Let’s Squander A Billion First!

Chapter 750: Chapter 750: The Wicked Woman Farms (6)

With Jiang Liangye falling so gravely ill, Yang Cuicui spent her days taking care of him, having no time to trouble Chuzheng.

Jiang Yuyu spitefully directed all sorts of cold jeers and scathing sarcasm at Jiang Liangye, and on several occasions was caught by Yang Cuicui, who cursed her until she was soaked in dog’s blood.

Each day, Chuzheng would sit at the doorway, watching the household descend into chaos.

It wasn’t until Jiang Liangye began to recover that Yang Cuicui remembered Chuzheng.

”What has that damned girl been up to lately?” Yang Cuicui recalled that she had not locked her up and worried that she might have run away, but she had seen her at the door every day recently.

”What can she be up to, just sitting at the doorway all day,” said Jiang Yuyu with a snort.

As leisurely as some young lady of rank.

”Your brother is in such a state, and yet you still find time to put on airs for everyone to see?! What is wrong with you?!” Yang Cuicui, somehow ignited again, poked Jiang Yuyu’s forehead while scolding.

An accumulation of grievances exploded out of Jiang Yuyu: ”It’s not like I made him this way. Go find Jiang Chuzheng about it!”

”You’re talking back to me now!”

At this time, Yang Cuicui did not dare to make trouble for Chuzheng.

Because the village was abuzz with rumors, all saying Jiang Liangye was worse than a beast, not even sparing his own sister.

And there were the statements of Old Man San ...

She did not care, but she could not let her son bear a bad name anymore.

So all the pent-up resentment had to be directed at Jiang Yuyu.

-

Half a month passed in a flash.

The village was rife with gossip, although most of it concerned Jiang Liangye.

But some people were speaking about her as well.

For instance, some suggested—perhaps it was she who seduced Jiang Liangye first.

And others speculated—I reckon she’s no good either; who knows what she gets up to when no one’s watching.

Chuzheng squatted on the main road, listening to the gossiping women washing clothes below.

Her expression was indifferent, as if the rumors weren’t about her at all.

”The Official Master is coming, the Official Master is coming!!”

Children shouted from afar, and Chuzheng immediately stood up, assuming the posture of a boss.

The women below looked up to see the girl towering above them and were startled.

When had she appeared behind them?

Had she heard what they had said?

On second thought, they realized it didn’t matter if she had; what could they possibly fear from a little girl?

But still ...

This girl seemed a lot prettier than before.

She still wore coarse hemp garments, but her skin had become fairer, and her aura had shifted. At first glance, she was almost intimidating.

”The Official Master is coming!!”

”Goudan, what are you blathering about!” A woman scolded the child who was running towards them.

The child drew near, out of breath: ”The Official Master is coming, he’ll be here soon!!”

The women exchanged glances, possibly reminded of something, they hurriedly packed their belongings and ran back towards home.

Goudan ran up to Chuzheng and, meeting her gaze, shrank back and stammered, still warning her, ”Chuzheng, you better go back. The Official Master will be here soon...”

After speaking, he didn’t wait for Chuzheng’s reaction and scurried back to the village.

At this hour, the Government Office’s visit could only mean it was time to collect the harvest.

The Government Office collected the harvest annually, and if the yield was poor, the villagers essentially worked the year for nothing, leaving them with little to no surplus.

The land of Chuzheng’s original family had been tended by Jiang Dasheng’s family ever since her parents passed away—of course, the original owner surely helped too.

Chuzheng sorted through the original owner’s memories, concluding that this year’s harvest didn’t seem too promising...

While Chuzheng was contemplating, the procession of government soldiers became visible.

Chuzheng stood on the road, facing them head-on.

”Hey, miss, why are you standing here? Go back to your home at once!” a soldier yelled at Chuzheng.

”Are you here to collect the harvest?”

”No kidding,” the soldier said. ”You better hurry back and get the grain ready.”

The levy was based on labor force, meaning aside from young children and elderly who were unable to work, households were required to hand over an amount of grain corresponding to the number of able-bodied individuals they had.

Chuzheng pulled out some Silver. ”I don’t have grain, will Silver do?”

”...”

The soldiers at the front exchanged glances.

”Alright, how much do you have?”

Chuzheng tossed the bag filled with silver to them.

A few soldiers saw that there was still quite a bit of silver inside. After turning it in, they could make a decent profit; they now looked at Chuzheng more favorably.

”Okay, whose family are you from? We won’t collect from there later.” These soldiers were not as brutal as Chuzheng had thought.

Chuzheng replied, ”This is just for me.”

-

Chuzheng followed behind the soldiers, returning to the village.

It almost looked as though she was the one leading the patrol.

The villagers, upon seeing these men, were all cautious and careful, showing none of the high-handedness they might exhibit within their own village.

When it came to turning over grain, they gave as little as they could. If it went undetected, all was well, but discovery inevitably led to a struggle.

But in the end, they still had to give up the grain.

Chuzheng also noticed that the villagers were remarkably disunited.

If a family hiding grain wasn’t found out, the discovered families would drag the undiscovered ones into the mess with them.

The scene was quite lively.

”We really don’t have any spare grain left, this is the last of it. If you take it all, we will starve to death.”

”Please, Official Master, be merciful, my grandfather is unwell.”

”Really, I’m telling the truth...”

Chuzheng stood outside the dilapidated courtyard, with two soldiers standing by, ignoring her since she had already paid.

Inside the courtyard, the child who had brought the news earlier was now holding a bag of grain, refusing to let the soldiers take it.

The Official Master arguing with the child said, ”Kid, there’s nothing we can do. If we don’t collect enough grain, we have to make up the difference ourselves. We’ve got many brothers to feed and families to provide for.”

”Official Master...”

The child appeared utterly desperate.

These soldiers were relatively reasonable; although they were somewhat violent, they hadn’t harmed anyone.

The child was pushed aside, and just as the Official Master was about to leave with the grain, someone came in and whispered a few words in his ear.

The Official Master glanced outside, then back at the despairing child on the ground.

He threw the grain back, ”Alright, you’re lucky this year. Be sure to have your grain ready next year.”

The Official Master moved on to the next house with his men.

The child clutched the grain, ceaselessly thanking him.

The Official Master walked some distance away, lagging behind, and spoke in line with Chuzheng, ”Miss, why don’t you cover the whole village’s payment? Then we wouldn’t need to bother with collecting it.”

Gathering the grain was quite troublesome.

With these villagers making a scene, it took a long time to collect from just one family.

If Chuzheng, a major household, just gave silver directly, they could finish their job earlier and rest sooner.

Chuzheng glanced at him, her tone cool and indifferent, ”I’m not acquainted with them.”

”Then why help that child?”

”I have more money than I can spend.”

”... then why not help the other villagers pay?”

”I’m not acquainted with them.”

Chuzheng alternated between these two responses as her reply.

After a few words from the Official Master and seeing that Chuzheng truly wasn’t interested, he returned to his troops.

”That young lady is somewhat peculiar, which family does she belong to?”

”Don’t you remember? Last year, two people were executed, and she’s the daughter from that family.”

”Jiang Dahai’s family?”

”Yeah, who would have thought, she’s grown up to be quite attractive.”

”Indeed... How does she have so much money?”

”Who knows, it’s not our business.” As long as they could collect the grain and have meat to eat, no one cared where the grain and silver came from.

*

The content above is purely fictitious and speculative. Please do not associate it with any actual historical events.