Chapter 216: It's Busy Farm Time Again
Uncle Gu looked at Zheng Qinghe, then at the ounce of silver in front of him. After thinking for a while, he reached out and took the silver.
The fish have already been taken away. If I don’t collect the money, won’t I lose a lot of money?
Besides, the county magistrate is still fond of his daughter Jiayue. Even if Jiayue has rejected him, he would not do anything to frame him, a commoner.
Even if he was framed, this was a busy market, so he probably wouldn't take his life.
The worst that could happen is a beating.
Seeing that Uncle Gu had accepted the money, Zheng Qinghe asked again about the fish farming in rice fields.
Uncle Gu put the silver close to his body and was no longer afraid of Zheng Qinghe. It was boring to stand there anyway, so it didn't hurt to talk to him.
Anyway, Jiayue has said it before, if someone asks, just tell them, life is not easy for everyone, it is good to be able to improve their lives a little.
Uncle Gu is a good farmer. He has been taking care of the seedlings from the moment they were planted. No one knows these things better than him.
In addition, the fishmongers around here are all from Taohua Village. When they see that Uncle Gu doesn't understand something, others will add a sentence or two.
After figuring out the whole process, Zheng Qinghe's handsome eyes showed admiration.
As expected of the woman he likes, she can actually come up with such a brilliant plan!
"Uncle just said that your village will start harvesting rice in three days?"
Uncle Gu nodded. "Yes, the sun has been strong these days. The paddy fields will be almost ready in three days."
"Then in three days I will go to Taohua Village to check out the yield of the special rice."
After Zheng Qinghe said okay, he bowed to Uncle Gu and turned to leave.
Uncle Gu was still dizzy even when he returned to Taohua Village.
He...has he caused trouble for the village?
He was a little flustered for a moment and quickly told Gu Jiayue what happened in the county town.
Seeing her uncle so nervous, Gu Jiayue couldn't help but laugh. "Don't overthink it, Uncle. County Magistrate Zheng is a good person. He probably came to Taohua Village simply to see the fish farming in the rice fields and the special rice seedlings."
Gu Jiayue was still confident about Zheng Qinghe's character.
If he was the kind of person who took human life lightly, she, who had repeatedly disrespected him, would have died long ago.
After receiving a positive answer, Uncle Gu's heart, which had been uneasy for a whole day, finally calmed down.
However, Uncle Gu changed his mind. "Jiayue, you are not a child anymore. County Magistrate Zheng seems to be a good person. How about "consider it?"
Upon hearing this, Gu Jiayue put down the book in her hand, stood up and was about to leave. "I'm going to see how the aunt's salted duck eggs are doing."
Sure enough, once you reach a certain age, everyone will want to push you to get older.
When I arrived at my aunt's yard, I saw all the women of the Gu family gathered there.
Several large basins of white duck eggs were carefully selected. My aunt and second aunt were responsible for cleaning them, while my grandmother and mother were responsible for soaking the cleaned duck eggs in white wine.
The eldest cousin and the third cousin were responsible for rolling the duck eggs soaked in white wine in the prepared yellow mud.
Gu Zhigeng and Gu Bailu were responsible for rolling the duck eggs, which had been rolled in yellow mud, in a layer of rice bran, and then putting them into jars and sealing them.
Gu Yuhe was responsible for placing the sealed jars under the eaves in a cool and ventilated place.
The production line was carried out in an orderly manner, and Gu Jiayue had no chance to intervene.
After walking around for a while, Gu Jiayue walked out and headed towards the school.
There is not much time left until next year's college entrance examination, so the monthly examinations for the second class of the imperial examination have been changed from once a month to twice a month.
And every afternoon after school and dinner, we have to go to the classroom for evening self-study.
The candles in the classroom often burn until ten o'clock in the evening.
Studying under such high pressure makes all students complain.
When Yin Siqi saw Gu Jiayue bring in another stack of papers, he collapsed on the table. "Master, please go easy on me."
Gu Jiayue smiled, but her hands didn't stop moving. Neatly printed test papers were handed out to each student. "Studying is like sailing against the current; if you don't advance, you'll retreat. If you work harder today, you'll be able to beat a whole field of students on the college entrance examination."
"If you don't work hard today, you'll cry tomorrow. Children, work hard!"
While handing out the papers, Gu Jiayue encouraged the students.
But all the students looked at her with indescribable expressions.
Did the teacher forget that she was about the same age as them? Some of the students were even a year or two older than her.
Calling them kids? I feel like I'm being taken advantage of.
Gu Jiayue had no idea that the students were secretly complaining about her. She picked up the test paper and started today's class.
After discussion, Qiushi College gave students another seven days of vacation to go home and help with farm work.
However, unlike last time, this time the second class of the imperial examination cannot go home during the holiday, but must stay in Taohua Village to help with farm work.
Gu Jiayue felt a little sorry for them. "They've been studying under high pressure for almost a month. Why not let them go home and relax a bit?"
Jiang Luli, however, had his own considerations. "They will enter officialdom in the future, so it's good for them to experience the suffering of the people beforehand."
Mainly because he felt that physical labor could really help people grow. Didn't you see how those students who helped with the work last time looked much more stable after the busy farming season?
Su Yichen: Huh? I'm just too tired and don't want to talk, that's all. How can I be so calm?
Gu Jiayue thought about it and felt that there was nothing wrong with what Jiang Luli said.
Due to urbanization, children in cities often go to cram schools or travel during the National Day or May Day holidays. Few return to the countryside to work on the farm.
But these holidays were clearly called busy farming holidays when she was a child.
When she was teaching, she would see the children putting down their schoolbags and going to the fields to work every day, and during the busy farming season, they would follow the adults and work from dawn to dusk.
Later, when I moved to the city and started teaching there, I found that people were more interested in traveling and attending training classes.
City kids' knowledge of plants and animals mostly came from textbooks, and they even made jokes about mistaking wheat for leeks.
"Okay, then do as Chief Jiang says."
After discussing it, a few people told the bad news to the students who were still writing hard in the classroom.
When Yin Siqi heard that he was going to have another holiday, his eyes lit up instantly and he had already made a full schedule for the next seven days.
On the first day, we had hot pot, on the second day, we went to Mingrentang to play games, and on the third day, we went horse racing with Brother Song and the others...
Yin Siqi turned around and made eye contact with other students on the second day who had the same idea, and they reached a consensus instantly.
"But this time, you all need to help harvest the rice. If you don't perform well, you will be deducted points."
Baji.
Gu Jiayue's words brought everyone's mood down from a height of ten thousand meters to the core of the earth.
"Master, isn't it our freedom to choose whether or not to do farm work?" Yin Siqi still wanted to fight for it.
"I...we don't know how to harvest rice." Su Yichen felt a little depressed. He didn't get to go to Juzhou City to play last time.
After hearing from classmates who had been there that there were many new things to do in Juzhou, he had been itching to go there and was thinking about going to Juzhou to play during the next holiday.
But over the past month, my schoolwork has become increasingly demanding. Even weekends are filled with exams, leaving me with no time to go to Juzhou.
Now that he finally has a long vacation, he's being asked to help with the work. This...his life is so hard.
He helped to pick corn last month, and now his knuckles still hurt.
"This is a unanimous decision made by all of us teachers, and it cannot be changed. If you really cannot attend this event due to something, you can ask your parents to write me a note asking for leave."
Everyone's expression changed.
Not to mention the students from Kyoto, their parents are far away in Kyoto. It will take at least two months to go back and forth from here to Kyoto, and by the time the leave application is received, the flowers will have wilted.
As for the students from Juzhou, their parents now knew that it was Principal Jiang from Huaqing Academy in Kyoto who was bringing them to Taohua Village for study. Given their high regard for Principal Jiang, they might not only write them notes asking for leave, but might even buy them some farm tools to keep them busy.
Seeing that no one objected, Gu Jiayue continued with great satisfaction, "The rules are the same as last time. You will be divided into pairs. After the busy farming season, if the villagers give you a passing grade, you will receive ten credits. If you give you an excellent grade, you will receive twenty credits."
After explaining everything, the students at Qiushi College were dismissed.
The students walked towards the village in groups of three or four.
They also had to go to the village to find out if there was anyone willing to let them help with the work.
Su Yichen took Shen Shuyan's hand and walked towards the school gate. "Brother Shen, hurry up, Huang An and his grandfather will be home soon."
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