Chapter 134

134. Chapter 134: Regretful Villagers

In previous years, in order to make up for this head tax, people had to sell half of the grain left after paying the land tax. In the end, the grain that the villagers could eat was very little.

Jiang Xiaoxiao looked at the rice ears in the Li Zheng's courtyard. Because of the drought and lack of water, few rice grains were full, and the rice grains were small. When they were milled, there would be a lot of breakage.

After paying the land tax and head tax, would there even be half of this grain left in the hands of the villagers?

Jiang Xiaoxiao didn't quite understand. The current world was still peaceful, and it wasn't like the chaotic years of the past, with frequent wars. The imperial treasury should be full, so why did they still have to pay so many taxes?

She clearly remembered that the original book mentioned that the current emperor was a diligent and loving good emperor, and also advocated light corvée and low taxes. He shouldn't have issued such an absurd policy of raising the starting tax age for children to six years old.

Jiang Xiaoxiao couldn't figure it out. She knew that she sometimes relied too much on the content of the original book, and reality often differed from the content in the book.

To be precise, this was a real world. Everyone here was a living person, not an NPC mentioned in the book or a supporting character without feelings to serve the plot.

Jiang Xiaoxiao walked home with heavy steps.

Just as she reached the door, she felt a bit of coolness fall on the tip of her nose.

She instinctively looked up at the sky. The originally clear sky was covered with dark clouds at some point.

A heavy rain was about to come.

At the same time, hail came along with it.

The villagers who were working in the fields saw this scene, and their expressions changed instantly.

In the blink of an eye, the heavy rain had already fallen, mixed with ping-pong ball-sized hailstones. The rice that hadn't been harvested in the fields was beaten flat into the fields.

"Oh Heavens! Why is it hailing again! Are you trying to take my old life!"

"Stop howling, hurry up and harvest the rice!!"

For a time, the villagers were in a panic, regretting their initial choices. If they had known, they would have listened to the Li Zheng and harvested the rice early.

The dirt road was soaked into a muddy mess by the rain. The villagers ran past in a hurry, trampling the road even more muddy and slippery. Some elderly people with inconvenient legs and feet walked on it, and they would slip if they weren't careful.

But at this time, no one had time to worry about the elderly who had fallen. Every household was busy harvesting rice.

These were the lives of the villagers, their rations for the year!

The cold rainwater hit their faces, carrying the coolness of autumn, but it was not as cold as the cold in the hearts of the villagers.

Jiang Xiaoxiao sat on the steps, looking at the rain curtain outside.

After her reminder, her mother had focused on repairing the roof of the house. This time, the roof wasn't smashed by the hail again, but the sheep pen and rabbit nest in the courtyard were still damaged.

The power of this hailstorm was no less than the last one, but the duration was shorter than the last time. It only rained for more than ten minutes before it stopped.

The hail stopped, but the rain hadn't stopped yet. It kept falling, and her ears were filled with the sound of rain, which made people feel irritable.

Jiang Xiaoxiao frowned and looked at the muddy road outside the courtyard. Her mother had gone to town to deliver goods and hadn't returned yet... She hoped her mother hadn't encountered this hailstorm on the way back; otherwise, there would be nowhere to hide.

"Awoo~"

The tiger cub lay beside her, scratching her hem with its claws, making a low awoo sound, as if it were comforting her.

"A Huang, be good." Jiang Xiaoxiao reached out and touched its head, "You stay here and keep me company while I wait for Mother to come back."

"Awoo~" The half-grown tiger cub tilted its head and rubbed against Jiang Xiaoxiao's hand. It sat obediently with its claws on Jiang Xiaoxiao's right shoe, sitting still like an old monk in meditation.

Zhao Dasao watched from the side and also comforted her: "Xiaoxiao, don't worry, your mother is probably taking shelter from the rain in town and won't be back for a while."

The hail and heavy rain came too suddenly. She had originally been looking after the kiln, but now she had to return to the room to take shelter from the rain.

She looked up at the continuous heavy rain, her face filled with worry.

She wasn't at home, and she didn't know if Chunmiao and Chunya could handle it?

Although the hailstorm didn't last long this time, their broken thatched cottage would probably have a few more holes...

Jiang Xiaoxiao saw the worry on Zhao Dasao's face, went into the room and took out an oil-paper umbrella, and handed it to her: "Auntie, I don't know when this rain will stop, why don't you go back first."

"This..." Zhao Dasao looked at the kiln outside the courtyard with hesitation.

This time, Jiang Xiaoxiao had predicted the arrival of the hail through the original plot and specifically reminded her mother, so the lime burned in this kiln wasn't much, and it was just burned before the hail arrived.

Zhao Dasao saw the kiln covered with oilcloth, and the rainwater didn't flow in. Knowing that there was nothing to do if she continued to stay here, she simply went home.

After Zhao Dasao left, Jiang Xiaoxiao continued to sit under the eaves alone, waiting for her mother to return, accompanied by the little tiger cub.

The rain was still falling.

It wasn't until the afternoon that the rain gradually weakened, and the sound of cart wheels came from the dirt road in the village.

Jiang Xiaoxiao's eyes lit up. She stood up immediately and stood on tiptoe to look. Sure enough, she saw a tall, brown-red horse, dragging a carriage behind it.

Her mother was wearing a coir raincoat, rushing home.

Jiang Xiaoxiao couldn't wait to open the courtyard gate, and the little tiger cub wagged its tail, following her closely.

Jiang Wei jumped off the carriage, led the horse under the eaves of the courtyard to take shelter from the rain, and then entered the room, taking off her soaked coir raincoat.

This coir raincoat could prevent rain, but the effect wasn't very good. Her outer garment was quite wet. There were raincoats in the space, but she was afraid of attracting attention and didn't dare to take them out.

"This is the coir raincoat given by Master Zheng the mason." Seeing Jiang Xiaoxiao staring at the coir raincoat on her, Jiang Wei explained, "I went to find Master Zheng the mason. Just as I was about to leave, it started to hail. I stayed in his shop for half a day and didn't leave until the rain got smaller."

"Did it hail in town too?" After listening to Jiang Wei's words, Jiang Xiaoxiao couldn't help but say.

Jiang Wei nodded: "When I left, the roads on both sides were piled with hail, and the street was almost impassable."

After saying this, she looked at the sheep pen and rabbit nest in her courtyard that had been smashed by the hail again and couldn't help but sigh: "When building the house, I'll also ask Master Zheng to arrange for people to rebuild a few sturdy sheds for our house, and arrange for a stable..."

This time, Jiang Wei brought back good news when she returned from delivering goods: the materials for building the house had been prepared, and they could start building the house as soon as the rain stopped.

Thus, Jiang Xiaoxiao, like the people in the village, longed for the rain to stop quickly.

But things went against her wishes; this rain fell for more than ten days.

The families in the village who had finished harvesting the rice early had already moved all the rice drying in the courtyard into the house before the rain arrived.

And those families who didn't listen to the Li Zheng not only risked the heavy rain for a few days to harvest the rice in the fields, but also had to pile the harvested rice in the house to dry. The wet rice piled up in the house, and there was almost no place for people to stand.