Corvée Labor

In previous years, it was at most two or three taels.

This made many of the relatively wealthy families in the surrounding villages, who had originally planned to pay to avoid it, hesitate.

Not to mention Xiushui Village, which was considered a relatively poor village among the surrounding ones.

Suddenly, the villagers of Xiushui Village couldn't even bother with tending to their crops, and they all hurried home to discuss the matter.

Lin Dayou, who was cultivating on the mountain, was also called back to the old ancestral house by Lin Dashan to discuss this matter together.

The three youths, Lin Xiao, Lin Yun, and Lin Lei, also wanted to participate in family affairs, so they all followed them down the mountain.

Mo Yuanjiao, who had originally wanted to continue practicing his array carving today, watched his master and sect master senior brother leave, feeling a bit depressed.

Isn't it just a corvee labor dispatched by the government?

Why did it require such a grand family discussion?

Mo Yuanjiao scratched his head in confusion. Unable to figure it out, he went to the Array Hall, holding the Comprehensive Guide to Basic Array Carving, and started reading.

Inside the Lin family's old house.

Because the first and second branches of the family had actually divided into two households in terms of living, their household registration had not been separated, so they were still considered one family on paper.

For this corvee, their two families, as usual, only needed to send one person.

But who would go became the problem.

Although Lin Dashan went the year before last, that was just ordinary corvee labor, which wasn't too grueling. He just went for a dozen days to move some rocks and dig some dirt, and the location was close to home, near Cuifeng Town.

If it were like usual, there naturally wouldn't be any disagreement; they would just take turns.

But this time, it was an additional dispatch to build dams, which was very likely a life-threatening job, so the Lin family rarely had a disagreement over such a matter.

The main disagreement lay between Lin Dashan and Lin Dayou.

Lin Dayou believed that since it was exactly his turn this time, he should be the one to go.

But Lin Dashan believed that as the eldest brother, he should naturally shield his younger brother when encountering such matters.

Thus, the two were locked in a stalemate.

For Old Master Lin and Grandma Lin, both sons were their own flesh and blood. They didn't have any good ideas either, so they discussed paying money to offset it instead. Although their family savings were still a bit short, they should be able to scrape enough together by borrowing around.

But regarding this, both brothers, Lin Dayou and Lin Dashan, disagreed.

It was too difficult for the family to save money. If they spent the little money they had finally managed to save all at once, their future days would become difficult again.

However, this matter did not remain at a stalemate for long in the Lin family before it was solved by the five taels of silver Lin Xiao took out.

This was what he had earned in the county town previously. After buying things, he still had seven or eight taels left, which just happened to solve this urgent need for the family.

Although he felt that with his Foundation Establishment cultivation, participating in this corvee wouldn't be a problem at all, just as he stepped forward and wanted to speak, he was glared back into silence by his father's sharp gaze.

Alright, no matter how high his cultivation was, his father certainly wouldn't be willing to let him go do forced labor.

So Lin Xiao could only settle for the next best thing and pay the money.

Seeing the five-tael silver ingot he brought out, the Lin family fell into an eerily quiet state for a moment.

Lin Dashan: Although it had been so long, he still always forgot that his nephew was an immortal.

Old Master Lin coughed lightly and made the final decision:

Alright, since the money problem is solved now, you two brothers stop arguing and both stay at home properly!

Saying that, he looked at Lin Xiao again:

Sanlang, just treat this money as the family borrowing from you. Right now our family has four and a half taels. In a few days, when we scrape together five taels, Grandpa will return it to you, alright?

Hearing this, before Lin Xiao could say anything, Lin Dayou quickly said:

Dad, what are you saying? It was originally my turn to do the labor this time. Sanlang paying the money is exempting me from the labor, how can we let you pay it back?

Lin Xiao immediately nodded:

Exactly, exactly. Grandpa, you are treating me like an outsider by not treating me as your grandson! Besides, as long as our family works together and pulls in the same direction, these things that can be solved with money are simply not a problem at all!

He believed that even if he paid this money this time and didn't need the family to return it, his family members wouldn't be the kind of people who would start thinking about taking advantage of him all day long.

So regarding these money matters, he truly didn't care at all.

A harmonious and warm family, a group of lovely family members, could not be exchanged for any amount of money.

And this was what he considered the most precious thing in this world.

Not to mention just five taels of silver now, if needed, he, Lin Xiao, would willingly give everything for this.

Thus, the Lin family's affairs were settled just like that.

But throughout the entire Xiushui Village, and even all the towns and villages under the jurisdiction of Anqun County, similar discussions were playing out in different households.

It is just that the able-bodied men in most families were trying their best to find ways to make other people in the family go.

And Liu Yunan did not have this worry.

His family had long since separated their household registration from the old Liu family, so now his family only had him as a male adult.

He only needed to pay one hundred wen.

Although one hundred wen was a lot for many rural families, Liu Yunan had earned some small money when he went to the county town a few days ago, so he could afford to pay this money.

As for Tietou's family, in the end, for some unknown reason, this corvee duty was pushed onto Tietou.

Tietou's father was not at home because he recently took a job building a house in the neighboring village.

Tietou's mother cried and shouted in protest, but it was of no use at all.

In the end, the Hu family submitted Tietou's name.

When the village chief saw that his family had submitted Tietou's name, he was also very surprised. Because although Tietou's family was not a wealthy household, they had a quite large population. Tietou's father was the eldest, and he had two younger brothers in their prime, meaning Tietou had two uncles, and their large family had not yet split up.

But it wasn't his place to say anything. This was, after all, their family matter, and Tietou had just reached the full age of thirteen this year. In their Pusi Kingdom, males were considered adults at twelve, and all taxes began to be paid according to adult males.

So he had no way to stop the Hu family from reporting Tietou.

As for Jiang Youfu.

He didn't need to worry about these things at all. His grandmother would fill a small pouch full of roasted beans for him every day, and after letting him do some light chores at home, she would let him go out to play.

And Sun Yigao's family didn't need to worry at all...

Unexpectedly, just as the village was still worrying about the corvee duty the next morning, before the sky was even bright, a thin and small figure appeared at the entrance of Xiushui Village.

This was a youth.

The youth had a rather petite stature, and his face was pitch black with dirt. But contrasting with his dirty little face was a neatly tied ponytail and a set of clean, washed-out clothes.