Jiayin wasn't hungry at all, and even wanted to help, but her chubby arms and legs were just for show; she had no strength at all.
There are stubble everywhere; if someone gets pricked, it will cause trouble for the family.
But watching everyone busy like this is really boring.
So, as everyone walked back and forth, they saw Jiayin sitting and eating snacks, lying down and eating snacks, and then... she fell asleep while hugging her snacks!
The chubby little girl, with her hair tied in a high ponytail and adorned with golden bells, wearing a red top and green pants, lay there in the warm autumn sun, basking in the joy of the harvest.
Everyone passing by couldn't help but slow their pace, unwilling to interrupt the child's sweet dream, and also afraid of ruining this microcosm of a beautiful life.
Grandma Li took off her coat, grabbed two baskets, and set up a simple tent for her granddaughter, afraid that the autumn wind would make the child cold.
When Jiayin woke up, it was already dusk.
The millet on the mountain has been almost completely harvested, leaving it bare and looking somewhat mottled. The remaining fruit trees, however, are completely in charge, standing tall and proud in the autumn wind, extremely flamboyant.
Li Laosi carried a load on one shoulder and his daughter on the other, smiling broadly as he went down the mountain.
Following behind, Old Lady Li shouted, "Walk slowly, don't let Fu Niu fall."
Jiayin hugged her father's head and laughed heartily.
The guests in the valley drove their horse-drawn carriages back to the city. Seeing the vast expanse of golden millet drying in the threshing ground, the villagers couldn't help but smile with envy.
"This place, Broken Gold Beach, used to be a dead end, and nobody wanted to even glance at it. But now it's completely changed!"
"Yes, who would have thought that a group of refugees from the north would turn this place from wasteland into a treasure?"
"They've cleared this mountain, so the imperial court doesn't collect grain taxes from it. They've actually benefited."
"It's because they're willing to work hard."
"That's true. I've been here several times and I can see clearly that there are no idle people in this village."
The villagers had no idea that they had become the envy of others. After a busy and tiring autumn harvest, they ate a hearty meal in the evening, and except for those on patrol duty, everyone else went to bed early.
We'll continue harvesting rice tomorrow, which should take about three days to finish. Then we'll harvest sweet potatoes and peanuts.
Sweet potatoes are easy to deal with; each family can divide them up and eat them as food.
But peanuts need to find a good outlet; they can't just be eaten as snacks anymore, that would be such a waste.
After harvesting all the produce from the fields, we must also work tirelessly to build a school.
Winter weather is cold, and there isn't much work to do, so the children have to rush to school to study and learn to write and do arithmetic.
Several families had previously felt sorry for the tuition fees and hadn't sent their children to the Li family's primary school.
As a result, the valley needed workers who could write menus and keep accounts, so their sons couldn't go and had to work in the fields to make a living.
This made them extremely regretful, and whenever it was mentioned, their family members would argue about it.
Even before the school was built, these families were determined to send all their children, regardless of gender, there.
They've learned their lesson. Being able to write and calculate is always beneficial, never harmful!
Compared to harvesting millet, harvesting peanuts and sweet potatoes makes the children especially excited because... they're edible!
The peanuts, freshly pulled from the ground along with the peanut vines, are shelled to reveal their tender, sweet flavor.
There are also freshly dug sweet potatoes. Just find some dry grass, light a fire, bury them in the fire, and wait half an hour. Then you can eat fragrant roasted sweet potatoes.
Jia'an, Jiaxi, and the other boys couldn't resist the excitement in the fields. When things weren't busy in the valley, they would run back.
They called it helping, but actually it was just to steal food.
Jiayin was sandwiched between her brothers, sitting on the soft sweet potato vines, staring at the fire, eagerly waiting to have her food served.
Having learned their lesson from the time they almost roasted their younger sister on a rock, Jia'an and Jiaxi were much better this time. They kept their sister firmly behind them and absolutely forbade her from going forward.
After a long and difficult wait until the fire was completely extinguished, seven or eight sweet potatoes were finally pulled out.
The sweet potato's skin was charred black, but when you broke it open, you could see the light yellow flesh inside, steaming hot. It was a hundred times sweeter than when you ate it at home.
Jiayin was holding a sweet potato, hissing and gasping for breath from the heat, but she still couldn't bear to put it down.
When Madam Cui and Sister-in-law Qiong arrived at the field carrying their tea baskets, they almost didn't recognize the little black boy in front of them as Jiayin!
The chubby girl was covered in dust, her little hands were dirty, and her forehead, nose, and mouth were filthy. But when she smiled, her little white teeth shone brightly!
Looking at the Jia An and Jia Xi boys, they were even darker and dirtier than ever before.
Madam Cui laughed, clutching her stomach. "Are you roasting sweet potatoes or yourselves?! How come you're all so filthy!"
Jia'an and Jiaxi were already grown up and knew shame, so they quickly wiped their faces, but they forgot that their hands were even darker, making them look like smeared cats.
After looking at each other, they pointed at each other and laughed as they rolled around in the ground.
Jiayin, with a mouthful of sweet potato in her mouth, laughed and jumped around, and finally offered the sweet potato to Madam Cui's mouth.
Madam Cui smelled the sweet potato and couldn't resist taking a bite. She smiled and her eyes narrowed. "This year's sweet potatoes are really delicious!"
She took a handkerchief and wiped Jiayin's face a few times, then picked her up and went to find Old Lady Li.
Grandma Li was sitting picking peanuts when she saw her granddaughter like this, and she didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"It's really not good to let Jia An and Jia Xi take care of the children. They always make Fu Niu look like a clod of dirt."
Jiayin stuffed the remaining sweet potato into her grandmother's mouth, grinning and shouting, "Brother baked it, it's delicious!"
The old lady swallowed the sweet potato, then laughed and scolded, "I know, you ugly girl, I said a few words to your brother and you're upset? You're just trying to shut Grandma up!"
Jiayin hugged the old lady's neck and squirmed in her arms, saying, "Brother is good, but Grandma is even better!"
"That's more like it!" The old lady patted her granddaughter's chubby little bottom, carefully put a fresh peanut into her mouth, and instructed, "Chew slowly, be careful not to choke."
After saying that, she handed the remaining peanuts to Madam Cui, "Is dinner ready at home? I've been so busy these past few days, I'm sorry to have troubled you all."
"Of course, Auntie. Harvest season is the busiest time. Everyone needs to lend a hand. We may not be good at much else, but cooking is easy for us."
Mrs. Cui slowly ate her peanuts, looked up at the azure sky, and smelled the harvest scent in the wind. She couldn't help but sigh with emotion.
"Auntie, life is so good!"
The old lady laughed along, "Yes, really, when people live their lives, they don't have any ambitions for wealth and luxury. They just want their families to be together, safe and sound, and have enough to eat and wear!"
When Madam Cui thought of what happened to Master Wang, her heart skipped a beat. She wondered if she could change the subject. Just then, the sound of horses' hooves could be heard from afar on the road outside the village.
She instinctively stood up, wondering if something had happened to Master Wang.
It was clear that Li Lao Er was also worried, so he ran up to meet him.
Served at midnight~~
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