In Xujia Village, Jiang Zhi was extremely busy, as the rapeseed in the village was ripe.

In spring, the fields were still golden, but now the bean pods are plump and ready for harvest.

Nowadays, work is still recorded in work points. Whoever does more work earns money, and those who do more farm work are paid. Jiangzhi naturally needs the help of the villagers.

To prevent the bean pods from bursting open, pick them in the morning while they are still wet with dew.

The women, holding sickles, cut the tops of the mature, drooping rapeseed, stems and all, and then tied them into small bundles to hang up and dry.

The lower stalks of the rapeseed also need to be pulled out and laid out to dry completely.

Dried rapeseed stalks are very light and easy to burn, making them excellent kindling.

The harvested rapeseed, along with its stems and leaves, is dried in the sun until the pods turn brown. Then, it is placed on a large bamboo mat and beaten with a flail to remove the pods.

As the wooden flail flew, the long pods burst open, and the small black seeds inside fell onto the bamboo mat below.

After removing the stalks and pods, you'll find shiny black rapeseed underneath. Dry it and send it to the oil mill, where you'll find pure, fragrant rapeseed oil in your wok.

The April sun is already scorching hot, and the pods are easiest to thresh when harvested under the intense sun.

Harvesting rapeseed is the relatively easy of all the farm work, and all the women are eager to do it.

Qin used a large basket taller than a person to fill the pods, and she was drenched in sweat in the sun.

Under the shade of the tree, Li Laoshi blinked: Jiang's sister-in-law is right, Qin really is diligent.

She's at least more diligent than me; no wonder Sister Jiang always brings up Qin Shi to scold me.

There's always farm work to be done. After harvesting the rapeseed, it's time to cut the wheat, and then the fields need to be plowed and the next crop planted.

In paddy fields, water is released to plant rice seedlings; in dry land, cotton and peanuts are grown.

In more fields, sweet potatoes need to be planted in furrows, and after the sweet potatoes are harvested in late autumn, winter wheat will be planted.

In the middle of it all is weeds that can never be stopped. We weed in the rapeseed fields, wheat fields, peanut fields, paddy fields, and sweet potato fields, and weeding them all without making a sound!

In Ba County, where summers are not scorching and winters are not bitterly cold, agricultural work continues year-round from spring to winter.

When Wang Xiaoju and her husband returned, it was the busy farming season. Their land had already been rented to her brother, but the village kept work points, so they could earn money by doing the work.

The couple already knew how to use their work points, and they could save them up so they could hire someone else to help them with chores later.

So when they got back, they didn't just sit idle; they immediately went to work in the fields.

Harvesting rapeseed and cutting wheat—these farm chores don't require instruction; you can learn them just by following along.

Xu Genbao helped carry the load. Wang Xiaoju had never done farm work before. She was afraid of cutting her hands while harvesting wheat, and her shoulders hurt when carrying wheat. She found threshing the wheat very interesting.

But when she tried to flip the flail over, the wooden pieces wouldn't turn, drawing laughter from the villagers. Furious, she dropped it and left.

He turned around and found Jiang Zhi, who was arranging things: "Aunt Jiang, I have something to tell you!"

Jiang Zhi was writing and drawing on the paper, not even looking up, and simply asked, "What is it?"

Wang Xiaoju said mysteriously, "A few days ago, a lady from the city came to us specifically to make quilts. But she kept asking you about your family, Uncle Maowan, and how your family was doing..."

Jiang Zhi put down her pen, her eyes shining brightly!

Wang Xiaoju was very excited. She had seen many stories about catching those who kept fox spirits in town: "I feel like she is Xiaotian's mother... Ah! No, she doesn't seem like Xiaotian's mother."

The woman was wearing a veil so her face couldn't be seen, but her voice was enchanting and her eyes were beautiful.

At first, I thought she was trying to seduce Genbao, but the woman said her children were about the same age as us, and she was just an acquaintance who wanted to ask!

"Aunt Jiang, do you think she might be Xiao Tian's..."

"Smack!"

Jiang Zhi slammed down her pen, ink splattering everywhere, and snorted coldly: "Whether she's a demon or a fox, I'll drag her out and question her. How do you expect me to settle this score by abandoning a child and going off on my own?"