Chapter 1202: Chapter 1204: Unwilling to Pay Taxes_1
"You wretched woman, the minute I’m away from home, you start causing trouble, huh?" The newcomer was the widowed blacksmith, his face darkened by soot, tall and sturdy in build, with regular features that were not unattractive, except for the harshness in his voice which turned menacing as he bellowed.
When he arrived, the chubby woman was astride Butler Li, pummeling him with her fists.
If this had happened at the Li Residence, there might have been someone to intervene, but out here, no one dared to step forward.
"You wretched woman, looking for a beating, huh?" As he stepped forward, he grabbed the chubby woman by the hair, and without a second word, slapped her across the face. Then he yanked her off Butler Li.
Seeing Yang Chuxia nearby, he guessed she was the one who had summoned his master earlier, and quickly added, "I’m sorry, my lady, truly sorry. This stinking wife of mine just lacks discipline. Please don’t take it to heart, I’ll make sure to teach her a good lesson when we get back."
"Whether you discipline her or not is up to you, but make sure to keep an eye on her. It’s not good for her to be running out and stopping people, especially asking about men’s affairs—that’s even more dangerous."
"Yes, yes, yes, I’ll make sure to keep this stinking wife of mine under control."
While apologizing, he dragged the chubby woman back home.
Once home, the first thing the blacksmith did was to beat the chubby woman, and then he locked her hands and feet with chains to prevent her from going out and causing more trouble.
His mother said that keeping her locked up was no solution.
They couldn’t keep her like that forever, right? She noticed that her daughter-in-law’s behavior was somewhat unusual. Could it be that her mind was damaged? Perhaps they should find a doctor to examine her.
The blacksmith was filial and heeded his mother’s advice, so he promptly went to fetch a doctor.
The doctor didn’t think much of it and arrived without hesitation. After taking her pulse, he found her to be in good health, with no significant issues.
It was the chubby woman’s maid who later said that her mistress had no physical ailments, it was just that she was born with a slow mind, and that was incurable. She often did odd things, which the maid heard was just like her mother, probably inherited. After hearing the maid’s words, the chains on the chubby woman were never removed again.
As for the chubby woman’s maid, she became entirely the blacksmith’s possession, while the chubby woman became a toy for the blacksmith to play with and beat when he was drunk.
Yang Chuxia had thought about teaching her a lesson for coveting Brother An, but when she heard about her condition, she suddenly felt there was no need. In Mianyang dialect, the woman was simply a natural-born simpleton; arguing with her was completely pointless.
Wosuo specifically refers to someone who might be labeled as insane, but from a medical standpoint does not qualify as having a mental disorder, yet whose behavior and actions are unlike those of normal people.
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Meanwhile, Yang Chuxia and Ye Er hurried out of town after the chubby woman was taken away, riding their horses at full gallop once they reached the city outskirts.
It turned out that a problem had arisen in one of the villages under the jurisdiction of Yanghe Town near Yanghe Town.
The late rice in the vicinity of Mianyang had just been harvested, and it was now the time for tax collection. Mianyang’s taxes were usually collected by the village Land Officers in one go and then submitted to the county yamen. By now, most of the tax had been turned in, with only two villages under Yanghe Town still owing theirs. Therefore, Ye Si, who was temporarily acting as the Principal Clerk, had sent people to urge payment several times but to no avail.
So, they dispatched officials from the yamen to collect the taxes in person, only for those officials to be driven out by the villagers.
Obviously, it was an outright refusal to pay taxes. Ye Si decided to go down personally to see what the matter was. If it truly was a refusal to pay taxes, he planned to arrest a few villagers to make an example of them. However, he hadn’t anticipated that these villagers were not afraid of confrontation.