After the vegetable garden was set up, Zhou Chenyu's favorite thing to do every day was to get up early in the morning, run to the back room to water the plants, and check if the seeds had sprouted.
The gray spring rain swept in again, and silently, the seeds broke through the soil, revealing two tender green sprouts.
The seeds sprouted, and patches of green rice seedlings emerged from the barren paddy fields. In Zhoujia Village and even the entire town, rice paddies are planted in two crops a year: sown in spring, harvested in summer, and sown again in early autumn, harvested again in winter. A good winter harvest usually ensures a good New Year. The spring seedlings, however, need to be planted before Qingming Festival.
That night, the rain was dripping incessantly in the courtyard. The family was having dinner in the main room when an uninvited guest suddenly arrived.
"Aunt Li, I've come at a really bad time, I've delayed your meal." The man who came was a strong and honest young man named Zhou Shuqing, whom everyone in the village called Brother Qing. He was the grandson of Grandma Wang, whom they had borrowed the shovel from.
Li Xiuju hurriedly stood up. "Daqing, have you eaten? Let me get you another bowl."
"Auntie, no need, no need. I came to talk to you about something, and then I have to go back." Zhou Shuqing shook the rain off his straw hat, his trousers were also wet, but his face was full of smiles, and he seemed to be in a good mood.
Li Xiuju stopped. Only the elderly Grandma Wang and her pregnant wife were at Zhou Shuqing's house. It would be inappropriate to have them stay for dinner. "Hey, you tell me."
"Auntie, my wife Hongmei gave birth to a big, healthy boy," Zhou Shuqing said with a smile.
Although Li Xiuju had guessed this was the result, she was still overjoyed. "This is wonderful! Your grandmother was just talking to me a few days ago about whether she was having a boy or a girl. I never expected it to be a big, healthy boy. She's finally going to have a great-grandson. Congratulations!"
"I accept your blessings, sir." Zhou Shuqing was overjoyed and said, "That's exactly why I came. I thought Hongmei would not bloom for another ten days or so, but she has come so early. Isn't it time for spring plowing? My grandmother is unable to move around easily and cannot take care of Hongmei. We need a man in the family to keep an eye on her at all times. But the rice seedlings in the field are growing longer and longer, and we also need to help. I am overwhelmed with work, so I thought of your family."
Zhou Wenbin's condition worsened the previous night, and it was Zhou Shuqing who helped carry him to the town to see a doctor. Li Xiuju was very grateful and had never had the chance to repay him.
She smiled and replied, "Daqing, we just finished tidying up our vegetable garden and are currently free. There are three of us at home, so your few acres of land will be ready in a few days. Don't worry about it, just leave it to me."
"Then thank you, Auntie." After saying that, Zhou Shuqing took out a money bag from his pocket and handed it to Li Xiuju: "Auntie, I asked about the market price. It's fifteen coins per mu. Our family has three mu of land, so I'll give you fifty coins. Here are thirty coins. I'll make up the remaining twenty coins after we finish planting. Is that alright?"
"No, no, no, Daqing, I can't accept this money."
Li Xiuju pushed the money bag back, saying, "You helped us a lot when your Uncle Wenbin was sick, so it's only right that we help you with the farming. You don't need to spend any money. Besides, Hongmei just gave birth and needs to be nourished. There are many things that will cost money, so you should keep the money for yourself."
“Auntie, don’t worry. Although I’m not a rich man, I can still afford fifty coins. If you don’t take the money, I wouldn’t dare to ask you to do anything.”
Li Xiuju was moved. "Daqing, just charge us half. You don't need to spend so much."
“No way, fifteen cash a mu it is.” Zhou Shuqing glanced at Zhou Chenyu standing to the side, smiled and stuffed the money into her hand. “I’m going back now, you guys continue with your dinner.”
Li Xiuju had no choice but to see him off in the rain.
Zhou Chenyu clutched the hot potato, watching the man walk away, and sighed, "He's filial to his grandmother and dotes on his wife at home, and loyal and devoted to others. He's truly a good man. I should look for someone like him in the future. Did you hear what I said?"
Looking for a man like this?
Zhou Baoyu looked at his sister with a conflicted expression and said inexplicably, "Sister, I'm a man, and I'll get married in the future. Why are you telling me this?"
Zhou Chenyu gave him a cold glare. "If you can't marry a man like that, you can't even take him as a role model? You need to learn more from him, otherwise how will you find a wife?"
Zhou Baoyu grumbled, "Sister, in my opinion, you should be the one listening to this. If you find me a brother-in-law according to these standards, there will definitely be no problem."
Brother-in-law?
Zhou Chenyu put down the money bag, picked up the bowl, and replied lightly, "In this world, I'm afraid there is no man who can arouse my passion anymore. Your sister has already sealed her heart and locked away her love."
——
Once the farming arrangements were finalized, they immediately set off to the fields to plant rice seedlings.
A light, gray drizzle was falling from the sky, and a cloud of white mist swirled around the mountains. Occasionally, a few white-feathered birds would land on the ridges of the fields, but they would immediately fly away as soon as someone passed by.
Early in the morning, Zhou Shuqing carried the rice seedlings to the edge of his own paddy field. Zhou Chenyu and Zhou Baoyu, wearing round straw hats and with their trousers rolled up, followed Li Xiuju to the designated paddy field.
“You can start from the corner.”
After Li Xiuju finished speaking, she grabbed a large handful of rice seedlings and, following the middle of the paddy field ridge, backed away to divide the seedlings into two straight lines, inserting them all the way to the other end of the ridge to draw a straight dividing line for fertilizing the seedlings when they grew up.
"Sis, let's start here."
"OK."
Baoyu carried a load of rice seedlings to a corner. Zhou Chenyu stepped into the paddy field, the soft mud clinging to him as if he were sinking into a swamp. It took a lot of effort to lift him up, and if he wasn't careful, he would definitely sit down on his bottom.
The seedlings are about the length of a palm and look somewhat like weeds, but the difference is that the leaves of the seedlings are more brittle and smooth, and not sharp.
Zhou Chenyu glanced at Baoyu a few times, then held a large clump of rice seedlings in her left hand and broke off a small cluster of seedlings about the thickness of a thumb with her right hand. She carefully planted them into the paddy field, keeping a distance of more than one centimeter in all directions. She quickly mastered the technique.
The three of them worked in one direction, and by midday, half of the paddy field was planted with rice seedlings. They went back for lunch, and in the afternoon, they returned to the paddy field to plant the remaining half.
As soon as they went down into the field, Baoyu exclaimed, "Hey, I found a snail!"
He shook the muddy water off and washed it clean, then saw some elsewhere: "Hey, there are a few more here, each one bigger than the last."
Li Xiuju smiled faintly, "Leave it there. After this field is full of plants, we'll go check other wasteland. Maybe we'll find something else."
Zhou Chenyu once saw a video on Xiaohongshu where someone stir-fried snails with ginger, scallions, garlic, and chili peppers, and added perilla and mint for seasoning. The stir-fried snails were plump and juicy, and looked incredibly tempting.
"Why didn't I notice?"
Zhou Chenyu took two steps back in frustration when a slippery, soft-bodied creature suddenly slid past her feet. She was thunderstruck and screamed inwardly, "Baoyu, there's... there's a snake!"
"Sister, don't move! That's not a snake, it's an eel!" Zhou Baoyu suddenly appeared beside her, his hands darting into the mud and catching a large yellow eel with his bare hands. "I caught it! I caught it!"
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