Chapter 77 Cotton Field
Lu Miao wanted to go to the cotton field, not just because it was "easy" but also because she had at least done weeding work before, so she would be able to adapt faster.
After He Hongjin finished explaining his affairs, he left in a hurry.
The educated youth were dispersed on the spot and each went about their business.
The sky was getting darker and darker, and Chen Miaomiao came back at dinner time.
After the last fight, Chen Miaomiao was in an awkward situation at the educated youth camp. No one wanted to talk to her, and only Geng Xiaoyun slept in the same room with her, and the relationship was slightly eased. He Hongjin's arrangement was also relayed to her by Geng Xiaoyun.
"That's the thing. Anyway, everyone should go to the team to get sickles tomorrow morning."
"Oh." Chen Miaomiao moved her lips and responded coldly, "I see. Thank you."
After work in the team, Chen Miaomiao went to the lake again. This time, her feet were stepping on the green mud, and in her hands, as before, she was holding a large package wrapped in lotus leaves. It was obvious that she had returned from the lake.
Geng Xiaoyun took a quick look and asked casually:
"What's the matter? Are you picking lotus pods again? Didn't you eat the ones you picked last time? What are you picking so many for?"
"Ah, haha... I just love eating this. I'd better pick more now while I still have time. I won't be able to take care of it later when I get busy."
Chen Miaomiao responded awkwardly, hugged the lotus leaf package and avoided Geng Xiaoyun, then rushed into the room.
Geng Xiaoyun was puzzled, but she also noticed Chen Miaomiao's coldness and perfunctory attitude, so she didn't get close to Chen Miaomiao anymore.
The next day, Lu Miao got up early to go to work. He went out to get water for washing his face and met Chen Miaomiao coming back from outside. She was still holding a lotus leaf package in her arms. It was obvious that she had gone to pick lotus pods again.
Lu Miao and Chen Miaomiao didn't get along. She never cared about Chen Miaomiao's affairs, but this time her mouth reacted faster than her brain. When she realized it, she blurted out a sentence:
"Can you eat all the lotus pods you pick every day?"
There is no way to preserve it. If it is not eaten and is piled up, won’t it get moldy and spoil?
"This has nothing to do with you, right?"
Chen Miaomiao turned the lotus leaf bag to the side with a snort, as if she was guarding against thieves. "There are plenty of lotus pods in the lake. Anyone who wants to eat them can go and pick them. If you want to eat them, go by yourself. Don't stare at me."
Chen Miaomiao strode into the room. Lu Miao stood there, his face wrinkled in astonishment, speechless and incomprehensible, and he completely lost control of his expression.
How severe is this paranoia?
Who is staring at her lotus pod?
Lu Miao rolled his eyes in intolerable frustration. Ren Bingxin in the room urged him,
"Are you ready, Miaomiao? We need to go early so we can pick out the farm tools that are most convenient for us."
"Okay, I'll be right there!"
Lu Miao responded and walked quickly into the house.
In mid-June, the cotton seedlings have already sprouted and are as tall as a man's waist, making them easy to identify.
The old farmer took Lu Miao for a walk along the ridge of the field to identify it, and then let Lu Miao start working on his own.
Lu Miao looked around while working. The cotton seedlings in the field were growing lushly, and small flower buds had already grown on many branches and forks. Judging from the time, it would take about another month before he could come and pick the cotton.
Lu Miao was quite persistent. When she was thirsty, she would pick up the bamboo cup at her waist and drink some water. When she was tired, she would squat down and take a rest in the shade under the cotton. In half a morning, her work efficiency was not much slower than that of the old farmer in the cotton field next door.
But as time passed and it approached noon, the sun became more and more scorching, and the number of times she squatted to rest increased significantly. After a few times, when she squatted to rest again and wiped the sweat from her forehead and chin, she couldn't help but think of some opportunistic ideas.
No matter what he thought, Lu Miao did it after he had a good rest.
She changed from standing to squatting, and she squatted to pass through the middle of the drainage ditch, stirring with the hoe at both ends.
Although the progress was slow, he was able to remove all the grass in the ridges on both sides in one breath, and also avoid the skin being burned by the sun.
The cotton branches and leaves were dense, and Lu Miao's hat brim was too wide to move around inside. Thinking that the sun couldn't shine on him anyway, he simply took off his hat and threw it outside the field, planning to pick it up when he returned home after finishing his work.
She thought well and worked attentively, and while her efficiency improved, some details were gradually overlooked.
Until she felt a chill on the back of her neck, and something slipped into her clothes from the back of her neck while she was busy with her head down.
He didn't take it seriously at first, but later he felt an itch on his back, and Lu Miao puffed up his face and scratched it impatiently with his free hand.
As she moved, the clothes on her back loosened, and a foreign body sensation slid straight from the itchy area to her lower back. She thought it was dead branches and leaves from the cotton stalks that had slipped into her clothes. Lu Miao thought that if she scratched it and took it out, it would be fine. But after scratching it twice, she suddenly realized that something was wrong.
Not to mention dead branches and leaves, even fresh leaves would not feel sticky if you scratched them a few times or even rubbed them hard... She didn't use much force when scratching, so no matter how thin and tender the skin was, it wouldn't cause bleeding, right?
The more he thought about it, the stranger it seemed to Lu Miao, and he slowly pulled his hand back to check.
When she saw clearly what was at her fingertips, her pupils trembled violently, she shivered, the hairs on her body stood up, and the sweat on her body turned cold.
"ah--"
With a scream, several pheasants flew out of the cotton field with a "cluck, cluck" sound.
At the same time, many new and old straw hats appeared in the dense cotton fields nearby. "What's going on?"
"What's wrong? Who is it?"
"What's going on? Could you be bitten by a snake?"
"Why should we be afraid of snakes? There are no poisonous snakes here."
The old farmers working nearby glanced around the fields to see where the noise came from.
"That's true, but we locals know, but the educated youth from outside may not know. They all come from the city, and they may not even know what a snake looks like!"
There was a burst of laughter among the ridges.
He Hongjin was also working nearby. Listening to the idle chatter around him, he thrust the shovel he was using to clean the drainage ditch into the soil and shouted:
"Have you finished your work? Have you earned enough work points for this year? Do you want me to build you a melon shed so you can sit down and eat and chat?"
“…”
The discussions around suddenly died down, and the heads that had just popped out to look around buried themselves again, facing the earth and back to the sky, and continued to work.
He Hongjin's dark face was wrinkled with heat. He wiped the sweat off his face, took off his straw hat and used it as a fan, then looked worriedly at a piece of land not far away.
Sure enough, the female educated youth whom he had the least hope for was already standing on the outer ridge of the field. No one knew what had happened to her hand, but at this moment she was standing there with a bitter face, shaking her hand vigorously, as if she wanted to chop it off.
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