Chapter 296: Many People and Few People
Manbao looked at her father in confusion, shaking her head and asking, "Dad, where am I going to marry?"
"Of course it's in the town, but our Manbao is so powerful now, maybe she can marry into the county town?"
That’s not far away. Manbao thought about it and shook his head to refuse.
She promised Koko that when she grew up, she would take it to faraway places to collect many, many plants. How could she collect them after getting married?
So she said to Old Zhou, "Dad, I won't get married yet. I'll get married after I finish my work."
Old Zhou laughed heartily. This kind of answer was so familiar to him that he patted her head nonchalantly and said with a smile, "How can you ever finish all the work in this world? You still have to get married when it's time to get married."
Manbao turned around and ran away without arguing with Old Zhou. She believed that her father would change his mind when she grew up.
For example, my eldest sister.
When my eldest sister first came home, my father wanted to marry her off the next month. But now, a year has passed, and another year has passed, and my eldest sister is still not married.
Seeing that the little girl had run away and the others were still squatting in front of him, Old Zhou waved his hand in disdain, "Go, go, go, hurry up and get to work. If you don't finish mowing this piece before noon, you are not allowed to go home."
Old Zhou has a large family, so they don't have to wait until noon to harvest the wheat field. In fact, they finished harvesting the wheat in less than an hour, around 2:15 pm.
Manbao and his group of younger children stayed behind to pick up wheat ears.
Old Zhou wiped the sweat from his face. The sun was already very hot at this time.
He turned to Zhou Silang and said, "Tell your wife to go home and stop basking in the sun. Your third sister-in-law should have gone home too. Let them cook lunch at home."
Zhou Silang quickly agreed and let Fang go back.
They ignored the wheat spread out in the field to dry, but returned to the field and began to move the wheat into bamboo baskets. They had bundled the wheat out of the field early this morning and were now ready to take it home.
As for the ones just harvested from the fields, we dry them in the sun for half a day, and then eat them after dinner when the sun goes down a little, then we bundle them up and carry them back.
In fact, in previous years, Old Zhou would prefer to leave the wheat in the field to dry for a day or two. Although some of the wheat left overnight would be stolen by birds and mice, he could take time to harvest the rest of the wheat, and it would also save space at home, right?
But it’s no longer possible. I heard that the harvested wheat in some villages was stolen from the fields. Their Qili Village is remote and in the mountains, and strangers coming in and out can be seen, so no one has stolen it for the time being.
But what if someone enters the village in the dark?
Who will see it then?
Moreover, most of the fields are outside the village, and people live in houses. Who can see the situation on the land?
As for the people in this village stealing, Old Zhou naturally didn't believe it. Even if there were such evil people, rabbits would not eat grass near their burrows.
Anyway, no matter where the thief came from, he didn't dare leave the wheat outside overnight.
The harvest this year was already bad, and if it gets stolen, our family will really be starving.
Old Zhou picked up a load and left first. Zhou Silang avoided Qian's sight and started to be lazy. He put the wheat into the bamboo basket slower and slower.
Zhou Wulang and Zhou Silang also have to carry wheat, but the bamboo baskets they use are smaller, so there is no need to worry about putting pressure on their shoulders and waists. After all, they still need to grow, right?
After the two of them had filled their baskets, they turned around and saw that the fourth brother's bamboo basket was only half full. He was leaning against the pile of wheat, yawning, looking very tired, and seemed to be about to fall asleep.
The two brothers looked at each other and immediately ran over to help. Together they threw a bundle of wheat into the bamboo basket, instantly piling it up.
Zhou Silang regained consciousness and saw the wheat in the bamboo basket. He shouted unhappily, "Enough, enough! You are trying to tire me to death."
"Fourth brother, we are here to help you."
"That's right, loading wheat is really hard work."
Zhou Silang was furious, as he had been planning to pretend slowly.
When Zhou Wulang saw him about to move the wheat outside, he immediately shouted, "Mom, Fourth Brother is being lazy!"
Zhou Silang was so angry that his nose was about to smoke. He looked around for help, but found that Manbao and Datou and the others had already run away, and he didn't know where they had gone.
Of course Manbao went to find Zhou Hu.
However, she was not even familiar with her own land, so of course she didn't know where Zhou Hu's land was, so Datou led her there.
Daya and her friends loved playing with their aunt the most, so a group of them followed.
Zhou Hu led Dafu to harvest wheat in the field. It looked particularly pitiful that there were only the father and son on such a large piece of land.
Manbao ran in and greeted everyone, "Brother Zhou Hu, is Sister Hu okay?"
Zhou Hu looked up and saw a group of children from Old Zhou's family running towards him. His mood became a little complicated. "I'm much better now. I'm still taking medicine, but I should be able to get out of bed after the confinement period."
Chen's health is now worse than Qian's. She can't even take care of herself, but her condition has stabilized and she has stopped bleeding.
Zhou Hu was still very grateful to the Zhou family because he felt that his wife's spirit was much better than before, mostly because of what Qian said.
"What about Sanshou?"
Zhou Hu smiled even more and said, "Sanshou is even better. He can drink five bowls of goat milk and eat some porridge every day."
It's just too much urine.
Zhou Hu paused at this point and said, "I've already asked someone to look for the sheep. Once I find one that's producing milk, I'll return it to Young Master Bai."
Manbao waved his little hand and said, "Shanbao doesn't mind. He told me yesterday that he wanted to go see Sanshou."
Zhou Hu said happily: "That's great, Erlu is at home, and the door is not closed, you can just walk in."
"Is Aunt Chen not at home?"
This is about Zhou Hu's mother-in-law.
Zhou Hu shook his head and said, "The summer harvest has begun, and she has gone home."
Manbao looked at Zhou Hu with sympathy. No wonder Brother Zhou Hu became so thin, so haggard and so miserable after just a few days of not seeing him.
Manbao wanted to reach out and pat his shoulder, but found that he couldn't, so he gave up and simply asked directly how to catch birds.
Zhou Hu thought for a moment and said, "Are you trying to catch birds? They're not easy to catch. I always use a fishing net. Sometimes I use a bow and arrow, but that's not easy to shoot either."
Zhou Hu did not hide the fact that his family was the second best in the village, only slightly worse than the village chief's family, because his father was a hunter, and so was he.
But if the villagers asked him about hunting techniques, he would still tell them, but even if he told them, others might not be able to learn them.
Since the question was asked to Manbao, he explained in more detail and then continued to pick up the sickle to cut the wheat.
He was too busy, otherwise he wouldn't mind taking some time to catch a bunch for Manbao.
But at this time, he was the only laborer in his family. Dafu was not very old, and although he could help a little, it was limited after all. He had already started mowing the land yesterday, and it was estimated that he would not be able to finish mowing until tonight. After mowing, he had to tie up the crops and carry them home.
Apparently he had also heard the rumor that the wheat was stolen.
(End of this chapter)
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