Yu Ruhai in the room heard Yu Jiao's confident words and became a little worried. He walked out of the room and asked, "What if it doesn't rain tomorrow and the wheat in the field doesn't get flooded?"
Yu Jiao sneered, "Then it's better if it doesn't happen?"
Hearing Yu Jiao's ridicule, Yu Ruhai frowned and said unhappily, "If it rains, we will have to go to the fields to harvest wheat in the middle of the night. If it doesn't rain, how can we just joke around at this late hour?"
Yu Jiao was too lazy to say more to him, "It's up to you whether you believe it or not."
After saying that, he took Yu Fuling and left.
Yu Ruhai stood there angrily, thinking for a long time. In the end, he was still worried about the loss of the harvest in the past six months, so he said to Yu Zhou with a sullen face, "Go and call the eldest brother and his wife to go to the fields."
Yu Zhou originally wanted to leave the eldest wife's husband and wife alone. If they claimed to be sick and didn't want to go to the fields, then they shouldn't go to the fields, so that they wouldn't become more demanding in the future and cause other trouble.
"Master, maybe Miss Meng just said it casually. The sun has been shining brightly these days, so there is no sign of rain." Yu Zhou was unwilling to follow the eldest wife's wishes, so she said.
Yu Ruhai frowned and said, "I'm afraid she's talking nonsense. If it really rains, I don't know how bad the harvest will be. I heard that the land tax will be increased again this year."
"The land tax is going to increase? The court really doesn't know the suffering of our people. When Emperor Mingzong was in power, the tax was 30% of the land tax. Now Emperor Mingzheng has only been in power for ten years, and the tax has increased to 15%. If it continues like this, there will be no food to eat." Yu Zhou was a little melancholy, and then turned to the first wife, saying, "The eldest couple is now being arrogant and making a fuss. If we ask them to go to the fields, I'm afraid they will take the opportunity to bring up the matter of sending Zhizhou to the county school."
Yu Ruhai rubbed his swollen forehead and said, "Well, Jinshu and Jinyan both went to the county school, so it's not good to be too partial to one and not to the other, so as to avoid creating a rift between the brothers. I'll go and tell the eldest brother and his wife."
From what Yu Ruhai meant, it seemed that he was going to agree to send Yu Zhizhou to the county school. Yu Zhou was secretly annoyed that she shouldn't have said too much. She originally wanted to use the old man's words to make the eldest wife give up the idea completely, but she didn't expect that she ended up doing what they wanted.
Regardless of how much Yu Zhou regretted in her heart, Yu Ruhai had already walked towards the west room.
After the last time they went hunting in the mountains and it rained, Yu Qiaoshan heard that it was Yu Jiao who said it was going to rain, so he pulled Zhang to put on her clothes and went to the fields to harvest wheat.
Although Zhang was angry with the old man, she also knew what was important and what was not. The harvest was related to the family's food supply in the second half of the year, so she stopped being stubborn and woke up Yu Gancao and Yu Zhixing.
Yu Ruhai didn't know that Zhang had already compromised. He hurried to the west room and ran into Yu Qiaoshan who was opening the door and walking out. Yu Ruhai hurriedly said, "Meng girl said it's going to rain. Tell your wife to stop making a fuss and go to the fields to harvest wheat! When the busy farming season is over, send Zhizhou to the county school."
Hearing the old man suddenly say this, Zhang also walked out of the room quickly, "Dad, you have to keep your word."
Yu Ruhai stared with his cloudy old eyes and said, "When did I ever say anything that counts? In my heart, all the children are the same, so how can I favor one over the other?"
Now that Zhang was satisfied, how could she make Yu Ruhai unhappy? She continued, "Dad loves his children. We all know that. When Zhizhou has a promising future, he will definitely be filial to you."
Except for the third roommate and the old man and the old woman, everyone else went to the fields and placed two tattered paper lanterns at the edge of the field. With the faint light, a group of people worked hard to harvest with sickles and sweat at night.
Fortunately, people in the small mountain village went to bed early, otherwise they would be frightened if they saw this scene at night.
There is strength in numbers, and the eldest couple are both good at farm work. They worked busily until a hint of dawn appeared over the dark mountains in the east. Finally, they had finished harvesting all the wheat in the fields.
The fields were filled with harvested wheat. Song returned to the village and knocked on the door of Wang's house next door.
The Wang family had not yet gotten up. Wang, who was awakened by the knock on the door, yawned and opened the gate. Seeing that it was Song, she asked, "Mrs. Mengshan, what's the matter so early in the morning?"
Song smiled and said, "Aunt, we still need to use your ox cart. Don't worry, it will not hinder your family from transporting wheat."
Wang was not a stingy person. She was a close neighbor of the Yu family. Over the years, when someone in her family had a headache or fever, they would often go to the Yu family to get medicine. She readily agreed, "Okay, come with me to the backyard and pull the ox cart away."
Song followed Wang into her yard. Wang pulled the ox cart out from the backyard and handed it to Song. She asked in surprise, "Didn't you take back all the wheat you harvested yesterday? Why are you bringing back wheat again so early in the morning?"
Seeing that the day was about to dawn, Song didn't know whether Yu Jiao's words about raining today were true or not, so she didn't mention it. She just said, "We don't have a bullock cart at home, so we have been borrowing yours. We don't want to delay your family, so we harvested all the wheat in the field at night."
Wang smiled after hearing this. Not many families in the village had ox carts. During the busy farming season, many villagers would come to the Wang family to borrow ox carts politely. The Yu family was so capable, but they still had to ask for help from them. This made Wang very proud, but she said politely, "It won't delay anything. If you want to use it, just let me know."
Song thanked them a few times and led the Wang family's ox cart to the fields.
The sky gradually became brighter, but it was covered with a layer of fog. The wheat in the Yu family's field had not yet been harvested, and raindrops began to fall. The people in the village who had gotten up early to work in the fields were very anxious when they saw it was raining.
Seeing this, the Yu family also sped up the process of pulling the wheat. Fortunately, the Yu family's fields were just to the west of the village, not far from the village. They managed to pull the remaining wheat back home before the rain got heavier.
When Yu Ruhai saw that it really rained, he was delighted and kept praising Yu Jiao for her foresight. The wheat in the fields was ripe, but most families had not yet harvested it. If it rained, who knew how much food would be lost after being flooded.
The third wife, Mrs. Zhao, used to curse and swear, but now she doesn't even dare to say a word.
After unloading all the wheat from the cart, Song went to Wang's house to return the ox cart and brought a plate of fruit that Zhang Zhuangtou and his wife had sent earlier.
Wang had a sad face, but after accepting the fruit, she smiled, "Why are you being polite? We are neighbors. We just used the ox cart. There is no reason for me to accept things."
The villagers often interact with each other, and Song Shi also knows how to say some polite words. She smiled and said, "It's not a rare thing. There were many people at home that day, and I was busy working in the fields these two days. It should have been sent to you a long time ago for you to taste."
Wang stopped refusing and said enviously, "You are so lucky that you harvested the wheat in the middle of the night. It just so happens that it rained today. I don't know when the rain will stop. The wheat in my field will be in trouble."
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