Chapter 292 Summer Harvest Begins
This was the mountain assigned to Zhou Erlang. Since it was mostly covered with bamboo, he simply planted more bamboo on it.
Unlike other families who just let their allocated land grow freely, Zhou Erlang was one of the few who managed it carefully.
When the villagers who were cutting bamboo on the mountain saw the four brothers and sisters coming back with bamboo baskets on their backs, they waved lazily and said hello, "Are you out looking for mushrooms again? It hasn't rained for several days. How can you still find some?"
Zhou Silang asked Wu Wulang to carry the backpack and Zhou Liulang to carry the hoe. He then stuffed Man Bao into their hands and told them to go home first. He squatted on a rock and chatted with them, "We didn't find it. We were blocked when we got to the intersection where the road turns towards Zhongshan. What are you doing cutting bamboo?"
"Oh, don't mention it. The wheat harvest is almost over, and the winnowing basket at home is a little broken, so I cut some and took it home to make two." The villager chuckled, "The bamboo on other mountains is not as good as your second brother's."
Zhou Silang almost burst out laughing, "It's almost time to harvest the wheat and you're just starting to cut bamboo. I'm sure your sister-in-law will beat you up."
"Who said they wouldn't be beaten? They came because they were beaten," another villager nearby interjected, laughing. "They were beaten today. There was a lot of chaos, and they were kicked out directly."
"Bullshit, I'm not good at fighting with women, otherwise just watch."
Zhou Silang didn't mind them coming to cut bamboo. After all, there was so much bamboo that his family couldn't use it all. This was not the first or second time. But he just wanted to gossip with them, so he squatted on the stone and didn't leave.
But the villagers who were cutting the bamboo couldn't bear to watch and waved to him, "Shui Zhou, come and help me quickly. The bamboo has grown too tall and I can't pull it out."
Zhou Silang immediately patted his buttocks and stood up when he heard it, shaking his hands and walking away, "Brothers, take your time chopping. I haven't had dinner yet, so I'm going home first."
The villagers were unable to stop him and could only watch him run away.
One of them couldn't help but sigh, "Thursday is still so lazy."
"Come on, who in the village can get him to work in the fields? Only his brothers. Hurry up and chop the trees. It's almost dark."
"Oh, bamboo is really hard to cut. Why don't you ask Tuesday for some dried bamboo?"
The other villagers continued to chop their own bamboos, thinking to themselves: If you didn't also want to make winnowing baskets, I would have asked you a long time ago.
It’s okay if one or two people ask for some dried bamboo strips, but if so many people ask, that’s definitely not okay.
Seeing that no one agreed with him, the man could only sigh and continue chopping bamboo, chattering, "By the way, Zhou Si just said that they got blocked when they reached the mountains. Who blocked them?"
"Who else could it be? Either his master or the Jia brothers."
They won't talk about the former, but as for the latter...
"The Jia brothers are too overbearing. They just went up the mountain to look for mushrooms. There's no need to chase them away, right?"
"That's right. We're not taking over his land, nor are we cutting down his good trees. How can you be so stingy?"
"Or maybe it's because they're not from this village. Look at us in Qili Village, who would get angry and chase someone away for something like this?"
"Yeah, the people in Dali Village are quite stingy."
"You still scheme..."
They were speaking ill of Dali Village here without restraint. Manbao, who had run home earlier, was also speaking ill of the two brothers of the Jia family to his parents, and praising himself at the same time.
"I was the first to spot them. Then we didn't go up the mountain. We turned to another place and found a place to hide. Sure enough, they caught up with us after a while. They were very fierce. Fortunately, we ran away early."
Old Zhou frowned.
Qian was also very unhappy. "What's going on? Didn't the fourth brother and his men just go up the mountain to find some game? It would be fine if they chased them once, but they actually set an ambush?"
Old Zhou stood up and said, "I'll go talk to the village chief."
Ambushes are annoying.
Before leaving, Old Zhou turned back and warned, "From now on, you're not allowed to go to the mountains. Humph, what we have in Baimaquan Town is mountains. Do we really have to go to their mountains?"
Manbao responded with some regret.
Qian patted her head and said, "Let's not bother with such a scoundrel. It's too dangerous."
Having said this, she looked around among the people in the yard and asked, "Where's the fourth brother?"
"Fourth brother is bragging to others in Zhushan."
Bamboo Mountain is the name they gave themselves because there are the most bamboos on it.
Qian frowned slightly and said, "Go call him back. It's almost dark. After you have dinner, go wash up. Don't hang around outside all the time. You are almost going to be fathers."
Fang stood aside with a red face.
Although Fang had not been diagnosed, Qian had already reduced her workload. She and He were not allowed to do any heavy housework, and their working hours were also reduced a lot. As long as the sun got too hot, the two of them would be called back home to do some light housework.
Xiao Qian and Feng Zhouxi also understood this and took the initiative to take on more work during this period to allow the two to rest.
At this moment, even Feng had to admit that it was fortunate that Zhou Xi returned to the family, otherwise it would be very tiring for her and Xiao Qian to take care of so many things at home.
When Zhou Silang came back in a flash, Qian said, "Hurry up and have dinner, and go to bed early. Your father said that we'll start harvesting the wheat in Dawan tomorrow."
Zhou Silang had anticipated this. While eating, he asked, "Second brother is going too?"
"The wheat isn't ripe yet, so don't rush there, brother. Wait a couple of days until all the vegetables in Xiaowan are sold out before stopping."
The main force is him and the third brother.
Zhou Silang moved his shoulders and nodded, "Okay."
Who made his elder brother bleed from his stomach?
Zhou Dalang couldn't do heavy work like carrying wheat, but he had no choice but to harvest wheat.
While Zhou Silang was eating, the family took out and put away everything they would need for tomorrow.
Since we are going to harvest in summer, we naturally cannot get up at the same time as usual, we have to get up earlier.
In this way, when the sun rises and the weather starts to get hot, everyone can go home, take a nap, go out again to cut wheat for an hour, and then come back for dinner.
After having dinner, go out and continue harvesting wheat.
During the time at noon when the sun is the hottest, most people sleep at home.
It is because the wheat and rice harvests were poor this year that the schedule is so loose. In previous years, except for a period of more than an hour at noon, everyone had to work in the fields.
Two meals a day become three meals, or even three and a half meals.
But even Zhou Silang, who was cunning and treacherous, did not want the crops to fail. He would rather work harder than see the situation in the fields.
Zhou Silang asked Manbao after dinner, "Manbao, didn't you say the county magistrate wanted to reduce the autumn tax? Why is there no news now?"
"Shanbao didn't say." She could only hear this kind of news from Bai Shanbao, and Bai Shanbao could only hear it from his grandmother and Mr. Bai.
If the adults don’t talk about this topic, what can the children do?
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
