"Okay, stop talking nonsense and get back to work. The sooner you finish, the sooner you can call it a day."
According to Zhou's previous assignment, Zhou and his wife, along with Dashan, began harvesting the soybeans up front. The beans were already fully mature and dry, making them easy to harvest. With three people harvesting and two people bundling, the process was less rushed. Zhang and her husband were also working nearby, and Chunxiao helped with bundling whenever she had time. By noon, they had harvested more than half an acre. Tian and Zhang went home early to cook, and when the sun reached its zenith, they went back to eat before continuing in the afternoon.
Chunxiao told Yan Bingfa that they would go up the mountain to cut bamboo later, and that the clothes drying rack at home had not been set up yet. Yan Bingfa then remembered that he had indeed forgotten about this matter.
"If you want to go, go quickly. Go up the mountain early and ask your mother to go with you. Two bamboo sticks are enough. It won't take long."
"I can go by myself. Mother won't go. I just need to borrow a machete. I'll return it to you when I'm done. I'll help you bundle the beans." She spent another hour in the field, then took Zhou's machete and headed up the mountain. Once up the mountain, she looked back at the fields. Many families were harvesting beans. It wasn't autumn harvest yet, but there were still some signs of it.
She turned around with a smile, but accidentally got her hand snagged on a nearby plant thorn. It hurt quite a bit. This mountain had a lot of thorns. She looked at the plant and felt it looked familiar. She looked again and smiled. It turned out to be Cornus officinalis, a thorny plant also known as Spring Night Pepper. She didn't expect to see it here. She ignored it and went to look for the bamboo she was going to use for her scaffolding. Bamboo was actually difficult to cut with a machete, but she had no choice. The machete was all she had.
Fortunately, she was only building a scaffold and didn't need thick bamboo. She cut two bamboos and, just like rolling the logs last time, dragged them to the end of the village and pushed them down. After she finished cutting the bamboo, she went down the mountain. Her family was still waiting for her tools.
By the time they reached the edge of the field, the eldest brother's one acre of land had been harvested, and the second brother's was more than half an acre. Chunxiao returned the machete to Zhou and began helping both sides with the bundling. The five children were obedient, each picking beans in their own plot.
"Did you drag the bamboo back? You were pretty fast."
"Mom, how could it be so fast? I pushed the bamboo down the slope to my side and then dragged it back when I got back."
"It's already dark when we get back, how can we drag it? I can't even see my hands. Forget it, I don't need your help. Just go and do your own thing. We have enough manpower here. Come back tomorrow."
"Yeah, come back after you finish fixing your shelf. We won't be able to spare the time to help you these two days."
"Then I'll go back?"
"Let's go back."
"Mom, you have to lend me your machete. I will definitely help you tomorrow."
Zhou gave her the machete and told her to remember to go to dinner on time. She ran back to the end of the village with the machete. First of all, she found her bamboos and dragged them back to the yard. The bamboos were very long and it was not easy to drag them home. She cut four bamboos with a length of more than 2 meters from the thick part at the bottom. When considering whether to set up the rack in the backyard or the front yard, she decisively chose the backyard. It would be more convenient to dry clothes in the backyard in the future.
She dug four small holes, about 40 centimeters deep, in the ground on the right side of the backyard. She placed four bamboos in each hole, then reinforced the base of the bamboo with some rocks from the previous ground preparation. She then placed the thinner sections of the bamboo in the grooves at the top, creating a double-bar clothes drying rack. She secured the rack with rope and shook it with her hand. It was reasonably sturdy, so the rack was finished.
She reached the mound. It had been a day and a night, so it should be almost done. With anticipation and excitement, she found some remaining bamboo sticks and cleared the dirt from the mound. The wood was still standing perfectly, though it had all turned black. A surge of joy filled her heart. Was it done? She reached for it, but the charcoal wasn't as solid as she'd imagined. It crumbled with a squeeze. Alas, no success. It was overburned. Perhaps there wasn't enough wood, so it burned through. She'd have to continue tonight.
She cleaned up the backyard, looked at the sky, and decided it was time to go eat.
"Aunt, are you unhappy?" Yan Qi looked at her at the dinner table and picked up a piece of cabbage for her. "Are you unhappy because the food is not tasty?"
"No, no." Isn't this silly child just trying to stir up trouble? "Auntie is thinking about something." She hurriedly lowered her head and took two bites of food.
"You're still worried about others when you're eating, how do you know your aunt is unhappy?"
"She's just unhappy. Her brows are furrowed the whole time. Mom, if you don't believe me, just take a closer look."
Chunxiao was embarrassed now. Her emotions were actually sensed by a child. She quickly smiled and said, "Auntie is not unhappy. It's just that my experiment didn't succeed. I'm thinking about what to pay attention to next time."
"What kind of experiment are you doing? It's so mysterious." Zhou was curious.
"As for the child, she can do whatever she wants. Why ask so many questions?" Yan Bingfa looked at Chunxiao. "If you are busy, just tell me. It's okay if you don't come to help."
"It's okay, I've already set up the racks, I'll go straight to the field tomorrow."
"Grandpa, we picked up a lot of beans today."
"Yes, you are all great."
"Grandpa, since we are all good people, when can our family eat meat again? I want to eat big pieces of meat." Shuwen's mouth was watering when he thought of meat.
"I thought you were being so active today, but it turns out you were just begging for meat." Yan Dashan pinched his cheek, "There's some meat on your face, why don't you cut some off."
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