I descend into the world of heaven

The Yellow River is very long, and it is said that its source is just a few small streams, but no one has been able to find it accurately because it is too far away.

Where Hetou Village is located, the Yellow River is still flowing. The terrain here is better, suitable for growing crops, and there is no need to fear disasters such as floods.

Chen Chu looked at the Yellow River and thought of the round monster that escaped during the Hejia Village sacrifice. Now that he thought about it, it was probably a bastard. That thing was very vigilant. When he left, he searched again, but found nothing.

The carriage entered Hetou Village. Although almost all the villagers here were working in the fields, they were all sallow and thin, and they seemed unable to fill their stomachs.

Carts and carriages are only available in county towns. In villages, they are high-end luxury goods. It is very good for farmers to have a small cart at home. If there is an ox cart, it must be the top person in the village. The ox can farm and pull the cart, it is a treasure!

An old man led several men to block Chen Chu's way and asked loudly: "May I ask where your distinguished guest is from and why he came to our poor village?"

They speak so directly. They eat twice a day and have to save money. Their minds are buzzing and they don’t have time to talk so much nonsense...

Chen Chu clasped his hands in his fists: "A poor Taoist is a wandering Taoist priest. Chen Chu's travels are also experiences. When he was a child, he passed through your village with his master many years ago. Recently, he went north alone and happened to pass by again. I hope you can forgive me for bothering me."

Du Shiniang in the carriage was a little nervous. The ashes of the last man Chen Chu called an old man didn't even know where they flew.

Chen Chu stretched out his hand to move his bangs, his eyes flashed for a moment, and his smile became much gentler: "Old man, I remember that everyone in your village is farming. Even if the terrain floods, it won't reach anywhere. Why does I see the villagers so unlucky?" He is sallow and thin, could there be some hidden secret here?"

The old village chief hesitated to speak.

The man next to him looked Chen Chu up and down and couldn't help but said: "The Taoist priest is a monk and doesn't care about food, rice, oil and salt. I don't know that this is normal! In the prosperous age of Kangxi, people ate chaff and drank water. The officials in the county posted notices every day saying that it was a prosperous age. Anyway, our village I didn’t feel it.”

The old village chief was shocked: "Don't talk nonsense!"

The man seemed to have had a grudge for a long time. He pointed at Chen Chu and said: "The village chief is just a Taoist priest. Is it worth sending people to make secret visits to our poor village? Although we all make a living by farming and the harvests are not bad, but this is not easy. If the government raises taxes every year, if you can't pay, just pay in food!

After working hard for a year, the food I handed in was not enough to offset the tax. I now owe the government dozens of taels of silver. "

Another man next to the village chief also said: "Yeah, no matter how much you pay, it's not enough! The bucket used by the official to measure rice is said to be one bucket, but it can actually hold a lot, even two buckets and two and a half buckets! Who can bear this? Come on, plus the person doing the measuring keeps shaking back and forth and scattering the rice on the ground, even if it falls on the ground, it doesn't count...

This day is simply unbearable, what a fucking official!

The annual grain payment became half-yearly payment. We have never heard that the emperor said that he should pay half-yearly tax! One bucket contains two buckets of rice, and even if you still have to be exploited at all levels, in the end it will naturally not be enough, so everyone in our village owes taxes..."

The old village chief couldn't stand it anymore and hit the man hard with the cane in his hand. "I told you to talk nonsense, nonsense. We talk nonsense every day. We live a good life, so there is no need to feel uncomfortable!" He turned to look at Chen Chu: "These young people are ignorant and only listen to stories when they talk about things."

The two men were beaten by the village chief and did not dare to escape. They could only raise their hands to hold their vital parts.

Their behavior showed that Chen Chu didn't know the truth of the matter. The old village chief's reaction was just that he was afraid that he was from the government and would secretly report to them to put on their shoes.

Chen Chu didn't bother to explain. He was just a stranger. Sometimes the more he explained, the darker he got.

He smiled and said, "When I came with Master, I sat on a stone in front of a house in your village and got two bowls of water. Time has passed and I still remember the name of that house, but I forgot where it was."

The old village chief was stunned for a moment, and the panic in his heart subsided a little. Is he really just an ordinary wandering Taoist priest? But there was no Taoist priest driving a carriage or riding a horse. Anyway, the Taoist priests he saw were all on foot.

"I wonder who you are talking about?"

"It's Zhang Dahe and Li A'nu."

"Ah, they..."

"What's wrong?"

The two names Chen Chu mentioned were the parents of Zhang Ergou recorded in He Ashui's diary.

The old village chief looked ugly, held it in for a long time, and finally said: "They are still there, but they are older... their physical condition and their brain are not working well... Forget it, I will take the Taoist priest to take a look."

Chen Chu used the prop "body" to change Zhang Ergou's appearance, restoring him to his normal skin color and appearance. He looked like a good-looking middle-aged man. Unfortunately, the wine vat on Zhang Ergou had complex ingredients and secrets. Affected by magic, the body props cannot change the shape of the wine vat...

The wine vat must be there.

There is really no way.

Chen Chu moved the wine vat to Zhang Ergou's back, making it look like he was carrying a big vat on his back. He thought about cutting it off with a sword, but Zhang Ergou's internal organs were all connected to the wine vat. If he cut it off, the person would be gone...

He asked the old village chief to get in the car and introduced Du Shiniang and Zhang Ergou. Du Shiniang honestly confessed that she was the little girl rescued from Hebo's sacrifice in Hejia Village. Zhang Ergou lied that he was a wine merchant, carrying good wine around and selling reputation. The old village chief would never think that someone had a wine vat growing on his body and just believe it.

On the way to Zhang Dahe's house, the old village chief sat upright in the middle of the carriage. He didn't dare to touch anything, because the carriage was very delicate and he couldn't afford to pay for anything broken...

Chen Chu couldn't laugh or cry, but he understood him.

Not long after, Zhang Dahe's house arrived. The old village chief jumped out of the carriage with an expression of relief on his face. At the same time, he felt a little nostalgic for the short carriage ride just now. He quickly calmed down. He was old and dying, so he could have a novel experience. It's enough...

Next to where the carriage stopped, there was a house made of rubble, with homemade mud tiles on the roof, which were rough and had broken marks everywhere.

The old village chief asked Chen Chu to wait a moment.

He stepped forward and knocked on the door hard and shouted: "Old Zhang, Old Zhang, someone is here to see you!"

I knocked on the door for a long time but no one responded.

He said with some embarrassment: "An accident happened in Dahe's family thirty years ago. Dahe's mother-in-law can no longer work normally, and she can only rely on Dahe to support three people. He already owes a lot of money and is paying taxes every day. Working hard, I think he should be in the fields with his mother-in-law at this time..."

Du Shiniang asked doubtfully: "But, you just said that Dahe's wife can't work."

The village chief said sadly: "Yes, but this woman must be taken with her, otherwise Dahe will spend all his time looking for her whereabouts..."

Zhang Ergou suddenly asked: "There are only two people in this couple, how can they get the tax from three people?"

The old village chief said: "The official said that their missing son is also included. Who knows if he is hiding secretly to avoid taxes?"