The Beautiful Brother of the Orion’s Family (Wearing Book)- 8

 

| TBBOTOF | 8

After unraveling the thread, Tang Xu went up the mountain to check the trap he had set. He found that nothing had been caught in the trap he made, but there were traces of it being used. 

He squatted down and looked inside, noticing fresh bloodstains on the spikes.

He couldn't help but feel envious. At the very least, someone had caught a fat rabbit.

Recently, it had been raining at night, and wild vegetables and mushrooms were growing wildly on the mountain. With the tempting promise of delicious food mentioned by Tang Xu, Tang Li and Tang Yang were happy going up the mountain. 

However, they didn't dare to go too far and only stayed around the outskirts. They picked quite a lot of mushrooms for picnics, and each time they could bring back half a basket of firewood.

Nowadays, the taste of the food cooked in every household was relatively simple, with less meat consumed. The mushroom sauce was delicious and refreshing. Even though Liu Xiangxiang couldn't stand Tang Xu, she couldn't help but admit that the sauce tasted excellent.

"Make more for your eldest brother. When he comes back next time, let him take it to the county school to eat," Liu Xiangxiang said to Tang Xu.

Tang Rui was studying at the county school. He usually came back every three months or so. 

According to the timing, the next time he would return would be around the time of the autumn harvest. Tang Xu remembered that there was a farming break for the students during the summer, but he wasn't sure about the specific dates.

Tang Xu shook his head. Before Liu Xiangxiang started scolding him, he said, "To preserve this mushroom sauce for a long time, it needs more oil and salt. Since you're unwilling to let me use oil, it definitely won't last until Tang Rui comes back for his farming break. It'll spoil earlier, especially with the hot and rainy weather. By then, let Tang Li and Tang Yang go up the mountain again to pick mushrooms and make it."

Liu Xiangxiang agreed repeatedly, "Yes, yes, we can't let Ah Rui eat spoiled food. If he gets a stomachache, it'll affect his studies. You can make it again after he comes back, and make more for him to take away."

Tang Xu nodded in agreement, thinking to himself that someone who had money and could eat well in the county might not necessarily appreciate a jar of mushroom sauce. 

In the kingdom of the Great Xia Dynasty, land was allocated based on the number of people in the family. 

From birth, men were entitled to five mu of irrigated land and five mu of dry land, while women and younger brothers were only entitled to five mu of dry land without any irrigated land. Upon marriage or death, the land would be reclaimed. 

There were also ancestral lands passed down from generation to generation, which were lands bought with silver by wealthy people during the early days of the Great Xia Dynasty's founding. 

These lands would not be reclaimed upon death, but such privileges were no longer available. Even if you had money and bought more land to cultivate, there were still cultivation deadlines.

Tang Xu nodded in agreement, thinking that someone who had money and could eat well in the county might not necessarily appreciate a jar of mushroom sauce.

In the Great Xia Dynasty Kingdom, land was distributed based on the number of people in a family from birth. Men were allocated five mu of irrigated land and five mu of dry land, while women and younger brothers received only five mu of dry land without irrigated land. Upon marriage or death, the land would be reclaimed. 

There were also ancestral lands passed down from generation to generation, which were lands bought with silver by wealthy people during the early days of the Great Xia Dynasty's founding. 

These lands would not be reclaimed upon death, but there were cultivation deadlines even for them.

Ancestral lands could be passed down from generation to generation for cultivation, but purchased lands could only be cultivated for thirty years. After thirty years, regardless of whether the owner was still alive, the land would be reclaimed. If one wanted to continue cultivating, they had to purchase it again, with the minimum extension period being ten years.

Ancestral lands could be bought and sold, but other lands could not be traded privately. Anyone caught doing so would be sentenced to prison.

This was the current policy of the Great Xia Dynasty, but whether it would change in the future was uncertain.

After Tang Erhu and his siblings had all started their own families, they divided the family property. Since the Tang family did not have ancestral lands, when they split up, each of the three brothers received their original land and some silver.

Their elderly parents were fair in this matter, considering that they had lived with Tang Dahu. Therefore, Tang Dahu received an extra two taels of silver. Even though it had been almost ten years since the division, Liu Xiangxiang would still complain about this whenever she remembered it.

After Tang Erhu and Liu Xiangxiang's children were born, their family now owned fifteen mu of irrigated land and thirty mu of dry land. According to the land tax rate of ten to four, each mu of land could produce about three to four hundred catties of grain. 

If they didn't have a scholar in the family, even though they couldn't afford lavish meals every day, their lives would still be better than now, where they hardly saw any meat or fish in ten days or half a month.

However, this was how most families in the village lived. Once they had some money, they wanted their children to go to school. They knew that getting an education and passing the exams could lead to a better future. 

Even if their children only became scholars, they could still receive a monthly stipend from the government office and be exempt from fifty mu of grain tax, which was better than nothing. 

Therefore, many farming families struggled to support at least one scholar, hoping that their children could go to a higher level of education.

Tang Xu thought about Tang Rui's education expenses and expenses for living in the county. 

Each year, Tang Rui's tuition was five taels, and he needed around ten taels for buying writing materials. The remaining five taels were for his expenses in the county, where life was more expensive compared to the rural area.

In a rural family of five, they couldn't even spend one tael of silver in a year. Moreover, because Liu Xiangxiang saved money to send their eldest son to school, they hadn't bought new clothes for three years.

Thinking about this, Tang Xu felt very unhappy.

If Tang Rui grew up as described in the novel, when he became twenty-five years old and passed the county-level exams, he would only achieve the rank of Xiucai. Not only that, because he was used to the prosperity of the county, he would spend money lavishly, even after returning to the village. He wouldn't even do farm work, let alone help with household chores. He truly was useless.

And he always dreamt of passing the exams. He was obsessed with studying. Whenever someone suggested he should stop studying, he would throw tantrums and behave recklessly.

After Tang Xu got married and had to support his useless husband and also be exploited by his eldest brother, life became unbearable.

But Tang Xu shook his head, trying to push away these negative thoughts. It was making him angrier the more he thought about it.

Tang Rui was twelve now, in his second year of studying in the county. Some things hadn't happened yet. Tang Xu felt like he should do something, at least to stop his younger brother from sucking blood out of him.

"Brother!" Tang Yang's voice interrupted his thoughts.

Tang Xu looked ahead and waved his hand as Tang Yang ran over, sweating profusely.

"Don't run too fast, you might fall," Tang Xu said, wiping the sweat off Tang Yang's forehead. He looked puzzled. "Didn't you go to the riverbank to catch fish with your friends?"

Tang Yang's eyes sparkled as he grabbed Tang Xu's hand and said, "Brother, I caught so many small shrimp, they're this long!"

He held up his fingers to indicate the size.

"Those are freshwater shrimp, they taste delicious when fried," Tang Xu thought about the savory taste, licked his lips, and looked down at him, "If you can convince Mom to take out the soybean oil pot from the cabinet, we'll have a delicious meal of fried freshwater shrimp tonight."

Tang Yang vigorously nodded, "I can do it! I know where Mom keeps the key to the cabinet!"

"Even though you know where it is, you can't go and take the key to open the cabinet by yourself," Tang Xu looked at him seriously, teaching him a lesson, "Even if you're taking something that belongs to your mother, if you do it without her consent, it's still considered stealing. Dad will definitely scold you. So you need to talk to Mom and get her permission."

Tang Yang's face fell, and he said sadly, "Mom definitely won't agree."

Tang Xu also nodded. Every day when he cooked, Liu Xiangxiang would watch closely how much oil he used. If he dared to pour too much oil, she would immediately take some out and scold him.

Even if he wasn't afraid of her scolding, he still wanted some peace and quiet.

"What should we do then?" Tang Yang licked his lips in anticipation. He wanted to eat fried freshwater shrimp, although he had never tried it before, he knew it would be delicious just by hearing about it.

Tang Xu smiled at him, with a hint of cunning in his smile.

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