"It's not about protecting Lan Yin's happiness, it's about our happiness." Xiao Moran knelt on the ground, looking up at Su Xiaonuan. "For the sake of our family, I will repay you double what I owed you before. I, Xiao Moran, promise you in front of so many people that if I can't give you a good life, if I can't let you return to the provincial capital in glory, I, Xiao Moran, am not a man. Give me two years, okay?"
"Xiao Nuan, just say yes!"
"A man's knees are worth their weight in gold. He's already knelt before you, so give him a chance."
"Yes, two years will pass quickly. We've lived through so many years already, so why rush these two years?"
......
"Everyone, I can give Xiao Moran a chance, but can you forgive me?" Su Xiaonuan clasped her hands in a fist and palm salute. "In the past, I was heartbroken after losing my love and couldn't think straight. I did many foolish things and offended everyone. All my self-deprecating remarks were for the purpose of divorcing Xiao Moran, which caused you all great harm. Here, I want to say sorry to everyone."
"Okay, we forgive you, but you have to grant Xiao Moran's request and give him a chance."
Su Xiaonuan bowed slightly to everyone, then nodded while holding Xiao Moran's hands. "Alright, I agree to your two-year promise. If you can't keep your promise to Chengjin, we'll still have to get a divorce."
Everyone went back to their own fields to harvest rice.
Su Xiaonuan asked Xiao Moran to go back with him.
After returning home, Xiao Moran brewed two buckets of herbal tea. He carried the tea to the fields, where Su Xiaonuan served bowls of herbal tea to the villagers working in the fields.
Everyone said it tasted good, and Su Xiaonuan also told them how to make the herbal tea.
Even the village chief praised Su Xiaonuan, saying she had really changed.
The young wives in the village no longer hated Su Xiaonuan. They realized that all those farces were just her trying to smear them in order to get a divorce. In private, they all felt sorry for Su Xiaonuan. If it weren't for Lan Yin's scheme, she might have already gone back to the provincial capital with her sweetheart to live a good life.
Zhang Yulan and her daughter have finished harvesting all the rice in the field.
When Su Xiaonuan and Xiao Moran arrived, her mother-in-law and sister-in-law had already harvested the rice and piled it into countless heaps in the field.
Xiao Moran and his sister carried over the threshing basket, intending to finish threshing the rice in the field.
In those days, things were so backward that there were no machines to thresh rice. You could only rely on your bare hands. Each person would hold a handful of straw with rice still attached, raise it high, and then tap it against the edge of the earthen hopper to knock the rice into the wooden hopper.
This method of threshing rice is somewhat outdated, but Su Xiaonuan found it fun, and she also tried to thresh the rice.
A wooden sieve was covered with a tarpaulin on three sides, leaving only one side for manually threshing rice.
Seeing that Su Xiaonuan was about to join in, Zhang Yulan quickly gave her daughter a look, and the two of them immediately stepped back, making room for the young couple to work.
The two of them took turns striking, their movements perfectly coordinated.
With Su Xiaonuan joining the team, Xiao Moran played with increasing enthusiasm.
Working together as a team makes the work easier.
Before nightfall, they had managed to harvest all the rice in one field.
The next day, the villagers working in the fields all brought their own homemade herbal tea. They exchanged drinks to see which family's herbal tea tasted better. However, since they didn't have money to buy white sugar, they used saccharin instead. Even though the herbal tea was made with saccharin water, they still thought it tasted good.
Almost every household grows mint in their yard, but few people use it for food; it's mostly grown to repel mosquitoes. Su Xiaonuan told them that mint tea can refresh the mind, relieve heat, and quench thirst.
With herbal tea available, everyone worked with great enthusiasm.
The threshing ground was divided into countless squares, and the threshed rice was laid out to dry on the stone embankment while the sun was shining.
Su Xiaonuan's family only has the task of drying rice today.
However, just as the rice was laid out to dry, the weather turned cloudy.
Seeing that the weather was about to change, everyone in the village came out to rush the harvest.
Xiao Moran and Xiao Moxi also went to the fields to help everyone with the harvest, helping one family after another.
Before the heavy rain, only Lan Yin's rice remained unharvested in the paddy fields.
On the threshing ground.
The elderly and children were also busy harvesting the rice they had dried.
Countless small piles of rice were stacked on the threshing ground, creating chaos. Even those carrying the rice on their shoulders and backs couldn't keep up with the harvest.
Su Xiaonuan delivered the plastic film on her bicycle.
Xiao Moran and she covered their rice paddies together in perfect unison.
Turning around, Su Xiaonuan lent the bicycle to Hao Ge, asking him to go back to the village and get plastic sheeting for everyone.
The threshing ground was some distance from the village, but luckily there was a bicycle, so Hao Ge was able to quickly bring plastic sheeting and cover all the piled-up rice before the downpour started.
......
Two days later, Lan Yin and her daughter returned.
They discovered that all the rice in the village had been harvested, except for their family's rice, which was still drifting in the wind.
Li Chunxiang and Lan Yin turned around and rushed towards the Xiao family.
"Xiao Moran, what do you mean?" Li Chunxiang pointed at him and demanded. "Why didn't you take back my family's rice? Didn't I tell you that when I left?"
“Aunt Li, it’s a favor I did for your family, and it’s also my right not to help. Why are you interrogating me?” Xiao Moran slapped her hand away.
"You've helped our family for so many years, why aren't you helping us now?"
"You said it yourself, I've helped you for so many years, why should I continue to help you?"
"Brother Moran, how could you say that?" Lan Yin's tears immediately streamed down her face, because whenever she cried, Xiao Moran would surrender. "Didn't you say you would work for our family for the rest of your life? I even believed you, otherwise we wouldn't have trusted you so much. Now look what's happened, all our crops have rotted in the fields for the whole year. How are we supposed to live?"
"What does your family's grain rotting in the fields have to do with my brother?" Xiao Moxi went back into the house, grabbed a brown paper bag, and angrily shoved it into Lan Yin's hands. "Here, take these things back. We can't afford them."
"Moxi, you're my best friend, why are you treating me like this?"
"Pah!" Mo Xi quickly distanced herself. "Being best friends with a scheming woman like you is risky. You might sell me out without me even knowing it. I was really fooled by you before. You always pretended to be innocent and pitiful, but it turns out you're the worst-hearted woman."
"What did I do wrong?" Lan Yin cried bitterly. "Why are you all treating me like this?"
"You know what you've done." Xiao Moran gestured for them to leave. "You should all leave now, don't disturb the children's sleep."
"Brother Mo Ran..."
"Don't call me Brother Moran anymore," Xiao Moran interrupted her. "Just call me Xiao Moran."
"Aunt Zhang." Lan Yin looked at Zhang Yulan with pleading eyes.
"Lanyin, don't look at me, it's no use looking at me." Zhang Yulan shook her head. "What a pity. She's good-looking, good at studying, and even got into university. It's just a pity that she's dishonest. No matter how capable she is, it's useless."
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