Peach and plum bloss

“Now that you’ve settled down, you’ll have to pay head tax, miscellaneous taxes, and perform corvée labor. Things are getting increasingly unstable these days. The government might call for conscription any time now. You’re young, strong, an orphan with no family ties – a perfect candidate for the draft. If anything happens to you, at least you won’t have to worry about funeral expenses!”,He gently pushed open the rickety wooden gate, made of pieces held together with twigs. Just as he was about to speak, he saw a thin, wiry old man with sparse whiskers and wearing patched-up shorts, sitting cross-legged in the courtyard. He skillfully mended a tattered fishing net with a shuttle.,One can only imagine how many times this elderly man, who needs a cane to walk, must have dived back and forth in the swirling waters of that river in order to retrieve those two objects.。