"There are many things I can do."
"Why don't you come and help me?" asked Qin Feng.
" You're the one spinning the thread here. I'm just an old man with one arm. How can I help you?"
"Who told you to spin?"
"I need someone to send the spun hemp thread to the county government, right?" asked Qin Feng. He still had to go to the county government to buy food, right?
If Brother Liang doesn't mind, come over and help me. I'll pay you 500 copper coins a month. When you earn money in the future, I'll increase it."
"No, five hundred coins is too much."
Zhang Liang shook his head like a rattle-drum." I heard that constables in the county only earn 300 copper coins a month. How can I be more valuable than constables?"
Although he earned money from hunting, he had sold half of his prey to Qin Feng and more than 800 copper coins.
However, he definitely wouldn't be able to hunt so many prey in the future. He would be lucky if he could earn a hundred copper coins a month.
He even had to risk being eaten by the tiger.
Grain was two wen per catty. One hundred wen plus the wild vegetables saved up at home was enough for the family to live on.
No matter which era it was, money was not easy to earn. Didn't you see how happy those women were when they earned thirty copper coins a month?
Zhang Liang felt that the monthly salary of 500 copper coins was a hot potato.
"Brother Liang, transporting things back and forth is much harder than the work of constables. Moreover, this job has to be done by our own people. If we find an outsider and take away my things, I won't even have a place to cry."
"Brother Liang, you're the person I trust the most, so you're the best candidate," said Qin Feng.
" Xiao Feng, it's not a problem for me to help you, but a monthly salary of 500 copper coins is too much. How much can you earn in a month with just these spinning wheels of yours, and you still have to feed so many women…"
Brother Liang, you're underestimating me."
" How about this?" Qin Feng said." The hemp thread is almost enough for a cart. Come with me to the county government tomorrow. You'll know how much you can earn then."
"Alright."
Zhang Liang nodded.
That night, Tang Dongdong arranged for the women to load the hemp thread onto the borrowed handcart.
Before dawn, Zhang Liang, Liu Tie, the son of the village chief, and Old Sixth Chen, the hunter, arrived.
Old Sixth Chen held a longbow in his hand and a quiver hung from his waist.
Qin Feng and Zhang Liang also brought their crossbows.
Even Tang Dongdong had a pair of scissors in her pocket.
He heard that there was a war between the west and the north again, and many refugees had escaped. It was not safe on the road, and it would not be worth it if they were robbed.
The few of them pushed the cart and were about to set off when the village chief ran over.
" Xiao Feng, I've given Tie Zi Xie Guang's account closing document. It's already stamped in town, but Tie Zi can't read. When we reach the county government, please bring Tie Zi to the yamen."
Xie Guang was dead. The coroner in town had also examined the corpse, but he still had to go to the county government to cancel the account. Otherwise, the government would come to collect taxes next year.
If Xie Guang could not be found, this tax would have to be borne by all the villagers of Haijiao Village.
As for the bald man, no one knew him anyway. The village chief would not cause trouble for him. On the night of the accident, he directly dug a hole and buried him.
"Alright."
Qin Feng nodded.
The hemp thread was very light, so it was not difficult to pull it up. They arrived at Jinchuan County at around ten in the morning.
This was because Tang Dongdong was walking too slowly.
However, she was the only one who was most familiar with the textile industry. She knew how to sell hemp thread at a high price and also knew which hemp skin was the best when purchasing. She had to bring it along.
After letting Zhang Liang and Chen Laoliu follow Tang Dongdong to hand over the thread, Qin Feng brought Liu Tie straight to the yamen.
"Xie Guang, seventeen years old?"
The small official who was handling the matter glanced at Qin Feng and Liu Tie from the corner of his eyes. Are you trying to evade taxes?"
This wasn't new.
Some commoners really couldn't afford to pay taxes and would flee their hometown.
These people were called refugees.
Most of the refugees ended up becoming bandits, some of them escaped into the mountains, and of course, some of them were caught.
Great Kang also had a small wooden token similar to an ID card. It was called a tooth token, and on it was engraved the name, birthplace, and date of birth.
Every year, when the people paid taxes, the date of tax payment would be engraved on the token.
If one didn't have a tooth tag or a tax payment stamp on the tooth tag, they would be treated as refugees.
Great Kang was very cruel to refugees. Once they were caught, the men would be sent to the vanguard camp and the women would be sent to the official brothels.
However, there were still many commoners who evaded taxes every year and became refugees.
It was indeed very suspicious for someone like Xie Guang to report his death at such a young age.
" I wouldn't dare to say that. Xie Guang is really dead. He robbed the villagers with a knife and was beaten to death. I buried his body myself."
"Look," Liu Tie hurriedly explained,"there's the signature of the town coroner here."
After saying that, he pointed at the coroner's seal on the document.
When he retracted his hand, there was a small silver coin on the document.
"Since there's a coroner as a witness, then it's fine."
The small official kept the silver coins without showing any emotion. He picked up a seal and stamped it in the middle of the document. Then, he tore the document in half and handed the lower half to Liu Tie as a receipt.
The village chief would hand this over to the tax officer next year.
The village chief had asked him to come to the county government with Liu Tie. Qin Feng had always thought that the village chief was afraid that Liu Tie would do something wrong because he was illiterate.
But when he came out of the small official's house, Qin Feng knew that he was wrong.
No matter what Liu Tie said or did, he was flawless. He was much more tactful and sensible than her.
The only reason why the village chief wanted him to follow them was because he didn't want to use the money to bribe the minor official.
Thinking of this, Qin Feng smiled and took out a piece of silver and stuffed it into Liu Tie's hand.
"Feng Zi, what are you doing?"
Liu Tie spread his hands and asked.
"I was the one who killed Xie Guang. The village chief is already very grateful for helping me deal with such a big problem. I can't let you guys pay more."
"I've been too busy these few days. I didn't expect this. I really shouldn't have." Qin Feng smiled and said.
After all, he had killed someone. If the village chief did not deal with it in time, it would be very troublesome when the higher-ups investigated.
Qin Feng was someone who was afraid of trouble.
Therefore, Qin Feng was grateful to Village Chief and Liu Tie from the bottom of his heart.
"This is too much."
Liu Tie said as he weighed the silver.
The amount of silver he had bribed the minor official was worth at most two hundred copper coins. His father had only bribed the coroner for a hundred copper coins, but the amount of silver Qin Feng had given him was worth at least seven to eight hundred copper coins.
"The village chief must be worried about me. Consider it as me buying some wine to thank him."
Qin Feng saw that Liu Tie still wanted to decline. He smiled and said," Alright. If you don't want it, I will turn hostile."
When Liu Tie heard Qin Feng say this, he kept the silver.
The two of them walked out of the yamen while chatting and laughing. A burly yamen runner walked towards them.
It was normal to run into a bailiff in the yamen, so the two of them didn't mind. They moved to the side and let the bailiff pass first.
The bailiff glanced at them from the corner of his eyes and hurried past.
However, after taking a few steps forward, he suddenly turned back and sized Qin Feng up. He asked,
"Are you guys the tiger heroes who shot the tiger to death some time ago?"