Leng Yi volunteered to make a fire again, saying that this time he had found the trick. Zhuo Qiaoniang smiled and didn't fight with him. With a wooden basin for washing vegetables and a dustpan of greens, I went to the backyard to wash vegetables.

This time Leng Yi didn't follow, he leuked out of the back window like a tanuki, and behind the window was a clearing, and there was a thick osmanthus tree, which covered their house like a big umbrella.

He went around the back of his master bedroom, opened the window, rolled in, went up to the beam, took off the bag of bloody clothes, returned to the kitchen, and stuffed the clothes into the burning stove. Soon, the small bag of clothes was reduced to ashes.

Although he knew that he hadn't lit the fire before because he had stuffed too much firewood, understanding the theory did not mean that he could actually do it well. As a result, he still made the kitchen smoky and did not ignite the fire.

At this time, he heard a voice outside, as if it was a mother-in-law's. The room happened to be choked with thick smoke, and when he wanted to go out and hide, he coughed and got out of the kitchen, and stood under the porch and rubbed his eyes. I heard the voice of an old woman at the corner door of the backyard and said: "Madam, people have to talk about conscience, we are tired and tired to work here with you, and we can't get a penny for a few months, and the money has been misappropriated by your officials, what do you say to make up for the shortfall of tax and silver theft, we won't say anything, but now, your officials can buy you such a good silver hairpin!" I'm afraid our money has been spent by all of you, right? ”

A little maid said in a sharp voice: "That is, if you have money to buy hairpins for your lady, you don't have money to pay us monthly money, they are all human beings, and they all have to live!" ”

Zhuo Qiaoniang blushed, lowered her head, held the silver hairpin in her hand, and tears were dripping in her eyes.

A mother-in-law said, "No, we have to go to the eldest master to ask for money!" ”

"Let's go!"

A few mothers-in-law and maids turned around and saw Leng Yi standing there with a gloomy face. They had become accustomed to the cowardice of the original magistrate, and now they couldn't help but lose their arrogance when they saw Leng Yi's eyes like lightning, standing majestically with his hands behind his back. One ducked behind the other.

Leng Yi said: "How much do I owe you money?" ”

"My 1,700 wen!" "My 1,400 wen!" ……

They said no, bowing their heads one by one.

"Is there a note?"

"No, Master Dong has accounts there." An old woman pretended to be bold.

"Go and call Master Dong and bring the accounts and the house."

"I'll go!" A little maid said and ran out.

Soon, Master Dong came in, with an account under his arm and a handful of weighing silver in his hand.

Leng Yi took out all the silver from his arms and handed it to Master Dong: "Let's see if it's enough to settle the accounts for them!" ”

Master Dong took it, checked it, and said, "It should be enough." ”

"Alright, can I fire them?"

Master Dong hurriedly smiled and said, "Of course you can, if you spend money to invite, you can dismiss yourself." ”

"That's good," Leng Yi said to a few maids and servants, "After settling the account, take your things with you immediately!" ”

Several maids looked at Leng Yi in surprise, it is not easy to find errands these days, if they can get the money, of course they are willing to continue working here. An old woman stepped forward and said with a smile: "Master, we will work hard in the future, we still want to work here......"

"But I don't want to invite you!"

Master Dong was busy making colors to the maids and motioning for them to go out. Although several maids and maids got the money, they lost their errands, and they were all very depressed. didn't dare to say more, lowered his head and went back to the room to pack up the simple things, and followed Master Dong out.

When Leng Yi spoke, Zhuo Qiaoniang didn't dare to interject. When they all went back to the room to clean up, they whispered to Leng Yi: "Official, why don't you leave them behind?" ”

"I will not tolerate anyone insulting you, for whatever reason, no matter whom!" Leng Yi said categorically.

Zhuo Qiaoniang looked at him, and her stunned gaze became gentle.

Leng Yi slowed down his breath and said, "I'm afraid we owe more than that, right?" Who knows if there will be money to pay their wages in the future. Besides, just the two of us, we don't have much work, and we don't need to invite so many servants for the time being, and we'll talk about it when we have money later. ”

Zhuo Qiaoniang smiled and nodded lightly.

With the help of Zhuo Qiaoniang, Leng Yi finally raised the fire on the other stove. Zhuo Qiaoniang was cooking and stir-frying, and this Leng Yi couldn't intervene, so she could only watch and talk to her from the side. And Zhuo Qiaoniang was very shy, just listening to Leng Yi while being busy, and smiling from time to time.

Their dish is very simple, just a plate of greens and a plate of tofu. Not even a single meat dish.

Leng Yi smiled bitterly and said, "Why is there no meat?" As soon as he finished speaking, it didn't feel right. are all in debt, where is the money to eat meat. Seeing Zhuo Qiaoniang's cramped and uneasy appearance, as if it was her fault, Leng Yi quickly changed her words and said with a smile: "We still owe debts now, and it's right to live a tight life." Eat, eat, eat! ”

Zhuo Qiaoniang smiled reluctantly, brought the food to the hall, and the two sat down to eat.

Leng Yi is a carnivore, he can't eat without meat, but this time he pretended to eat with relish and ate the last grain in the bowl. Still looks like it's still unfinished. provoked Zhuo Qiaoniang and couldn't help grinning.

This smile revealed a neat row of small shell teeth, as well as two pointed little tiger teeth, which looked particularly beautiful against the backdrop of her slightly dark skin.

Zhuo Qiaoniang found that her husband was looking at her intently, a little shy, lowered her head, and began to clean up the dishes and chopsticks.

Leng Yi was about to help clean up, when he heard someone shouting at the door: "Dong Weng! Dong On! ”

Listening to the voice, it was Master Dong, why didn't the porter come in to report, standing there and shouting. Leng Yi immediately remembered that all the maids and women in the inner house had already let him go. I quickly agreed, walked out, and said, "Come in!" ”

Master Dong walked over quickly with the tent in his arms. He bowed down and said, "Dong Weng, the debts of those servants in the inner house have been paid in full. They have all been sent away. That's the rest of the money, and there's one or two sevens. With that, he walked up the steps and handed the remaining silver taels to Leng Yi.

"Good." He took the silver tael and put it in his arms. Leng Yi saw that Master Dong didn't leave, and he stopped talking, and said, "Is there anything else?" ”

Master Dong gritted his teeth secretly, and said with a careful smile: "Just now, the student settled the debts for a few mothers-in-law and maids, and the catchers and scribes of the yamen saw it, so they ......, this, ask the student to tell Dong Weng, this ......"

Leng Yi listened to his spitting appearance, and immediately understood, and said, "They are also debt collectors?" ”

Master Dong was very embarrassed and said, "The student has already told them that the eldest master has no choice but to embezzle everyone's money, and he will definitely pay it back later." If there is money now, the eldest master will definitely return it to everyone, so that they don't have to worry. They were also very reasonable and didn't say anything more. ”

Leng Yi looked at the account book in his hand and said, "You have recorded the debts I owe, right?" ”

Master Dong hurriedly handed over the account book in his hand and said, "This is all recorded. ”

Leng Yi walked into the hall with the account book, sat down, looked through it slowly, closed the account book, and only smiled bitterly. -- The magistrate he replaced, it can be said that he embezzled all the money that could be embezzled in the yamen, including the honorarium of the master in front of him, which was not given for several months. In addition, he also owes a lot of debts outside, and some of them are even usury. All the debts add up, it's an astronomical amount!

What is this guy doing with all this money? caused his wife to be humiliated by the maid's mother-in-law.

Leng Yi was thinking about this question in his heart, thinking about how to find out the answer from Master Dong's mouth. Master Dong had already said first, and said: "Dong Weng, we only made up a small part of the last batch of stolen taxes, and the prefect has urged it several times, saying that if we don't make up for the taxes owed, we can only tear our faces and stab the matter up." ”

Tax theft?

Leng Yi chuckled in his heart, no wonder he owed so many debts, it turned out that the tax was stolen by someone, so he had to borrow money to compensate. For the imperial court, everything else is easy to say, that is, this tax, that is the emperor's money, which must not be short. It's tragic to borrow so much money and only repay a small part of it.

Seeing that Leng Yi's face was cloudy, Master Dong said in a low voice: "Seventy percent of our tax receivables this year have not been collected. It's not long before the end of the year, so you have to find a way to do it quickly. ”