When the Yan family arrived at the area designated by the village chief, they were delighted, as they would have half the land they had last year.
The village uses a per capita system for farming, with two people equaling one mu (unit of land area). Now, the couple from Southeast Village are no longer registered in the village, so they will be one mu less.
The family in the southwest separated, and he went to work in the town, so he lost another mu (a Chinese unit of land measurement, approximately 0.165 acres), leaving him with 2.5 mu of land.
Sweet potatoes were planted on the mountainside. Cuihua and Yan Xiaonan gathered the sweet potato vines together, found the roots of the sweet potatoes, and started digging with hoes.
After digging a few times, Cuihua sensed something was wrong. First of all, the sweet potato vines had quietly gathered themselves into a clump.
Then, when the hoe struck, the roots of the sweet potato had already detached from the soil and were floating on the ground.
In other words, Cuihua didn't need to put in any effort at all; she was just putting on an act.
Bei Nan and Tang Xiaoling followed behind, diligently picking the sweet potatoes that the two in front had dug out of the mud and piling them together.
They didn't notice Yan Xiaonan's cheating at all; they just thought the two of them were a bit fast.
Yan Xiaoqiang used a shovel to scoop the sweet potatoes into the bamboo basket, carrying them on a shoulder pole to the southeast and southwest.
In previous years, Yan Xiaoqiang was the only one who did the most tiring task of carrying sweet potatoes, so he had to travel several miles back and forth every day to carry sweet potatoes.
After all the sweet potatoes are picked, Yan Xiaoqiang will be exhausted and it will take him several days to recover.
This year is different. The southeast and southwest regions don't allow him to carry loads, so they make him carry sweet potatoes instead.
However, Yan Xiaoqiang was young and strong, so he found a carrying pole and two bamboo baskets, filled them to the brim, and carried them out.
After finishing tending to one acre of land, Cuihua secretly stopped Yan Xiaonan.
Others haven't even finished five-tenths of an acre, and you're already trying to finish an entire acre.
Yan Xiaonan swallowed hard. How could it be so fast? So she let Cuihua dig the ground slowly by herself and went to help pick up the sweet potatoes.
The next day, after Cuihua and Yan Xiaonan finished tending to half an acre of land, they asked Tang Xiaoling to go to her parents' house to help.
This year, the Tang family received a mu of land because their daughter got married.
Although it was only one mu (approximately 0.16 acres), Tang Jianjun and his wife were still quite busy.
After Tang Xiaoling arrived, the situation improved significantly; at least someone started picking up sweet potatoes.
During her free time, Yan Xiaonan secretly glanced at a few educated youths with her mind, a wicked little voice inside her chuckling to herself.
The village chief allocated two mu of land to the eight educated youths and also asked Accountant Ma to teach them how to operate it.
The result was either that the hoe cut its own foot, or that the hoe went nowhere, even though it was aimed correctly.
Especially Ye Chenming and the others, whose feet were hurt by the hoe, so they dared not swing the hoe down hard each time.
But how can you dig out the roots without using your strength? If you don't dig out the roots, it will affect the planting of the next season. Accountant Ma was so anxious that he lost all his composure and started cursing loudly.
Unfortunately, Li Qiang was a bit of a simpleton. When he heard Accountant Ma call them dumber than pigs, he threw the hoe at Accountant Ma and said, "Go find a pig to hoe the ground."
Accountant Ma was so exasperated that he wanted to pick up his hoe and chop the guy's head off like a sweet potato.
Yan Xiaonan went to discuss with Yan Xiaoqiang: "Dad, this land is not enough for us to work on. How about we take half of the land that the educated youth have to work on?"
Yan Xiaoqiang looked up and chuckled in a wicked way. Judging by the pace these educated youth were taking, they probably wouldn't finish until it snowed.
Yan Xiaoqiang headed in the direction of Village Chief Ma. He could do half the work, and of course, he should get half the work points too.
Village Chief Ma was also troubled, knowing that the educated youth wouldn't be helpful, but little did he know that they would not only be unhelpful, but also cause trouble.
Now that Yan Xiaoqiang was willing to share the burden, Village Chief Ma was overjoyed and quickly pulled Yan Xiaoqiang toward the educated youth.
"Stop! Stop! Look at yourselves, your feet are all injured from using hoes!" Village Chief Ma shouted.
"Village chief, this is our first time farming, and we really don't know how to use these farm tools," Li Qiang said, sounding somewhat aggrieved.
The village chief nodded: "Then you can do half, and the Yan family will help you with the other half, but you'll have to give up some work points. Are you willing?"
"Yes!" they said in unison.
Only a fool would refuse.
Accountant Ma quickly used a hoe to draw the dividing line; finally, a savior had arrived!
Yan Xiaoqiang glanced at them and said, "You guys go ahead and do it. We'll come tomorrow if we're quick, and the day after tomorrow if we're slow."
When Ye Chenming saw Yan Xiaonan approaching, his heart began to pound rapidly.
Yan Xiaonan is working so hard, having to work in the fields at such a young age. It's a pity I'm not good enough, otherwise I could help her with the work.
Lost in thought, Yan Xiaonan turned her head and smiled, a smile that nearly made Ye Chenming's soul disappear.
Under the sunlight, Yan Xiaonan's skin glowed with a pearly luster, bright, fair, and smooth, making her incomparably beautiful.
Ye Chenming's Adam's apple bobbed, and Wang Yan's voice came over: "Ye Chenming, this Yan Xiaonan is only eight years old, right?"
Ye Chenming's body stiffened, his soul returned to its place, and all the enchanting moments vanished in an instant.
He raised the hoe and dug it out fiercely.
One hoe after another, Li Qiang, who was following him, was stunned for a moment, but immediately realized what was happening and followed suit, working with great enthusiasm.
Accountant Ma blinked. How come they could wield hoes as soon as Yan Xiaoqiang arrived? How strange.
Ye Chen'er and Li Ping quickly followed behind to pick up sweet potatoes. The eight of them were divided into two small groups, originally planning to encourage and compete with each other.
However, Wang Yan's words completely enraged Ye Chen'er and Ye Chenming, especially Ye Chen'er.
Even if Yan Xiaonan is only eight years old, as long as my brother likes her and is willing to wait for her to grow up, what's wrong with that?
Li Ping was secretly pleased to see this. Wang Yan fell in love with Ye Chenming at first sight, but unfortunately Ye Chenming probably didn't even know whether Wang Yan's eyelids were double or single.
With your lazy, gluttonous, and cunning character, you still dare to covet Ye Chenming? You're dreaming!
Tian Fang observed this in silence. After spending several days together, she had a pretty good grasp of everyone's personality and temperament.
She was disappointed in Wang Yan, but Ye Chen'er and Li Ping came from the same place, so she couldn't really get involved.
Since that's the case, I'll just do my part well, and I don't want to care about the rest, nor can I.
Thanks to Ye Chenming and Li Qiang's determination, the four of them managed to harvest half an acre of land by the time they finished work.
The remaining task is to decide what to do tomorrow, which will also be a big test.
Today it was Ye Chen'er and Ye Chenming's turn to cook, while Ye Chenming and Ye Chenming carried water. So, on their way back, the four of them gathered firewood along the way.
Liu Limin and Zhang Dali quickly followed, their machetes flashing everywhere, chopping down any firewood they encountered and any tree branches they came across.
Tian Fang glanced at Wang Yan and saw her staring blankly at Ye Chenming's back. Her lips twitched involuntarily. Had she gone mad?
Fortunately, Wang Yan is still smart enough to know that she needs to bring firewood back, otherwise she would have shown her why winter is so cold next month.
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