Divorced by her husband's family and rejected by her own! She defiantly turned her life around

Liu Ruyun poked Liu Siyue's forehead with her hand, "You still have the nerve to ask? You slept so soundly and peacefully, but you didn't even hear Yao'er falling off the bed and crying so loudly."

You've really done a great job as a mother!

Liu Siyue sat up abruptly. "What? The child fell to the ground! Quick, check if he's alright!"

She clapped her hands, opened her arms, and the child snuggled into her embrace. "Come, let Mommy check if you've hurt yourself!"

"I checked, the child is fine. Luckily our bed is low. But you shouldn't sleep with the child in the future. You're not fully awake when you sleep, and it's too dangerous to have the child with you."

"My cousin is fine. I'll surround this bed with railings when I sleep from now on, so she won't fall off."

"I was careless this time. I clearly put her in the innermost spot when she was sleeping. She can't crawl, so how did she fall to the floor?"

"She can't crawl, but she can roll over. She rolls over and over again until she reaches the edge of the bed and falls to the floor."

I have something to tell you. Dad went to a meeting just now and said that the county officials have arrived and want the villagers to pay their taxes in three days. There are a lot of different taxes this time, and they're all very heavy.

"Oh, the tax collectors have arrived. That's an imperial decree; there's nothing anyone can do about it."

"Father said those taxes are just pretexts to exploit the people, and they're completely baseless. He said he'd never heard of taxing chickens and ducks, burning firewood, or even walking!"

"What did you say? You're taxing people for walking? Have the officials gone mad with greed?!"

"Let's go, let's go ask Second Uncle what's going on. Didn't we only pay grain tax before?"

"Who knows? That's what the officials said, Father said."

Liu Siyue went to the main room and met Liu Dawang. "Second Uncle, Second Uncle, what's going on with the taxes? Tell me in detail."

Liu Dawang took a sip of water. "It's like this. The village chief banged a gong to summon the villagers for a meeting. When we arrived, we saw the village chief and two officials standing under the big willow tree. The village chief introduced the two officials to everyone, and the officials then continued the village chief's words and talked about collecting taxes."

The villagers were outraged when they heard this, and the two officials were helpless, saying it was the imperial court's order and there was nothing they could do.

Liu Siyue felt that something was strange about this place. If the imperial court wanted money, would it be so blatant as to bully the poor? Was it trying to force them to take desperate measures?

She didn't express her own opinion, only saying, "Since it's the court's will, then we can only do as the court says. We are just ordinary people and can't interfere in the affairs of the court."

Before the uncle and nephew could finish speaking, the village chief and clan head arrived.

"Uncle Village Chief, Grandpa Clan Chief, you've arrived! Please have a seat."

The two sat down, and Liu Siyue poured them a cup of hot tea. They didn't speak, and she didn't ask either.

Seeing that Liu Siyue didn't ask, the village chief had no choice but to speak first, "Siyue, you must already know that the officials have come to the village to collect taxes!"

"Yes, I just heard it from my second uncle."

What are your thoughts on taxes?

"Taxation is a decree issued by the imperial court. As ordinary people, we have no power or influence. We can only do whatever the court says. What other choice do we have?"

"But the imperial court's taxes are unreasonable. This year, there has been no harvest at all, and it's already difficult for people to survive. Are they trying to drive the people to their deaths by setting up these baseless and unreasonable taxes?"

"So what? Who can stand against the imperial court? If you don't hand it over, beheading is the least of your worries. If they accuse you of disrespecting imperial authority, causing trouble, or plotting treason, they might implicate you and punish your entire family."

In the eyes of those in power, ordinary people are nothing but weeds and ants, utterly insignificant, their life and death irrelevant to them.

"With all these taxes distributed among the people, even if they sold everything they owned, they still couldn't afford it!"

"Uncle Village Chief, the imperial court doesn't just collect taxes from Liu Family Village. Are other villages any better off than Liu Family Village?"

The villagers still need to prepare; there's no escaping it.

"In April, you know a lot of people in the county town. Could you help me inquire about tax matters?"

"Uncle Village Chief, this is an imperial decree. What's the use of asking about it? There's no need to ask; everyone in the county already knows."

If you want to know what's going on outside, I can have someone take you to town.

"Alright, I'll go to town and take a look."

"Qingye, drive the carriage and take the village chief to town."

"By the way, Uncle Village Chief, I'll give you my older sister's letter of severance of ties. She's already signed and put her fingerprint on it."

The village chief took the letter severing ties, glanced at it, and tucked it into his pocket. "How is your eldest sister's health now?"

"It's not good; he can only rest in bed."

"If there's anything your eldest sister needs me to do when she comes back, just let me know."

"Okay, thank you, Uncle Village Chief."

Qingye had already driven the carriage to the door, and the village chief got into the carriage and went to town.

"Grandpa Chief, how is Grandma's leg doing lately?"

At this point, a glimmer of light appeared in the clan chief's dim eyes, "Her legs don't hurt much anymore, she can walk around now, she can take care of herself, and she can even help with cooking."

"Dr. Li from Huichuntang is truly skilled; I really delayed treatment for my illness before."

"That's good, that's good. This way, Grandma won't have to suffer from illness anymore, and people will have something to look forward to."

"Yes, her illness is cured, and the whole family is happy."

In April, with so many people in the village, what will happen if they can't pay their taxes? This year's taxes are so heavy; most families won't be able to scrape together the money even if they sell everything they own.

"With so many villages in Lingshui County, do you think they can arrest all the people? There must be a solution."

"Let's go see that child, January."

Liu Siyue led the clan chief to the door of her eldest sister's room. She knocked on the door and said, "Eldest sister, Grandpa Clan Chief has come to see you."

A cough came from inside the room. "Come in."

The clan chief didn't sit down when he went in; he just stood in front of the bed. "Girl, since you've made up your mind to come back, don't think too much. Take good care of yourself. You have a long road ahead. If you encounter anything, discuss it with Siyue. Take care of yourself first."

"Thank you for your concern, Grandpa Chief. I understand."

"Then you should rest, I'll be going now."

After seeing the clan chief off, Liu Siyue returned to the main room. "Mother, Second Uncle, look, the village chief and clan chief have come looking for us. They've been trying to get us to help the villagers, but they won't name names. They're waiting for us to give our opinion."

"Yes, we understand. We didn't respond to them today. What if the villagers come begging to us on that day? If the officials are serious, it could be a matter of life and death!"

If we don't help, the villagers will say we're heartless and cruel, that we'd rather die than help someone in need, and they'll talk behind our backs.

"Mother, Second Uncle, is it a crime to have money? There are so many people in the village, can we help them all?"

Look at those landlords, who have they helped when this happens? They helped this time, but what about next time, and the time after that...?

We need to address the root cause.

I'm going to the county town in a bit to see what's going on. I won't be back tonight; Yao'er will have to ask her mother for help again.

"You've done some really important things. Your mother doesn't have much ability, but I can help you take good care of the children so you can go out without any worries."

"Mom, who says you're incompetent? Just sitting here at home, you're the pillar of the family. We can do things with peace of mind."

"You're such a chatterbox. Tell Ruyun to hurry up and cook. You and Qingwu can eat first, then you can go."

"I'll do whatever you say, Mother. I'll ask Sister Ruyun to make me something delicious right now."