12dz Chapter 305: The Situation at Aunt's House
Chapter 305: The Situation at Aunt's House
Su Wanwan picked a few and prepared to go back and give them to Xiao Yueer, Datao Erni and the others.
"Auntie, who were those people just now? Do they come here to collect fees every day?"
Su Wanwan asked while paying.
Speaking of this, the old lady carefully looked in the direction where those people left, looked around again, and then whispered:
"That's right. They come to collect the money every day. If you don't pay, you won't be allowed to set up your stall. We don't make much money from this stall. If we give it to them, we won't have much left."
The old lady also looked helpless.
If I don't come to sell things, I will have no way to make a living.
It's not that you can't pay. Stalls in other counties only charge two copper coins a day, but they charge twenty copper coins here. Isn't this robbery?
Su Wanwan also frowned slightly.
It was normal for the market to charge a management fee. Although she didn't know how much the management fee was per day in ancient times, twenty copper coins was too high.
She knew that in the vegetable market in their small county town today, some mobile stalls only charged a symbolic five yuan a day.
Twenty copper coins. In that era, a strong laborer could earn this much for a day’s work.
This management fee is too high.
"I don't think they are government officials."
Shen Yuan spoke up. He knew something about the management of Xinping County.
Xinping County also had a county magistrate, but it belonged to King Cheng's fiefdom, so the county magistrate was equivalent to a court official. However, he was different from county magistrates in other places, as he was under the control of King Cheng's palace.
To put it bluntly, in Su Wanwan's words, the county magistrate is a manager, an administrator, and the real person in power is King Cheng.
"Where are they? They are Biao Sanye's men."
The little girl next to her was very angry and said it out loud, scaring the old woman so much that she immediately covered her mouth. She looked left and right, but didn't see anyone from Master Biao Sanye, so she breathed a sigh of relief.
Su Wanwan looked at Shen Yuan, and the two of them tacitly did not ask any more questions.
After paying the money, the two continued walking forward.
Master Biao Sanye is the bully mentioned by my aunt and cousin.
After walking around, Su Wanwan felt that this night market was quite lively. There were many merchants. Each merchant charged twenty copper coins, which was a considerable amount of money in a day.
After inquiring, everyone found out that they were angry about Master Biao San collecting this so-called protection fee, but they dared not say anything.
But everyone knew that Master Biao San was King Cheng's man, but no one had any complaints against King Cheng. The reason was simply that King Cheng had indeed done a lot of practical things for the people in Xinping County in the past two years.
For example, these markets were finalized by King Cheng himself, and initially there was no charge for one year.
Stimulated by the market, the handicraft industry here is very developed and farmers can make things to sell, or at least sell some agricultural products. Stimulated by these markets, many people made some money.
In addition, King Cheng also reduced taxes. The taxes in Xinping County, both commercial and agricultural taxes, were 10% less than those in other counties.
Furthermore, when there was a drought this year, King Cheng opened his granaries and released grain immediately, alleviating the urgent needs of many people. He then distributed grain seeds and announced a tax reduction for this year, requiring people to simply hand in and return the grain seeds.
These policies made the people of Xinping County praise King Cheng unanimously, and they all praised him as a living Bodhisattva.
Therefore, even though Master Biao Sanye now collects such a high protection fee, everyone knows that the Cheng Wang Mansion is behind him. No one blames Cheng Wang, but they dare not say anything to Master Biao Sanye.
"I don't think King Cheng knows that Master Biao San secretly collected high protection fees."
Su Wanwan thought about it and realized that it was impossible for a leader as important as Cheng Wang to take care of everything. These market roads were specially built, and the houses were clean and tidy. Cheng Wang spent so much effort to develop the market in order to stimulate the economy, not to damage his own reputation.
"You are right. Someone is taking advantage of the power of the Cheng Palace to make money for himself."
Shen Yuan deeply agreed.
"Then what do we do?"
If I want to solve the problem of my cousin becoming a concubine, I must start with Master Biao San.
According to Su Wanwan's idea, a letter of complaint should be sent directly to Prince Cheng's Mansion.
King Cheng did so many things. Either he valued his reputation and was a man seeking fame and reputation, or he was truly kind and wholeheartedly wanted to do something for the people.
No matter what kind of person he is, if he knows someone is destroying his reputation, he will investigate it thoroughly.
"No hurry. If we report this to King Cheng directly, it will alert the enemy. I have already asked someone to check the details of Li Biao."
How could Shen Yuan not know what his wife was thinking?
However, Li Biao did not necessarily face King Cheng directly. There must be relatives or acquaintances of his in King Cheng's mansion, for him to dare to be so bold.
If I really report it directly, the letter might be hijacked before it reaches King Cheng.
Li Biao has been collecting protection fees in the market for so long, I don’t believe that no one will report him, but he is still so arrogant, I guess he is not afraid of being reported.
"That's fine. Let's go to my aunt's house tomorrow and ask them to separate the family. It would be best if we just cut off the relationship."
Su Wanwan nodded. She didn’t understand the twists and turns of the ancient times, so she just listened to Shen Yuan.
The couple walked around for a while. Su Wanwan bought a lot of small things and put them in the space. They were all for the children at home and Shen Qing. She thought of almost everyone who didn't come.
When you go out, always bring some gifts back for the children to make them happy and look forward to it, so they won’t resist you going out next time.
The next day, the group got up early and went directly to Shen Xinru's house.
Shen Xinru's in-laws' home was not far from the county town and it only took an hour to get there.
This village looks very big, at least much bigger than their Daliushu Village, and the village looks very wealthy. There are no small and shabby houses. Every house is built with solid adobe houses.
The Wang family lives at the easternmost end of the village, next to a river. From a distance, they also look like a row of brand new adobe houses, which are quite large.
It seems that they are a well-off family.
Shen Xinru's husband's family has three sons. The eldest is Wang Fuqiang, the second is Wang Youyou, and the third is Wang Fugui.
Shen Xinru’s husband is the third brother, the most honest one.
Wang Fuqiang looks honest, but he is actually very cruel. He is the shopkeeper of a restaurant in the county town.
Wang Fuyou is a cunning and cunning man, but his words are sweeter than honey, which makes him the old lady's favorite, so he stays at home to farm.
The third son, Wang Fugui, was a really honest man. He used to farm at home, but after a coal mine was discovered a few years ago, he was sent to the mine to dig coal. He died in a mine accident last year.
The man died, but the family became rich.
King Cheng was kind and generous. I heard that those who died in the mining accident were given a high pension, as much as forty taels of silver.
In ancient times, forty taels of silver was already a large sum of money.
After receiving the pension, the family rebuilt a big house. After all, the eldest and second sons had many children, especially the eldest son's family. In addition to the two who had already married, there were three more who were already at the age of getting married.