Old Master Long looked at Morizheng and saw that he looked bad, he coughed lightly and said, "Brother Ma is talking about the rules of his ancestors, and it is reasonable. However, what Li Zheng said cannot be ignored. Those poor men with only one side of the family have no meal after eating, even if you don't have a no-face to rent, they can't pay it. It's not okay to force them to death, so it's better to give it a favor and avoid it."

"You can't help me!" Ma Mazi said with a dark face: "This is the rule of ancestors! It can't be broken! Sorry, I can't listen to you."

Morrie was lying on his face, "I can't bear to force the rent like this, so I'm going to waive all the tenants' rents this year. I'll immediately notify all the tenants of my family that all the rents this year are exempted."

Old Master Long also said embarrassedly: "That's not that much. Don't say it out loud. Let's see the situation first. I know that some farmers still have some food. If we say it, we won't charge a grain of rice. In short, as long as the farmers are in real difficulties at home, I will not collect it. However, if there is still food that can be paid for rent, it's still not exempted."

Ma Mazi also said: "That's right, Li Zheng, you can't do this. I want to collect rent. You want to exempt rent. What do you say about those mud legs? You will scold me behind your back!"

Morrie was saying lightly: "My mouth grows on others, I don't care what they say."

Old Master Long looked at Morizheng and smiled: "Lizheng, you are a famous rooster. You don't even give me two meals a day for the private school teacher, and you also have to bring your own food. Why are you so generous all of a sudden?"

Morri was shook his head and said, "It's not the same thing! Mr. Gu himself has rice fields for rent, so he doesn't have to take care of his food. Besides, it's not that my family hires a private school. But this time it's different. This time it's a disaster. If you still collect the rent, not only will it not be able to collect it, but it will also force those desperate people to make trouble! This is a taboo of the court! It's not a joke. If you make a fuss, it will take our lives if you don't do it well."

Old Master Long and Ma Mazi looked at each other and looked at Mori Zheng: "Li Zheng's words are very meaningful. Mori Zheng, we have been in love for many years. If you have anything, just say it. Don't beat around the bush. Let's discuss it."

Mori was nodding, looking at the maid serving at the door, and walked over and gave a wink. The maid walked away with tactfulness. Mori was closing the door, returning to the chair and sitting down, whispering: "Last time I had a meeting in the county town, the county magistrate said that some local officials and gentry, who were suffering from disasters, are still collecting rent and land taxes, forcing the victims to rebel. I heard that the traitor Huang Chao and others are like this. So, the court issued a special order to avoid such a thing again. We must explain it clearly to the local gentry and advise them not to go too far. There is no way. Now Huang Chao is so powerful, the main reason is that the victims respond one after another, and the court has a headache. I waive the rent, and I also consider this. Otherwise, how could I waive the charge?"

Old Master Long nodded: "So that's it."

Ma Mazi also scratched his head. He could not listen to Morizheng's words, but he could not ignore the county magistrate. After thinking about it, he said, "Otherwise, I won't be angry. You, Zheng, should not be so generous. The three of us have to advance and retreat together and not let people gossip. Let's follow Mr. Long's idea. For those tenants who really don't even have food, all our families are exempted from rent. For those tenants who still have some food but are far from enough food, we will reduce the rent together. Of course, for those tenants who already have too much food at home, don't be polite and take it as you like! How about it?"

Old Master Long nodded and looked at Morrison: "I think it's OK."

Morri was thinking for a while and said, "Okay, this is reasonable, it doesn't go against the words of the county magistrate. Then that's it."

After the statement was made, Mori was sending away the two of them, and packing up his own things, and taking the two servants down the mountain to the county town to report the disaster.

Old Master Long returned home. Old Master Long’s home is the largest in the entire village, larger than the stilt house of Mori Zheng’s family. Although their family is also a stilt house, it is larger than the stilt house of Mori Zheng’s family. Moreover, his yard is not a bamboo fence like Mori Zheng’s, but a real big mansion with red walls and green tiles. However, the main building in the yard is this huge stilt house. His family has more workers, guards and servants than Mori Zheng’s family.

When he entered the house, everyone in the family was talking about the locust plague yesterday and talking about the rent. Seeing that he came back, he came to meet him, his wife twisted her fat buttocks and shouted in a sharp voice: "Master! What should I do about this locust plague? Should we collect the rent of our land?"

Old Master Long didn't say anything and looked at her.

Seeing him like this, his children and daughter-in-law all started to yell: "If so many land taxes are exempted, then our family will suffer a great loss!"

Old Master Long looked at them, smiled, and said to his eldest son Long Biao: "You, take your servants and collect the rent immediately! You must search me thoroughly. As long as there is food, collect it as rent immediately! If there is indeed no grain of food and there is nothing valuable at home, forget it, just tell them that their rent will be exempted this year. Do you understand?"

Old Master Long’s eldest son was Long Biao. After hearing this, he showed a grim smile on his lips and nodded: “Don’t worry, Father, I know what to do!”

After saying that, he was about to leave, but was stopped by Old Master Long and asked him to come over. Then he whispered in his ear: "I really have no money and grain to pay the rent. My wife and daughter are still pleasing to see it. I caught it to pay off the debt. When the time comes, I can sell it to the kiln in the city and get some money back!"

"clear!"

Long Biao, with a few servants who are like wolves and tigers, a ferocious wolf dog and a tentman, began to collect rent in the village.

Except for more than ten families with slightly thin fields that plant their own fields, the other 80 families all rented the fields of Morizheng, Old Master Long and Ma Mazi respectively. This accounted for 70% of the rice fields of the entire village! In other words, 70% of the farmers were tenants of their three families. The real self-cultivated farmers were less than 30%.

Long Biao collected rent from house to house, and the first one was Sanzhuzi's family, which was the neighbor of the Luo family, who had broken his legs with water.

—————————————————

The people from Sanzhuzi's family had just returned from the rice fields, and the rice fields of the old master Dielong's house were all entangled by locusts. The whole family cried so hard that they hugged each other. Finally, they were tired of crying, so they walked into the village.

When he arrived at the entrance of the village, Sanzhuzi saw Gu Yezhou and Ning Sanmei standing there. He suddenly remembered that Gu Yezhou shouted wildly yesterday and asked them to rush to harvest rice, but no one listened, and there were still people standing here to laugh at him. But now, the rice in other people's rice fields has been harvested, and no losses have been suffered. He has become the excitement of watching the people like him. He regretted it so much that his intestines turned blue. Now when he saw Gu Yezhou, he regretted it even more.

Ning Sanmei said to Sanzhuzi: "You guys, I watched the fun at the entrance of the village yesterday and said sarcastic words. Why don't you say it now? You also said that the gentleman was crazy, what about now?"

Sanzhuzi was very regretful and ashamed, but now she was damaged by Ning Sanmei, and she couldn't help but become angry and blushed and roared: "What's wrong? What's wrong? Seeing that our rice was eaten up by locusts, are you happy? Are you happy? Are you looking forward to the whole village starving to death, and only your family will eat rice? - Eat it, eat it! You'll be full of your whole family!"

Ning Sanmei was so angry that her body trembled and blushed, pointing at him and said, "Sanzhuzi, what are you saying? I just said that you didn't listen to your husband yesterday and had the result now. How did you curse my family? Why are you crazy?"

"I'm going crazy! I just want to go crazy! I just don't listen to my husband! What's wrong with a bullshit scholar? Can you predict the future? Can you calculate it or what's wrong? I just don't listen! I'm happy to give rice to locusts to eat, what's wrong? If you don't accept it, eat my eggs!"

Looking at Sanzhuzi's red eyes without words and his face was distorted due to excitement and scolding, Ning Sanmei was a little scared, but she was so angry that she had to say something else, but was stopped by Gu Yezhou and slowly shook her head at him.

Gu Yezhou, who studied medicine, naturally knew Sanzhuzi's mentality now. He transferred the regret and anger and despair of all the rice eaten by locusts to Ning Sanmei and took her anger on her. At this time, it is not advisable to argue with him, otherwise even more ugly words can be said.

Yesterday, because she did not listen to Gu Yezhou's words, it almost caused a disaster. Ning Sanmei felt very guilty and also felt lucky. So she obeyed Gu Yezhou's words. Now she didn't let her say it anymore. Although she felt aggrieved, she still nodded and obedient and stopped talking.

Seeing that Ning Sanmei didn't say anything, Sanzhuzi lowered her head and walked by with no fun. Sanzhuzi's wife was named Shuize, and she was also a person who was not allowed to let people go. She didn't look at Ning Sanmei. When she walked by her, she suddenly spat a mouthful of thick phlegm at her. Fortunately, Gu Yezhou quickly looked at Ning Sanmei and pulled her away, but she didn't vomit on her body.

"What are you doing..." Ning Sanmei was about to curse, but when she saw Gu Yezhou shaking her head, she had to blush and not speak.

After their family left, Ning Sanmei asked Gu Yezhou with red eyes aggrievedly: "Sir, why don't you let me argue with them?"

"Their crops have been eaten by locusts, and I feel very sad. But we have harvested them all, so they are naturally envious and jealous. If you blame them, they will use the opportunity to argue with you. What is the benefit of this kind of scolding? They are already very sad, so don't argue with them anymore."

Ning Sanmei thought about it, and then she was relieved.

———————————————

PS: Today, the unit party was called a tea party, but there were only paper cups with some tea leaves, and there was no hot water. The table was empty, there were no melon seeds, peanuts and candy drinks, let alone the sumptuous banquets in previous years. Alas, it was pitiful.
Chapter completed!