In late July, after the Ghost Festival, the scorching sun subsided a little. Walking along the fields, one could occasionally feel a comfortable breeze, just like the heavy, golden ears of rice in the fields, which made people happy.

This year, the villagers carefully cultivated the crops that had been carefully selected as good varieties, spread fertilizer several times in the middle, kept an eye on pests, and carefully cared for them until they matured, finally ushering in the harvest season.

The factory's fleet had delivered the first batch of goods and returned safely. With Qin Yao's voice of "It's done", the whole village began the lively autumn harvest.

It was really lively this time because most of the labor force was concentrated in the stationery factory. In order not to delay the autumn harvest, the villagers of Liujia Village, at Qin Yao's suggestion, invited the remaining refugees to help.

While the wages are cheap, it also gives these refugees more opportunities to make money.

The influx of foreign population suddenly increased, with the flow of people more than double that of previous years.

At a glance in the village, one can see workers from the factory, villagers from Huangque Town who are repairing the road, migrant workers harvesting rice in the fields, and ox carts and horse carriages on the road, all coming and going, as if it were a small town market.

This kind of noise lasted for more than half a month, until the autumn harvest came to an end and the hired temporary workers left, and then the country returned to its former tranquility.

During this period, the county magistrate visited all towns and villages to check on the autumn harvest this year.

I don't know whether it was intentional or not, but when I came to Liujia Village, I was very surprised to see the refugees from outside the village in the fields and on the roads getting the opportunity to support themselves.

Previously, he was still worried about the resettlement of these refugees who refused to return home. Now, when he arrived in Liujia Village, he saw that this was a ready-made solution.

Therefore, the first thing he did after returning to the yamen was to issue official documents to encourage the big landlords in each town to hire more refugees as short-term workers and take care of these poor people from other places.

Not only that, he also emphasized Liujia Village and encouraged everyone to learn from the people of Liujia Village, to open up the structure, build roads, bridges and houses. These are things that require manpower. If they are done, they can not only build the clan land at a low cost, but also provide these refugees with a chance to survive.

If this matter is really accomplished, it will not only ease the relationship between the people of the two places and solve the living difficulties of the refugees, but also the county magistrate will be able to add a beautiful chapter to his political achievements. It is a win-win situation.

But ideals are full and reality is skinny.

It's fine for other villages and towns to learn from Liujia Village and hire refugees as temporary workers, but forget about building bridges, roads, or houses. They don't have Liujia Village's stationery factory, and they have trouble feeding themselves.

The spring harvest was poor, and now everyone is in debt for grain. Fortunately, the autumn harvest was good, and the debts were paid and the grain taxes were paid, and there is still enough grain to last until next year.

Unlike other villages which are suffering from miserable harvest, Liujia Village can be said to have a bumper harvest this year.

Although the well-cultivated fields could not reach the 500 kilograms per acre that Qin Yao's family produced last year, the average yield was around 420 kilograms, which was 20 to 30 percent more grain than in previous years.

Even Liu Facai, who always spoke ill of Qin Yao's family behind their backs, gave Qin Yao a sincere smile of gratitude when he saw his own harvest.

Covering his face tightly with a cloth, Liu Ji sneered at him, turned around, and whispered to Qin Yao sitting on the ox cart: "My lady, don't believe him. This kind of person is the most hypocritical. He will curse you again when he turns around."

Qin Yao looked at him speechlessly and patted the empty seat beside her. Liu Ji immediately smiled and sat on the cart, driving the oxen and carrying the grain he had harvested back home.

It turned out that picking up Awang was the wisest decision!

The hard work of harvesting and threshing the rice ears was all done by Awang and the hired migrant workers.

He only needed to leisurely drive his family's ox cart to the field, load the threshed rice onto the cart, and take it home.

However, the sun was strong and it was still a bit hot. Liu Ji covered his face with a towel, then very attentively picked up the straw hat and covered Qin Yao's head with it, then smiled at her.

Qin Yao's mouth twitched slightly. She snatched the straw hat and put it on her head, thinking that Liu Laosan might have been cursed.

From the day he returned home, he has been like a fly, buzzing around her, and she can't get rid of him. It's so annoying!

In the past, when he was lazy and slack, she would just hit him.

But now, people were just circling around her, and they were very diligent. As soon as she thought of what she wanted, before she could even say it out loud, the thing she needed was already in front of her.

Looking at those eyes again, which seemed particularly enthusiastic when they were not doing anything weird, Qin Yao raised her hand and abruptly retracted it.

When they arrived at the door of her house, Liu Ji ordered the big blue ox to stop, jumped off the shaft of the cart first, went around to the other side, and stretched out his hand as if to help her get off the cart.

"Liu Ji, are you crazy?" Qin Yao slapped away the hand that was stretched out to her, pointed at the tip of his nose and warned: "You'd better stay away from me, or I'll beat you to death!"

Liu Ji gave a sly smile and moved his face forward, grabbing her hand and hitting his own face, "My lady, you hit me because you are happy with me. I have no regrets."

So a loud slap was immediately thrown on the handsome face that deserved a beating.

Liu Ji was caught off guard, screamed, covered his face and stepped back more than ten steps, bumping into the door panel, shocked, "My wife, you are really hitting me!"

Qin Yao: "I'll beat you if I want to. Do I have to choose a day? Get lost!"

"Okay!" Liu Ji, who knows how to adapt to changing circumstances, quickly rolled into the house.

On second thought, it seemed that I didn't have to work anymore. If my face wasn't still hurting, I would have laughed out loud right away.

Qin Yao shook her hands, wiped them on her clothes, and frowned in disdain, "What bad luck."

He unloaded the millet from the ox cart alone, poured it on the drying mat and spread it evenly with a wooden rake. He clapped his hands and continued to drive the ox cart to the field.

Before leaving, he shouted into the house, "Turn over the grain every half an hour!"

There was a response from inside the room, and Qin Yao left.

There was only one cartload of millet left. When she arrived at the field, Qin Yao parked the car on the side of the road, moved all the millet over and loaded it. She then took out her purse to pay the hired laborer and sent him away.

Awang, who found farm work enjoyment, returned home with a full load.

This year, we harvested a total of 3,520 kilograms of rice from eight acres of rice.

The village chief said that this year's grain tax is still one in fifteen, and after deducting 235 kilograms of grain tax, there are 3,285 kilograms of grain left.

After the millet is dried and shelled, its weight will be reduced by another 20%. Thanks to Qin Yao's big appetite, it is only enough for a family of seven to eat for a year.

However, rice husks can be processed into feed to feed the two livestock in the family, which is barely enough for the whole family.

On the ox cart, Awang asked expectantly, "Madam, there is so much bran at home, can I raise some chickens and ducks?"

Qin Yao looked at Awang in surprise and asked, "You're not tired enough from doing so much farm work now?"

Awang looked determined, "I'm not tired."

He just loves doing farm work!

He feeds the cows and horses, plants melons and beans, and goes to the fields to take care of the crops. Watching the cows and horses grow stronger and stronger, and the vegetable seedlings grow taller and taller, makes him feel at peace.

Qin Yao was choked by Awang's pure and satisfied look. It turned out that people are very different from each other.

She was fed up with these tedious and endless farm chores.

"Okay, go ahead and raise one if you want. But I have a request. It can't stink to me and it has to be kept clean." Qin Yao said it first.

Awang nodded as if he had received some generous reward. Although he didn't smile, his head shook back and forth unconsciously, and it was easy to feel his happiness.

Qin Yao shook her head in amusement and suddenly thought he was quite cute.

Except when killing people! (End of this chapter)