Bab 23: The Tax Man

Next day.

Lin Fan woke up and went over to Uncle Liu's place to check on how he was doing.

Uncle Liu's family was having breakfast when he entered.

Sitting at the table, with his head barely higher than the table, Liu Han was blowing at the steam rising from the bowl of porridge in front of him.

The porridge was too hot for him.

"You've been blowing at the porridge all morning. Just eat it."

Mei Fong, with her hands on her hips, yelled at Liu Han.

This kid hadn't had a mouthful of porridge for the past hour.

She knew the porridge didn't have any taste, but that's all they could afford.

Salt and seasoning were luxuries for commoners like them.

When she saw Lin Fan enter, she said, "Lin Fan, come join us for breakfast. Let me get you a bowl of porridge."

Then, she turned into the kitchen.

"Come join us. The buns will be ready soon," Uncle Liu also invited Lin Fan to join in.

"Well, if you insist," Lin Fan took a seat and asked, "Uncle Liu, how's your leg? Feeling any better?"

Uncle Liu lifted his leg and showed Lin Fan the bandages around his shin, and the empowering smell of herbal medicine slowly filled the air.

"See, the swelling is gone. A few more days and I can start hunting again," Uncle Liu said.

"I think it's best for you to rest first. The woods are getting more dangerous."

Lin Fan recounted his encounter with the fire deer but didn't let Uncle Liu know that he had killed it.

Mei Fong overheard what Lin Fan said as she was putting a bowl of porridge in front of Lin Fan.

"You heard what Lin Fan said, you'd better stay put and wait for next spring. What will happen to Liu Han and me if anything happens to you?"

Uncle Liu wanted to speak but kept quiet.

He had seen what Lin Fan went through after his father died.

Even Lin Fan's relatives like Lin Ke didn't even lift a finger to help him.

He didn't want the same fate to befall Mei Fong and Liu Han.

"Uncle Liu, don't worry. I will try to hunt for some rabbits these few days; the open field should be safe."

Lin Fan assured Uncle Liu and started to slurp a mouthful of the porridge.

"Liu Han, start eating. Lin Fan is already eating, so don't give me the excuse of the porridge being too hot," Mei Fong twisted Liu Han's ears, and Liu Han had no choice but to sulk and eat his porridge.

Gong!

"What's that noise?" Lin Fan put down his spoon and asked.

Uncle Liu sighed, shook his head, and glanced at Mei Fong, "Mei Fong, take out the money. It's time to pay the autumn harvest tax."

"Lin Fan, you go and get your money ready for the taxes too."

…

When Lin Fan and Uncle Liu's family arrived at the village head's house, the villagers had gathered outside, standing in a queue.

Outside of the village head's house, there were two tax officers in Quan Dynasty imperial uniforms in their black official gowns sitting on a bench, with a table in front of them.

On the table was the village's registry.

Every household and the family members in the household were listed in the registry.

They would have to pay the tax according to the headcount in the household.

Lin Fan's household of one would need to pay a fifty KG of rice grain or the equivalent of one tael of silver.

Most of the villagers would be paying in rice grain as they were mostly farmers.

Families like Master Tan's with relatives in one of the sects didn't have to pay the autumn harvest tax.

Which was why Ho Fu was willing to spend so much to try and get Ho Ming into the Qing Feng sect.

Standing beside the two tax officers were soldiers in their armor and sabers, ready to arrest those unable to pay the tax for hard labor.

Lin Fan and Uncle Liu joined the queue and waited for their turn.

The other villagers were all solemn-looking.

No longer in their usual chatty and gossiping mood.

"You are short of ten KG of rice! Take him and chain him up!"

The tax officer shouted at the villager in front of the queue.

Soldiers took one step forward.

When the villager saw the soldiers moving, his legs trembled.

He knelt and said, "My Lord, I've double-checked just before coming here. There must be a misunderstanding somewhere."

"What misunderstanding? Either you come up with ten KG of rice or pay ten copper coins for the shortfall."

The villager knew what was going on when he heard the latter part of what the tax officer said.

There was no misunderstanding; they just wanted to extort money.

"Yes, I will pay for it," the villager had no choice but to take out whatever he had in his sleeves and hand it over to the soldier who was now in front of him.

The other villagers quickly checked if they had extra money with them.

Those who didn't quickly ran back home to try and salvage whatever valuables they had.

"Next."

"My Lord, I…"

"Don't waste my time. Just pay the tax."

This time, the villager in line couldn't pay for the tax.

"My rice field got destroyed by the vagrants who came earlier; all my harvest was gone. Please, I beg you," the villager knelt and kowtowed with his head banging hard on the ground.

It was of no use; the tax officer just motioned for the soldiers to get to work.

The soldiers grabbed the villager, and when he struggled, gave him a kick that made him fall to the ground.

"Help me. Please, someone, anyone help me."

The villager looked at the others in the queue and pleaded for help as he was dragged away by the soldiers.

Everyone looked away, avoiding eye contact with him.

"Uncle Liu, do you have enough for the tax?"