Zheng Ying took the risk to reveal this information to him, so Gu Jinan burned the letter after reading it.

After listening to Gu Jinan's words, Gu Jinli asked, "Brother, do you still want to take the merit test?"

Gu Jinan smiled: "Of course you have to take the exam. Whether it is effective or not is one thing, but fame is a good thing and it will be of great use to our family."

With fame, he can better protect his family.

Gu Jinli also laughed: "Brother is a sensible person, I feel relieved."

However, several of their families did not do corvee labor. If they had money at home, they could just use it.

The next day, several of their families found Village Chief He and gave him money to replace the corvee.

Mrs. Chen was still very distressed and cursed: "Ten taels of silver are twice as expensive as in previous years. You are so damn inhuman. Are you trying to push us to death?"

"Shut up!" Gu Dagui scolded: "Does the family lack these ten taels of silver now?"

Saying this, you don’t want to live anymore, right?

Mrs. Chen frowned and said, "It's in short supply. We still have to build a house at home. Why aren't we in short supply?"

Gu Dagui choked, there was really nothing he could do against this fierce woman.

Lao Yan was also very distressed. Fortunately, thanks to Xiaoyu, life at home has become easier. The family can survive without these ten taels of silver. She knew that hard labor was hard. When she was in her hometown, almost every household had someone die because of hard labor.

But other families are not so lucky.

The village had been gloomy and gloomy for several days. In addition to those who worked in Gu Jinli's workshop, the village chief's family, He Dasu's family, He Wanli's family, He Laotian's family, He Wazi's family, and several other families were living relatively well-off lives. Except for the people who used money to pay for the corvee, other families chose to do the corvee.

The third grandmother thought that people from the village would come to borrow money from her family, and she was wondering whether to borrow money, but no one came.

Third Grandpa said: "Ten taels of silver per person is extremely expensive. Even if you can borrow it, it will be difficult to repay it. Instead of carrying such a big debt, it is better to do corvee service."

He Daqian and He Laosi, two poor families, wanted to come to borrow money, but Village Chief He blocked them and they couldn't even enter the end of the village.

The day before departure, many people in the village prepared meat dishes for the men who were going to do corvee labor.

The government was afraid of civilians escaping from service, so they sent government officials to each village one day in advance to guard them. If anyone was found escaping from service, they would be arrested immediately.

Dafeng Village is better. No government servants entered the village, just because Qin Sanlang came back. He is the county soldier's small flag leader who escorts the civilian husband. He returns to the village to say goodbye to his family and will escort the civilian husband from Dafeng Village to the county tomorrow.

Gu Jinli knew that he was back, so he specially made a large bag of dried meat and fried fish for him.

Qin Sanlang accepted it and gave her another two taels of silver.

Gu Jinli looked at the two taels of silver, frowned and said, "Are you going to pay? But it's not enough."

Although the cost of buying meat is only two taels, she made it by herself, so the labor is expensive!

Gu Jinli was a little angry. The boy dared to calculate money with her. She was not coveting his money by giving him food.

Would a rich woman like her be short of his two taels of silver?

Qin Sanlang explained: "This is not the money to buy dried meat, this is my salary... I have saved all the money I had before, and I only have this much, so I will save it for you."

Worried that she would find it too little, he added: "When I make more money in the future, I will give you more money."

Gu Jinli looked at him and asked, "Are you sick? What nonsense are you talking about? Can I ask for your money? Keep it for yourself."

What's the deal with her keeping his money?

Qin Sanlang also felt that his behavior just now seemed to be sick, so he put away the money silently: "What Xiaoyu said is that I will put the money away first, and when I get to Linhe Mansion, I will use it to buy you some fresh food."

Gu Jinli nodded: "Well, just buy something cheap. Linhe Prefecture is the capital of Jianghuai, so things are expensive."

She said a few words to Qin Sanlang and then went home. Qin Sanlang went to see her off as usual, and only turned around to go home when he saw her entering the house.

Before dawn the next day, Qin Sanlang took the laborers in the village and rushed to the county government to gather. After meeting with Bantou Yang, Bantou Yang led a group of yamen servants and he led a group of county soldiers to escort them together. He went to Linhe Mansion with his husband.

Qin Sanlang and the county soldiers did not need to stay in Linhe Prefecture for long, as they could return after sending the people there, but Yang Bantou and the others had to stay in Linhe Prefecture and watch the civilians until the corvee was over.

As soon as the male laborers left, every household in the county began to burn incense and pray to God to bless their men and sons for their safe return.

County Magistrate Xu was relieved to see that the husband was sent away smoothly. He was really worried that the people would refuse to do the labor service because of Zou County Cheng's selling of men for labor service, and then something would happen.

After finishing the corvee work, it was time for the rice harvest. Those who have paddy fields at home begin to prepare farm tools and wait to go to the fields to harvest rice.

Gu Jinli's family bought a lot of paddy fields this year, and the family is also preparing to harvest rice.

Mi Laoweng and his wife came to the house three days before the harvest and told Gu Jinli: "The rice is ready to be harvested. We invited thirty farmers who did not have paddy fields at home. They are all old-fashioned and know how to work. The money is according to the small boss's price." That said, based on the acre, one hundred and thirty cents per acre is enough to provide three meals."

Gu Jinli found that Mr. Mi spoke more respectfully this time. In the past, he always spoke briefly and with arrogance. What is he talking about?

Mr. Mi didn't let Gu Jinli guess for long, and said directly: "We, the old couple, have thought about it. The young boss is a kind person. Since he is willing to provide for us in our old age, we can no longer hold it."

He took out his family's household registration and handed it to Gu Jinli: "We want to sell ourselves to the Gu family and become their servants in the future, so that Xiaodong's family can feel more at ease when they use us to look after Zhuangzi."

Mrs. Mi was also worried that Gu Jinli would not want them. After all, they were so old and could be buried at any time. Buying them would be a loss.

Gu Jinli did not dislike them. After asking Gu Dashan and Cui what they wanted, he accepted the household registration of Mr. Mi's family: "One day my father will go to the county government to get your marriage contract."

She took out six taels of silver and gave it to Mr. and Mrs. Mi, "This is the money you and I earned from selling ourselves."

Mr. Mi did not refuse, accepted the money, took the braised pork that Cui had prepared for them, and returned to Songzi Village.

Three days later, families with paddy fields in various villages began to gather on the fields to harvest rice. After cutting down the rice, they tied it with straw ropes and carried it back to the threshing floor in the village to dry in the sun for three days. After the rice became wilted in the sun, Start threshing.

In ancient times, there were no threshing machines. People used rakes to thresh the grains, or picked them up and threshed them. Some people even rubbed them directly with their hands. It was very hard, but everyone was very happy. After all, it was a good harvest. What farmers care about most is food. , No matter how hard or tired you are, you are willing to get a mouthful of food.

Mrs. Chen said directly: "Our family has made a profit. Not only the paddy fields were cheap, but there were still crops growing in the fields when we bought them. Now we have got a whole season of grain for free. Hey, when the millet comes into the warehouse, I will have to kill it." This chicken comes to repay God. It is because of his blessing that we can buy paddy fields with crops."

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