noffsinger Chapter 194: Exchange for Rice
Chapter 194: Exchange for Rice
The skinny monkey turned the carriage around and Gao Yuan followed behind.
Zhou Chang's eyes followed the carriage as it turned, and he had no idea where the execution ground was.
The crowd watching the excitement outside the carriage hurriedly went in the opposite direction, and couldn't help thinking that the news that "King Xian was defeated and retreated to Maicheng" was probably known to everyone in Jindu City.
But it seems that no one cares about this matter, or even has nothing to do with them. It is not as practical as the excitement in front of them.
"Is this place very close to the Ministry of Justice's Prison?" Zhou Chang lowered the car curtain and leaned towards the back wall of the car.
"It's not far." Zhong Yuhan lifted the car window curtain and looked out.
"Is this the so-called execution after the autumn?" Zhou Chang couldn't help but think of Yuan Yu and Yuan Qi.
I wonder what Yuan Yu, who is still in the sky prison, feels at this moment?
All those who were sentenced with him have gone to the guillotine today, and he is the only one who has managed to save his life temporarily. However, he must be feeling a mixture of emotions and is indescribably uncomfortable.
"Yes, Your Highness. Every year, all those sentenced to death in Lin State will be executed at this time after being reviewed by the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple." Zhong Yu retracted his gaze and looked at Zhou Chang, as if he had guessed what Zhou Chang was thinking. "Your Highness, don't worry. Yuan Yu is not among them. The result of the bet has not come out yet, so he is safe for the time being."
"Alas..." Zhou Chang was not worried about Yuan Yu. She was worried about the outcome of the war. Suddenly, a name popped up in her mind: "Ma Feihu should also be among those to be executed today."
"Ma Feihu? That notorious bandit?" Zhong Yu didn't understand why Zhou Chang suddenly mentioned this person.
Zhou Chang then realized that Zhong Yufei was not present when he went to Tianlao, so he said vaguely: "Nothing, I just heard about it from someone."
She still hadn't forgotten that in the Ministry of Justice's prison, Ma Feihu stood upside down and said he wanted to know what it felt like to have his head fall off. It seemed that he would get the answer today.
I just don’t know if he will like that feeling?
Soon, the skinny monkey's carriage started speeding again.
After walking around for a long time, we finally entered the East Market.
It was only after Zhou Chang got off the carriage that he realized that the place where the criminals were executed was at the intersection at the western end of Dongshifang, not far from the shop in front of him.
On the other side, Gao Yuan and Shouhou had already unloaded the rice and flour from the carriage and piled them in front of a shop.
Zhong Yuzhi pointed out that the carriage should be parked in front of the store.
"Your Highness, do you want to go somewhere else for a stroll, or...?" Zhong Yu asked.
Zhou Chang looked up at the shop sign and said, "Wansheng Rice and Grain Shop. I'll go in with you and take a look."
I don’t know what Prince Yi was like before, but it was her first time to come to Dongshifang, which is considered to be a relatively lively and prosperous commercial street in East City.
After spending some money in Yizi Hutong a few days ago, her pockets were cleaner than her face.
If the grain sales go smoothly later, maybe she can get some money to spend, and most importantly, bring goods to the customers in this dimension.
Zhong Yu led Zhou Chang in.
Zhou Chang then remembered that the imperial court had issued an order prohibiting private transactions of rice and flour, but seeing that this rice shop was opened in the downtown area, he wondered why it could be so blatant.
As soon as they entered the store, the shopkeeper came over personally and greeted Zhou Chang and his group warmly.
Zhong Yuyi did not introduce Zhou Chang's identity and went straight to discussing the transaction.
Soon, several shop assistants went out, moved the rice and flour into the shop, and then weighed them. After the shopkeeper confirmed the quality and grade of the rice and flour, both parties began to confirm the exchange price.
During the whole process, Zhou Chang just sat aside drinking tea and watching, with no intention of participating at all. In order not to think about the war report in the north, he tried his best to focus his attention on Zhong Yu.
After everyone has moved the rice to the back of the store and weighed it, a series of tasks are completed.
Zhong Yu began to calculate the money with the shopkeeper again.
After a few words, Zhou Chang heard Zhong Yu raise his voice, with a hint of anger in his tone: "What food tax? Wasn't the barter tax already included in it?"
"The food tax is newly added, specifically targeting rice, flour, grain, oil, salt and sugar." The shopkeeper raised his eyebrows to show his innocence.
"Food tax, that means we have to deduct it again..." Zhong Yu didn't struggle much. He moved his lips slightly and started to calculate mentally again.
Seeing Zhong Yu so happy, the shopkeeper's eyebrows dropped again and he started to complain: "Don't even mention the food tax, there's also the window tax, the dirty water tax, the night incense tax..."
Which "genius" came up with these weird tax names?
"Night incense tax?" Zhong Yushun picked up the brush on the counter and wrote something down, then continued, "Wasn't this abolished before?"
"It has been cancelled, but there is a new rule now. All the toilets on the street are now charged, and those caught urinating or defecating anywhere will be fined. Therefore, everyone calls this the night incense tax with another name." The shopkeeper said as he scrambled the abacus with a crackling sound, then turned the abacus around for Zhong Yu to see, waiting for his confirmation.
"Yes, the number is correct," Zhong Yu tapped the number he had just written on the paper and stared at the abacus beads, "Shopkeeper, please make it an even number."
"Oh, okay..." The shopkeeper, as if he had suffered a great loss, took back two abacus beads.
Zhou Chang also couldn't understand the abacus, but he was quite interested in the name of the tax they mentioned.
What is the window tax? It is not necessary to collect tax for opening windows for ventilation, right?
What is the dirty water tax? Is there a tax for dumping dirty water?
Zhong Yu finally confirmed that there was no problem with the numbers calculated by the shopkeeper.
The shopkeeper went into the inner room and quickly took out two silver notes and several small silver notes and handed them to Zhong Yu: "Two hundred and forty taels of silver. Since you are so straightforward, I will make it an even number for you."
Zhong Yu took the banknote, checked the amount, put it in his arms, and then wrote two words on a piece of paper: "Then the remaining shopkeeper, take this paper and you can pick it up anytime today or tomorrow."
"Tomorrow, we don't have enough staff today." The shopkeeper made the time clear.
"Okay." Zhong Yu bowed and said goodbye.
Zhou Chang knew that the work had been done, and he stood up as well.
The shopkeeper escorted Zhou Chang and his group out of the store.
Zhou Chang had just seen that the grain had only been exchanged for more than 200 taels of silver, which was much less than he had expected. He was struggling internally as to how to ask for the silver.
"Your Highness, if it weren't for the additional food tax, we could have exchanged more. But it's already better than expected." Zhong Yu said as he called Gao Yuan to drive the carriage over.
Zhou Chang didn't understand the market situation, but he felt that it was too little, especially when he thought of what Zhong Yu had just said: "Sir, these two hundred taels of silver don't refer only to the two carts of grain shipped today, right?"
"These? I just brought them here to show the quality to the shopkeeper. They will come to get the rest later." Zhong Yu glanced back, "But there is nothing we can do. If it weren't for the war, we wouldn't be able to sell them at this price."
"Sir, is this a legitimate store?" Zhou Chang kept talking about this and that but couldn't get the words out.
Zhong Yu sighed, "Alas, this Wansheng rice shop is allowed by the government, but even if it is traded privately, no one dares to touch it. This shop charges us an average of 10 dan of rice for 1 tael of silver. We have 2,000 dan, which means 240 taels of silver. It's not much, but there is no better way." "It's better to lose at the starting line than at the finish line. It saves a lot of running."