Bizarre Cultivation: Starting from Being Beaten Up by Reality

Chapter 163 The future is uncertain

Why is it said that the first step towards obtaining an identity has been taken? Because the tax collector has already acknowledged the addition of a new member to the old man's family, and if things are handled properly, it's not impossible to create new identities for himself and his family.

Tax collectors are only concerned with collecting taxes, and the more people there are, the better. When this number of people conflicts with the county government's household registration, one side needs to compromise. Then, money is used to pave the way for appropriate operations, such as replacing newly deceased people or something else. In short, it is not impossible.

While Lin Fan was thinking about these things, it was already the turn of the people behind him. A father and daughter came up.

It's rare to see women paying taxes. It's not that there's some rule in the countryside that women can't show their faces in public; there are plenty of women who go to farm. It's just that in general, families that can afford men will send men, and since they're all sending men, a woman coming would seem very out of place.

It seems that there was really no one else available for this family.

In fact, Lin Fan noticed something else: although the land tax could be paid in either grain or silver (copper coins were not acceptable), in reality, everyone except Lin Fan paid in grain.

After paying the tax himself, Lin Fan knew very well that the tax collector said that the silver needed to be burned, so he had been charged several times more for nothing. Even if he was kicked a few times for paying grain, it was still more worthwhile to pay silver. Only someone like Lin Fan, who didn't care much about these small amounts of silver, didn't feel the pain.

Here, we must mention again Lin Fugui, who died in the past. He collected taxes and rents together, and he didn't hesitate to take even a penny. In other words, he used his own methods to protect his tenants from being harassed by tax officials.

Lin Fugui was indeed a complete scoundrel, but his leniency towards the villagers was undeniable. In fact, it was precisely this combination of leniency and strictness that allowed Lin Fan and the other tenants to be exploited by him without even realizing it, and without uttering a single complaint.

Pulling his thoughts away from his past, Lin Fan looked at the old man and his son. The old man seemed to want to leave, but his son stared intently at the father and daughter, refusing to go.

The father and daughter also brought grain, which they poured into the tax collector's dendrobium. Looking at the grain in the dendrobium, the tax collector frowned and couldn't help but say angrily, "What have you brought! It's all old rice and pebbles. If this goes into the granary, wouldn't one piece of excrement stain the whole bowl of porridge?"

The tax collector made a move to kick over the dendrobium, but then stopped himself. "Go away, go away, go to the side and clean the rice before you come back."

The old father quickly thanked him and went to retrieve the inferior rice from the dendrobium.

But the tax collector stopped them again, saying, "I see you didn't bring any extra grain. Once you've sorted through all this inferior rice, it won't be enough. You might as well stop wasting your time and just take it. Bring your land deeds and house deeds tomorrow to pay for it. If you don't have either, pack your things and go to the west to build fortifications!"

The elderly father and his daughter, who looked to be in her mid-twenties, didn't dare say much and began to retrieve their own rice.

After the tax collector finished speaking, he would put an X next to their names. Once the X was put on, even if they had collected enough rice the next day, they could not change it. They could only pay silver (house deeds and land deeds could also be sold directly for silver) or go directly to perform corvée labor.

That's how grain taxes were collected during the Great Qian Dynasty: everything had to be done today, so that tax officials wouldn't have to go through the trouble of traveling back and forth.

Just then, the old man's son next to Lin Fan stepped forward and stopped the tax collector's hand. "Sir, please wait. I'll make up the difference first. Please be lenient with your pen." As he spoke, he dropped his small bag of grain with his other hand.

The tax collector, displeased that his hand was being held, flung the old man's son's hand away and coldly said to him, "Fine, but if you're willing to lend it, you should ask them if they're willing to accept it."

The tax collector was extremely displeased today. First of all, he had to restrain himself from kicking the dendrobium. Was it something he couldn't kick? Every bit of grain he kicked was for him!

Secondly, this person in front of me only dared to challenge me because I had been too lenient.

The tax collector didn't hold back and said it directly, "It's because I've fed you too much that you think you can be bullied here, which is why you dare to act so cunningly here."

No one responded to that, so the tax collector went back to the original topic, "Young man, I know you've got your eye on that man's daughter, and you just want to use this bag of grain to get her to marry you off. But aren't your two families sworn enemies? Hey, old man over there, would you trade this bag of grain for your daughter?"

The old father remained silent, while his daughter kept tugging at his clothes, it was unclear whether she wanted him to agree or refuse.

Seeing this, Lin Fan was speechless. Sure enough, where there are people, there are grudges. Even after living like this for so long, these kinds of trivial matters are still inevitable.

How could this old father possibly admit in front of so many elders that he would sell his daughter for a little bit of food?

Seeing that his instigation had worked, the tax collector waved for the man to leave, saying, "You see? You want to borrow grain from others, but they don't appreciate it. Take the grain back and eat it yourself!"

The old man's son refused to give up and cupped his hands, saying, "I am giving this grain to his family voluntarily today, without asking for anything in return."

The old father remained silent, but his daughter couldn't help but step forward. "Thank you, brother. We can't just take your grain for nothing. Consider it a loan from you, and we'll definitely repay you with interest in the future."

The tax collector was already in a foul mood today, and seeing that his little tricks hadn't worked, he couldn't help but kick over the dendrobium next to him.

Startled again, he glanced at the sky and saw no lightning striking. Then, he glared at the group in front of him and said fiercely, "Didn't you see all these people waiting behind us? How long are you going to cause trouble? Look at this rotten rice in this bin; I wouldn't accept it even if you picked out the stones. Your bag of grain isn't enough either. Get the hell out of here!"

The old man's son was naturally unwilling to give up, so he stepped forward and grabbed the tax collector's hand, "Sir, if it's not enough, I'll go and get more. Please wait for me a moment."

The tax collector was now truly enraged. He shoved the old man's son aside and shouted to his men, "Hold this man down! He is attempting to obstruct tax collection. He must be given fifty lashes as a warning!"

The other two tax collectors indeed held him down and stripped off his clothes to reveal his back.

The leading tax collector was furious. He had learned all too well that he couldn't give these troublemakers the slightest bit of a friendly look. He hadn't kicked them a few times today, and now they were starting to take advantage of him.

He was about to swing the whip when his hand was held down.

"Who goes there!" the tax collector shouted, trying to break free from the man and give him another lash, but found the man's hands like iron clamps. He couldn't move his own hands either.

"Who are you! Pull this man away and whip him first!"

This person was Lin Fan. Whether you said he couldn't stand it anymore or his saintly heart was acting up, Lin Fan couldn't hold back any longer.

At the leader's command, the two tax collectors holding the old man's son tried to drag Lin Fan away, but even with both of them working together, they found that the man was as hard as an iron pillar and they couldn't move him. Two more tax collectors joined in, but they still couldn't move him.

"So you're the newest addition to that old man's family? Don't think I don't know you're just a vagrant. I'm letting you off the hook out of kindness, so don't be ungrateful. According to the laws of the Great Qian Dynasty, someone like you should have all your money confiscated and be exiled to the west to build fortifications."

Lin Fan really didn't know this. Wouldn't this allow him to go directly to the western border? But that was just a thought. If he were really exiled, all his possessions would definitely be taken away. Without these things to rely on, how would he escape from the army's supervisors?

Lin Fan didn't let go, but he didn't make any further moves either, and they remained locked in a stalemate.

The leading tax collector glanced at the dendrobium he had kicked over and his hand, which had been squeezed until it turned purple, and suddenly, as if struck by a sudden thought, he felt a pang of sympathy and asked, almost as if possessed, "Which direction did you come from? North? South? Or East?"

Lin Fan frowned and replied, "What's it to you?"

The tax collector visibly trembled as his hand was grasped, then his tone softened, "Let go of me, I won't whip you anymore."

Lin Fan was puzzled, but he still released the tax collector and then took out some loose silver from his pocket. "Since there isn't enough grain, it's fine to just pay the silver for them."

“Alright.” The tax collector suddenly became more agreeable, took the silver with his purple hands, went back to weigh it, and returned most of it to Lin Fan.

Lin Fan held the silver, utterly puzzled. Had the fire loss not been factored in? How could the amount be so small?

Before the old man and his son could come up to thank Lin Fan, the sound of horses' hooves approached.

What is the reason for such a commotion here?

The two knights looked down at the crowd.

Lin Fan wanted to avoid them, but upon closer inspection, he realized they were acquaintances—two of the men who had tried to lasso him on the riverbank the previous night.

The knight clearly recognized Lin Fan, but looked away and pretended not to know him.

The tax collector recognized them as the Marquis's cavalrymen as soon as he saw their clothes, and quickly stepped forward and bowed, "My lords, it's nothing. I was just collecting taxes according to the law. We had a little argument earlier, but it's been resolved."

The two knights surveyed the scene and found no signs of a struggle. This wasn't their lord's fiefdom; they were merely on patrol to check for any escaped bandits. Although it was outside their jurisdiction, if someone did cause trouble, it wouldn't hurt to intervene.

Since there was nothing else to do, the two immediately decided to ride away.

After hesitating for a moment, they turned around and dismounted. They bowed to Lin Fan and said somewhat reluctantly, "Sir, our Marquis said that if you encounter him, you must pass on a message to him. If you have nothing to do, you are welcome to visit the Marquis's residence. The Marquis will always be happy to welcome you."

"What are we going to sweep to welcome you?" Lin Fan asked uncertainly.

The knight was bewildered by this strange question. He didn't understand what it meant either; he was just relaying the Marquis's original words. So he rephrased it as, "It probably means that the Marquis welcomes you, sir, to visit at any time."

"Oh, that's good, I understand." Lin Fan replied with relief.

The knight bowed to Lin Fan again, then turned to the tax collector over there, "Hey you over there, did you hear that? This is my lord's honored guest. Don't get any funny ideas."

After saying that, he left on his own.

The tax collector looked at Lin Fan: What kind of noble guest is this?

Despite his words, Lin Fan eventually got back all the silver he had given away.

Lin Fan sat on the bumpy oxcart, somewhat lost in thought, holding the bag of silver that had been returned.

The tax collector insisted on returning the silver to Lin Fan, even giving his name, and then shook hands with Lin Fan, saying he would definitely convey his greetings to the Marquis.

In short, everything here is both reasonable and a little inexplicable. However, Lin Fan decided not to think about the strange things about the Firecracker Immortal Lord. What does it have to do with him?

Let's return to the most important next step.

Actually, this trip was worthwhile. After witnessing the prowess of those two knights, Lin Fan realized something: Sun Ruolan's suggestion and Chen Ergou's suggestion were essentially the same thing, because to obtain a local identity, one couldn't avoid the Marquis.

Even though Lin Fan didn't know that this place wasn't the Marquis's fiefdom, it didn't prevent him from knowing that it was still under the influence of that person's power.

If he is ultimately hostile towards me, then no matter how hard I try to obtain an identity, it will all vanish in an instant.

If he truly has good intentions towards me, then there's no need to go to great lengths; a trip to the Marquis's residence will resolve the matter.

Judging from his and his subordinates' reactions on these two occasions, as well as the emotions received by the Soul-Suppressing Pearl, Lin Fan did not suspect that the other party had any ulterior motives or malicious intent.

Based on the above considerations, the matter became clear, and Lin Fan made his decision.

Go to southern Xinjiang.

Just kidding. After everything that's happened, why would Lin Fan believe someone who suddenly appears out of nowhere offering him unsolicited kindness? Until he understands the man's true intentions, Lin Fan will absolutely not believe him.

After returning, I shared my thoughts, and they were quickly approved unanimously.

Dr. Lei has always held this view.

Niu Dadan and his wife listened to Lin Fan completely.

Chen Ergou, Chen Ergou has no voting rights. If you don't want to follow, then don't.

So, after resting for a night, Lin Fan and his group set off.

After a day of smooth travel, they settled in a dilapidated temple.

"Ah, it's really not used to this. Come to think of it, this is the first time we've stayed in one place, and my brother hasn't been injured at all." Doctor Lei couldn't help but sigh, "Maybe we've really turned our luck around, and everything will go smoothly from now on."

Chen Ergou spoke up at an inopportune moment, "Doctor, don't forget, we escaped by fighting to the death with the bandits this time, so it was pretty much the same thing."

Dr. Lei pursed his lips. At this point, being attacked by bandits didn't seem so serious to him anymore. Dr. Lei belatedly realized he was afraid of lowering his standards.

Then Dr. Lei started snoring.

"I really envy the doctor. How carefree he must be. He's the oldest among us, yet he falls asleep the fastest." Chen Ergou wrapped himself in the hard cotton quilt in the drafty corner of the dilapidated temple.

The weather is already quite cold, and sleeping outdoors is actually very difficult to endure.

Lin Fan, who was actually the oldest person present, lay awake, unable to sleep. The journey ahead was clearly fraught with difficulties. They would have to bypass major roads, towns, and counties, avoid checkpoints, and plunge headlong into the snake-infested, insect- and rodent-infested southern Xinjiang.

Even the fact that the weather is getting colder can actually be considered an advantage.

Will everything go smoothly once we reach Southern Xinjiang? Lin Fan sometimes even felt that Kunlun was out of reach.

Lin Fan's eyelids trembled slightly, but he suddenly regained consciousness.

The moment I opened my eyes, a shoe sole flew straight at my face.

When?! Lin Fan was shocked. Although the dilapidated temple was drafty, it wasn't without a door. How did this person get in?!

Lin Fan stretched out his hands to block, but the dilapidated wooden wall behind him instantly collapsed, and Lin Fan was sent flying far away.