Women Wearing Men: The Growth Path of the Bastards of the Aristocratic Family

"Paying rent with potatoes?"

Hearing Old Man Geng's request, Chen Zhuangtou sneered sarcastically: "Let's not talk about the rent. Let's talk about the grain tax levied by the court in our Xuzhou Prefecture. It only recognizes two things. One is rice, but wheat. Why don't you Go and ask the high-ranking officials in the imperial court if they can use your potatoes to offset the grain tax?"

Old Man Geng knew that this road would not work, so he begged: "Chen Zhuangtou, please be a little accommodating..."

Chen Zhuangtou bulged his eyes, with a arrogant and stern look on his face: "I gave you accommodation, who the hell gave me accommodation? I am collecting rent on behalf of Mr. Chen, and your rent is not given to me, but to me. It is handed over to Mr. Chen, and all the rent will be confiscated. What will happen if Mr. Chen asks about the crime? Will you bear the burden for me? "

"You are also whimsically using potatoes to offset the rent tax. Why don't you say that you use the yellow mud in the land to offset the rent tax? Potatoes are some kind of dog scraps that come in from the outside. They are bland and dry. If you eat them, you will choke to death. I don't know what you are doing. Why do you like to grow this kind of thing? Rice, white flour and steamed buns are delicious? Your brain is screwed up by a pig!"

Chen Zhuangtou belongs to Tiandi Zhuangzi under the name of Chen Xunzhou, and his attitude is more or less influenced by his boss. He is extremely disdainful of those who do not rush to save crops during the drought and plant potatoes instead, thinking that this is a deviation. The right path, the wrong path.

Seeing that the old man Geng and his family were so submissive and did not dare to talk back, Chen Zhuangtou felt even more satisfied. He had the pleasure of slapping others in the face personally, and said sarcastically: "Then what does Gu Tong know about promoting potato at a young age? For people like us, For the common people, whether they are high-yield or not is illusory, the rice and flour in their mouths are real!"

"It's just that Gu Yunji is a young man who doesn't understand. You are all good at growing crops, but you don't understand this principle. When I heard that Gu Tongpan came to teach potato planting, one or two of them ran faster than the wind. , the crops were all left on the ground, now it’s okay, if you can’t pay the rent, you are asking for it, you can’t blame others!”

When Chen Zhuangtou said something else, the old man Geng and his family could bear to listen. However, Gu Yunji took the trouble to visit various villages some time ago and taught the villagers how to grow potatoes. He had already become a good official in their hearts and could not bear to listen to others' comments on him. slander.

It was enough for Chen Zhuangtou to look down on him, but he actually belittled Gu Yunji. Old Geng couldn't bear it anymore, and awkwardly defended himself with his neck raised: "Potatoes are not... dog crumbs. They are high-yielding grains, with an output of a thousand kilograms or even two kilograms per mu." Thousand catties. Although it is not as delicious as rice and white flour, it can at least fill the stomach. Mr. Gu is doing it for our own good. You should not say this to him..."

Chen Zhuangtou laughed angrily: "Since you talked about potatoes so well, then your family should not be short of food. Why can't you even pay the rent for the tenant farm? You said you bought [-] kilograms of food. , apart from the rent, there should be a hundred kilograms left, plus one acre of potatoes producing a thousand kilograms, oh, that’s several thousand kilograms of food, which can fill your belly!"

Old Man Geng was so sarcastic that he weakened and said in a low voice: "...it's not as good as what you said, Chen Zhuangtou. My family was allocated [-] kilograms of potatoes at the beginning, and when they were grown, they only weighed about [-] kilograms. I have to reserve seeds for the next season, I really don’t have enough to eat..."

"I don't care if you have enough to eat!"

Chen Zhuangtou changed his face instantly and said in a vicious voice: "I'm too lazy to argue with you here. In short, the rent must be paid in full, 750 kilograms, not a kilogram less! And I only recognize rice and wheat. If you dare to use other things It’s just a waste of money, so that you can’t eat anything and walk around in circles!”

"Anyway, I'm just here to settle the tenant rent debt with you. I'll inform you in advance. If you're wise, I'll transport the grain to the village to pay the tenant rent obediently today. If you dare to be short of food and owe rent... huh, I'm offended. We, the Chen family, know what will happen to us."

With that said, Chen Zhuangtou glanced at Old Man Geng coldly, turned around and left.

"Chen...Chen Zhuangtou."

Old man Geng suddenly remembered something and hurriedly trotted to catch up. He bowed down humbly and forced a smile on his wrinkled and rough cheeks. "Can I ask, if the [-]% rent is temporarily increased this season?" Or is it a long-term increase? Will the rent return to [-]% next year?”

Chen Zhuangtou looked at him contemptuously: "You haven't paid this year's rent yet, so you are worried about next year? I advise you to pay this season's rent quickly, otherwise you will get the good news. As for Next year's rent and taxes... we'll discuss it then." After saying that, Chen Zhuangtou left the old man behind and walked away.

After Chen Zhuangtou, who was urging the renter, left, the cheerful atmosphere of the Geng family was no longer there, and the family's mood became more depressed than before.

Old man Geng smoked a dry cigarette and was silent for a long time. Then he said in a slightly hoarse voice: "Now the rent has to be 750 kilograms, and the food in hand is only more than 100 kilograms. Except for the reserved seeds of the potato, , should be about three hundred kilograms."

"More than 400 kilograms of grain will be enough to eat before the potato harvest next season. You don't have to be too sad. But in this way, we have to tighten our belts and save grain. We will be tight for more than half a year. day."

Granny Geng sighed: "This year's severe drought was originally a year of famine, but it is no different now. We are used to hard times, and we will get over it once we endure it."

His son Geng Mancang answered: "Mom, dad, don't worry. I'll go to the dock to find work in two days. I can make some money doing odd jobs. Life at home won't be that difficult."

The daughter-in-law also said: "I heard that the spicy fairy in Fucheng is buying chili peppers. I thought we didn't have a few kilograms of chili peppers, so we would keep them to make our own sauce. Now that we don't have much food at home, we might as well sell the chili peppers." If you lose it, you can even exchange it for ten or twenty cents and buy a few kilograms of brown rice."

Seeing that his son and daughter-in-law were so sensible and considerate, Old Man Geng felt both happy and bitter at the same time. He sighed: "If it hadn't been for the [-]% increase in rent, even in lean years, with this high-yield potato, our family would have been in the same situation. It’s a good time.”

When he thought that the Chen family's temporary rent increase had ruined his life of adequate food, Geng Mancang couldn't hold back his grief and anger: "Damn Chen family, they are really bullying people! There is a drought this year. It's okay for them not to reduce the rent, but they actually increased the rent." ! If it weren’t for the high-yielding potatoes given by Mr. Gu, there would be more than 100 kilograms of grain left after paying the rent. It would be hard to wait until next year’s early rice harvest, and we wouldn’t be surprised if several people in our family don’t starve to death!”

Speaking of this, Mrs. Geng's face was full of sadness: "This year, they raised the rent when they said it would increase, and they even increased the rent by [-]%. What if they increase the rent again next year? How are we going to live like this..."

Geng Mancang gritted his teeth and said: "Next year? There is no next year! We work hard all year round, and in the end most of the food goes into their pockets. Why? Our family will not rent land next year, so as not to be squeezed by them again!"

Mrs. Geng was stunned and said in astonishment: "But our family has no land. If we don't rent the Chen family's land, how can we grow food? Where can we get food?"

Geng Mancang said: "What are you afraid of? The yield of potato per mu is so high. With only one acre of land, you can grow a whole family's rations for the whole year. And the potato is planted on dry land. At worst, half an acre of wasteland will be dug up in the mountains. Can it be planted?"

"It's easier this way. You stay at home and plant potatoes, and I go to the dock to work odd jobs to earn money to buy food, meat and oil for our family. Isn't life better than growing rice in a sharecropping field? Anyway, I don't want to endure Chen anymore. The rent is so high, we won’t rent it next year!”

Mrs. Geng had been farming on sharecrops for most of her life. She had never thought about what life would be like without growing rice. She was shocked by her son's bold idea and subconsciously looked at her husband: "Dad, look. this……"

Old Man Geng held a breath in his chest, and thought for a long time with a sullen face. Finally, he slapped his pipe with a snap and said decisively:
"Mancang is right. We are not the old scalpers of the Chen family. We pay [-]% of the rent and still work hard to farm the land for the Chen family. Now that we have high-yielding potatoes, we have a mouthful of food, even if we don't rent the Chen family. Even if we don’t have enough land, we won’t starve to death!”

"It's enough to bear the anger of the rent increase midway. Next year - our family won't rent anymore!"