A few days later, Ping'an, who didn't often go home, came back with his daughter-in-law and told Mr. Xiang that something had happened in the county, that the horseman's house had been stolen, and all the gold, silver and jewelry in the house had been stolen.

Hearing this, the old man Xiang secretly glanced at Fu Bao, who was eating snacks, and asked how much silver was stolen.

"100,000 taels of silver?"

"If you exchange gold for silver, plus jewelry, silver stamps, and grain from several granaries, and other things, the total price is more than a million taels of silver." Ping An shook his head and said.

Old Man Xiang glanced at Fu Bao secretly, and saw the smile on the corner of Fu Bao's mouth, and understood everything in his heart, but why did Fu Bao do this, could it be that Fu Bao found something wrong.

"Grandpa has so much money at home, what does the county uncle say?" Old Man Xiang asked.

"How can I say it, my shopkeeper thinks that this county uncle seems to be quite happy, and he doesn't seem to deal with the mother-in-law of my grandfather's family." Ping An said as he pondered the words.

Old Man Xiang understood, the grandfather's wife, the Xue family, was also born as a eunuch, and that Master Xue was a shortcut to the promotion of the county lord.

Although the grandfather's wife is only a concubine of the Xue family, it does not prevent the county lord from hating their family, otherwise the auspicious silver was stolen, and the county lord would not have made such a high-profile judgment, isn't it because it involves the grandfather.

"Dad, mother, the shopkeeper said that the county lord now suspects where the grandfather got so much money, and he is ready to report, and the family is also starting to be busy in autumn, I took a few days off and came back to help." Ping An spoke again.

"Cheng, it's just that this year's harvest in the field is far less than before, fortunately, there is still wild rice to harvest in the mountains, you can take a few children up the mountain to harvest wild rice." Old Man Xiang nodded.

Since the four children failed in the child examination, they returned to Xiangzhang Village, on the one hand, the family's fields are in the village, they have to help, on the other hand, the county town can not find any work.

After eating lunch, Ping'an took Xiangchu, Xiangshan, and Xiangjin up the mountain to cut wild rice, Ping'an's sister-in-law cleaned her house neatly, the furnishings in the house were exactly the same as when she left, there was no change at all, the sister-in-law was very satisfied, the Xiang family was so well-behaved.

The old man Xiang took the rich and rich sister-in-law, as well as the incense sect to the ground, the autumn harvest has begun, the original eight acres of wheat can produce more than 700 catties of wheat, but since last year, the rain has decreased significantly, and the wheat harvest has been directly greatly reduced, and it is estimated that it is only about 300 catties at most.

The harvest season should be happy, but the villagers are sad, this year there is little rain, they can only go to the river to fetch water to water the land, and now even the river is almost at the bottom.

If it doesn't rain anymore, the rice and sorghum in the fields will be killed alive, and then they will definitely not be able to pay this year's taxes, and if they can't pay the taxes, they will have to sell their fields and land.

Xiang Hantu and his son separated, he had two acres of land in his hands, the harvest was less than 100 catties, not to mention paying taxes, he couldn't even fill his stomach, he decided to sell these two acres of land after the harvest, at least half full.

There are not a few people in the village who have such thoughts, especially those who have many men in the family and few fields, looking at the harvest in their fields, they simply want to cry without tears.

After the wheat was harvested, the village chief and the chief were surrounded by the villagers, and they wanted to sell their own land, two taels of silver for one acre of fertile land, one and a half of silver for one acre of paddy fields, and one tael of silver and two acres of sloping land.

The village chief shook his head, his family has a lot of land, but the population is not much, so he doesn't need more land, but the chief has the idea of buying land, and their family has also separated, Xiaoshu has been admitted to Tongsheng again, and he has to buy some land for Xiaoshu.

In the end, the chief bought three acres of fertile land and two acres of paddy fields, and spent a total of nine taels of silver, but the five acres of land did not have a field of Xianghan soil, the reason was very simple, he did not wait to see Xianghan soil.

Xianghan is rustic, he can't afford to pay taxes if he doesn't sell land, and after thinking about it, he still found Xianghanhe, Xianghanhe saw that he almost knelt down for himself, so he could only ask him to sign the land sale paperwork.

Xiang Hantu saw that it was written on the land sale document that this year's field tax should be borne by Xiang Hantu himself, otherwise he would not want these two acres of fertile land, Xiang Hantu was so angry that he scolded his mother, and he could only sign the paperwork.

Xiang Hantu took four taels of silver, carefully hidden in his sleeve pocket, this is his last life-saving silver, he can only do long-term work in the coming year, go to work in other people's fields, and always be able to mix a full water.

In the evening, the village chief and the chief came to the old man's house together, because the Xiang family has a well, which can not only solve the problem of drinking water and feeding the cows, washing and cooking, but also watering their own fields.

So they hope that the old man will open the lock on the manhole cover and allow the villagers to take a bucket of water every day, of course, the water is not taken for free, it can be bought with a copper plate, or it can be bartered.

Old man Xiang felt that his well water was also declining, and he had the heart to refuse, but the situation was pressing, every household was short of water, and if you had water but didn't take it out, it wouldn't be a proper way to attract hatred.

"The chief, the village chief, don't need the copper plate, and you don't need to barter anything, they are all from the same village, so let's have a bucket of water for each household every day, but I have to watch it."

"Cheng, I'll help you watch it together." The village chief said happily.

"I also let Xiao Shuniang come to watch, you know my mother-in-law's mouth, dead can be said to be alive, whoever dares to break the rules, she is welcome." The lieutenant also said happily.

"Cheng, I haven't congratulated your Xiaoshu on being admitted to the Tongsheng Examination, when are you going to take the Xiucai exam?" Old Man Xiang asked.

Speaking of his grandson, the captain's face is even more smiling, and next year his little tree will be able to take the Xiucai exam, and then their family will be tax-free.

"Han Lin, your family's incense relocation trial has begun, I don't know when the good news will come." The chief asked with a smile.

Old man Xiang calculated in his heart, set off in June, it was time to go to the provincial capital in July, and the township test in August, and there would be news in September, but it was estimated that it would be the end of November until the good news reached Xiangzhang Village.

Because they said at the beginning, if they failed the list, they would go back to Qingshan Academy to study, and take the exam again in three years, if they were in high school, they would go directly to the Imperial City and study in Guozijian.

Xiangqian has the identity of the head of the case and Xiucai, coupled with the letter of recommendation from Tian Fuzi, it should be stable to enter the country to study, and when the time is ripe, he will participate in the examination and the palace examination, and at that time, it will be the time for the Xiang family to soar.

Li Chang looked at the confident appearance of the old man Xiang, and his heart couldn't help but move again, his own little tree is already a child, and when he is admitted to Xiucai, then come to the Xiang family to propose marriage.

Old man Xiang didn't know that Li Chang had this kind of plan, but he wouldn't ignore it if he knew, don't say that your little tree was admitted to Xiucai, even if he was admitted to the top prize, he might not be able to enter the eyes of my family's blessing.