After marrying Hu Aimin, Yang Xiaogu quickly gave birth to a daughter and a son, and her family lived a pretty good life.

On the other end of the phone, Aunt Yang asked, "Wanwan, I heard about what happened at home. Your uncle told me. There are some parts I don't believe. Can you tell me what really happened?"

Yang Wanwan was speaking to her aunt across decades, carefully choosing her words, when her aunt said, "Your uncle said you were disrespectful to your eldest and second uncles, so he sent them to the police station. Bah! They have no shame, what's there to respect! Wanwan, tell your aunt what really happened, your aunt believes you."

A warm feeling welled up in Yang Wanwan's heart, and she briefly explained the whole story.

Aunt Yang interrupted several times, cursing: "I knew they weren't good people!" "They're the real ingrates!" "I told my third brother back then not to lend them money!"

By the time the aunt and niece had finished explaining the situation, Aunt Yang had been cursing for quite a while.

Aunt Yang concluded, "Wanwan, you did the right thing! If they do it again next time, just call me and I'll come back right away!"

As she spoke, a hint of sadness crept into Yang Xiaogu's voice. "Wanwan, I've been busy with some things at home lately and can't get away. I'll come back to see you when I'm done."

Yang Wanwan hung up the phone, wondering what was going on at her aunt's house as she walked back.

Halfway there, Cao Guihua came up to us, "Yang Wanwan, where's the pig's head meat you saved for me?"

This woman, even after all this trouble with her family, is still thinking about this cheap pig's head meat. Yang Wanwan didn't know what to say.

"Five yuan a pound, Auntie, you can buy as much as you want from my house."

Cao Guihua curled her lip, "We're all neighbors, who would renege on their debt? You sell it to me first, and your uncle will pay you later."

Yang Wanwan said, "That won't do, I need cash."

Cao Guihua exclaimed "Oh, oh, oh!" several times in surprise, and said sarcastically, "Yang Wanwan, I'm your aunt, so I have to teach you a lesson in manners. How can you treat your elders like this? I'm doing you a favor by buying things from you. Can't I just buy them on the street? I'm doing you a favor by doing you a favor!"

Yang Wanwan said calmly, "Then Auntie will go to the street to buy it."

"Oh dear! What kind of temper is this? I'm your aunt, is this how you treat your elders? You really haven't been raised properly by your parents..."

Suddenly, Yang Wanwan turned her head and looked at her with a half-smile: "Auntie, do you want to talk to my parents?"

Cao Guihua suddenly remembered what happened at Yang Wanwan's house that day, and a chill ran down her spine.

She couldn't say a word. After muttering for a while, she turned around and stormed off.

When Yang Wanwan was almost home, she ran into Yang Youneng.

This was the first time I had met Yang Youneng since school.

Since they weren't facing each other, Yang Wanwan didn't call out to him.

Normally, even though they were separated by a field ridge, Yang Wanwan would greet him.

Yang Wanwan walked away without looking to the side, while Yang Youneng smoked his cigarette, watching Yang Wanwan's retreating figure in the flickering light of the smoke, his eyes narrowed.

A few days later, it was time to harvest the late rice.

Yang Wanwan and her younger siblings each took two days off to harvest the crops together.

Harvesting late rice is much easier than harvesting early rice. Yang Wanwan and her two siblings harvested it with relative ease, without needing their grandparents' help.

The three siblings spread the last grain of rice on the drying ground, leaving Shangtao at home to dry the rice, while Yang Wanwan and Erye went to the paddy field to collect straw.

For farmers, rice straw has so many uses that it must be collected properly.

At this time, many families still used dried straw as mattresses. The dried straw cores were neatly and evenly laid on the bed, and a mat was laid on top of the straw, so they could sleep directly on the mat.

The straw core was clean, still carrying the scent of sunshine and the fresh fragrance of straw, making it soft and comfortable to sleep on. Once the straw core became firm and no longer soft, the old straw core was thrown away, and a new one was laid out.

Even more than a decade later, some families in the local rural areas still made their beds this way.

In addition, straw can be tied into ropes to bind and carry things. In the days before plastic bags were common, this method was both convenient and environmentally friendly.

Rice straw is also an essential "mattress" for livestock and poultry. Cowsheds, pigsties, chicken coops, and duck sheds are all lined with rice straw to separate manure from animals. When rice straw gets dirty, it can be dug up and used as fertilizer in rice paddies.

As for using rice straw as firewood, it is even more indispensable. There are few mountains and many flat areas in the area, so farmers on the flat areas mostly use rice straw as fuel.

Therefore, the people of Fuxing Reservoir Village cherish the rice straw produced from their paddy fields. Twenty years later, however, this rice straw will become a burden and be burned.

As Yang Wanwan marveled at the earth-shaking changes that would come to the future, she and Er Ye carried the waterlogged straw to the edge of the field.

After being dried in the sun for a few days, the straw can be bundled into bunches and then stacked in a certain place in the paddy field like building a tower. The stacks are usually two or three meters high, and can be pulled out when needed.

The straw was wet, so the two of them were covered in mud and water, and even their faces were dirty.

The sun was still very hot, and the two sisters worked silently. Suddenly, Er Ye exclaimed, "Hey, sister, look, it's Pan the mute's mother."

Liu Bamei walked down the road, holding an umbrella and carrying a basket.

The two sisters only looked away when Liu Bamei was out of sight.

"Sister, Pan the Mute's parents and younger siblings are really something else! Sigh! Isn't it all thanks to Pan the Mute supporting the whole family of five by himself? I don't know how Pan the Mute works, how he can work so fast."

Yang Wanwan smiled as she thought of the wild grass growing taller than a person in Pan Yaba's paddy field: "It's just a haphazard job, of course it won't be as meticulous as what we do at home."

“But his family has three mu of land. Shang Tao said that Pan the Mute has already harvested one and a half mu. My family has a total of two mu, and the three of us have just finished harvesting.”

This means that Pan the Mute was much more efficient at working by himself than the three of them combined.

Yang Wanwan was taken aback.

Pan the Mute works exceptionally fast, as Yang Wanwan had already witnessed in Shenzhen. However, as Er Ye said, there's a limit to how fast he can work, doing one thing at a time.

Isn't that right?

But Yang Wanwan didn't think too much about it.

When it got dark, Yang Wanwan was surprised to see Shang Tao squatting on the ground, sweating profusely as he gutted an eel. She learned that it was Pan the Mute who had brought it.

There were a good seven or eight pounds of eels and loaches!

Just as Er Ye said, Pan the Mute has to work, so where would he find the time to catch eels and loaches?

It's still only half full!