Wake up and become a son-in-law

Lan Yuheng followed Wu Meiniang's gaze and found a group of people planting rice in the paddy fields. "You don't know this? Of course they are planting rice." Wu Meiniang's beautiful eyes were thoughtful. "So this is planting rice... Let's go." I, please come down.”

Lan Yuheng couldn't help but hurriedly put Wu Meiniang down. The two of them walked along the path towards the rice farmers. Two men and women in their 50s and [-]s were planting rice in the water. The dirt on their clothes was particularly eye-catching. Wu Meiniang just stared at it. Looking a little lost

The two farmers seemed to have noticed something, and their eyes followed the two of them. Both of them showed a hint of surprise. After all, it is rare to see such women in small villages. They are so talented and beautiful, and looking at the two of them, they were dressed luxuriously. At first glance, she looks like a lady from an official family.

"Oh, my uncles and aunts are sorry to bother you. We are passing by without any harm, just to take a look." Lan Yuheng said with a smile. The middle-aged man smiled brightly. "Are the two gentlemen and ladies from the city?"

Lan Yuheng smiled and said, "That's right... I just happened to pass by and take a look." It turns out that ancient times and modern times are quite distinct, and cities and villages are both polarized. The middle-aged man chuckled, "What's there to see, sir?" At first glance, the young lady is a wealthy person in the city, and she is out of reach of ordinary people like us."

"Hey!" The aunt next to the middle-aged man pushed her husband, "Uh-huh... My old man can't speak. Don't blame me." Wu Meiniang smiled. "How can you blame me... Originally, your husband said is also a fact”

"Miss, you are easy to talk to. The young man next to you should be your husband-in-law, right?" Wu Meiniang smiled slightly and did not refute. Seeing Wu Meiniang's acquiescence, the aunt also smiled and said, "Miss, you are so lucky to have found such a handsome husband-in-law. Look, It seems like your husband-in-law loves you very much. It would be great if my girl could find someone like this."

The middle-aged people on the side were speechless...

Lan Yuheng hesitated to speak, Wu Meiniang's beautiful eyes revealed a trace of inexplicable "Oh? Why did this aunt say this?" The aunt waved her hand, "Hey, do you need to say this? I looked far away and saw your husband-in-law carrying him on his back. When you go down the mountain, the lady wipes the sweat for her husband who is distressed. She must be very virtuous. It is not like my old man who would be so caring when he was young. If there was someone who loved me so much at that time, how could I do it? marry him"

The middle-aged man on the side smiled instead of being angry and shook his head in embarrassment at Lan Yuheng. This scene made Wu Meiniang particularly envious. The aunt thought Wu Meiniang was embarrassed and continued, "Young lady, you don't have to be so shy. You have such a husband-in-law." That's a blessing, and it's just eye-catching if you take it out!" Lan Yuheng on the side couldn't laugh or cry, and even Wu Meiniang was amused. "It seems that the aunt is also an optimistic person, Yuheng..." Wu Meiniang raised her delicate jaw

Lan Yuheng understood, took it out from his sleeve, and then handed the silver to the aunt, "Come on, aunt, take it, this is... um... aunt..."

"Mother," Wu Meiniang added lightly.

"Ahem... Madam... this is for you." Lan Yuheng was so weird that the two of them were immediately flattered. They waved their hands hurriedly, "No, no, no, this money didn't come from the strong wind. There is no favor or reward."

Lan Yuheng smiled and said, "It's only ten taels of silver. For me... this little coin, take it." Wu Meiniang just smiled and said nothing. The two of them looked at me and I looked at you, and they were trembling in the end. He stretched out his hand and seemed to feel something was wrong. He hurriedly wiped his hand on his clothes, then washed his hand in the dirty water, and then took it with both hands. "Thank you very much, Mr. Young Master."

"Miss, you are so warm-hearted! Young master, you are so lucky!" the aunt said with a smile, Lan Yuheng almost picked her feet in embarrassment, warm-hearted? Whenever you knew who she was, you wouldn't be able to describe her as warm-hearted...

"Aunt, I... I want to ask you something." Wu Meiniang asked with a smile, and the aunt waved enthusiastically, "Miss, just ask directly if you want to say anything. I will tell you what I know."

Wu Meiniang smiled and said, "Auntie, how have the rice harvests been in recent years?" The aunt was surprised, "Miss, are you in the grain business?"

Wu Meiniang smiled and said, "That's right..." The aunt was particularly happy when she saw that she had guessed correctly. "The rice harvest is not as good as every year, especially in the past two years, there was basically no harvest. There were years of famine and drought, that is, This year is a little better!”

Wu Meiniang was silent, and the uncle also echoed, "Yeah! Oh, it's really annoying to talk about these. There are wars all day long. If it weren't for wars, there wouldn't be so many things to do. Warrings also involve collecting grain and taxation. It's hard. It will always be us common people!" The uncle gritted his teeth when talking about this matter

Wu Meiniang looked unnatural, and Lan Yuheng also had a cold sweat. If Wu Meiniang suddenly got angry and killed someone...

"Um...hehe, there is nothing we can do about this war. Isn't the imperial court exempt from tax for three years? Why do we still have to pay taxes?" Lan Yuheng said, changing the subject.

The uncle sneered, "Tax-free? I'm afraid it's Chang'an's tax that's exempted, right? Isn't that what we should have paid all these years? Those who dare not to pay are just pretending and posting a notice."

The aunt slapped the uncle to signal him not to talk nonsense, but the uncle was impatient and said, "Don't push me, I'm not wrong! Isn't this a fact that everyone knows?"

Wu Meiniang frowned and said, "Then why don't you report to the official? Go to Dali Temple? Or the Ministry of Household Affairs?" The uncle couldn't help but sneered and said, "If the memorial was useful, it would have been done long ago. I remember that at that time, there was a talented man who represented the mother's family in the next village. I came forward and specially wrote a joint list, guess what happened in the end?"

Lan Yuheng touched her nose. Seeing that Wu Meiniang's face was expressionless and it was difficult to talk to her, Wu Meiniang took a deep breath and said, "Dead?"

"Hey! It started and ended with death." The uncle shook his head and smiled. "It's a long story, so I won't go into details. Anyway, it was just beaten to death with sticks, beaten to death, and left to be exposed under the tower for three days." As a punishment, and tell us people, this is the consequence of the memorial."

"Bastard!" Wu Meiniang suddenly yelled angrily, frightening the two people on the ground to sit directly in the muddy water. Both of them looked at Wu Meiniang uncertainly. The woman who was quite kind just now, why suddenly? Just like a shrew...and the look in her eyes scared them.

"Ahem... don't scare them," Lan Yuheng warned, while Wu Meiniang's eyes were full of murderous intent. "You can tell me the whole story. Don't blame me for losing your temper just now... "She noticed her gaffe and forced herself to suppress her emotions.

The uncle glanced at the two of them. At this moment, he suddenly hesitated to say anything. Lan Yuheng smiled and said, "Uncle, don't be nervous. I... this bitch has always hated evil, so she will naturally be angry when she hears this kind of thing... She also I'm not used to this kind of thing..."

Wu Meiniang took a deep breath, she was so angry at being called a bitch by Lan Yuheng! But there was no rebuttal...

"Uncle, I still have some silver here, so I'll take it as reward." Lan Yuheng took out some more silver from his sleeves. How dare the middle-aged man take it anymore? "No, no, I'll just tell you the matter, but you Don’t go looking for trouble, you are from a wealthy family and you cannot be provoked by people from the officialdom.”

Lan Yuheng smiled and said, "Uncle, don't worry, we will just listen to it as a story." The middle-aged man saw that Lan Yuheng didn't look like he was joking, so he continued, "This matter is not a secret, but everyone calls it public. The secret... Although this incident caused a big fuss, it soon subsided. Speaking of it, the talented man named Guan was originally planning to participate in this scientific examination, and he was quite down-to-earth. Yes, but when talking about scientific examinations, we have to talk about the imperial court. This matter was indeed done beautifully."

Wu Meiniang glanced at Lan Yuheng, and said that this was Lan Yuheng's contribution. The middle-aged man continued, "There is a saying that the court is very practical in this matter, allowing more talents to enter the official career, and I heard that it is very However, just a few months before the imperial examination, Ruyang County suddenly required every household to pay taxes... This tax payment was originally announced by the emperor, and it was tax-free for three years... For this reason, there are many People have even gone to make trouble, and were beaten up in the end. If you dare to do this again, you are going against the court..."

Wu Meiniang narrowed her eyes. It seems that the magistrate of Ruyang County is so tired that he even turned a blind eye to such notices from the court. Moreover, not a cent of this money has entered the court. This may be the reason why the Tang Dynasty is in such difficulty.

"After this time, the common people didn't dare to make trouble anymore, but it was different about him. He was a scholar and his family was poor. He often relied on his natal family for financial support. He also went to the county government to complain in anger. As a result, As you can imagine, after being beaten up, he thought that he would be honest after this fight, but scholars are always proud. He was so angry that he ran to the Luoyang prefect to report it. In the end, he didn't know who leaked the news, and he was taken away from the police. When he was captured in Luoyang, the county magistrate beat him to death with a stick in a rage... His body was exposed for three days, but it was a pity that his wife..."

The middle-aged man's face was full of indescribable regret. Even Lan Yuheng felt that this county magistrate was too inhumane. "Tell me, what a good person this is. Maybe he will become one of the pillars of the Tang Dynasty in the future." Only then, the result was such a tragic death. Since then, the matter has never been mentioned again. It was more of a gossip after tea. So, Miss, who can tell me about this situation?"

Wu Meiniang had a sullen face and did not answer. The middle-aged man sighed, "It's normal for officials to protect each other. The emperor is far away because the mountains are high and no one can do anything to them. In Ruyang, they are the emperors of the earth..."

Lan Yuheng nodded in agreement. Wu Meiniang's question was like asking "Why not eat ground meat..."

The middle-aged man smiled and said, "Of course we can't blame the court for all these things. After all, how can we take care of the life and death of ordinary people like us when we fight every day?" Wu Meiniang's expression softened a little at first, but the following sentence made her face livid with anger. Identity finally endured

Lan Yuheng scratched his nose in embarrassment, "This... the imperial court has a lot of things to do, and it is normal to make some omissions occasionally. Isn't the war also for the common people to have a better life? If the barbarians from the outside are not driven away, the common people in the border areas will have a hard time. ..”