“There are plenty of things to do.”
Jin Feng said, “Why not come help me?”
“You’re spinning thread here. I’m a grown man with one arm. How can I help?”
“Who said you’d be spinning?”
Jin Feng said, “I need someone to deliver the spun hemp thread to the county, right? And to fetch hemp bark, buy grain, and such.
If you don’t mind, Brother Liang, come help me. I’ll pay you five hundred wen a month, and when we earn more, I’ll increase it.”
“No way, five hundred wen is too much.”
Zhang Liang shook his head like a rattle, “I heard county constables only get three hundred wen a month. How am I worth more than a constable?”
Though hunting earned money, these past days’ catches, after giving Jin Feng half, sold for over eight hundred copper coins.
But he wouldn’t catch that much next, maybe a hundred wen a month if lucky.
And that risked being eaten by tigers.
Millet was two wen per jin. A hundred wen, plus stored wild vegetables, was enough for the family.
In any era, money was hard-earned. Didn’t those women, earning thirty wen a month, nearly lose their bearings from joy?
Five hundred wen a month felt scalding to Zhang Liang.
“Brother Liang, transporting goods is much harder than a constable’s job, and this work needs our own people. If we hire outsiders and they run off with my stuff, I’d have nowhere to cry.”
Jin Feng said, “Brother Liang, you’re the one I trust most, so you’re the best choice.”
“Xiao Feng, I’m fine helping you, but five hundred wen a month is too much. With just a few spinning wheels, how much can you earn while supporting so many women?”
“Brother Liang, you’re underestimating me.”
Jin Feng said, “Here’s the deal, the hemp thread is almost enough for a cartload. Tomorrow, come with me to the county, and you’ll see how much we can earn.”
“Alright.”
Zhang Liang nodded.
That night, Tang Dongdong arranged for the women to load the hemp thread onto a borrowed cart.
Before dawn, Zhang Liang, the village head’s son Liu Tie, and hunter Chen Laoliu arrived.
Chen Laoliu carried a longbow with an arrow quiver at his waist.
Jin Feng and Zhang Liang brought crossbows.
Even Tang Dongdong secretly tucked a pair of scissors in her bosom.
They heard war had broken out in the west and north, with many refugees fleeing. The roads weren’t safe; getting robbed would be a loss.
As they prepared to set off with the cart, the village head ran over.
“Xiao Feng, I gave Liu Tie Xie Guang’s deregistration document. The town stamped it, but Liu Tie can’t read. At the county yamen, please take him there.”
Xie Guang was dead, the town coroner had examined the body, but they needed to deregister at the county yamen, or next year the officials would collect taxes.
Without Xie Guang, Xihewan villagers would bear the tax collectively.
As for Baldy, nobody knew him. The village head wouldn’t invite trouble, so they buried him in a pit that night.
“Alright.”
Jin Feng nodded.
Hemp thread was light and easy to pull. They reached Jinchuan County by ten in the morning.
This was because Tang Dongdong walked too slowly.
But only she knew the textile trade best, how to sell hemp thread for a high price, and which hemp bark to buy. They couldn’t leave her behind.
Jin Feng had Zhang Liang and Chen Laoliu follow Tang Dongdong to deliver the hemp thread, while he took Liu Tie straight to the yamen.
“Xie Guang, seventeen?”
The clerk glanced sideways at Jin Feng and Liu Tie, “So young and dead? Not trying to dodge taxes, are you?”
Such things weren’t uncommon.
Some people, unable to pay taxes, fled their hometowns.
These were called vagrants.
Most vagrants became bandits, some hid in deep mountains, and some were caught.
Dakang had small wooden tags like IDs, called ya pai, engraved with name, hometown, and birthdate.
When paying taxes annually, the ya pai was marked with the payment date.
Travelling without a ya pai, or without that year’s tax mark, meant being treated as a vagrant.
Dakang was harsh on vagrants. Caught men were sent to the army’s vanguard camp, women to official brothels.
Yet every year, some dodged taxes and became vagrants.
Someone like Xie Guang, young but reported dead, easily raised suspicions.
“Sir, don’t say that. Xie Guang really died. He tried to rob villagers with a knife and was killed. I buried the body myself.”
Liu Tie quickly explained, “Look, here’s the town coroner’s seal.”
He pointed to the coroner’s stamp on the deregistration document.
When he withdrew his hand, a tiny piece of silver appeared on the document.
“With the coroner’s proof, it’s fine.”
The clerk discreetly pocketed the silver, stamped the document in the middle, tore it in half, and gave the bottom half to Liu Tie as a receipt.
Next year, the village head would present it to the tax officer.
Jin Feng thought the village head sent him with Liu Tie because Liu Tie couldn’t read and might mess up.
But leaving the clerk’s room, Jin Feng realized he was wrong.
Liu Tie’s words and actions were flawless, more slick and sensible than himself.
So the village head’s only reason for sending him was to avoid paying the clerk’s bribe.
Thinking this, Jin Feng smiled, took out a piece of silver, and slipped it into Liu Tie’s hand.
“Fengzi, what’s this for?”
Liu Tie asked, hand open.
“I killed Xie Guang. I’m grateful the village head handled such a big trouble. You shouldn’t have to pay out of pocket.”
Jin Feng smiled, “I’ve been too busy to think of this. My bad.”
After all, he killed someone. Without the village head’s quick handling, it would be troublesome if investigated.
Jin Feng was genuinely grateful to the village head and Liu Tie, as he disliked trouble.
“This is too much.”
Liu Tie weighed the silver.
The bribe to the clerk was at most two hundred wen, and his father bribed the coroner with one hundred wen, but Jin Feng’s silver was worth seven or eight hundred wen.
“The village head must have worried a lot over my issue. Consider it me buying some wine to thank him.”
Seeing Liu Tie about to refuse, Jin Feng smiled, “Alright, if you say no again, I’ll get upset.”
Seeing this, Liu Tie pocketed the silver.
The two chatted and laughed as they left the yamen, when a burly yamen runner approached.
Meeting a runner at the yamen was normal, so they stepped aside to let him pass.
The runner glanced at them sideways and hurried by.
But after several steps, he turned back, looked Jin Feng up and down, and asked,
“Are you the tiger-slaying heroes who shot a tiger some time ago?”
