314: Chapter 303: Late Arrival 314: Chapter 303: Late Arrival Old Master Bai ca to inspect the fields at dusk since he wasn’t too keen on going out when the sun was too harsh.
While the wheat of other estates had already been harvested, he only managed to attend to the fields near his ho today.
Walking along the ridge with hands clasped behind his back, he heard bursts of exclamations and cheers from children not far away.
He couldn’t help but look over curiously.
It was a wild field of about three to four parts in size, deed so because of the two trees and so stones on it.
The wild field naturally grew grass, and Old Master Bai was quite familiar with it, as he would always sit there when overseeing the spring planting and autumn harvest.
At that mont, seven or eight children were gathered there, and the plump little boy in the center looked extrely familiar.
Old Master Bai gestured for his followers to keep quiet and walked over with his hands still clasped behind his back.
As he drew closer, he found them setting up a net from the ground.
Soone was shoving a captured bird into a basket on the side.
Old Master Bai then rembered how they had been able to eat fresh-caught birds these past days.
Of course, he knew it was his youngest son who had caught them, and he felt quite proud.
After all, as he’d grown up, he had always been taking things out of the house, rarely bringing anything in.
Old Master Bai smiled, about to greet his son’s friends in a warm and friendly manner, when he saw the children had already set up the net, and his son turned around, bringing over a pile of wheat and began scattering it on the grass with gusto.
Old Master Bai paused, looking down at the ground and realizing there was already a layer of wheat heads on the grass—now with an additional layer scattered, it looked even more plentiful.
Manbao looked up at the sky, estimating the ti, and stood up from under the tree, saying, “Bai Er, let’s set the net one more ti and then we’ll go ho.
It’s getting late.”
Bai Er was reluctant, “It’s still early, why go back so soon?”
“It’s almost ti for dinner, and aren’t you going to do your howork?”
Bai Shanbao also gathered his books and stood up, saying, “You’ve had your howork marked as third class for three days in a row now.
If you don’t take it seriously, be careful that the teacher will complain to Uncle.”
Bai Er was sowhat displeased, “Why don’t you just copy your howork for earlier?”
“The content we learn in class isn’t the sa as yours, and neither is the howork, alright?”
“Then just give your old howork to copy.”
Old Master Bai was infuriated.
He looked around for a stick, and the steward who followed him was shocked, imdiately grabbing Old Master Bai and shouting, “Second Young Master!”
Bai Er turned his head and looked straight into his father’s rage-filled eyes.
He didn’t know what his father was angry about, but instinctively sensed trouble and bolted toward ho with a wail.
He knew that only his grandmother would be of help at such a ti.
Old Master Bai was fuming, desperately trying to break free from the steward’s grip, roaring, “Let go of !
I must whip this stinking brat to death today.
It would be one thing if he simply scattered the wheat like sand, but to neglect his schoolwork, that’s unacceptable!”
The steward pleaded repeatedly, “Master, hitting your son will only cause you heartache.
It’s just a bunch of wheat; our family doesn’t lack that bit of grain…”
Indeed, Old Master Bai was mainly upset that Bai Er didn’t take his howork seriously.
Manbao, however, thought the steward’s words were not right; in her eyes, wheat was far more important than howork.
But since Bai Er was her friend, she earnestly defended him, “Uncle Bai, we’re not wasting food at all.
We’ll pick up and put back the wheat heads after we’re done with the net.
Except for the grains eaten by the birds or accidentally dropped, we haven’t wasted a bit.”
Old Master Bai was actually looking at the books in their hands, nearly moved to tears, and he took the two children by the hand, saying, “If only he was half as sensible as you guys and knew to study hard, I wouldn’t mind if he scattered ten bundles of wheat every day.”
Manbao opened her mouth wide in genuine admiration, “Uncle Bai, you’re really generous.”
Much more so than her own father.
Old Master Bai’s anger ca swiftly and subsided just as quickly, mainly because Erlang wasn’t in front of him to provoke his fury.
He then turned his attention to the basket.
The children were all very smart and stopped catching birds.
They simply divided the birds in the basket and bundled up the scattered wheat ears before going ho.
As they had been caught by an adult, Old Master Bai received the most birds, Manbao and Bai Shanbao got five each, and the other friends each got four.
They knew that the wheat ears belonged to the Bai Erlang family, the net belonged to the Bai Shanbao family, and the idea for the ga ca from Manbao and Bai Shanbao.
Furthermore, it was indeed a very fun ga.
It was a pity that they might not have the chance to play it anymore.
Old Master Bai walked ho with a string of birds, planning to punish the child after dinner.
But they had only reached the entrance of the village when they heard the gong echoing in the village.
It was the sound of the village chief informing every household to gather under the big banyan tree at the village entrance after dinner for a eting.
Old Master Bai frowned and asked, “Has sothing happened in the village?”
Manbao had already run ho with the birds, and Bai Shanbao hurried after her, leaving no chance to answer Old Master Bai.
Manbao raced ho where Old Zhou and the others had also just returned from the fields; the whole family was in the courtyard, happily threshing beans.
“Dad, I heard the sound of the gong.”
Old Zhou glanced at the birds in her hand and after a hum of acknowledgnt, said, “The chief ca over just after the gong.
He ntioned that County Magistrate Fu has summoned representatives from each neighborhood to the town, announcing that this year’s tax exemption notice has been issued.”
Manbao sighed in relief and then puzzled, “We’ve known about this for nearly ten days now, why the late notice?”
Old Zhou took it in stride, “That’s because Mr.
Zhuang is well-inford, which gave our family a bit of an advantage.”
Manbao imdiately suggested, “Then dad, shouldn’t we kill a chicken tonight to celebrate?”
“Don’t even think about it, haven’t we already celebrated?” Old Zhou suddenly rembered sothing and nodded with a laugh, “Indeed, we should celebrate.
Tonight, we’ll cook the birds you brought back.
After all, it’s still at, and with a few more eggs, it’ll be quite a feast.”
Everyone: …
Now that Manbao knew the reason for the gong, Bai Shanbao also knew, and if Bai Shanbao knew, Old Master Bai would too.
Old Master Bai: …
He simply decided not to go ho.
He handed the string of birds to the steward to take ho and turned to find Mr.
Zhuang at the nearby schoolhouse.
He was sowhat displeased, “I’ve known about this for ten days, and the official docunts have been posted in the county for five or six days.
Yet only today has the decree reached the village.
What is County Magistrate Fu doing?”
Mr.
Zhuang smiled nonchalantly, “What does it matter what he’s doing?
The tax exemption has so of his rit as well, and the common people have indeed reaped real benefits, haven’t they?”
Old Master Bai snorted and after pondering for a mont, said, “I’ve heard that Lord Wei holds County Magistrate Fu in high regard, and Fu may soon be promoted.”
Mr.
Zhuang’s tea pouring gesture hesitated briefly, and he too beca sowhat apprehensive, “I wonder what kind of person the new county magistrate will be.”
In fact, unless they encountered particularly greedy and harsh officials, the people under a magistrate’s rule were the least inclined to welco a change.
A new magistrate’s first actions often didn’t affect the common folk, but there were always a few sparks that might land on them.
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