Lin Yonghua: "???"
He didn't understand, but he was deeply shaken!
After a long silence, Lin Yonghua finally asked slowly:
"Is the money in the accounting office not enough for you to withdraw? Why do you have to open the family vault to get money?"
Lin Yanluo replied as if it were only natural, "To pay taxes. We're almost halfway through the year, and our family hasn't paid any taxes, has it?"
Lin Yonghua seemed to understand. He smiled easily and said:
"So it's taxes. In previous years, counting commercial taxes like tolls and landing fees, we paid no more than a tenth of our total profits. We can pay up."
"Paying a tenth hurts a little, and we haven't paid taxes in the past few years, but what can you do? We've run into such a forceful county magistrate this year. Let's just think of it as paying for peace of mind."
As he spoke, Lin Yonghua took a brass key from his inner pocket and reached out to hand it to his daughter.
"Dad, what are you babbling about? What do you mean, less than a tenth? We have to pay ninety-four percent in taxes!"
"I'll first take enough money from the vault, then go to each member of our family one by one and collect the taxes they've failed to pay."
"If anyone dares think of hiding their income to evade taxes, I'll be the first to deal with them."
Lin Yanluo spoke as if she were discussing something perfectly ordinary, her tone utterly calm.
As she spoke, she snatched the vault key from her stunned father and turned to leave.
The ancestral hall fell silent in an instant.
Lin Yonghua held out his hand as if still offering the key, unable to lower it. He looked