CHAPTER 164: CHAPTER 163: TAX INCREASE

Yu Xiaolian strolled back and forth in the supermarket, taking out anything she thought could be sold.

Candles, matches, acceptable, took out some.

White paper, good, took out a stack.

Needle and thread, handkerchiefs, socks, towels, fine.

Plates, bowls, dishes, fine.

Folded fans, bookmarks, small mirrors, insoles.

Rice, flour, oil, sauce, vinegar, tea, white sugar, brown sugar.

That’s right, you read that right, she’s not selling salt. In ancient times, not just any grocery store could sell salt.

In Great Liang, all salt resources belonged to the court. Anyone who wanted to trade salt needed the approval of the court’s salt industry department.

To buy salt here, you needed to go to shops specifically designated by government merchants, and the price of salt was more expensive than meat.

When Yu Xiaolian first arrived here, every time Sun Fengshou cooked wild vegetable soup, she only put a tiny bit of salt. The wild vegetable soup tasted only bitter, not salty at all, as if no salt was added.

The court not only controlled salt, but also controlled iron.

All mineral resources belonged to the court. Once a mineral site was discovered, the government would immediately send people to protect and supervise it.

After iron ore was mined, most were sent to government-run ironworks to be made into weapons and official iron products.

A small portion was sold to private ironworks, made into farm tools and handmade tools, but iron items made by civilians had to be priced by the government.

While civilian merchants were allowed to trade iron goods, they had to pay 30% income tax to the government.

Zheng Yuanfeng once told Yu Xiaolian that merchants who could trade salt and iron mostly had patrons in officialdom and could not be underestimated.

Without a permit to sell salt, Yu Xiaolian naturally dared not sell salt.

Selling illegal salt was a serious crime.

The items Yu Xiaolian picked were carefully selected, avoiding plastic products if possible.

If plastic caused unnecessary trouble, that would truly be a disaster.

The hair clips she took out were iron clips, adorned with cloth decorations. She didn’t dare take out any plastic hair accessories.

The small mirrors she picked were also the non-plastic type.

When Yu Xiaolian finished fussing between the space and the shop, it was already pitch dark.

Zhao Erya handed over peeled fruit candies with a smile, "These little ones peeled and ate, each enjoying themselves.

They said that next time there’s this kind of task, let me find them again!"

Yu Xiaolian smiled. As long as the little ones didn’t feel she was exploiting child labor, she didn’t mind them eating a few candies.

Then she asked, "Su Jingyue went to sleep in a room with Tiger?"

Zhao Erya nodded, "Yes, the two got along so well, insisted on sleeping in the same room. I just sent them next door."

"Then you rest early!"

The next day, Yu Xiaolian sent Su Jingyue and little Tiger to the academy together, and upon returning, saw that the bottles and jars she ordered finally arrived, so she eagerly pulled Zhao Erya and Sun Fengshou into the room to do the filling.

While they were busy, Yu Changhe and Sun Fengshou were also in a frenzy. More people were buying braised meat than yesterday, and although Yu Changhe could do the accounting, with so many people, he felt his brain was shutting down.

Even counting with his fingers, he couldn’t figure it out.

If the weight was whole pounds or whole ounces, Yu Changhe could calculate it right away, but how was it possible for all weights to be exact?

Sometimes with a few ounces of weight, he would be flummoxed, unable to figure it out.

Hence, he especially hoped his daughter could go out to do the accounting and collect money.

Thus, Yu Changhe went to drag Yu Xiaolian out to help with accounting and money collection.

Yu Xiaolian had to hurriedly stamp the sticky notes and leave the filling task to her mother and Zhao Erya.

While selling braised meat, occasionally people would enter the grocery shop too. Although Yu Xiaolian arranged most of the items yesterday, she hadn’t priced them yet, but she couldn’t turn away buyers who came to the door.

But one after another, several people came in; they all asked if the shop sold salt.

The shops selling salt had a sign with a salt seal at the entrance, but her shop didn’t have such a salt sign. Why did all these people come asking for salt?

Though salt was more expensive than meat, Yu Xiaolian dared not do anything illegal.

Though those people didn’t buy salt, they still bought rice and flour at Taotao Residence.

Just in one morning, Yu Xiaolian sold a hundred and ten pounds of rice and fifty-five pounds of white flour.

Even so, Yu Xiaolian didn’t find anything unusual.

Then two women entered together, one fat, one thin; the fat woman lowered her voice to ask if Yu Xiaolian’s shop had salt.

Yu Xiaolian was baffled; why were all these people wanting to buy salt? Could it be that the authorized shops were out of salt?

Or were these people sent by the authorized shops to check if her shop had illegal salt?

"No, my shop is a legitimate business, doesn’t sell illegal salt. To buy salt, go to the government shop in the east of the city!"

The two women exchanged a glance and sighed.

The fat woman said, "We better hurry to the east of the city; if we’re late, we might not get government salt."

The thin woman nodded, "Sigh, even if we get it now, it might not be yesterday’s price."

Yu Xiaolian suppressed her curiosity all morning, eventually asking outright.

"Ladies, you seem anxious to buy salt; does your household have none left?"

The fat woman sighed, "We still have a little at home, but not much. And now we think of stocking up, otherwise, it’ll be much more expensive in a few days."

Salt was already this expensive; would it increase even more?

The fat woman could tell Yu Xiaolian was unaware, "Your family runs a grocery shop, yet the news is so poorly informed.

Don’t you know the southern region is in turmoil? It has been chaotic in the south for more than a year. Our Great General Yu and the female general from Great Meng Country have been fighting viciously, you win one battle, I win one battle, without determining a victor, and it’ll be unclear how much longer they will fight.

What does war cost? It definitely costs money and grains; the more the treasury depletes, the more taxes increase.

I heard that just now, the tax increase edict has already been sent by express to Luocheng, and it’ll probably be posted soon.

For shops like yours, business taxes will surely rise.

With rising business taxes, will your shop’s rice, flour, and grain prices rise? They surely will, and if rice and flour prices rise, salt prices will definitely rise too.

Sigh, the salt tax has always been high; it’s bound to increase this time.

Which household wouldn’t stock up before the price hikes?"

The thin woman tugged at the fat woman to leave, "Let’s go, we still need to go to the west of the city. If we don’t leave, the edict will be posted and prices will rise."

This sister-in-law of hers liked to talk, chatting with a young girl for so long wasn’t a waste of time?

The fat woman stepped over the threshold, still saying, "My father-in-law works at the courier station; we have inside information; the tax increase is definite..."

Father-in-law working at the courier station?

Watching the fat woman get pulled away, Yu Xiaolian made a point to remember her appearance, thinking she might try contacting Su Jingchen through the fat woman’s father-in-law someday.