Chapter 89 I Can’t Be a Father This Year
The wheat field had been plowed and irrigated, and the soil was dry and clumpy. There was a lot of stubble in the ground. Before sowing, Sui Yu had to break up the clumps of soil and then use a wooden rake to dig them apart. Yesterday, they spent a busy day sowing half an acre of wheat. This morning, at dawn, Sui Yu and Sui Liang went to the fields again.
When Tong Huaer arrived, Sui Liang was beating the soil with a stick, while Sui Yu was gathering dirt with a wooden rake to cover the wheat seeds. She stood at the edge of the field for a while, and the siblings, so busy working, didn't notice the extra person in the field.
"What can I do?" Tong Huaer asked.
Sui Yu was confused. She pulled the hair that was flying in front of her forehead and asked in confusion, "Why are you here?"
"I'll help you plant the wheat." Tong Huaer picked up the machete lying on the ridge and said, "Can I cut the soil piles too?"
Sui Yu hesitated for a moment and then agreed. The work in the fields was really too hard. Even if she did it slowly, she would be very tired.
With an extra helper, Sui Yu covered the wheat seeds sown yesterday with soil. She then dragged a wooden rake to another empty ridge to dig up the soil, turned up the loose soil and sowed the wheat seeds. After sowing the wheat seeds, she covered them with soil again to prevent wild sparrows and pheasants from stealing the seeds.
"I'll do it. You take a break." Tong Huaer took the wooden rake, tried it out, and said, "You're really willing to put in the effort. You look like someone who knows how to farm."
"I planted it last year." Sui Yu shook his arms and said, "You're here, and Ah Shui and her father are at home?"
"Um."
"She doesn't want to breastfeed?"
"I eat rice soup during the day and breast milk at night. I don't have enough milk."
After hearing what she said, Sui Yu went back home at noon and brought half of the rice over. When she came back from the field in the evening, she asked Sui Liang to bring four eggs to Uncle Lao Niu.
"You said you didn't know her, but she came to help you with work." The old woman next door stared at Sui Yu with a pair of triangular eyes, as if she wanted to find a hole in her so as to find something to hold against her.
"The helper I hired gets four eggs a day." Sui Yu sat outside the door picking vegetables with a basket. She glanced at the old woman and said jokingly, "Why do you insist on asking me to know her? What difference does it make whether I know her or not?"
"She's not a good person. She hangs around in the alleys every day trying to pick up guys."
"Did you seduce your old man or your son?" Sui Yu asked with a smile.
The old woman glared at her and said with disgust, "She wants to seduce any man."
"Are these men in the alley reincarnated animals? Just because a woman walks on the street, he thinks she is trying to seduce him?" Sui Yu cursed loudly.
"What are you talking about? Watch your words, I didn't provoke you." Qin Dashun's neighbor to the east came out.
"This old lady said that Uncle Niu's wife went out to take care of the children, and you men thought she was seducing you. Is that true?" Sui Yu looked over.
"Nonsense! Working every day isn't tiring enough."
Sui Yu looked at the woman across from him, spread her hands and said, "Old aunt, please stop talking nonsense. You're old, so be kind. The men in our alley are all good people, so please don't ruin their reputation."
After saying that, Sui Yu saw Sui Liang coming back, so she stopped talking and picked up the basket and went into the house.
It was getting dark. Sui Liang went into the house and locked the door. He quickly ran into the kitchen and asked quietly, "Sister, were you arguing just now?"
"Don't ask, kid."
"Oh, Ah Shui was crying when I went there."
"Children love to cry."
"Is your child like this too?"
Sui Yu choked up and said helplessly, "Maybe, all children are the same."
Sui Liang sighed. He started to dislike children again. They were crying and sobbing, which was so ugly.
"Come and light a fire for me." Sui Yu interrupted his sighing.
Make a pot of dumpling soup, cook a little extra for one meal, and heat it up tomorrow morning for another meal.
Sui Yu was tired and hungry. She ate two bowls of rice before putting down her chopsticks. While sitting to digest her food, she peeled a hard-boiled egg. Looking at the stars in the sky, she muttered, "Your brother-in-law should have left Yumen Pass by now."
Sui Liang looked up at the sky and asked what Yumen Pass looked like. "Is it full of jade? Is the gate made of jade?"
"It shouldn't be..." Sui Yu didn't explain much. She leaned against the stone, using the stone's strength to massage her aching arm, and said slowly, "When your brother-in-law comes back, we'll go out of town and take a look."
What does Dunhuang look like west of here? What does Yumen Pass look like west of here? Sui Yu also wanted to know.
The night passed, and after a night's rest, the people took their farm tools and went out to work in the fields at dawn. Sui Yu went to open the door. The black pig, taller than her knees, drove three lambs out, followed closely by three camels of different sizes.
The livestock were tethered to graze in the wilderness. Sui Yu and Sui Liang were heading to a wheat field. As they approached, they heard pheasants calling. Running a few paces, she saw two long-tailed pheasants flying over from someone else's field. She picked up a clump of hard dirt and threw it at them, but it missed, and the pheasants changed their course and flew away.
A black dog came running with its tongue lolling, chasing the pheasant northward.
"Tomorrow, no, I'll bring the bow and arrow in the afternoon." Sui Yu said.
Sui Liang's mind followed the dog. While knocking on the dirt, he kept an eye on the movements around him, but the black dog never passed by again.
After the sun came out, Tong Huaer and her family arrived. A man working nearby asked in a hoarse voice, "Old Cow, why don't you farm your own land and come here to work for others?"
Uncle Lao Niu ignored her. He held Ah Shui in his arms and stayed in the fields, taking her to watch grasshoppers on the ridges. He carried the child on his back and chased butterflies. When he heard the pheasants calling in the distance, he took Ah Shui to follow the sound.
"Uncle Niu is very good at coaxing children." Sui Yu said.
Tong Huaer didn't refute.
Sui Yu walked in front to sow wheat seeds, and Tong Huaer followed behind, digging the soil with a wooden rake. The two of them walked one in front and one behind, with almost the same speed, and they coordinated well.
After planting a row of wheat, Sui Yu and Tong Hua sat down to catch their breath. Suddenly, they heard a child crying. She turned around and said, "Is that Ah Shui's voice? Go and have a look."
Tong Huaer didn't even raise her head, staring at the bugs under her feet and said, "It's okay, with her father here, nothing will happen."
Sui Yu let out an "Oh" and picked up the water bag to drink. She heard the crying sound getting closer and closer. After a while, Uncle Niu came over with the child in his arms.
"Ashui is hungry, you feed her."
"Where is the milk? You're going to suck me dry." Tong Huaer said in a bad tone, but still took the child who was reaching out to her. She sat on the ground, turned around, and took off her clothes to feed the child.
The crying stopped and Uncle Niu breathed a sigh of relief.
Sui Yu tied the water bag tightly, picked up a machete and went to the ground to knock off the dirt. When she reached the end of a ridge, Tong Huaer also came down, and the child returned to Uncle Lao Niu's hands.
"Old Cow, why don't you go down to the fields and help with the work? Let the women do the work, and you, a grown man, take care of the children, but you are worse than my fourteen-year-old grandson." The old man who was passing by with a camel said in a rough voice. He looked down on this old man.
Uncle Niu didn't buy it, and provoking him was useless. He said shamelessly, "Then you should ask your grandson to do more work. I'm old, and if I work harder, I'll live one day less. I can't afford to farm anymore."
"You might as well die and save food."
"Even if you die, I'm still alive. I want to live another 16 or 17 years to help my daughter get married." Uncle Niu laughed heartily. He picked up the yawning child and said, "The sun is hurting my eyes. Let's go back."
The two old men on the ridge left, and the land suddenly became quiet.
Ten days later, they had planted five mu of wheat and two mu of millet. On the day before going to the fields, Sui Yu suddenly felt hot under her body. She went back to her room, took out her menstrual belt, filled it with grass ash, and went to the toilet. Looking at her dirty pants, she thought to herself that Zhao Xiping was incompetent and would not be able to be a father this year.
"Brother Liang, go to Uncle Lao Niu's house and tell him that I'm not feeling well and won't be working in the fields for the next few days." Sui Yu instructed.
Sui Liang went for a trip, and when he came back, Tong Huaer also came with him. When she learned that Sui Yu was menstruating, she suddenly sighed: "The one who should be pregnant is not pregnant, and the one who shouldn't be pregnant is pregnant."
Sui Yu glanced at her and said, "There's no such thing as right or wrong. Everyone has their own destiny."
"Sui Hui gave birth to a baby boy."
"How do you know? I don't know." Sui Yu drank some hot water. She just thought Tong Huaer was referring to her.
"I heard it." Tong Huaer told her what happened that day. She sneered, "I lived like a rat in the gutter. She didn't even recognize me."
Sui Yu took another sip of water. It had nothing to do with her, so she didn't comment.
Seeing this, Tong Huaer said no more. She carried the wooden rake away and called Sui Liang to go to the fields to work.
Sui Yu felt the most uncomfortable on the first day of her period. Apart from eating three meals a day, she did nothing else. Taking advantage of her free time, she lay in bed and slept for most of the day.
Sui Yu regained her spirits and cleaned the pigpen, sheeppen and camel pen at home. The manure had piled up, and she planned to wait for Qin Dashun to be free and ask him to help carry the manure to the vegetable garden.
On the fourth day of her period, Sui Yu caught a chicken and slaughtered it. She stewed it at home for half a day. At noon, she divided the pot of chicken into two portions. Tong Huaer took one bowl, and she and Sui Liang ate the rest.
"Sister, why are you still killing chickens? The chickens we raise are more delicious. Pheasant meat is not tasty." Sui Liang ate with relish.
"Eat slowly, don't eat your teeth again." Sui Yu handed him a chicken leg and said, "You've worked hard, so I'll give you some nourishment."
Sui Liang smiled sweetly: "Killed a chicken for me?"
"Well, I'm afraid you'll lose your foundation and grow up to be a dwarf."
"I want to be as tall as my brother-in-law." Sui Liang has ambitious goals.
Sui Yu didn't have the heart to discourage him. Since they were not born from the same parents, he probably wouldn't be as tall as Zhao Xiping. Zhao Xiping was a pure northerner with a big frame and tall stature.
"Brother, is this the restaurant? I smell meat."
"This is it."
Sui Yu heard the sound and walked out quickly. When she looked out, she saw someone standing outside the door. She exclaimed in surprise, "Second brother, it's really you. No wonder your voice sounded familiar to me. Oh my god, fourth sister, you've grown taller than me."
Zhao Xiaomi was stunned. The next moment, she walked in with her bag slung over her shoulder like a bandit. She patted Sui Yu on the shoulder and said, "What did I say at the beginning? My third brother definitely got a bargain by marrying you. Third sister-in-law, you are so beautiful. Such a beautiful face. Wow, why don't I look like this?"
Sui Yu covered her mouth and smiled.
"You're more beautiful when you smile." Zhao Xiaomi exclaimed.
"I remember you saying that."
"I remembered it too." Zhao Xiaomi chuckled.
"Come in, don't stand outside and talk. Second brother, you and Xiaomi haven't eaten yet, right? It just so happens that we're eating too. Put down your bags, wash your hands, and come eat." Sui Yu pulled Zhao Xiaomi towards the kitchen and said, "Your third brother is away on a long trip, so please come and stay with me for a year or so."
"My third brother said he wanted to sell buns..." Zhao Xiaomi stayed at home for half a month just because of this sentence, begging her second brother to send her over.
"We'll start after we finish the work in the fields." Sui Yu gave her a definite message.
Zhao Xiaomi chuckled and said, "Don't even mention a year or two. Even if you don't let me go home, I have no objection."
Brother Zhao coughed.
Zhao Xiaomi looked over and said, "Is your throat itchy? Eat a chicken claw to scratch it."
Brother Zhao ignored her. He took the rice from Sui Yu and said, "So much? Is it enough for you?"
"It just so happens that there's plenty of rice cooked for lunch, enough for us to eat. Don't be polite, second brother. Just eat it." Sui Yu handed another bowl of rice to Zhao Xiaomi.
"Are you still busy with the work in the fields?" asked Brother Zhao.
Seeing that he only ate radish and no meat, Sui Yu picked up the bowl and scooped half a bowl of chicken for him. She said, "We've finished planting the wheat, and we've also planted five acres of millet. We still have ten acres of land. Maybe someone in the village will have some free time in a couple of days, and the village chief will arrange for someone to help plant the land. Have you finished your spring planting?"
"I have to finish my work. If I'm not, my mother won't let me come over." Zhao Xiaomi curled her lips.
Brother Zhao glared at her, then turned and said, "I'll help you plant the crops in the field before I go back."
Sui Yu didn't hesitate and said, "Thank you very much, second brother."
That afternoon, Sui Yu also went to the fields, Zhao Xiaomi also went, and with Tong Huaer, the four of them worked much faster.
The next day, Qin Dashun went to help.
On the third day, the village chief sent two more people over.
The remaining ten acres of land were planted in two or three days.
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