, a paranoid and vicious psychopath, and also a vicious stepmother/sister/classmate/ex-girlfriend of the son of fortune.
It can be said that identity, status, and power have long been unattractive to her. Only during those 4,000 years of farming and infrastructure in the barren land could she slightly feel the joy of harvest.
Thinking about this, she was a little bit eager, “Hurry up, my 80 acres of fields are still waiting for me to cultivate them!”
System, “. . .”
It heard that Zhong Qi Yuan treated the exile land as her own back garden and played the farming and building game. Today, is she also planning to spread her name as a big planting farmer and infrastructure tycoon to a very small world?
Zhong Qi Yuan didn’t want to delay, but as the saying goes, there will be a blockage when two cars meet, not to mention that the Yun family has more than two cars and Zhong Qi Yuan is blocked to the inch.
Yun Cong Wan seemed to be unaware of the congestion caused by her own family as she smiled and asked, “Are Yuanyuan and sister Zhong going out this way?”
Zhong Chu Yuan was a little excited, “Well, Yuanyuan is going out with sister to do something big!”
“Big event?” Yun Cong Wan was curious.
Zhong Qi Yuan’s identity is still a 13-year-old girl while the son of luck is only six years old. What kind of big event can this pair of sisters do?
But as long as Zhong Qi Yuan doesn’t kill the son of luck and make the small world collapse, then it has nothing to do with her.
It’s rare to travel in her real body, oh no, business trip. How can she not take this opportunity to enjoy the scenery of the small world?
She can’t wait to enjoy this picnic.
Zhong Qi Yuan thought that she was here to monitor her and curled the corner of her lips to reveal a cold smile, “You need useful servants.”
Yung Cong Wan looked around and came to a realization, “Sorry, we’ll leave now.”
A cart loaded with ingredients was in the front, two ox carts carrying people were in the back and three ox carts walked slowly in front of Zhong Qi Yuan. It wasn’t until they drove two miles out of the county that they needed to stop to feed the cattle. Yun Cong Wan opened the door of the carriage and curiously asked, “Why does sister Zhong keep following me?”
Zhong Qi Yuan, “. . .”
She said to the system, “I remember that auditors are the kind of serious and decent people who are expressionless and impartial. Why is this auditor so. . . underhanded?”
The system did not relay this to Yun Cong Wan and answered, “She is a senior auditor with a reputation in the industry, She certainly did not do it on purpose. The reason why the host feels that she is cunning must be because the host herself is cunning.”
“I think you’re the one who’s more cunning. Look at that pile of cow dung, shouldn’t it look like you after being rebuilt?”
System, “Hum, I was wrong.”
After intimidating the system, Zhong Qi Yuan looked up to meet Yun Cong Wan’s gaze and answered indifferently, “Going to Bei Wei Li at Xianxiang.”
Yun Cong Wan was surprised, “Our destination is the same!”
Zhong Qi Yuan thought to herself, “You’re here to spy on me, so naturally our destinations are the same.”
But she said, “Our families are from the same village, so it’s not strange that our destinations are the same.”
Yun Cong Wan, substituting her current identity, suddenly realized, “Yes, the Zhong family and the Yun family are from the same hometown. Then what are you doing there?”
The little turnip head answered, “Rent collection!”
The maidservant of the Yun family told Yun Cong Wan that the cows were full and they were ready to continue their journey, so Yun Cong Wan said to the little turnip head, “Oh, then you guys go ahead.”
The cart reeled down the dirt compact road. The dust was flying everywhere and Zhong Qi Yuan at the back ate a mouthful of dust.
Zhong Qi Yuan, “Needless to say, this woman was deliberately sent by the Lord God to increase the difficulty of my task.”
The system turned its head and tattled on Yun Cong Wan.
Yun Cong Wan, “. . .”
No, I didn’t, I was wrongly accused!
