Chapter 371: Lower City District Anthem Square

Tax evasion would be checked, and the tax checking in this era adopted a very simple method. At the end of every month, the city hall would spend a month organizing accountants to conduct a one-in-ten verification of all tax reporting content from the previous month, checking whether there were fluctuations in the tax amount in recent months and whether there were discrepancies in the item names, etc. If the fluctuation was large and there were problems with the items, there would be special city hall civil servants visiting to check the accounts, or calculating production costs and the like by checking gas meters.

Although it sounded complicated, in reality, only tax-paying units like detective agencies, where it was inconvenient to conduct exact business verification, needed special attention. There were indeed some loopholes for tax evasion, but Xia De didn't have such thoughts. After all, he was doing legitimate business.

It took half an hour to complete the tax reporting process at the tax department next to the Black Stone Security Company. This time, Xia De declared the tax for the last two months and paid a heavy tax of 7 pounds and 14 shillings.

This was a considerable expense. If Xia De could have such income every month, his annual tax payment would barely reach three digits, exceeding the income level of most people in this city.

Looking at it this way, the job of a detective was actually quite promising.

"Where did you buy these malt candies?"

The Black Stone Security Company was next to the North District Tax Bureau. Xia De had also come to find Yi Lu Na before, so it wasn't his first visit. However, the cat on the first floor of the security company was still very enthusiastic about Xia De, but to prevent the cat at home from being unhappy, Xia De didn't go to hug it this time.

Yi Lu Na met Xia De in the lounge on the first floor of the security company. At that time, Xia De had a magazine tucked under his left arm and a tin box containing yellow gel-like malt candy in his right hand. The candy was only at the bottom of the box, not really filled much. The box had no lid, the edges were a bit rusty, and two short wooden sticks thicker than chopsticks were inserted inside.

"Also, aren't you supposed to be solving the commission? Looking like this now, it's as if you spent the whole morning wandering around."

Saying this, Yi Lu Na looked at Xia De's current appearance suspiciously.

"If you pay taxes over a certain amount at one time, you get some gifts. These candies are given for paying taxes. The gifts include but are not limited to two copies of this morning's newspaper, a box of malt candy, three raw eggs, a wooden pen holder, a bookmark stamped by the city hall, and a brass whistle. Oh, the last one is gone, otherwise I would have taken the whistle. That should be good for teasing the cat."

Xia De replied.

These gifts were meant to encourage tax payment. If you paid taxes on the spot for over five pounds, you could choose one at will. The value of the gifts was not equal. For example, after eating the candy in Xia De's hand, the tin square box could also be used as a pen holder. So he just took a box of candy at random. Seeing that Yi Lu Na was interested, he handed it to her.

"Xia De, do you think I'm still a child?"

The seventeen-year-old girl said with a smile, took the candy, and put it on the table to the side, looking very happy.

"Then what about the magazine? Why would you be interested in a magazine about women's clothing? Is this also a reward for paying taxes?"

Saying this, she was about to take the magazine tucked under Xia De's arm. Xia De subconsciously wanted to hand it to her, but immediately thought of the content inside.

"No!"

He raised his voice slightly:

"This is... a book I borrowed from the Black Raven Library! Yes, it can't be shown to others."

Yi Lu Na nodded, just a bit strange why Xia De reacted so strongly.

Subsequently, Xia De briefly explained his itinerary for this morning and told Yi Lu Na about the two things that had already been resolved.

Regarding the dead young ghost, Yi Lu Na had no emotion; such things were not rare. And regarding the peeping matter later, Yi Lu Na also had a headache:

"We can't manage the affairs of ordinary people, but since the other party sought our commission, I think the captain will find a way to solve it. Really, money is really hard to earn."

"What means will your captain use?"

"It's hard to say, it mainly depends on whether the other party is obedient."

So Xia De stopped asking, because the remaining things had nothing to do with him.

Of the three commissions Yi Lu Na gave, only the last one remained, which was the merchant selling spices in the north of the city.

The other party had no fixed shop, but appeared in some square in the North District of Tobesk like the small vendors on Saint Deran Square.

The first two commissions were not big deals, so Xia De also considered the third thing as an ordinary event, just treating it as a way to relax today.

After saying goodbye to Yi Lu Na, he took a carriage to his destination unhurriedly. On the way, he also chatted with the carriage driver about the recent prices of goods. The midsummer was about to end, and the prices of cheap fruits like apples remained stable, and children in poor families could occasionally eat them.

Tobesk Anthem Square was one of the more prosperous squares in the northern part of the city. It was said that the origin of the name was to commemorate a certain bishop of the Peace Sect who composed an anthem here in the early days of the city's establishment, but for some reason, it was not named after the other party.

The north of Tobesk city was the Lower City District in the usual sense. Unlike Saint Deran Square, which was mainly residential, Anthem Square was the largest trading center in the north of the city. The square was accessible from all directions, and around it were the Three Cats Inn, Hunter Bookstore, "Cure-All" Herb Shop, Madam Shulan's Clothing Store, etc., and there was even a blacksmith shop with an "Upper Class" sign, helping people repair rice pots and sharpen kitchen knives and scissors. As for the square, vendors selling various groceries and fruits, vegetables, and meat, loan sharks from gangs, and various performers emerged one after another.

People from the villages and towns around Tobesk, such as the village where Mr. Corps, who provided corpse materials for Ringed Shushi, lived, would all be active around Anthem Square in the north of the city after entering the city.

High society was high society, and the poor and villagers from the countryside existed in the same space as them, but definitely not the same kind of life.

Although it was the Lower City District, Anthem Square was even more lively than the central city district. Here, one couldn't see any noble ladies or fashionable gentlemen, only people wearing patched clothes walking back and forth.

Women tied headscarves and wore aprons, carrying vegetable baskets and comparing the goods they wanted to pick; children who looked like they hadn't washed their faces for a long time ran around barefoot on the street, and when they bumped into strangers, they would dodge with some fear; rude strong men wearing black shoes held wine bottles and complained to their companions about the unhappiness of their lives; beggars by the wall seemed to have nothing to do with the noise around them and the clanging sound of the blacksmith shop, curled up on straw mats, and would only leave when the owner of the house scolded them loudly.

This was the outsider's first time coming here, and the various scenes were overwhelming, making him unable to take it all in. Although the streets and squares were dilapidated, it was full of vitality here. And compared with the people living in Saint Deran Square, the people living here seemed to be in a different world from the former.

"So Tobesk still has such a place."

The outsider widened his eyes, standing on the edge of the square, turning his head to look at everything around him. The smell of inferior tobacco, fermented food, and rotten forage in the air mixed together, and various sounds rushed into his ears, jointly constituting a complex background noise.

Previously, he had only seen this place on the map left by Detective Schluch Lake. On that map, which was marked with dense information, it was even marked how to find streetwalkers, loan sharks, and the entrances to underground casinos nearby.

"If I want to see more things in this world, I should actually come to this kind of place more often."

The shock brought by this scene at this moment was no less than the shock the outsider felt when he first went out and saw the street scene of a foreign land.

The Fate Ring within his soul turned slowly, and the brass-colored Enlightenment Elements were gathering. This meant that this scene made the outsider, who was still unfamiliar with this world, have more insights into civilization.

Compared with the people of this world, the outsider had a unique advantage in his thinking and understanding of civilization. However, this kind of advantage was not the application of literature and fairy tales like Duo Luo Qian and Princess Lei Qianya, but more similar to Old John, a general understanding of civilization. ===== CHAPTER 372 =====