busy farming season
"Could you come over and help me these next couple of days? I'll provide food, lodging, and even help with toileting all the necessities."
Gu Jiansheng found Zhou Lexing's words extremely distasteful, but still asked, "Why would I help you?"
Zhou Lexing: "It's busy farming season. Tomorrow we'll be busy harvesting rice. Come to my house around noon and bring your lunch to the fields so we can eat together. After I'm done with my work, I'll have to go to your place to set up a security system tonight."
Gu Jiansheng was taken aback. He had completely forgotten about the busy farming season. Over the course of several lifetimes, he had never had the chance to experience it. When he was a child, his mother kept him indoors. When he went to the city as an adult, his fate changed and he lost his freedom.
But before he could figure out the bewilderment and melancholy behind that sentiment, he was bewildered by Zhou Lexing's next question: "What thin bucket?"
Zhou Lexing was somewhat smug: "You don't understand, do you? You'll understand once I've taken care of it for you."
He deliberately spoke mysteriously, so that Gu Jiansheng wouldn't rack his brains for ways to refuse him because of his thin skin. He would first settle the matter of the low wall of the Gu family, and then they could discuss the door properly.
After all, everyone has different taboos. Gu Jia might care a lot about changing the door, but adding 'artificial thorns' to the wall is different. After all, nothing was changed, and his mother said there was no such taboo.
Regarding the wall, Zhou Lexing felt that the Gu family needed it more urgently than his own.
Let alone Gu Jiansheng, even after seeing Zhou Dongqiang climb over the wall last time, he always felt uneasy. Not to mention, he also has a group of underlings who haven't been recruited yet and are planning to mess with Gu Jiansheng. Thinking about it, he really wished he could finish the job tonight.
Even Zhou Lexing was exhausted after two days and one night of running around with almost no rest. He had no choice but to send Gu Jiansheng home, remind him again to come find him tomorrow, and then slipped on his slippers and went home.
Gu Jiansheng stared at his back for a while, and couldn't help but get distracted. He didn't expect Zhou Le to turn around suddenly after walking far away. Startled, he shrank his neck and hid behind the door. It was a while before he dared to tentatively stick his head out.
The alley was quiet; there was no one in sight.
He sighed, unable to tell whether he felt disappointed or relieved.
The room was very quiet.
There were no electric lights in his house, so he lit a candle and sat at the table, lost in thought.
Gu Jiansheng felt his mind was in a mess. One moment he thought about his experience in the mountains, and the corners of his mouth involuntarily turned up. The next moment he thought about the day he would meet He Huaizhi, and the corners of his mouth flattened out.
What path should we take from now on?
Gu Jiansheng, who was originally only focused on revenge, suddenly had no answer.
.
The next day, Zhou Lexing's family made a commotion early in the morning, with a group of people carrying water bottles and steamed buns heading towards the rice paddies.
Even though it's still dark, quite a few people in the village are already out and about.
Zhou Shusheng and the other two were conscripted today. Instead of riding bicycles, they walked and ate steamed buns. When they arrived at the field, they each took a section and started working.
Despite Zhou Shusheng's seemingly clueless demeanor, he was surprisingly capable when it came to work. On the other hand, Zhou Lexing had never done this kind of work before and was initially quite lost. However, as he got busy, the original owner's memories began to surface, and things went smoothly afterward.
Although the sun hadn't risen yet, people were constantly bending over and working, and their backs were soaked with sweat without them even realizing it.
Once the sun came up and the clothes were exposed to the sun, they were repeatedly soaked with sweat.
Zhou Lexing felt that if he took off this shirt and wrung it out, it could probably hold half a bucket, but even so, their family was considered relatively light-hearted.
Other families who had contracted land from others had already started working on it, but his family only began to take action after Zhou Lexing came down the mountain. However, in previous years, Zhou Yuanxiang and Zhou Shusheng could handle it, and the original owner did not help.
"That's about enough. Go call your Aunt Lihua!"
Zhou Yuanxiang called out from afar.
Zhou Lexing immediately responded and straightened up. He immediately heard his stiff bones crack. He had no choice but to move his stiff body on the spot before walking towards the ridge in the field not far away.
Their family and Aunt Lihua shared the same foot-operated threshing machine.
Zhou Lexing had never seen this before; it looked quite novel, and it wasn't too heavy to carry.
Li Hua's aunt's youngest son helped him disassemble the threshing machine into three parts, and the two of them carried it back to Zhou Lexing's field together.
Zhou Lexing assembled it, and Zhou Shusheng came running over excitedly. Judging from his energy, he didn't seem tired at all.
"I can! I can! Let me do it!"
Zhou Lexing immediately stepped down and gave way to Zhou Shusheng, who was stepping on the pedal and holding the rice in his hands as he threshed it in the drum. His movements were quite skillful.
When Zhou Lexing saw that Shusheng had finished husking a handful of rice, he immediately looked at him expectantly and praised him, "Well done! Shusheng is the best!"
Hearing the praise, Zhou Shusheng swayed his head contentedly. But Zhou Yuanxiang couldn't stand it and shouted, "What are you standing there for! Hand him the rice! The two of you should hurry up!"
Zhou Lexing then realized what was happening, awkwardly wiped his sweat, and quickly helped out.
The three of them were so busy they were practically running around.
When the sun was almost at its zenith, Zhou Yuanxiang went home to cook.
Zhou Lexing had already told him about Gu Jiansheng delivering the food, and Zhou Yuanxiang also agreed with his approach.
“It’s not easy for him to cook by himself. I see he’s gotten so thin, he needs to be nourished.”
In fact, Gu Jiansheng's physique would be considered mainstream aesthetic in later generations, a slender boy's figure. But at this time, it would be a sign of malnutrition. The older generation preferred a robust physique, preferably like Old Wang from the pork shop, big and sturdy.
Zhou Yuanxiang also didn't need to run back and forth; it was best to eat and get some sleep as soon as possible.
Zhou Lexing looked up at the other end of the field ridge, then at the high-hanging sun. He worked for a while with his head down, then couldn't help but turn his head to look at the other end of the field ridge again. Fine beads of sweat slid down his eyebrows and fell into his eyes, stinging him so much that he closed his eyes and lowered his head again. He absentmindedly cut a few handfuls of rice, and he didn't know how many times he had turned his head to look.
Will Gu Jiansheng be too embarrassed to go to his house again?
Probably not, he clearly nodded.
Could it be that someone is causing trouble for him and he can't come?
Thinking of this, Zhou Lexing suddenly stood up, his straw hat tilting slightly to one side as he moved.
Zhou Shusheng, who had been shooed to a tree to cool off and drink water, saw the commotion and tilted his head in confusion: "Brother, what's wrong with you?"
Zhou Lexing opened his mouth, but before he could utter a sound, Zhou Shusheng jumped up and cheered, "Brother—!"
Zhou Lexing quickly turned his head to look, and the crooked straw hat on his head slid down to the side of his neck with the movement.
He hurriedly reached out to grab it, but almost cut his hand with the sickle he was holding. He was really in a flurry of activity.
Gu Jiansheng walked over quickly, his face flushed from the sun: "Let's eat."
He called out to Zhou Lexing, who was standing dumbfounded in the field.
Zhou Lexing quickly agreed and walked towards him. Without thinking about anything else, he picked up the water bottle in the basket and drank more than half of it without stopping. Only then did he wipe his face and catch his breath.
"Sit down!" Zhou Lexing picked up the towel around his neck, patted the ground carelessly as if to clean it up, and pulled Gu Jiansheng to sit down. "Eat together."
Gu Jiansheng frowned: "I've already eaten."
Zhou Lexing: "Then let's have another meal."
Gu Jiansheng didn't respond or make a move; he just sat there watching him.
Zhou Lexing was used to the boy's stubbornness, which was not what he meant. He plopped down next to him, picked up the bowl and chopsticks and put them in his hands, then scooped a bowl for himself and started eating.
Today at noon we had savory rice, which was made by frying white rice in lard, then adding stewed vegetables like carrots and potatoes and stir-frying it. Sometimes we also add dried shrimp. It was delicious and filling, a real reward for the busy farming season.
Looking at the three sets of bowls and chopsticks, Gu Jiansheng knew perfectly well the meaning behind Zhou Lexing's arrangement. He pursed his lips, unsure of what to say.
Zhou Lexing quickly finished a bowl of rice, then turned around and saw him still sitting there dumbfounded with his bowl and chopsticks. He raised an eyebrow and said, "What? Do you want your brother to feed you?"
After Zhou Lexing finished speaking, he actually made a move to feed him.
Gu Jiansheng shrank back, feeling even hotter from Zhou Lexing's furnace-like body: "...I'll eat it myself."
He hasn't eaten yet; his mind is a mess, and his long-term depression has also made him lose his appetite.
Gu Jiansheng didn't consider himself to have a strong appetite, but when he shoveled the rice, soaked in oil, into his mouth, he couldn't help but eat it one bite after another, eating it seriously.
Zhou Lexing looked at his face and saw that Gu Jiansheng had finished three more bowls of food. To be honest, Gu Jiansheng's eating habits seemed to stimulate his appetite.
Unlike Zhou Lexing, who ate and drank voraciously, he would carefully chew each bite before swallowing. However, his expression was one of enjoyment, as if he were eating some rare delicacy, which made people feel happy just looking at him.
The three young men devoured a whole pot of salty rice.
Gu Jiansheng only ate one and a half bowls. He was used to being hungry and never knew when he was full, so his appetite was really small. The remaining half bowl went into Zhou Lexing's stomach as usual.
"sleep!"
After Zhou Lexing finished eating and drinking, he put the basket away at his feet and had the other two lie down in a row, sandwiching Gu Jiansheng between them.
Although Zhou Shusheng was lively and energetic this morning, he was exhausted. He patted his round belly happily, and before he could even wipe the grease off his mouth, he closed his eyes and fell asleep immediately.
Gu Jiansheng, however, unconsciously frowned and sat up after lying down for a while.
"Um?"
Zhou Lexing propped up one eyelid to look at him.
Gu Jiansheng: "...I'm too full." He felt uncomfortable from being so full.
He doesn't like to eat or sleep.
Zhou Lexing was truly impressed by him: "How did you grow to be so big?"
Gu Jiansheng: "?"
"come over."
Zhou Lexing sat up, leaned against the tree stump behind him, pulled Gu Jiansheng to lean against him, bent one leg, put his left hand on his knee, fanned himself with his straw hat, and put his other hand on Gu Jiansheng's flat stomach to rub his belly.
"Go to sleep quickly, and when you wake up, come with me to the drying ground."
Zhou Lexing didn't initially expect Gu Jiansheng to actually do anything for him, but seeing his frail appearance, he had the idea of encouraging him to move around more.
In the afternoon, he was going to deliver the threshed rice to the drying ground, which gave Gu Jiansheng a chance to run back and forth with him, and it was a good way for him to get some exercise.
Gu Jiansheng's face and neck were flushed red, whether from the heat or something else, he didn't know. His stiff body took a long time to relax. With a strong, warm body behind him and feeling the breeze from the straw hat brushing against his cheek, he finally closed his eyes and responded in a voice barely audible.
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