So-called Love
When Irena and Lin Chucheng arrived at the property of the previous family they reached out to, they questioned whether they were doing the right thing or not. When they arrived at this small villa, on the contrary, it got on their nerves, since the owner dodged their taxes. Lin Chucheng couldn’t help feeling relieved at the sight of the small, yet magnificent, villa, as he wouldn’t need to feel bad about asking for taxes. Such a wealthy family couldn’t convince anyone they couldn’t pay their taxes. Suppose they really couldn’t, they could sell their property.
Irena scanned the property, then went and knocked on the door. Lin Chucheng followed behind her and checked out the vacant space of land between the outer wall and the property itself.
“The flowers look nice. It seems the owner must like flowers seeing as they’ve nigh littered the property with flowers,” remarked Lin Chucheng, without thinking too hard.
Although it sounded like a useless statement, it caught Irena’s attention. “It seems so… To raise pets, a household would need to be financially sound. The similar concept applies to flowers, except that it means they needed the luxury of time to be taking care of the flowers. One couldn’t raise so many flowers that were growing in a place they weren’t meant to if they were hung up over living necessities. If the family likes flowers, that means they haven’t given up on hope in life. It proves that life is relaxing for them if I were to guess. We just need to clear up the situation, then.”
A bright granny opened the door for them, her grey hair neatly done up into a bun, her clothes worth a decent sum, not to mention her jade bracelet on her wrist.
Irena bowed: “Hello, Ma’am. I am Irena, a tax officer, from the tax bureau. I assume you are aware that you owe two quarters worth of tax at this stage. If you do not pay your taxes for a third quarter, we will be forced to confiscate your assets. As such, I wish that you can pay before we must take that stab.”
“Huh?” asked the granny, looking confounded. “Sorry, I do not know anything about this. What is this about? Doesn’t my husband pay taxes every quarter? I saw lots of tax officers there.”
“Ah, that was for business taxes that your company needed to pay. We are referring to your household taxes. They are two separate matters. We think this is a misunderstanding. I will explain it to you. The tax bureau should have sent you letters. Did you not receive them?”
“Ah, I apologise. It might have been mixed in with unwanted sales letters, so I might have accidentally thrown them out.” The granny moved aside and smiled: “Come in. What do I need to pay? Come in, come in. Don’t be shy.”
Irina and Lin Chucheng entered the house. Lin Chucheng wasn’t needed for the remainder of the job. Lin Chucheng didn’t understand a thing that Irena and the granny said, but the granny nodded non-stop. He, therefore, assumed that the granny should’ve gradually understood what was going on, meaning the problem was solved.
The household definitely had the means to pay their taxes. They just didn’t receive the letters from the tax bureau. Hence, they didn’t understand the problem. The job seemed simple enough.
“Uhm, I understand what you mean. I’ll make sure to pay the outstanding sum,” conveyed the granny, nodding. “But we do not have much money at the moment…”
“There is no rush. Since you understand the problem, you just need to fill out this form. We do not have to collect the sum from you today. We just need to clarify it with you. Please submit this form to the tax bureau within a week and everything will be fine. Sorry to have disturbed you.”
The granny put the form away. Irena got up and bowed again. Then, she dragged Lin Chucheng out. Lin Chucheng exhaled a breath of relief, thankful they didn’t need to deal with anyone unreasonable or be ruthless.
How nice would it have been if the previous job was this simple. This must be what normal jobs are like for tax officers.
“So… is our job finished?”
Irena nodded: “Yes. That’s all we needed to do. We just need to wait for the granny to pay her taxes now. This is out of our hands at this point.”
“Will she really pay?”
“Why not? Shouldn’t it be every citizen’s job to pay their taxes? If they don’t, what right do they have to live and do business in the imperial capital? She’ll definitely pay, so we don’t need to worry.”
“Yeah.”
Lin Chucheng mulled it for a while and reached the same conclusion. The granny didn’t purposely delay payments; she just forgot. It was all a misunderstanding that had been cleared. They just had to wait for her to pay her taxes, which she could afford. In conclusion, the job was a straightforward one.
***
The granny took out the form and threw it straight into the fire once the two departed and then mashed it so that it was completely erased as with the previous letter. She didn’t want to give her husband any more problems because knew how hard living was. All they were able to do was avoid bankruptcy. Their company was incapable of providing them with the income to pay their taxes; however, she had to ensure her husband’s life was decent. He was too tired already. She couldn’t add to his troubles for she loved him as she always did.
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