Even after Lin Meiyu and Chen Guihua finished cooking, Old Mrs. Tian did not leave the house.
"Mom, isn't she coming out for dinner?" Chen Guihua said as she shoveled the pancake out of the pot.
"Mom said there's no need to call her. She'll come out for dinner tonight."
Tian Lilin silently gathered all the small stools in the house as they were going to sit in front of the stove to eat.
Tian Mu and Tian Zhuo chattered to them that they had just gone to see Tian Lili's son. Their little nephew was small and old, and looked very ugly.
Lin Meiyu arranged all the food and looked out the gate for a while. Not seeing Tian Lisong, she sighed worriedly.
"Why hasn't your dad come back yet? It's been such a long time since you came back?" Lin Meiyu asked.
Uncle Niu has never been able to drive the ox cart fast. Logically, Tian Lisong should be faster than Tian Tian and the others on his bicycle. However, it has been almost an hour since Tian Tian came back, and Tian Lisong has not returned yet.
"My dad said he went to the grain station to exchange food. Now it's exactly the end of the month. Maybe there are many people going to the grain station to exchange food?" Tian Tian guessed for no reason.
Lin Meiyu sighed, "Hurry up and eat, the food will get cold soon!"
Maybe everyone was starving just to wait for Tian Lisong, and Tian Lisong might have finished eating already.
Lin Meiyu pushed Tian Tian back and just as she took a step forward, she heard someone behind her say, "Oh, you guys are all outside! I won't go in!"
They both turned around and saw that it was Li Dahua.
"Auntie! Why are you here? Is there anything you want to talk to my mom about? My mom hasn't woken up yet. Tell me what's the matter first, and I'll tell her when she wakes up." Lin Meiyu said.
Li Dahua waved her hand and said, "I'm not here to look for your mother. You don't have to call her."
After saying that, Li Dahua took out something from her arms, which was wrapped in cloth. She carefully opened the cloth layer by layer, revealing the golden cornmeal cake inside.
"I ate a cornmeal pancake that Tiantian brought over this morning, and I brought it to you."
"Auntie, you are being too polite. It's just a cornmeal pancake. Just eat it! It's not like you can't afford to eat now. Besides, aren't you our real relative?" Lin Meiyu said.
"No!" Li Dahua said with a fierce face, "One thing is one thing, and no one has food at this time of autumn harvest. I know that. You should take this cake quickly, otherwise I will be angry."
After saying this, Li Dahua stuffed the cornmeal pancake into Lin Meiyu's hand, then turned around and left in a hurry. Although she was old, her legs and feet were still very nimble and she ran very fast.
Lin Meiyu chased forward a few times, but when she found that she couldn't catch up with the person, she had to come back with the pancake.
Soon after they entered the house and sat down, they heard the sound of a bicycle outside the door.
Lin Meiyu was always worried about Tian Lisong, so she hurried out when she saw the noise.
Tian Lisong pushed his bicycle to the lower room and put it away. He then carried the food he had exchanged for at the grain station. When he saw Lin Meiyu outside, he was a little surprised. "Why did you come out?"
Lin Meiyu was furious after hearing this. "Why did you come out? Why didn't you tell me where you were? This morning, you took Tian Tian to bring pancakes to mom and chicken soup to Lili. How come everyone else is back but you're nowhere to be found? It took you more than an hour to get the food, right? Do you know how worried I was!"
Hearing that it was because of this matter, Tian Lisong breathed a sigh of relief. "I also wanted to come back early. I rode my bike to the county town to see a doctor this morning. My legs are so tired from pedaling that I can't wait to come back and rest. Isn't it because there are too many people at the grain station? I've been waiting in line for a long time. I don't know why there are so many people!"
Hearing Tian Lisong say that he was tired, Lin Meiyu reached out and took the bag of grain from Tian Lisong's shoulder, and then patted his shoulder. Seeing that Tian Lisong was fine, she was relieved.
Hearing Tian Lisong say that he was tired this morning, Lin Meiyu began to feel distressed again, "Hurry up and wash your hands and eat. I'll put these two bags of grain away. Don't go out in the afternoon after dinner. Have a good rest at home. The autumn harvest will be in two days. How can you not take good care of yourself?"
Tian Lisong did not refute. After lunch, everyone went back to their rooms to take a nap. They only fully recovered their energy in the evening.
Two days after Tian Lili gave birth, their team started the autumn harvest, digging sweet potatoes, cutting wheat, corn, sorghum, soybeans, sesame and other miscellaneous crops.
While Tian Lisong and his friends were working in the fields, Tian Tian was also busy at home. She and Old Lady Tian cooked three meals for the family all day long. She started thinking about what to eat that day in the morning. After the meal was ready, she would deliver it to Tian Lisong and his friends. After delivering the meal, she would come back and wash the dishes. After washing the dishes, she would go up the mountain to pick up mountain products. She would also find time to study when she got home in the evening.
There is no free time all day long.
That day, Tian Tian delivered a notebook to Gu Zhao. After delivering the notebook, she went to find Li Jiuniang to give her the mountain products she had picked up for her these days. After taking the money, she went home.
On the way home, Tian Tian saw some children catching crickets in the river. She thought about how Old Mrs. Tian had been worrying about what to do every day these days. Tian Mu and Tian Zhuo had also lost a lot of weight while helping with the work in the fields.
Tian Mu is now ten years old and a half-grown child. He can earn work points by working in the fields.
Tian Zhuo was also eight years old. He could earn several work points by helping to pick up wheat ears in the fields or chasing sparrows in the threshing floor.
The two of them are busy all day long and are very tired.
Tian Tian also felt sorry for the two of them. The chicks that Old Lady Tian had this year only started laying eggs recently, and there were fewer eggs this year than in previous years. Old Lady Tian was reluctant to cook eggs for her family, and they ate them much less frequently than during last year's autumn harvest.
It just so happened that she had nothing to do this afternoon, so Tian Tian went home, took a basin, and went out to the river to pick crickets.
When it was time to make dinner, Tian Tian saw that it was getting late, so she took most of the pot of cicadas home.
Tian Tian didn't plan to take the crickets he picked up today to Li Jiuniang to sell, but to give more to his family.
We won’t be able to eat cicadas for long. Once the river freezes, we won’t be able to eat them even if we want to. We’ll have to wait until next spring.
It was too late tonight. When Tian Tian returned home, Grandma Tian had already started washing and cutting vegetables and preparing to cook. Tian Tian put the cicadas she caught today in a basin, poured some water into it, covered it up, and prepared to cook for everyone tomorrow.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
