Chapter 7

Perhaps it was because Wang Fulin's words were harsh, or perhaps he truly realized that it was unsafe to come alone to swim in the wild, but for several days afterward, Wang Fulin did not see the young man who knew him, but whom he did not know.

He did not take it too much to heart. On this day, after his usual morning exercise, he returned home and found two uninvited guests at his doorstep. In the courtyard, Wang Erniang and Wang Xiaomei were playfully feeding the chickens, while these two ragged men stood outside the gate, not daring to enter rashly. Only when they noticed Wang Fulin's arrival did their faces show a hint of surprise, and they hurriedly came forward.

Again, it was a case of you knowing me, but me not knowing you!

Seeing that these two men were strangers he had not seen in the village for several days, Wang Fulin felt a headache coming on. He had to pretend to be polite and nodded slightly in greeting, but he did not dare to greet them casually. However, the two men immediately bowed down and called him "Young Master." At this moment, Wang Erniang, who had probably heard the commotion, came out of the house with a basin of chicken feed.

"Great, you ignored us, and now you're directly纠缠起我哥了！Who said that the young master is about to lose his title and should be more generous in reducing the rent? Now you still have the nerve to pester him?"

Wang Erniang's eyebrows furrowed in anger. Seeing the two men kneeling and not getting up, she placed the feed basin heavily at her feet and stepped forward, hands on her hips, and shouted, "Isn't Mother always considerate enough? Which year has the rent not been collected at sixty percent of the full amount? Our family doesn't make you work all day, just occasionally use you. But what about you? When you followed my brother to Huizhou City, you abandoned your master and came back on your own. How can you be such a tenant servant!"

Thanks to the fierce Wang Erniang, Wang Fulin finally knew the identity of these people. They were the legendary tenant servants of the Wang family!

Wang Fulin observed these people. Seeing them being scolded by Wang Erniang, they lowered their heads and remained silent. He, adhering to the principle that one should not speak without understanding the situation, did not intervene. Moreover, Wang Erniang had already mentioned that these tenant servants even used the excuse that he was about to lose his title, which showed their character and the thickness of their skin.

Even these guys want to take advantage of the situation!

Indeed, Wang Erniang did not stop there. She pointed at one of the middle-aged men and scolded, "You have the nerve to come here? You only know how to gamble, and you've sold all your land. You even sold your children from your first wife to work as slaves, and now you come here with a mountain of debt, begging for help. It was only because Mother took you in, gave you a roof over your head, and even a wife, but what have you done?"

"You even took the grain that should have been rent and gambled it away! If it weren't for your good farming skills, who would want a gambler like you!"

Wang Erniang, who was old enough to be the daughter of the middle-aged tenant servant, scolded him fiercely. The man had no temper at all, just nodded his head and lay there, not daring to speak. The other man, knowing that the lady of the house was not to be trifled with, and seeing Wang Fulin still standing there, quickly turned to find another breakthrough.

"Young Master..."

"I don't understand the matters of the fields. Whatever Erniang says is what it is." Wang Fulin did not give them a chance to纠缠, and directly passed the ball back to Wang Erniang.

Sure enough, Wang Erniang, feeling trusted by her brother, smiled and became even more confident. As her brother slipped inside, she pointed at the two tenant servants and continued to scold them.

Wang Fulin, listening to her tone from inside, realized that she could explain the strengths and weaknesses of the two men in detail, leaving no room for them to interject. In the end, these two men, who had come early in the morning to block the door, could not even express their request and left dejectedly. When Wang Erniang, still angry, came inside, he asked, "What did they come for?"

"They just want to reduce the rent they owe! They live in our house and will be buried in our land. Mother has set the rent at the lowest in the village, only sixty percent of the full amount, but they still come to beg and plead! If you don't know, one is a gambler, and the other is so poor but still hooks up with women outside and has been beaten up several times! These past two years have been good, not a time of famine. In times of famine, who in our Songming village wouldn't reduce the rent? Among our three tenant servants, only one is reliable. Mother has been too kind to them!"

"They are all lazy and gluttonous. Why should Second Aunt get angry for them! Besides, if you scold them now, and they refuse to help when you need them later, wouldn't that make you even angrier?"

Before Wang Fulin could respond, a voice came from outside, and someone uninvited entered the gate. It was Jinbao's elder brother, Wang Qiu.

Wang Qiu showed no sign of being an uninvited guest, smiling and bowing, and called Wang Fulin "Uncle." Seeing that both Wang Fulin and Wang Erniang frowned in displeasure, as if ready to order him to leave at any moment, he hurriedly smiled and said, "Uncle, I wouldn't come if it weren't important. I know you are recovering and wouldn't disturb you for nothing. The summer tax collection is coming, and the government is appointing grain collectors. I heard that the county office is very noisy, and some people are suggesting a re-evaluation of household status to select the true upper-class households to be grain collectors."

Just as Wang Fulin had handed the matter of the tenant servants to Wang Erniang, who was familiar with the situation, he was equally unfamiliar with the matter of grain collectors and household status, so he remained silent. Seeing Wang Erniang frown and look puzzled, he realized that this kind of appointment of grain collectors was something Wang Erniang, who was still unmarried, clearly did not understand!

Indeed, managing tenant servants could be explained by her past experience with her mother, but the role of a grain collector was something even Wu Shi herself might not fully understand at home!

Wang Qiu had been secretly observing the reactions of the brother and sister. Seeing their expressions, he was secretly delighted and continued, "Now it's different from the early days of the country. In the early days, our She County had fifteen grain districts, each with eleven li, and the major grain collectors were passed down from father to son and brother to brother. We in Qianqiu Li only needed to follow the major grain collector. But now, no one from the major households wants to be a major grain collector, so each li has to appoint a minor grain collector and two assistants. I'm not exaggerating, but in our village, with nine out of ten surnames being Wang, there are only a few households with over a hundred acres of good land. Among them, Uncle's household with over a hundred acres is the first."

Hearing this, Wang Fulin felt as if a thousand divine beasts were trampling through his mind. Although he had not visited the wealthy families in the clan with their beautiful gardens and numerous houses, he knew they were hundreds of times richer than his own family, even the clan leader's family was much more prosperous! Moreover, he was a scholar, a xiucai, and in this era, those with titles were exempt from taxes and corvée. Why should he care who the grain collector was?

Wang Qiu seemed to see through Wang Fulin's thoughts and added, "Uncle might think that the large households like Nanming's family would be chosen, but Uncle has been studying and is not fully aware of the situation. Just like Uncle's family, where the elder in Hu-Guang deals with salt, Nanming and his peers, and even their elders, are salt merchants in the Huai River region. Their wealth is in the salt trade, not in land. Even if they have land, it's in the Huai River region or even in Jiangnan, not much in Huizhou Prefecture, so they won't be chosen. And although Uncle has now entered the school and become a scholar, isn't there a lot of gossip outside?"

Wang Erniang was immediately furious, "Wang Qiu, what do you mean by that?"

By revealing that Wang Fulin's title was in danger, Wang Qiu was just trying to strengthen his argument. He quickly apologized and said in a low voice, "I didn't mean that. I mean, even if Uncle is a scholar and can be exempt from taxes and corvée, according to the old rules, only miscellaneous corvée is exempt, not the main corvée of the li-jia system."

Although still somewhat confused, Wang Fulin, who had mastered the art of pretending to understand, would not show his ignorance. He asked calmly, "So, do you have a good idea?"

Wang Qiu had been waiting for this question! He tried to suppress his joy and said mysteriously, "To be honest, Uncle, I stayed in Huizhou City a few days ago and got to know the clerk Liu in the household department, who promised to give me a position as a scribe. I learned a lot from him. In the past, once someone obtained a title, they were exempt from taxes and corvée, and the clan would often transfer land to their name, called 'tou xian,' to avoid taxes. Therefore, scholars, juren, and jinshi often had more and more land, but there are exceptions."

He paused for a moment, then said meaningfully, "To avoid being classified as an upper-class household and to pay less tax, and to avoid being appointed as a grain collector, which could lead to bankruptcy, they would transfer their land to relatives or tenant servants, turning a major household into a medium or even a small household. This is called 'fei sa.'"

The plot thickened!

Wang Fulin understood only a small part of the intricacies of appointing grain collectors, but he saw through Wang Qiu's intentions. Indeed, Wang Qiu's smooth talk was all about persuading him to transfer the over a hundred acres of land under his name to tenant servants and relatives. The tenant servants, having sold themselves, had no household registration, so there was no need to worry about them taking the property. As for relatives, Wang Qiu volunteered himself, and he even shamelessly said, "Uncle is now a scholar, and you can exempt two additional laborers from miscellaneous corvée. If you help me, I will definitely handle this matter well and not let Uncle worry at all!"

What a scoundrel, does he think I'm a three-year-old!

Wang Fulin narrowed his eyes, yawned, and said lazily, "Since the appointment of grain collectors hasn't happened yet, there's no rush. We'll decide when Father and Mother return. I need to study, so I won't keep you. Erniang, prepare to close the door."

Wang Erniang, who had also been confused by Wang Qiu's words, immediately responded and said to Wang Qiu, "My brother said we'll discuss it later. Go back now!"

Wang Qiu's face stiffened, and he tried to continue persuading, but seeing Wang Fulin stretching and walking inside, he had no choice but to return reluctantly. As he stepped out, the door closed tightly behind him. He looked back at the half-old, half-new mansion and clenched his fists.

Wang Fulin, what makes you better than me? You're being disrespectful, and the scandal of buying your nephew as a slave is already spreading. Just wait and see!

Inside, Wang Fulin instructed Wang Qi to be careful with the door and immediately called Wang Erniang and Wang Xiaomei to his side, whispering, "If I go out, close the door. Don't let Wang Qiu or those tenant servants in, not a single one."

Wang Erniang didn't care about Wang Qiu, but she was concerned about the tenant servants and argued, "Brother, when Mother was here, I often saw those tenant servants..."

"No negotiation! Especially that gambler, I'm afraid he might do something desperate. As for Wang Qiu, ignore him for now!"

Wang Fulin cut off his sister without hesitation. Seeing her initial indifference and then her reluctant agreement under his gaze, he counted on his fingers and realized something.

It had been over a month since he woke up. His body had almost fully recovered, and the scandal about his title had been brewing for a long time. Even someone like Wang Qiu dared to come up with ideas, so it was probably about to reach its climax. The sooner it was over, the better. Once that trouble was resolved, he could live a peaceful life.

PS: Third update!