C196
C196
The Ancient Dragon City was extremely big, and it would take a few days to ride from one side of the city to the other. It could be said to be a large city on a large scale, but it was precisely because of this that it was difficult to manage.
There were no outer walls, only a thin wall at the center of the city. Hua Ruge felt that two Rank 9 Spirit Arts would be enough to destroy the wall.
After passing through the inner city, she went down to visit the rural areas where the WeChat was. It was currently winter, so half of the houses in the countryside were empty. Hua Ruge knocked on one of the doors to the house, intending to rest and understand the situation.
It was an ordinary family, only a family of three. Two elders and a very beautiful girl about the same age as Hua Ruge.
The family was very cautious, if it wasn't for the fact that Hua Ruge was a girl, they probably wouldn't even open the door.
The house that the family lived in was very simple and crude. There was no brazier in the house, which was about the same as the temperature outside. It was hard for Hua Ruge to imagine how people lived here.
"I'm sorry, but there are no laborers at home to chop wood. Drink two bowls of hot water to warm your body." The old lady brought two bowls of water over.
"Thank you, old man. Sorry for the trouble." Hua Ruge stood up and took it, and handed over a bowl to the Little Marten.
The Little Marten took it and lightly nodded at the old man.
The old woman smiled simply and returned to the kitchen.
The old man sat at one end of the table and asked, "Young man, why have you come here on such a cold day?"
"I'm here for a relative. I just came to town." Hua Ruge said politely, but did not speak the truth.
She was afraid of scaring people. Firstly, she was afraid that others would think that she was boasting, but in the end, she couldn't get anything out of her.
The old man sighed, "The world is difficult."
Hua Ruge nodded his head and asked: "Old man, I am not too sure about this since I just arrived. Where are the residents of this place?
"Sigh." The old man let out a long sigh and said, "Either you starve to death, or you won't be able to live far away from your hometown to earn a living. The rest are just us waiting to die."
Hua Ruge raised his eyebrows, and said with doubt: "It shouldn't be this difficult, right? According to what I know, the land here is barren and does not produce high yield, but there should be no problem to feed the people, so why can't they live on?"
"Young man, you from a foreign country don't know. Not only are the grains we produce not enough to eat, but we can also exchange some money. After paying taxes, most families don't have enough to eat."
"Our family does not have any able-bodied labour. Only by eating less can we live."
"How much is the tax?" Hua Ruge asked.
Before she came to the city, she knew that the taxes were not to be collected, and every year there was even a court grant. It did not match what the old man had said at all.
"60%." The old man sighed, "My tax has yet to be paid. The officials come all the way over here to urge me on. I don't know what to do yet."
"What?" Hua Ruge was stunned.
She knew that the concept of 60% was 60% of all harvests. That was taking more than half of it, not to mention the barren lands, even those rich places would be poor after a few years.
She had long heard that the Deputy Mayor in charge was not a good person, she did not expect it to be even more bottomless than what she had imagined.
This was simply persecuting the common people. The heavens were too high and the emperor was too far away. He could do whatever he wanted.
The old man sighed.
"Old man, don't worry, you'll definitely get better." Hua Ruge consoled.
The old man shook his head, "Young man, you don't know how powerful that Deputy Mayor Wang is. The imperial government might not even be able to do anything to him. How can it possibly be good?"
"There is always someone who has a way. Maybe the emperor will send a powerful lord after he gets knocked out one day." Hua Ruge smiled faintly.
"Lady must be joking." The old man still shook his head.
At this moment, the old woman and the girl came out of the kitchen. The old woman was in front, while the girl was hiding behind her mother.
"This little girl has been shy ever since she was young." The old woman turned her head and said, "Qiao'er, bring the sweet potato over."
The girl put a plate of sweet potatoes on the table and blushed.
Hua Ruge felt that this was all the fault of the Little Marten.
"Thank you, sister is so virtuous." Hua Ruge praised her sincerely. She was around the same age as the others, and had never been close to being virtuous and virtuous.
"Thank you elder sister." When Qiao'er heard those words, she finally felt a little confident. She raised her head and said, "Elder sister is so beautiful."
"Not as good as him." Hua Ruge pointed to the Little Marten.
As expected, the girl immediately lowered her head, her ears turning red.
"This child has never seen the world before. I've let you two ridicule him." Although the old tutor had said this, he was smiling on the surface and didn't have a single hint of reproach in his words.
"No, it's cute." Seeing such warmth, Hua Ruge's heart felt a little warm.
A family like this might not be able to eat their fill or dress warmly, but it was still much better than those large families that were full of schemes and scheming.
However, this situation was still temporary. Who asked her to come?
After that, Hua Ruge and the Little Marten started to eat the sweet potato. In this cold weather, there was nothing more popular than the sweet potato.
However, there weren't many sweet potatoes, so it was only enough for the two of them to eat.
Hua Ruge reached into his sleeves, took out two boxes of pastries and said: "It's not good to only eat yours, let's exchange."
As soon as Qiao'er heard that there was a pastry, her eyes fixed on the beautiful box. Having grown up in the countryside, she had only heard of pastry being extremely tasty, and had never tasted one before.
"This is what you ate on the way here. What do you want to eat? Take it back." the old man said.
Hua Ruge was burnt to a crisp by the sweet potato, "I'm already here, I don't need to go anymore. Besides, I can't just eat for free."
The old man wanted to say something, but the old woman couldn't help but say, "Then thank you."
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"Still, thank you for letting us eat sweet potatoes."
The atmosphere in the room was very warm, but there was someone who didn't want anyone to be quiet.
"Bam!"
The courtyard door seemed to have been knocked open by something. Following which, a voice rang out, "You old fogey, if you don't pay taxes today, you'll be selling your daughter off."
The girl carefully took a bite of the dessert and immediately threw it on the ground with a pale face.
"Don't worry, Dad won't sell you no matter what. Hide yourself first." At this moment, his eyes were filled with panic, but he didn't forget to protect his daughter.
Hua Ruge sat there and continued to eat the sweet potato. The Little Marten seemed to not have heard him.
"You two follow my daughter and hide behind. This official is very unreasonable. Don't think about it again." The old man said.
Hua Ruge laughed as he ate: "Old man, I don't dare say anything else, but in terms of being unreasonable, I'm afraid there are very few people who can be my match."