"Since you're awake, go and ask someone to dig the grave well, and the funeral will take place tomorrow." Even if Mrs. Wan was angry, it was not good to send it out at this time, so she only gave a light command.

  Li Hong knew that his mother was angry, his heart was cold, he lowered his head to respond, looked up at the coffin in the hall, turned around and stepped back.

  Wan took Baolu to kneel in front of the spirit and burned paper money.

   No one came to express condolences all day, only the people of the Li family quietly guarded the mourning hall.

Li Bo is the only doctor in this ten-mile radius, and he is also an imperial doctor, so his popularity is good, but no matter how good it is, the people who live here are all exiled sinners and their families. Most of the time it reminds me of not being able to see a disease in the future. Those who sincerely came to express their condolences had come as early as two days ago.

Now, nearly half of the families in the fishing village are holding funerals. Baolu walked out of Li's house holding her parents' tablets. go ahead...

   The first handful of soil was sprinkled by Li Hong and Li Baolu, and the people who came to help shoveled the soil down, and soon two high graves were erected.

  Li Kang was buried with his wife, and the two coffins were firmly attached to each other.

  Li Hong saw Wan looking at the grave in a trance, and hurriedly stepped forward to support her and said, "Mother, it's getting late, let's go back,"

  Wan came back to his senses, nodded, stretched out his hand and led Baolu back step by step, the dead are gone, and she can only save the living is her greatest relief to them.

The death of Li Bo and Li Kang was a heavy blow to the Li family, because almost all the income of the Li family came from them. I can't work, let alone earn money to support my family.

   So from today onwards, they are afraid that they will have to live frugally, and life will not be as good as before until she finds a better source of life.

   Mr. Wan had a plan in his heart, and when he got home, he wanted to ask Li Hong to discuss it, and someone shouted from outside, "Li Hong, the rior is here and asked everyone to discuss matters, come quickly!"

  Li Hong was stunned for a moment, and looked at his mother hurriedly. This kind of thing is usually done by father or elder brother...

  Ms. Wan pondered: "Go ahead, it's almost time to pay the summer tax, and the rivernor most likely came here to talk about this."

  Thinking of the new county magistrate last year, Mrs Wan felt a little uneasy, and she couldn't help stroking Baolu's hair.

  Li Baolu looked at her grandmother with round eyes, full of doubts.

   "I just hope I think more," Wan rubbed her head and said, "There is still more than a month before the summer tax payment, so there is no need to notify the villagers so early..."

   Those are all conventions, and the amount of tax each family should pay and how much labor should be served are also known.

   But the emperor and the courtier, even if it is just a county seat, is the same. With a new county magistrate, his actions will naturally be different from the previous one. I just hope that he is just and generous.

  Wan prayed secretly in his heart, but Li Hong's ugly face when he came back showed that the arrival of the rijong this time was not a good thing.

   Mr. Wan sat up straight and asked, "What happened?"

  Mei also looked at Li Hong nervously.

Li Hong said with a sullen face: "The chief said that this year's summer tax will be paid in advance, and there will be servitude." Li Hong lowered his voice three times, and said with hatred: "According to the charge of exile, the charge of exile will increase by 30%. twice as many as in previous years.”

  Wan stunned, "The new county magistrate dared to exploit like this..."

Li Hong's eyes flashed with coldness, and he gritted his teeth: "What dare he not, except for the uncivilized barbarians in Qiongzhou Prefecture, we are the sinners who are exiled, can we escape Qiongzhou Prefecture and go to Guangzhou Prefecture to sue him? "

Qiongzhou Prefecture is subordinate to Guangdong and is under the jurisdiction of Guangzhou Prefecture. Although it is called a prefecture, it is actually not at the county level, and because it is separated from Guangdong by a strait, it is extremely inconvenient to travel. Good people who have property also have a hard time crossing the sea.

"What's more, he never exploited the good people. The increased tax is only for the criminals who were exiled here. In addition, children over the age of one year also have to pay half of the tax," Li Hong said, "I don't know how many children will die after this time. "

The prisoners who were exiled here were all limited in their scope of activities, not to mention that they were criminals, and they could not redeem themselves without court documents, nor could they be sold as slaves, so in order to reduce the taxes they paid, families with many children could only throw their children into the mountains. or drowning directly.

  Shi Wan obviously thought of this as well, with a sullen qi in his chest, and gritted his teeth: "With such a loss of conscience, his official position will not be long."

   "It's enough to kill us." Li Hong said lightly.

  Miss Wan glared at him and said sternly: "Our family has the assets left by your father and eldest brother, and we can always support it in seven or eight years. Besides, we won't sit still."

   "What kind of way can this world survive?" Li Hong said disheartenedly: "What's more, we are still sinners whose scope of action is restricted."

  Li Hong glanced at the people in the room and sighed faintly.

  Li Baolu subconsciously grasped Wan Shi's arm. The second uncle's gaze on her just now made her heart beat violently, and she always felt like she was being stared at by a wolf.

Wan Shi didn't know why, and thought it was their serious atmosphere that scared her, so she hurriedly picked her up and walked out, and said to Li Hong: "Since the order has been issued, you should prepare the money for taxation, it doesn't matter how hard we will work in the second half of the year. Some, you can always earn a way to survive.”

  Li Hong got up and silently watched his mother leave with Baolu in his arms.

   Baolu leaned on her grandmother's shoulder, her round eyes observed the expression on the second uncle's face, her heart kept sinking - the second uncle did not answer the grandmother's words.

   To say who in this family knows Li Hong best, it is Li Baolu, and perhaps her grandfather Li Bo.

  Li Hong has a sweet mouth and is very good at disguising. In front of his parents, he is a filial and obedient son, in front of his brothers and sisters, he is a submissive younger brother, and in front of his wife and children, he is a stable and reliable husband and father.

   But he did not disguise in front of Li Baolu, perhaps because he thought this niece was a fool, Li Hong never concealed his disgust when facing her alone.

  Li Baolu has a limited time when he is awake, but in this limited time he can always see his true form, so Li Baolu really doesn't have a good impression of this second uncle, let alone confidence.

   Li Baolu began to worry about her own life after knowing that children over one year old also had to pay taxes.

  Li Baolu raised her head and glanced at her grandmother, knowing that even if she noticed Li Hong's inconsistency, she would not have thought of this.

   "What's the matter, are you feeling unwell?" Mrs Wan noticed that Li Baolu had been a little uneasy since she returned to the room.

  Li Baolu: "Grandma, what if Second Uncle doesn't want me anymore?"

  Miss Wan smiled, touched her head and reassured her: "Silly girl, you belong to our family, how could your second uncle not want you?"

   "If Second Uncle doesn't want me, will Grandma want me?" Li Baolu insisted.

  Wan nodded and said, "Yes! How could grandma be willing not to leave Baolu?"

  Li Baolu exhaled softly and felt relieved.

   Grandmother's status in the family is not low. No matter how hypocritical Li Hong is, she will not disobey her grandmother. As long as her grandmother is willing to keep her, her life should be fine.

   At this time, Mei Shi and Li Hong were also talking about Li Baolu.

Mrs. Mei counted with her fingers: "Since Baolu is healed, then the medicine that her father-in-law prepared for her doesn't need to be kept any more, and selling it is also a sum of money. And those tonics are from father-in-law and uncle. It is said that some medicines are collected in the mountains, and it is said that some medicines cannot be bought at the pharmacy in the county, and this is also a profit..."

  Li Hongzhen looked at the tent above his head and said, "Go back and clean it up. I'll take it to the pharmacy when I find time, and I won't have to sell the tonic. If you leave it, maybe we can use it at home."

Mei Shi didn't expect her husband to agree as soon as she said it, and she was stunned for a while, but when she regained her senses, she hesitated, "It's not good to sell it all. She kept the medicine for two days? Otherwise, the mother will be angry when she finds out."

   "There's no need to stay," Li Hong said lightly: "People are dying, so drinking medicine is a waste."

  Mei was shocked by his indifferent words, and stared at him in disbelief.

Li Hong turned his head and gave her a gentle smile, "Big brother and sister-in-law only have such a bloodline, how can they not be concerned? Besides, she still has an insane disease, and now it looks good, who knows when it will happen again, we are not her parents. , she has no biological brothers, and if she falls ill, she will suffer in this world."

Mei's heart seemed to be immersed in ice water, and she said cowardly, "Although the family is difficult, it's still okay to feed her a bowl of rice. When she grows up, I'll find her a husband-in-law, maybe I'll be able to. Let me help out at home..."

Mei Shi was sweating profusely and wanted to enumerate Li Baolu's advantages, but she was an idiot, not to mention that she naturally looked down on this idiot, much less liked her. It was really difficult to find her advantages at this time, so she could only repeat: "After all, it is the only blood of the uncle and sister-in-law."

"If it's just a bite of rice, even if I don't eat it, I will give it to her, but from this year onwards, she has to pay a small tax of eight cents of silver every year. She is only three years old this year, and she will have to wait at least ten years to get married. Ten years is eight taels of silver, and this is still under the condition that the county magistrate does not increase taxes." Li Hong asked, "Do you think our family has so much money?"

   Mrs. Mei bit her lip and whispered after a while, "Didn't my mother give you the keys to the house, the money in the public can still support you for a few years..."

Li Hong did not avoid the Mei family when she opened the box to withdraw money, so she knew how much money Li Bo and Li Kang left to the family, but only the money that Li Kang handed over to the Li family every year, not to mention raising a Baolu, It is enough to raise two more.

   She couldn't understand why her husband would target Li Baolu like that, she was his own niece!

"Just paying these taxes is enough for us to last for a few years, but don't forget that we have to redemption. You can't let me go to labor, do you think I can come back alive?" Li Hong said coldly. Looking at his wife, he said: "What's more, how much profit can I get from fishing and farming? In the past, our family was able to live so well because people in the county often came to ask my father to see a doctor. Otherwise, we might not even be able to guarantee food and clothing. How are the other people living?"

   But Likang doesn't know how to do medicine, doesn't he also make a lot of money for his family?

   The words twirled on the tip of Mei's tongue twice and swallowed, how could the husband compare with the eldest brother?

  Li Kang can carry fishing nets to sea even in winter, but Li Hong has to rest for three days even when he goes to the ground in spring.

  Li Hong glanced at Mrs. Mei lightly, and said, "Tomorrow you will go to the sea with your mother. You don't need to worry about the family affairs, and this matter has nothing to do with you. You just need to keep your mother out for a longer time."

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like