Chapter 139 The Sickly Villain in a Female-dominated World 10
After returning to the Lin family's home, Chen Xi felt more and more at ease in the Lin residence. Although they had not yet consummated their marriage due to his wife's health, the ox cart of gifts that day was enough to show how much Mr. Lin valued Chen Xi, and there was less gossip in the residence.
The sun in the sky grew hotter, the cicadas in the woods chirped louder, the rice ears in the fields grew fuller, and the steaming summer heat made the women working in the fields sweat profusely.
Xia received it, and the whole Shiyuan Village became busy.
The two masters of the Lin Mansion were no exception. Lin Hengrong took a group of servants to the fields in the east of the village early in the morning to closely monitor the rice harvest.
The weather in summer is always so unpredictable. In the morning, the sun is still shining brightly, but after noon, it may start to rain heavily. If the rice is not harvested in time, the golden rice grains that fall into the rice fields will grow new rice seedlings after being soaked by rain. These wild rice seedlings will become weeds in the fields and affect the planting of the next crop of rice.
If you don't harvest the crops during the Great Heat, you will get one less basket of rice every day.
It takes a whole spring of hard work to cultivate the fields before the rice is harvested. During this time, farmers have to weed, apply fertilizer, and pray for good weather. If there is a slight mistake in any link, these farmers who have worked hard for half a year will face the danger of having no food to eat in the second half of the year.
Therefore, every summer harvest season, the whole village, young and old, would be trembling with fear, racing against the capriciousness of nature. Even the girls and boys who usually catch shrimps and fish were put to good use, and were arranged by their elders to carry rice and watch the threshing floor to prevent sparrows and poultry from stealing the rice grains.
"It's too hot today." As soon as Lin Hanxin returned home, she lay down on the recliner in the main hall. Two maids immediately came forward to take off her coat and brought a basin of cool well water to help her wipe her face and hands.
"Every summer harvest is like this?" The husband, who was fiddling with an abacus, said without raising his head. "It's the tenant farmer Liu Wang's family that has a bad harvest this year. Her head broke his leg during spring sowing and has been taking medicine ever since. The crops in the fields are only taken care of by her husband and two daughters. Now the rice yield seems to be only about 60% to 70% of that of other families."
Putting down the pen in his hand, he picked up the teacup and took a sip: "Just now her husband came to me to ask for less rent."
"This, this is not impossible..." A cold look flew over and scared Lin Hanxin so much that her voice became weaker.
"Wife, our land rent of only 30% is already the lowest in Qingchi Town. If it drops further, the Tang family, Cheng family and other large and small landlords in the town will probably unite to cause trouble for our family."
"Although A-mei has some influence in the court, even if we don't provide her with any help, we should at least make sure that the Lin family's ancestral land is stable and not cause any trouble for her."
"Today Liu Wang's family has a problem and they lowered their rent. Tomorrow Wang Wang and Ma Wang's family have difficulties. Can we not lower them? They all say that life is hard. Then how about giving them our land to farm for free?"
Lin Hanxin smiled awkwardly after being scolded. She also knew her bad-natured character. Fortunately, her husband and sister helped her out, so she just went easy on herself.
"The Liu family..."
"I have my own plans for the Liu family. The eldest daughter is already twelve years old. She will be able to set up her own household in a few years. The second daughter is only nine years old. She can come to our house to sign a short contract. This will not only save one person's food, but also earn some monthly allowance for the family." Mr. Lin sighed. He was not a heartless person. As long as it did not break the rules of the industry, it would be okay for him to do something to the Liu family.
The reason why she told her wife about this was mainly because she was worried that the Liu family would not get a response from her and would go to her for help. Given her personality, she would most likely agree, and then she would be in a dilemma.
It would be better for the husband and wife to communicate first.
Tian Erniu entered the mansion in the evening of the next day. She was wearing a patched dress and her toes were exposed from the holes in her shoes.
Nanny Fang, who was in charge of the servants, shook her head silently at the dirty look of the child. She washed him from head to toe first, and cut off his messy hair because of lice.
Tian Erniu, who had changed completely from head to toe, pinched the corner of her new dress awkwardly and said, "Mammy, what should I do now?"
My father said it would be a good idea for the Lin family to be more diligent.
"What can a little kid like you do? You'd better learn good manners from Hongyan first." Nanny Fang handed her over to the girl with double buns, and then gave her some instructions before leaving.
On the other side, Lin Qing was holding out her hand for the doctor to do a routine pulse check, while a maid next to her was telling her some village gossip to amuse her.
"The daughter of the Zhang family in the east of the village has taken a fancy to the son of the Wang family in the west of the village. Unfortunately, the elders of the two families have always been at odds with each other, and they are having a big fight recently. The Zhang family says that the son of the Wang family seduced their daughter, and the Wang family says that the daughter of the Zhang family abducted their son. They are both going to complain to the chief."
"Then auntie will be in a state of headache." Ever since Lin Hengrong became an official, the head of the Lin family has served as the chief of several nearby villages.
"It's true. Recently, farmers are busy harvesting rice, mediating disputes among villagers over the area where rice is dried, and dealing with the elders beating the cuckoos with sticks. The captain is very busy." Seeing that her master was interested, the maid hurriedly agreed.
"Your health is fine now, but please don't overwork yourself. The dosage of some of the medicines in the previous prescription needs to be reduced." After adjusting the dosage of the prescription, she handed it to Qingshu who was waiting at the side, "Take it according to this prescription for a few days first."
"In addition," the doctor looked at the gossiping master and servant and continued, "As long as it's not the scorching sun at noon, you can go out for a walk in the morning or evening when it's still cool. This is also good for your body's recovery."
Having said that, she left, carrying her medicine box.
After listening to the doctor, Lord Lin, who was worried about his daughter's heat stroke, finally allowed her to go out for fresh air twice a day.
In the evening, the afterglow of the setting sun paints the sky with an extremely charming evening makeup, and the sunset glow on the horizon is dyed into blocks of orange, yellow and fiery red.
The usually empty rice drying field at the back of the Lin residence was now covered with a layer of golden rice. In a corner of the field, some servants were holding a handful of heavy rice and throwing it into the stone vat in front of them. A piece of coarse cloth was supported by bamboo poles and surrounded on three sides of the stone vat to prevent the rice from splashing.
As this action is repeated, the full grains of rice fall into the stone vat. They put the threshed rice aside, and the remaining grains will be crushed again by the stone mill until all the grains are clean.
Lin Qing stared at the scene in silence for a while, then turned around and asked softly, "Does everyone thresh the grains this way?"
Chen Xi, who was walking with her, was a little puzzled: "Everyone has always been doing this. What's the problem, my wife?"
She just didn't expect that productivity in ancient times was so low. It was unknown how long it would take to thresh the grain at this rate. And although the temperature had dropped a lot now, the women working in the threshing floor were sweating profusely.
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