Before we knew it, it was the Grain in Ear season, the time to harvest wheat. People of all ages in Linjiagou and Huandong Town began harvesting wheat with great enthusiasm.
Yue Jiuyue's family was also busy in the wheat field, including Lin Chaobei, who was ill. Xiaoman followed behind, picking up ears of wheat.
Yue Jiuyue hadn't harvested wheat in a long time. After starting high school, she had plenty of free time except for summer vacation when she had to go to the fields to weed. Even the college entrance examination ended right after the wheat harvest.
When harvesting wheat, you have to bend over, grab a large handful of wheat stalks with your left hand, and then cut with the sickle a little above the soil surface. In a flash, a large handful of wheat is cut off.
The wheat was thrown into a pile, and the people following behind took a handful of wheat, divided it into two small bundles, tied a knot at the ear of wheat, and then bundled the wheat into a bundle. The wheat was then transported to the threshing ground to dry using a wooden cart or a carrying pole.
Then came the work of threshing the wheat.
Right now, everyone is still busy harvesting wheat in the fields. At Yue Jiuyue's house, everyone except Xiaoman has a sickle in hand, bending over to harvest wheat at a rapid pace.
Yue Jiuyue: ...
Are you taking advantage of her because she's an old lady and can't do the work properly?
Seeing her three sons swinging their sickles and whizzing away into the distance, with even Liu Shi, who was in charge of bundling the wheat, following closely behind them, leaving her alone to clumsily cut the wheat, Yue Jiuyue's old face burned with embarrassment.
It wasn't just from being exposed to the sun; the reason I didn't say her face was red was because her skin was already so dark that you couldn't see any other color.
For lunch, Liu went back and cooked, then brought the food to eat in the fields. That's how it is in the village; during the harvest season, everyone wants to live in the fields 24 hours a day so they can bring the grain home in time.
After dinner, Liu put Xiaoman to sleep and placed her on a flat coarse linen sack under the shade of a tree. Then she joined the harvesting team again. She was so efficient and energetic, as if she were made of iron and didn't know how to get tired. Yue Jiuyue was amazed by what she saw.
Being young is wonderful! She also wishes she could be ten years younger!
“Mother, if you get tired, sit in the shade and rest for a while. We only have six acres of wheat, and we’ll finish harvesting it soon.”
Lin Chaodong had finished eating and had already cut a row of wheat. He was cutting wheat with Yue Jiuyue when he looked up and saw his mother rubbing her aching back. He immediately called out to remind her.
"Oh! No need! I know perfectly well whether it's too much trouble or not. Hurry up and harvest your wheat!"
Yue Jiuyue didn't even have the energy to roll her eyes. Was Lin Chaodong putting her on the same level as Xiaoman? He was really looking down on her!
Back in the day, she was quite the expert at harvesting wheat. She and her two older cousins were tricked by her second uncle into harvesting wheat faster than he could, which made him very happy.
Unexpectedly, in just twelve years, she aged twelve years and could no longer keep up with the pace of harvesting wheat, and was relegated to the level of a two-year-old child.
This is intolerable!
Yue Jiuyue rubbed her aching lower back a couple more times, wiped the sweat from her face, and then bent down again to start cutting.
Swish, swish, swish...
From the first light of dawn until midday, and then until sunset, the family would work in the dark to carry the bundled wheat to the threshing ground they had prepared to the west of their house. Someone would have to sleep on the threshing ground to watch over the wheat before the day was finally over.
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