After the family had sent all the mushrooms they had harvested that day into the drying room, it was already past eleven o'clock. Everyone picked up buckets, scooped up some boiling water, and went home to wash up and rest.
Father Zhou said to them, "Tomorrow the youngest and third child will go to Baicaoping to harvest the crops. Xiuxiang and Chunyan will go to the back hill to pick mushrooms. Huifang and Qiuyue, you two will stay home to help plant the seedlings."
"That's great!" Several people agreed after hearing this.
The old man said to Zhou's father, "You go back and have a rest. Xu Kun and I will take turns guarding the stove here."
Xu Kun is Lao Xiazi’s full name. Everyone in the village calls him by his nickname. It was the first time that Zhou Huaian heard someone call him by his full name.
Lao Xiazi said with a smile: "Uncle Zhou Er, you should go back and have a rest too. I can handle this alone."
"That won't work!" The old man waved his hand at Zhou's father, "Go back and sleep. You still have to go to the fields to plant rice tomorrow morning!"
Father Zhou had no choice but to agree and followed Zhou Huaian and the others out of the oven and walked back.
After going out, I saw seven or eight lanterns moving here and there in the paddy fields below. It seemed that someone was fishing for eels by the paddy fields.
Zhou Huaishan said with a smile: "Youngest, it's been a long time since we took pictures of yellow eels. Let's go take some pictures sometime."
"Don't think about it for the time being,"
Yang Chunyan came out after washing up and saw that Zhou Huaian had already recorded the account. "There is still a bucket of hot water. Go and wash up quickly."
Zhou Huaian held her in his arms and rested his head on her shoulder. "Yan'er, I'm so tired! I don't want to move at all. How about you help me rub it."
"Lazy dog!" Yang Chunyan patted him lightly, "Go quickly, stop pretending to be weird here."
Zhou Huaian didn't let go, "I want to install a big bathtub in Ning'an's yard, just like Wang Zhen's, so that we can take a bath together."
"You live here yourself, decorate it however you want!" Yang Chunyan pinched him lightly, "Go take a shower, you have to get up early tomorrow!"
"Yeah!" Zhou Huaian nodded. "I went to Ning'an this morning. Wang Zhen said that more people came to look at houses these days than before. Some were selling things on the street, and some were carrying goods in the freight yard. He helped rent out four apartments at three yuan each, and there are still two left."
"Three pieces is good, it's better than nothing." Yang Chunyan took the hair dryer and said, "Go ahead, I'll go to the main room to blow dry my hair, so as not to wake up my son here."
"Yes, sir!" Zhou Huaian picked up the shorts and vest placed aside and walked towards the backyard.
When he came back from the bathroom, it started to rain again. Father Zhou came out wearing a raincoat and said, "I'll go down there and dig a little wider to prevent the seedlings planted today from being soaked by water."
Zhou Huaian reached out to catch a few drops of rain, "It's not heavy, it will be okay if I don't go, right?"
"It's not big now. What if we fall asleep and it rains and then the fighting starts again?" Zhou's father glared at him and said, "Go to sleep. It's just a few fields. It won't take long for them to be dug up."
Zhou Huaian said hurriedly: "Put on your headlamp, it's much more convenient than holding a flashlight."
"That's right!" Father Zhou waited for him to take out the headlamp and put it on, then said, "You guys go to sleep. I've locked the front door."
"Oh!" Zhou Huaian went back and closed the door to the main room.
As Zhou's father walked through the cornfield wearing a headlamp, the raindrops became more and more dense. After going down the high ridge, he saw Zhou San's father already digging a gap in the paddy field for drainage. "Old San, you're here too?"
"Second brother." Zhou San's father smiled, "I said if you didn't come, I would help your family dig out half of the drainage gap in the paddy field."
Father Zhou laughed and said, "That lazy youngest son told me to ignore it, saying that the rain wasn't heavy."
"We've been working for so long, it's bound to rain heavily!"
After the two brothers exchanged a few words, another person came down from the high ridge. They saw that it was Zhou Huairong. They went to the rice field together, dug half of the drainage gap in the paddy field, and then dug the gap in Zhou Yiding's house before going back together.
At this time, the rain had gotten heavier. Seeing that no one had come to the rice field in the big house and the drainage gap in the paddy field was still well closed, Zhou's father sighed, picked up the hoe and dug out half of the gap in the paddy field.
"Old man, you are such a fool. In the past two years since the land was divided among households, you have helped them dig holes every time it rains. They thought you were supposed to help them!"
"Who cares? People may be resentful, but the crops in the fields don't. It's just a matter of using the hoe a few more times."
"You are the only one who thinks so." Seeing this, Zhou Huairong had no choice but to help him dig up the gaps in the other paddy fields of the big house.
When the father and son got home, the rain was pouring down. "Hurry up and go back to bed. We have to get up early tomorrow."
"I see." Zhou Huairong opened the courtyard door, and Zhao Huifang came out with a flashlight. "How come it's so fast? Did you dig it all up?"
"The old man has gone too, and he's helping the big house dig a hole for drainage." Zhou Huairong put his hoe behind the gate, walked to the steps and took off his raincoat. "It looks like there's more rain this rainy season than last year."
Zhao Huifang nodded. "I've been working for a few months and I've saved all the money."
The rain continued to fall until the rooster crowed for the first time, and then it gradually stopped.
The next morning, at just five o'clock, Zhou Huaian and Zhou Huaishan each drove out in a tractor.
Yang Chunyan and Zhang Xiuxiang continued to help pull out the seedlings for half an hour before going home to eat and taking Lai Fu to the bamboo forest.
I saw new bamboo fungus growing in the places where I walked yesterday, and in the places I didn’t walk, rotten bamboo fungus gave off a disgusting smell.
Zhang Xiuxiang covered her nose and said, "What a pity. There are so many of them. Most likely they were opened after we left yesterday."
"Yes!" Yang Chunyan held her breath and pulled up the flower next to the rotten bamboo fungus, "I forgot to tell Huai'an about the bamboo rat hole."
"Last time they said that it takes a lot of effort to get bamboo rats out, and they haven't had the time to come up the mountain these past two days." Zhang Xiuxiang plucked a flower, "The youngest one has arrived at the white grass lawn by now, right?"
Yang Chunyan looked at the time. "It's only nine o'clock. Huai'an has to go to Ning'an to deliver the goods. He also has to help Third Sister-in-law bring a letter to Qiuxia. He should be here for a while."
Zhou Huaian was driving Li Qiuxia and her husband almost to Baicaoping. He told them what Li Qiuyue had asked him to help bring to them.
The couple, who had originally planned to go back today, weighed a few pounds of gypsum in the city, took the things they bought for their two sisters, got on the tractor and went into the mountains with Zhou Huaian.
Li Qiuxia thought about what Li Qiuyue said, and about the situation of her eldest and second sisters. "Dalin, how come my third sister's sisters-in-law are so smart? Why didn't we think of grinding tofu and selling it before?"
Gao Dalin looked at Li Qiuxia, who had gained weight and looked better. "Look, they have some capable relatives. Doctor Xiao Wang's shop is bigger than a department store. The things inside are things that people in the mountains have never seen in their lives."
Li Qiuxia nodded, "Yes, the color TV is only as big as a wooden box, but the images it shows are in color, and they are better than the movies shown in the village."
Gao Dalin smiled and said, "Doctor Xiao Wang said that the dam movie also has color, and the tape is black and white, so it can only show black and white images."
"You've learned a lot watching TV at Dr. Wang's house!" Li Qiuxia glanced at him with a smile, "My sister said that as long as country people have money, they can buy land and build houses in the city.
We need to work hard to earn money and pay off the money we owe to my sister. We will also buy land and build a house in the city so that Xiaobin and my second sister can study and learn."
Gao Dalin nodded heavily, and when he thought of his family members in Jianshanzi, he felt a chill in his heart. "Xiaoxia, tomorrow morning we will leave the eldest and second sister's house, go directly to the brigade secretary to arrange the relocation, and then go to the town to take the bus into the city."
"What will you do if they hear the news and come looking for you?" Li Qiuxia glanced at him, lowered her eyes, and said in a calm voice, "Let me make it clear to you first, I will never bring your brother and sister-in-law to Ning'an. If you still want to be with them as a family, then go with them."
During the time she was in the county, she understood a lot of things. Just like what the aunt who was setting up a stall with her said, in life, if you swallow your anger and make compromises, others will not let you go. Instead, they will think you are easy to bully.
She felt that her third sister and aunt were right. She had always thought that she should endure it as long as she could, but she never expected that in the end, she would almost end up destroying her family.
The old saying is right, the arrogant are afraid of the stupid, the stupid are afraid of the desperate, those who dare to dethrone the emperor even at the risk of their lives.
She would never get involved with those vampires in the Gao family again. If Gao Dalin couldn't bear to leave those people in the Gao family, she would live alone with her child.
Gao Dalin hurriedly said: "Xiaoxia, don't worry, even if they come to me, I won't pay any attention to them."
These few months were the most comfortable days in his life, and his two children also grew taller and gained weight during this period.
There was no way he would let his wife and children live the same life with him as before.
Zhou Huaian went downhill and saw a four-wheel tractor parked on the side of the road, but Zhou Huaishan was not there. He slowly pulled over to the side, turned off the engine and got off the tractor.
Li Qiuxia and Gao Dalin jumped off the tractor and said, "Youngest brother, thank you for your help. We will go back first."
"Okay, drive slowly." Zhou Huaian took the scale out of the truck bed, and Zhang Dajun came to meet him. "Youngest uncle, Uncle Zhou went to the toilet, and my old man asked me to wait for you here."
Zhou Huaian saw that the people selling mushrooms in the drying dam were either old people or children. When they saw him coming, they all ran to guard their own bamboo baskets.
"Well, are they all going up the mountain to pick mushrooms?"
Zhang Dajun nodded, "They've all gone, and everyone has sorted out the goods and put them away as you said last time. Please check it."
"Okay!" Zhou Huaian saw that the tables, chairs and straw mats were all put in place, and took out a paper bag from his bag, "Crispy candy, share it with my brother and sister-in-law."
"Yes!" Zhang Dajun waved over there, "Grandma, eldest sister, second sister, come and help."
The three members of the Zhang family, the grandmother and her granddaughter, who were already rushing this way, quickened their pace and started to trot.
Zhang's eldest and second sisters stayed today specifically to help Zhou Huaian sort the mushrooms. When Zhao Huifang and the others come tomorrow, they won't be needed to help.
Zhou Huaian asked the grandparents and grandchildren who were in the front line to bring the basket to the front. After the four of them greeted him, they sat on small stools and started working efficiently.
Li Qiuxia and Gao Dalin climbed up the hill, looked back at Zhou Huaian who was busy, strode past Zhang Laoer's house, and walked towards the mountain.
They rushed to the eldest and second sisters' homes today and told them what the third sister said to see what they were willing to do? (End of this chapter)
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