Ideals and Youth: I Too Had a Youth (Part 7)...

The system initially thought Ye Xiqing was just acting out of spite by grabbing the homestead, and that she definitely wouldn't be able to stay in the village. However, it didn't expect her to integrate into rural life so smoothly.

Ye Xiqing is very lazy when it comes to work. Fortunately, she lives alone, and no one is in a hurry to produce results, so she is not in a hurry and her work is not in a hurry.

This year's main goal is to get the garden ready. Whether the vegetables are good or not doesn't matter. We don't need a KPI for vegetables. We can take our time and work on the garden carefully.

Once the "white soil" in the yard had all turned into "black soil," Ye Xiqing stood with her hands on her hips, full of pride. She was quite capable of doing the work!

Wu Guiyun was overjoyed; she had made such a wonderful garden that even the daylilies were getting cold.

Farming is what rural people are best at and most proud of. Seeing her skill in doing the work, I couldn't help but keep giving her guidance.

"We only have a little time left, let's plant some spinach and scallions."

Ye Xiqing had already given up on planting them and would wait until next year. Listening to her, I turned back and asked, "Can we still plant them in time?"

Wu Guiyun said matter-of-factly, "It doesn't matter if we can't catch up. Even if the vegetables are frozen, the roots won't freeze. Once they thaw next year, we can eat spring vegetables."

Ye Xiqing suddenly realized: "So that's how it is. You know so much."

Wu Guiyun immediately laughed. This was why she enjoyed spending time with Ye Xiqing. She patted her bottom and got up, saying, "We still have some spinach seeds left at home. I'll get them for you!"

That's the good thing about rural areas; everything is shared, and there's always someone willing to help you for no reason.

Wu Guiyun helped her sow spinach seeds and plant scallions, making good use of the last piece of land.

Seeing all the land planted with the vegetables that should be planted, it felt incredibly satisfying; farming is actually quite enjoyable.

However, this happiness soon faded. No one was rushing me to grow vegetables in the garden, so I could do it at my own pace, but I couldn't leisurely harvest the corn.

The village relies entirely on the harvest from the fields. Once the corn is ripe, there's no room for error; it must all be harvested before the first frost.

Corn is easier to harvest than other crops, but in this era where transportation is done by handcart, nothing is truly easy to harvest.

Although Ye Xiqing only has two acres of land, which is right in front of her house, she has to harvest it all by herself. It's going to drive her crazy.

So she smoothly joined the Cheng family's autumn harvest team, harvesting with everyone and taking back her two acres of land as well.

The collective corn harvesting was just like an assembly line operation.

In front, someone was going into the cornfield, picking and throwing corn, while behind, someone was cutting the crops with a sickle.

Typically, women husk corn in front while men harvest crops behind.

But Ye Xiqing, seeing the large group of people harvesting corn walking out without even realizing what was happening, immediately refused. No, she wanted to cut the seedlings at the back.

Seeing this, the crowd laughed: "Why don't you go to the front? Picking corn is so easy. Cutting seedlings is all about bending over and it's tiring."

Ye Xiqing resolutely refused, even if it was tiring, she would still cut the seedlings in the back.

Unable to stand the competitive corn-picking speed ahead, I realized that harvesting crops is definitely faster than picking corn. If I catch up, I can take a break, and no one is urging me.

She could never get used to being chased on an assembly line; she wanted to be the one chasing others.

Did you think that the assembly line that cuts and splits products would liberate you?

No, we still need to transport the corn from the field back to the field in a wheelbarrow.

Looking at that endless long ridge, I felt hopeless for the first time.

Indeed, agricultural labor is the one that needs modern technology the most.

Ye Xiqing didn't know how she managed to get through that massive, chaotic harvest. People often don't dwell on things that deeply traumatized them, but thankfully, her corn did indeed return.

Once the corn is brought into the house, things become much easier. You can sit on the corn pile and peel the corn husks without anyone watching, and everyone can peel corn husks in their own homes.

The system, which had been watching Ye Xiqing's situation the whole time, couldn't help but complain when it saw this scene: "Host, since you still want to cooperate with others to harvest corn, what's the difference between cooperating with the Cheng family or the Zhou family? You're still relying on others."

Ye Xiqing was lying on a pile of corn, peeling corn husks, and was feeling very annoyed. Upon hearing this, she immediately looked at the system and said, "Are you brain-dead? I left the Zhou family to prove that I am a superman who can do everything by myself?"

system:……

Although it was hard work, the corn ended up in my own yard instead of silently merging with others, and I ended up with a reputation for being lazy, greedy, and doing nothing.

Ye Xiqing's two mu of land was at a disadvantage in terms of yield, but it was an advantage in terms of workmanship. The small amount of corn was quickly husked.

In a well-ventilated and sunny place, stack the husked corn into several small piles and let them dry.

Then I went to Wu Guiyun's house and helped her peel the still piled-up corn. Wu Guiyun was very grateful and immediately offered to help her tie the corn stalks.

Although the work is heavy, it's quite enjoyable to sit together with a group of people, tell jokes, chat, and not look at the remaining pile of work.

However, because Cheng's family had too much grain, they couldn't dry it in small stacks like Ye Xiqing. They had to rub it into grains while it was still wet and spread it out to dry in the large grain drying ground outside.

Ye Xiqing didn't care about that; she had new tasks to do: tending the vegetable garden.

For the people of Dayushu Village, corn is the most important crop, and they must harvest it as soon as possible to prevent sudden frost. However, vegetables are not unimportant either.

After finishing the work in the fields, we started harvesting the vegetables.

Although Ye Xiqing and Xiaoya only have two mu of land, which seems like one mu each, it's not actually divided like that; there's still a lot left over.

For example, in addition to the courtyard, Cheng's family also has a large vegetable garden, which is much larger than Ye Xiqing's small courtyard.

After husking the corn, Wu Guiyun left the drying of the grain to her mother-in-law and father-in-law, while she and Ye Xiqing started a vegetable garden together.

It had rained not long ago, and the soil in the garden was loose. With a shake, a whole radish came out. Looking at the bright red radish, Wu Guiyun praised it enthusiastically, "It's growing very well!"

Ye Xiqing looked over and, amidst the arduous labor, finally found something to be happy about, and said smugly, "That's right, I served them very well."

Wu Guiyun immediately laughed, and the two exchanged pleasantries, both feeling happy.

There was a hand pump well in the yard, which people at that time called a "foreign well". You would pour a ladle of water into it, cut off the air, and move the rubber stopper up and down. The water in the well would be pumped up through the well pipe by air pressure. It was very convenient.

Once the well was pumped to water, the two kids got excited and started playing by pumping water on each other, swinging on the hand pumps and laughing merrily. I don't know what they were having fun about all day.

Ye Xiqing picked a few radishes, washed them in the water, and gave one to each person so they could all taste the newly harvested radishes.

Xiao Ya also wanted to reach for it, but based on Ye Xiqing's limited understanding of childcare, she thought that a 4-year-old child shouldn't be able to eat this stuff, so she refused her request.

Everyone else had one, but she wasn't given one. The little girl didn't stand on ceremony with her and just sat down on the ground and started crying.

When Xiaoyu from next door saw this, she ran to her house and brought her a yellow persimmon, but Xiaoyu refused to accept it and insisted on eating a carrot!

Ye Xiqing has a wealth of experience in making empty promises: "It's not that I won't let you have it, it's just that you're not old enough yet. You can have it when you grow up."

The little girl looked at her, sobbing, and asked, "How old are you...?"

Ye Xiqing glanced at it and patted Xiaoyu's head next to her: "You're only about the same size as your sister Xiaoyu."

Hearing this, the little girl cried even harder: "That's still a long time! Waaah!"

The little girl was so sad; no one could cheer her up. Finally, Cheng Xiaoyu helped her build a mound of dirt and pour mud into a bowl, which calmed her down. Then the two of them went off to play in the dirt again.

Ye Xiqing: ...

After harvesting the vegetables, it's the happiest time for the villagers. Not only is there not much work to do, but the vegetables keep growing one crop after another, and they can't possibly eat them all.

Ye Xiqing harvested a lot of radishes and carrots in her yard, but in the end she planted cabbage. In those days, cabbage, like corn, had little nutritional value but great strategic significance.

In rural areas, every household digs large cellars to store the large quantities of vegetables harvested from their fields. Ye Xiqing's small amount of vegetables wasn't worth digging a cellar for, so she simply stored two bags of carrots and radishes in Wu Guiyun's cellar.

We'll eat it in winter, and if we can sell it for a good price, we'll sell it. It doesn't matter if we eat less ourselves; making money is definitely the most important thing.

Cabbage can be pickled into sauerkraut, but Ye Xiqing's family doesn't even have a jar; jars are quite expensive, and they can't afford one.

This is too pitiful. Wu Guiyun couldn't bear to see it, so she gave her the cabbage and helped her pickle it. She told her to come to her house to get some if she wanted to eat it.

Ye Xiqing was very grateful, but she felt hopeless about whether she would really have to eat pickled cabbage in the future.

If you don't like cabbage, you definitely won't like sauerkraut, which is derived from cabbage.

Forget it, let's dry some cabbage. Dried cabbage was alright in the last world.

Vegetables that needed to be stored in the cellar were stored there, and those that needed to be dried were dried. As for the remaining radishes, Ye Xiqing carried a basket and delivered them to each household, telling them that she hadn't forgotten about the loan.

After paying the grain tax and selling the produce, we'll return the money. You can take these radishes and eat them for now.

In the countryside, vegetables aren't considered precious, but when a gift of radishes arrives, the family receiving the radishes is still quite happy.

In the past, people treated Ye Xiqing like a plague, but now they are happy to invite her in for a chat.

Why does Old Zhou's wife seem even better after the divorce?

Soon everyone realized that Bao Xiangqiao wasn't that bad before.

Although she often likes to cause trouble in groups, the things she leads in often benefit everyone.

She may have a fiery temper, but she's truly a good woman for managing a household.

It's a real loss for the Zhou family to have such a prosperous and successful woman driven away.

Look at how their family has been living since Bao Xiangqiao left.

Nothing major happened in the Zhou family, except that the eldest and second sons had a fight over dividing the family property.

Zhou Wenyan's departure for construction work has not only displeased Bao Xiangqiao, but also his eldest and second sons' wives for a long time.

When a large family lives together, it's impossible to treat everyone equally; some will get more than others.

Old Zhou favored his youngest son the most, as evidenced by his support for him to take time off work to study. But the other two, who worked hard, weren't stupid either, and naturally felt resentful.

Everyone knows that studying leads to a bright future, but if the third brother becomes successful, it's his own success, and he might not take care of his brothers in the future.

The Zhou family has three brothers. The eldest is a good-for-nothing who does nothing but work all day, but he has a formidable wife.

The second son and his wife are both shrewd; once the two of them close the door and whisper among themselves, a clever idea comes to mind.

This is why Bao Xiangqiao didn't want Zhou Wenyan to leave. If he left, she would be the only one left to take care of the children in their household. How could she possibly compete with the other two households?

But now that even Bao Xiangqiao has divorced, the two wives are naturally not happy about it and start making a scene. Every day they are either smashing bowls or pots. In the end, Old Man Zhou couldn't take it anymore and they separated!

The division of property between brothers was far more dramatic than Ye Xiqing's divorce and property division. Ye Xiqing, to avoid disputes, didn't ask for too much, but the two brothers divided the property to the extreme.

There's not much entertainment in the countryside, so people just ask about these kinds of things. Wu Guiyun sat cross-legged on the kang (a heated brick bed), sewing cotton shoes while vividly telling Ye Xiqing about the funny things that happened in the Zhou family.

Doesn't that make you feel better?

Ye Xiqing wasn't really interested, but the countryside was too boring, and it was nice to have someone to talk to.

While listening to her, he twisted wire and wove a sieve, preparing to take it to the market to sell for money.

After talking about others for a while, Wu Guiyun's gaze finally fell on Ye Xiqing beside her. Watching her twisting wire, she couldn't help but say with disdain, "Why do you always do men's work?"

A sieve is made of woven wire, like a spider web. It's a common household tool for scooping noodles and has a market. It's usually woven by men.

However, the strength required to twist a wire does not require a man; any adult can easily master it, let alone rural women who do farm work year-round.

While not exclusively for men in terms of difficulty, it is very profitable in terms of craftsmanship, selling for one yuan and fifty cents each. Ye Xiqing certainly wouldn't let it pass by, and invited Wu Guiyun to weave it with her, giving her eight cents for each one she wove.

Wu Guiyun was very tempted by the offer and even put down her needlework, but after thinking about it, she ultimately declined.

The child is changing feet, and the family members who do farm work wear out their shoes, so she has to sew out cotton shoes for the family.

Winter is coming, so I still need to sew up my quilts and cotton-padded trousers; I'm not idle.

Ye Xiqing didn't mind and asked directly if he could sew a pair of shoes for Xiaoya and alter her cotton-padded coat.

Little Ya is growing too, and needs a new cotton-padded coat. She doesn't know how to sew, so I'll exchange two sieves with her.

Wu Guiyun scoffed. After all, a sieve is an item that requires some skill, so it's worth it for changing shoes, but what does she need so many sieves for?

Ye Xiqing then changed her mind: "Two yuan for it."

Wu Guiyun: ...

Why is there a piece missing when it's resold?

Ye Xiqing remained expressionless: Cost price.

Wu Guiyun threw her head back and laughed, unable to stand her anymore.

Even though it was just a two-yuan pancake, she made it quite comfortably and said generously, "Okay, I'll sew one for your little girl. I'll sew it for you even if you don't pay. Do you want a pair too?"

If I could sew it for her, that would be even better. Of course she would want it, and I would pay her. She doesn't make empty promises.

I just don't know what my new best friend is so happy about; I earned two yuan but couldn't spend it on her.

Every penny she earns is hers, so she doesn't mind doing extra work.

My best friend would give all her earnings to that big family, even if it meant her name would be forgotten. She's so hardworking, what's she after?