Manbao collected two carts of rent, along with a large bag of copper coins. There was no choice; grain was expensive now. So Patriarch Xia took a bit of a different approach with the rent this year, exchanging it for copper coins at the previous year's grain prices.
The problem is, how would Manbao know what last year's grain prices were?
Naturally, it's whatever Patriarch Xia says it is.
Manbao could certainly inquire; a trip to the County Governmental Office to check the grain warehouse revenues from that year could give her a good idea of the prices. However, she really didn't want to bother with this matter. She glanced at the copper coins collected by the guards and generously stated that the matter was settled.
Old Zhou's eyes were fixed entirely on the large sack of copper coins. He reached out, pulled out a string of coins, and hugged it to inspect. Amazed, he said, "How did they manage to stash so many copper coins?"
