Chapter 778: Chapter 778: Paying the Autumn Tax
“He could keep grandfather alive, but I don’t know what condition he would be in,” Qiao Xiaomai said.
Upon hearing this, Qiao Xiaomai couldn’t help but sigh. “My father mentioned earlier that he wants to bring my grandfather closer to us, to have two people specially take care of him.”
Qiao Changshun is a foolishly filial man. If he could be accommodating and weak to the Sun Family, he would surely be so to Qiao Qinghe.
Right now, the Sun family has been imprisoned, and Qiao Meipan, being a maiden, is unable to attend to him closely. Sun Junyan would surely hire people.
But, whether those hired would take good care of him is uncertain.
That’s why Qiao Changshun wants Qiao Qinghe nearby for closer care.
Upon hearing this, Tong Sanlang licked his lips and said, “Let’s talk about it after we pay the autumn tax.”
Zhuang Luhe is still in a state of confusion, and Qiao Zhaodi and Qiao Yindi are taking care of her in turns.
Hua Xiaofeng had her own family issues to deal with and had returned home already.
In this situation, bringing in Qiao Qinghe could be too much.
Let’s delay it for a few more days.
After the autumn harvest is over, the winter wheat is basically planted, and it’s time to pay the autumn tax.
The 500 acres of land that Qiao Xiaomai owns can lead to a substantial tax payment.
His Tong Family was tax-exempt because he was a scholar.
“Alright.” After considering the situation, Qiao Xiaomai nodded in agreement.
Due to the abundance of their farmland, the winter wheat was not yet fully planted. These days, Qiao Changshun had to go to the fields every day. Once this busy period was over, they would discuss the matter of Qiao Qinghe.
The autumn tax is mainly paid in millet.
Out of the 500 acres of land owned by Qiao Xiaomai, aside from the 150 acres in the manor, the rest is primarily used for cultivating millet.
The 40 acres of land irrigated by the Spiritual Spring’s waters were retained for personal consumption, while the rest of the land was utilized to grow crops for taxation. The remaining produce was all sold off.
Her family’s warehouse was still storing nearly 100,000 jin of sweet potatoes, and there was no place left for millet.
Paying the autumn tax was the same as paying the spring tax; bailiffs drove carts of oxen or horses to collect taxes from each village.
Now, there was a donkey cart, two ox carts, and a horse cart at home. The ox cart that Qiao Qinghe had taken previously had been returned.
On this day, Qiao Xiaomai and Tong Sanlang got up early and loaded the millet onto the four carts.
Once they had loaded the millet, Qiao Xiaomai, Tong Sanlang, Qiao Changshun, and Qiao Zhaodi each drove a cart to the threshing grounds of Anping Village.
Because their location was far away, when they arrived at the threshing grounds, the place was already crowded, and the queue for tax payment extended far out.
However, Qiao Xiaomai was not a commoner, she was the wife of a scholar, so she could exercise some privilege: cutting in line.
After they cut the line to pay their own taxes, just as they were about to leave, Tong Xingda popped out. In the past, Tong Sanlang used to help Tong Tiehu collect taxes, but now that Tong Sanlang’s status was different, this task fell to him.
No, to be accurate, he volunteered for it.
He had been squatting here since early in the morning, waiting for Tong Sanlang.
“You go ahead, we’ll head back first,” Qiao Xiaomai said.
He successfully completed his court debate and was safe, so this matter should indeed be mentioned to the members of the Tong family.
After a slight hesitation, Tong Sanlang nodded, “Then you go back first.”
He hadn’t held a banquet to celebrate becoming a scholar yet, and now that Sun’s family was sentenced and could no longer jump around, this was considered good news and should be celebrated.
With this in mind, before Tong Xingda could open his mouth, he first mentioned about winning the court debate and hosting the banquet. Upon hearing this, Tong Xingda grunted heavily and said, “Understood.”
Then he immediately said, “I say, young man, do you really consider yourself a lowly worker of the Qiao family? And the kind that doesn’t even take wages.” Chapters first released on novel✦fire.net
[End of Chapter Eight]