Around dusk, Zhou Chenyu and Zhou Baoyu returned to Zhoujia Village, returned the cart, and headed back home.
Li Xiuju didn't see anyone, but only heard the commotion, so she rushed out to greet them, "We've been waiting for you to come back! Have all the bamboo shoots been sold?"
Zhou Chenyu returned to the house and quickly handed the steamed bun to the old lady, saying, "Baoyu and I bought these steamed buns on the street today. We saved some for you. Eat them while they're hot."
Li Xiuju glanced at it and pushed it back, saying, "Mother has porridge at home, so she won't go hungry. But since I've already bought it, I'll save it for you to eat tonight."
Sunlight shone on Li Xiuju's sunken cheeks; she was so thin she looked like skin and bones. She ate thin porridge and sweet potatoes every day, and over time, even before she got sick, she succumbed to malnutrition.
Zhou Chenyu raised an eyebrow and used a self-inflicted injury tactic, "Grandma, I know you care about us, but you can't let yourself go hungry. Look how thin you've become! If you don't eat, then Baoyu and I won't dare to eat either. Can you bear to let us go hungry?"
When Baoyu saw that Li Xiuju's hair and clothes were covered in water droplets, and her trouser legs were covered with dry grass and twigs, he knew that she had been disobedient again and had gone to clear the wasteland behind the house.
He added pitifully, "Exactly! Mother, can you bear to do that?"
"Alright, alright, you two siblings are talking back and forth, I'll eat it." Li Xiuju happily took the steamed bun, tore off a small piece and ate it. Hearing the crowing of a chicken, her eyes were immediately drawn to it. "You bought chicks?"
“Yes.” Zhou Baoyu opened the basket on his back, and Li Xiuju was both happy and distressed. “This must have cost a lot of money, right?”
Zhou Chenyu and Zhou Baoyu exchanged a glance. She took out the remaining money and handed it over, saying with a smile, "The price of bamboo shoots has doubled. After buying the seeds and chicks, plus those few steamed buns, there are still more than twenty coins left."
Li Xiuju noticed the numerous scratches and cuts on Zhou Chenyu's hands, all from picking bamboo shoots.
Her nose tingled and her voice choked with emotion: "This is all money that you two siblings worked hard to earn. You're both grown up now, and there are many places where you'll need money. Keep it for yourselves."
The majority of this money was earned by Baoyu; her share was minimal. That day, Li Xiuju preferred to borrow money rather than sell her to someone else as a concubine, and in the past few days, she hasn't shown any favoritism towards Baoyu in terms of food, clothing, or other necessities.
Zhou Chenyu was a very shrewd person, so she quickly handed over the money, saying, "Grandma, please accept it."
Li Xiuju carefully took the silver, treating it like a treasure, saying, "Then I'll keep it and save it for when you get married and when you get married."
——
Back home from the market, the five chicks were kept in the yard. At first, they were afraid of the unfamiliar environment and huddled together.
After a while, probably because they were hungry, they started running around looking for food.
The chicks are too young to eat vegetables and rice bran; it's best to feed them rice grains and insects.
Li Xiuju searched the whole house, grabbed a handful of rice and scattered it on the ground. The birds swarmed over it and pecked the rice clean in no time. A little bit of rice wasn't enough to fill them up, and then they started squeaking again.
“These days, people don’t even have rice to eat, how can I give you any? I’ll go to the wasteland and dig up some earthworms, there are plenty under the rocks.”
Zhou Baoyu expended a lot of effort transporting the damp bamboo shoots in the morning. Li Xiuju, on the other hand, had a limp and difficulty walking.
Zhou Chenyu took the shovel and the broken pot, saying, "I'll do it."
She walked toward the wasteland.
The rain has been falling since last night. The clear stream next to the wasteland has turned into muddy yellow water, and piles of weeds have clumped together. The area above the halfway point of the mountain is covered by white fog.
Zhou Chenyu took off his straw hat and hid under a grove of trees. Water droplets fell from the leaves. He turned over a stone at the base of a tree and found several earthworms wriggling in the soil. There was even one on the stone.
She got goosebumps all over her body. She had never been afraid of cockroaches or rats, but what she feared most was this kind of snake-like soft-bodied animal.
Zhou Chenyu dared not grab it with his bare hands, so he broke off two bamboo stalks nearby to make chopsticks, and, enduring his nausea, pinched the earthworms into the earthenware jar.
After turning over this spot, I shoveled away several other stones. After this round of work, the earthworms weren't so scary anymore.
Since she was already there, Zhou Chenyu thought she might as well catch a few more earthworms to feed the chickens. But when she looked up while wiping her sweat, she saw two brown caterpillars hanging right in front of her, almost falling on her face. She was so scared that she ran back home.
When the chicks were first bought, they were only the size of an egg when shrunk down. After eating earthworms, they grew bigger every day. In just a few days of rain, they were as big as a fist.
After the rain, water droplets dripped from the roof tiles and fell into the small ditch beside the wall. The withered weeds absorbed the nutrients and grew a vibrant green.
Spring plowing has begun.
Taking advantage of the clear weather, the entire village of farmers set out, carrying soaked rice seeds, and barefoot into the swampy paddy fields to sow them.
Looking around, the dozens of acres of paddy fields were filled with people.
The Zhou family has already sold all their land, so they have no land left and cannot participate in this spring plowing.
That day, after the mother and her two children finished breakfast, they took a shovel and a knife and went to the wasteland behind the house.
The weeds in the wasteland are waist-high; if a person squats down, they are completely invisible. When the wind blows, they ripple like waves of wheat.
Li Xiuju stayed where she was, brandishing her knife and pointing in a direction, "You two clear the weeds over there, and we'll split it in half."
“Okay.” Zhou Chenyu and Zhou Baoyu walked to a corner of the wasteland, squatted down, and started working.
Zhou Baoyu worked very efficiently, grabbing grass with his left hand and holding a knife in his right, clearing a patch in two swift strokes.
Zhou Chenyu tried to imitate him, but as soon as she tried, her fingers felt like they had been cut by a sharp blade, instantly leaving a bloody mark.
Baoyu, who was beside her, continued working diligently and did not notice her condition.
Zhou Chenyu sucked away the blood and, after the wound stopped bleeding, continued weeding.
No matter how careful she was, she still ended up getting cuts not only on her hands, but also on all exposed areas of her face, neck, and ankles. In addition, the hot weather made the wounds itchy and burning with sweat.
After cutting for an unknown amount of time, Zhou Chenyu stood up, straightened his back, squinted at the weeds in front of him, and swallowed hard, thirstily.
This grass is like chives, it never seems to get rid of.
Zhou Chenyu sat down wearily, his mind still reeling from the poem "Hoeing the fields at noon, sweat dripping onto the soil."
Baoyu suddenly called out to her, pointing his knife at the person who had darted down from the woods, "Sister, look, look at that man?"
"You're not from the Land of Women, haven't you ever seen a man before? I'm not looking." Zhou Chenyu stared blankly at the dense grass, looking exhausted. She wouldn't be interested even if the King of Heaven himself came.
"Sis, you've seen that man before!"
What?
Zhou Chenyu frowned. In the past few days, the only man who had left a deep impression on her was that aloof and handsome guy.
"Could it be him?" Zhou Chenyu sat up abruptly as if she were dying, and looked up sharply.
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