In the afternoon, Wei Yuyan was threshing grain in the yard wearing a veiled hat when Sister-in-law Xiuhua and Sister-in-law Zhang came over.

"Sister-in-law, we've come to help you."

Both of them were also holding flails.

"Oh dear, my two sisters-in-law really make me feel so embarrassed, helping me with this and that."

Wei Yuyan sat down to rest for a while, and then remembered the pot of mung bean paste in the well.

"Oh well, there's nothing much to do at home."

Xiuhua's sister-in-law also wore a hat to shield herself from the sun.

"Come on, have a bowl of mung bean soup before you go back to work. Xiao Lei, come out and deliver the mung bean soup to the fields."

Wei Yuyan hung the mung bean soup up, split it in two, and put one half at home so everyone could have some together.

Xiao Lei took half of it to the paddy field for his two older brothers to drink.

"You're here, sister-in-law."

Xiao Lei was playing with the puppy inside when he heard Wei Yuyan call him, so he put on his straw hat and came out.

"Have a drink before you go, come on."

Wei Yuyan poured half a bowl of mung bean paste for everyone, and they tasted it; it had rock sugar added, and it was especially sweet.

"It tastes really good."

Qianqian sipped it slowly.

For the rest of the afternoon, the men were busy in the fields, while the women were busy at home.

Knowing that her two sisters-in-law were going to town before dark, Wei Yuyan prepared the meal early.

I made ten meat patties with one pound of meat, and they were fried until they were fragrant and oily.

I also stir-fried eggs with water spinach stems, green beans and eggplant, and with the leftovers from lunch, it was another sumptuous meal.

"Oh my, you're back so early?"

Wei Yuyan had just finished preparing the food when she saw them leading the cow back.

"Yes, with Xiao Lei helping us, how could it not be fast? The plowing is done, and we can start transplanting rice seedlings tomorrow morning."

After Li Fu finished speaking, he bolted the cow at the door.

"Here, a meat pie, have a taste. This is my first time making this meat pie, I don't know if it will taste good."

Wei Yuyan wrapped the meat in dough and fried it, resulting in a crispy exterior and tender interior.

I put one in each of their bowls.

"It smells so good! There's meat inside, no wonder it's so delicious."

Sister-in-law Xiuhua took a big bite and saw that it was all meat inside.

"Husband, don't eat it, save it for the children."

Sister-in-law Zhang called out to Brother Licai, who was about to take a bite of the meat pie, explaining that the children were at home and hadn't come over today.

"Oh, okay."

Li Cai nodded and handed the meat pie to his wife, who wrapped it up in a handkerchief.

"Brother Licai, sister-in-law, eat up, don't save any, I've fried some for the kids."

Really, I fried three extra. Take them all back with you later, for the two kids and Grandpa.

Wei Yuyan quickly called for a stop. If this were an ordinary worker helping her with her work, she definitely wouldn't have done it.

However, they were his partners who helped him manage the steamed bun shop, and the old man was also the father of the two older men.

It's just a meat pie; I can make it myself without any problem.

"How could we possibly accept that, sister-in-law? We're taking both food and gifts."

Sister-in-law Zhang looked a little embarrassed, but she was touched.

"What does it matter? You've done so much work for me, how can you not eat well?"

Wei Yuyan served rice to everyone as she spoke.

After they finished eating, Xiuhua's sister-in-law offered to help wash the dishes, but Wei Yuyan refused.

"Really, there's no need, Sister Xiuhua. You two should hurry back to town while it's still light out, otherwise it won't be safe later."

Wei Yuyan urged them to go at this time, saying they could reach the town by dusk.

"Yes, you guys go ahead, we won't see you off, otherwise it will be inconvenient to come back after dark."

Brother Li Cai urged him on.

"Okay, let's go before it gets dark."

The two women hurried towards the town; it would be troublesome if it got dark.

"Xiao Lei, you wash the dishes. Your sister-in-law can sort out these rice grains."

Wei Yuyan looked at the mess in the yard, half of the grains had been threshed and the other half hadn't.

After tidying it up a bit, move the threshed grains into the room.

After a busy day, Wei Yuyan felt a bit unwell, so she quickly tidied herself up and went to take a shower.

He also told the children to wash themselves clean because the thorns of the rice paddies could be very itchy.

Town~

Liu Cuifang, who ate steamed buns today, had an idea in her mind.

These steamed buns must be very profitable; previously, it was just Li Fu and his wife helping to sell them.

This time when I went to eat steamed buns, I saw that Li Cai's wife was also there, and that she had even opened a shop.

Why don't you try making and selling steamed buns yourself?

Liu Cuifang's mind began to wander.

The next morning, Wei Yuyan got up early and cooked a large pot of porridge.

Then they put half of it into the well to freeze, and started making scallion pancakes again.

"Xiao Lei, after you've finished eating, take these to the paddy fields."

While Wei Yuyan was still cooking porridge in the morning, her two older brothers had already come to the backyard to pull up rice seedlings.

"Okay~".

Xiao Lei picked up his bowl and drank the warm porridge, thinking about going to the fields later to help his two older brothers.

Wei Yuyan packed the porridge, along with two bowls and six scallion pancakes, into the vegetable basket.

Wei Yuyan was busy all morning. After having breakfast, she continued threshing the rice that she hadn't finished yesterday.

This was no easy task. An hour later, Wei Yuyan felt her hands were numb before she finally sat down to rest.

Qianqian also took a broom and helped sweep up the rice grains that had fallen to the side.

"Qianqian, take a rest too, I'm going to pick some vegetables."

Wei Yuyan started preparing lunch, so she went to the vegetable garden and picked peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, and water spinach.

To be honest, I'm already tired of eating the same dishes every day. Wei Yuyan glanced at the wild rabbits in the rabbit burrow and swallowed hard.

But thinking about how heartbroken Qianqian was, I had no choice but to give up and wait for another opportunity.

Yesterday, I noticed that the two older brothers of the Zhang family didn't have much of an appetite while eating. Wei Yuyan made eggs with pickled cowpeas for lunch.

Stir-fried water spinach stems with chili peppers, tomato and egg soup, and stir-fried water spinach on its own—just a few simple dishes served with chilled porridge.

"Sister-in-law, your scrambled eggs are delicious. They're perfect with porridge."

Brother Licai didn't eat lunch, but drank two large bowls of porridge and ate a lot of stir-fried eggs with pickled cowpeas.

"Thinking that it's hot and you don't have much of an appetite, these pickled green beans are very appetizing."

Wei Yuyan drank half a bowl of porridge and ate half a bowl of rice.

"Sister-in-law, we won't be having dinner at your house tonight. There's not much work left; we can finish it by mid-afternoon."

After finishing his meal, Brother Lifu put down his chopsticks and gave a final word of advice.

"I really don't have any good dishes here. If you don't come tonight, that's fine. Next time, I'll cook braised pig's trotters for you."

Wei Yuyan didn't insist on keeping them, mainly because there really wasn't much good food left at home.

"Then we're in for a treat! Alright, we'll head back now."

After the brother and sister finished eating, they got up, said goodbye, and went home.

In the afternoon, as usual, Wei Yuyan cooked mung bean soup and asked Xiao Lei to deliver it to her.

"Sister-in-law, Brother Lifu and Brother Licai have almost finished their work. They don't need my help anymore, so I'm coming back."