The village chief suddenly fell silent.

The hearts of the other village heads sank instantly.

"Village chief, aren’t you going to answer Village Chief Qin’s question?"

"Could it be that the taxes have increased this year?"

Qin Yao also furrowed her brows.

The village chief signaled everyone to sit down, left his son to entertain them with tea, turned around, and went into the inner room to retrieve a document scroll.

Not all village heads have the ability to read documents, so the village chief did not hand the document over for them to peruse.

He unfolded the document and began to read its contents aloud.

The official-style wording on the document was barely understandable to Qin Yao, but the phrase "grain tax collected at one twelfth" was clearly heard.

After reading it all, the village chief respectfully rolled up the document, placed it into a bamboo tube for safekeeping, and finally sighed deeply, saying in a serious tone:

"There’s an increase, but not too much. Plus, the harvests in various villages this year are relatively good, so there shouldn’t be any major issues."

Although he said that, apart from Liu Family Village where Qin Yao is from, other villages didn’t have such good harvests.

Though the County Magistrate took everyone to Liu Family Village to learn farming during spring plowing, actually implementing it was a completely different matter.

There are many stubborn people, and the more remote the region, the more stubborn they are.

The village heads and young men who went to learn have been persuasive, but in reality, only a small half followed Liu Family Village in intensive farming.

Before seeing any benefit, human nature naturally leans towards caution and suspicion of new things.

Those who went to Liu Family Village had seen it with their own eyes, so they believed.

But the villagers who didn’t go along weren’t convinced, as such things were unprecedented, without reference, and it was natural to be apprehensive and conservative.

This means that the increased taxes this year are a clear loss to most villagers.

Remembering that they still have to mobilize villagers to pay grain tax upon returning to their villages, the faces of the village heads turned grim.

Who hasn’t a few particularly unreasonable troublemakers at home?

Even being short one tael is not acceptable for grain tax. The village heads’ previous joy over the harvest disappeared, replaced by bitter resentment as they vented their frustration and shared the taxing challenges with the village chief. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The village chief felt his ears were about to explode, and his throat was hoarse from speaking. Turning his head, he saw Qin Yao calmly holding a teacup, sipping while gazing at the blue sky and white clouds outside, her stable mood made the village chief pound the table and roar at the village heads:

"Shut up, all of you!"

"What’s the use of complaining to me? This is a decree from the court. If you’ve got the guts, go argue with the County Magistrate!"

Qin Yao’s hand holding the teacup trembled slightly, almost spilling the tea, but she managed to steady it.

Innocently, she turned to see the awestruck village heads, wanting to offer comfort but thinking if she spoke now it might be seen as boasting, so she kept silent.

Qin Yao put down the teacup and asked the village chief to lend her the tax document so she could copy it, and then promptly left.

Village Chief Wang Xiaoyu from Lower River Village followed her out, suspiciously asking, "Miss Qin, aren’t you worried? From one fifteenth to one twelfth, do you know how much more grain that is?"

Qin Yao first answered the first question, "Worrying is of no use. The emperor’s words carry weight, and the decree cannot be changed. We can only accept reality."

"Instead of arguing, it would be better to think of ways to soothe the villagers’ feelings, after all..."

Qin Yao glanced back at the village chief’s house, "In the end, the chief’s situation will be ours, and I don’t want to be drowned in spit."

Wang Xiaoyu furrowed his brows, feeling even more anxious.

Qin Yao immediately answered the second question, "Uncle Xiaoyu, I’m good at arithmetic, I know the difference between twelve and fifteen."

"I don’t know about other villages’ situations, but in our Lower River Village, more than half the people work in my family’s stationery factory, and this year’s harvest was also quite good, so it seems the villagers’ resistance won’t be too high. You should calmly reassure them."

Wang Xiaoyu looked at her incredulously, "How can you speak as if it’s none of your business? Grain is everyone’s lifeline, yet you speak so lightly!"

"What else can we do?" Qin Yao asked calmly, without changing her expression.

Wang Xiaoyu was immediately at a loss for words. Indeed, what else can be done?

"Father!" Wang Yu called out from the roadside with the ox cart.

Wang Xiaoyu looked at Qin Yao somewhat exasperatedly, "My son is here to pick me up. Are you coming along?"

Qin Yao waved her hand to decline, whistled, and soon enough, the sound of horse hooves came from the riverside. Before long, a tall chestnut horse ran up to Qin Yao, nuzzling her gently.

"Uncle Xiaoyu, we are village heads. Our task is to ensure tax collection for the safety of the entire village. Personal feelings should be put aside."

After speaking, Qin Yao mounted the horse and rode off ahead.

Wang Xiaoyu felt a jolt, as if awakened by Qin Yao’s words, his mind suddenly cleared.

The grain tax is crucial; if it’s not paid on time, and the government pursues it, the whole village would be doomed!

Then, the urgency and importance became clear; if we don’t want destruction, we must steel our hearts.

Qin Yao, instead of heading directly towards Liu Family Village, turned at the fork and entered Ding Family Manor.

She wanted to check the yield of her tenant farmers this year and explain the tax situation.

Now that Liu Ji is a Scholar, the household taxes can be waived, so the tenants’ rents need adjustment.

Initially, Liu Ji told the tenants that they would each bear their taxes.

But since their household no longer needs to pay grain tax, the tenants’ taxes also don’t need to be borne by them.

Qin Yao planned to compromise by halving the tax portion that the tenants originally had to pay.

This year’s tax is one twelfth; she would only take half of that, leaving the rest for the tenants.

Other landlords do the same, with some even taking more than half.

But for the tenants, as long as there is some profit, they prefer renting and farming the lands of scholars and imperial exam graduates.

When Qin Yao returned to Liu Family Village from Ding Family Manor, the sunset had already painted the sky.

The villagers were paying close attention to Qin Yao’s movements, and on her way home, those carrying grains kept asking about the grain tax for this year.

Qin Yao didn’t say, only replied, "Tonight I’ll copy the document and post it at the village notice board tomorrow; everyone will know then."

The villagers smiled and didn’t press further.

This year’s harvest was good, with additional income from working at the stationery factory and selling cool melons; life visibly improved, making happiness inevitable.

However, the happier the villagers were, the more anxious Qin Yao felt.

Grandstanding with Village Chief Xiaoyu was one thing, but actually taking the role of the villain was another matter entirely.

Before the tax notice was posted tonight, she needed to quickly think of a way to divert the villagers’ resentment.

As Qin Yao mulled it over and entered her home, before she could come up with anything, Yin Le, who was in the backyard helping the Da Lang brothers and sisters harvest grain, rushed over with two letters for Qin Yao.

"Master, these are letters Manager Song just brought for you."

After delivering the letters, Yin Le hurried back to the backyard to continue harvesting grain.

Qin Yao raised an eyebrow; her apprentice certainly had the potential to be a workhorse~