"Hmph, you think you can listen to your sister Hongmei? How many times has your second sister told you to listen to her? You never take it seriously. Now look what happened! You got criticized, didn't you?" Li Cuihua scolded Shitou as she entered the room, while Sanya chuckled to herself.
"Hongmei, what are you holding?"
“Yarn, I forgot about it yesterday.” Zhang Hongmei said, untying the bundle. “This black one is for Shitou, the red one is for Erya and Sanya, this maroon one is for you, and this royal blue one is for my third uncle. We can knit them when the farming season is over, and they can wear them in winter.”
"This yarn is really pretty. It must have cost a lot of money. You're such a spendthrift."
"Stop nagging me. It's exactly the same thing Grandma said. We've already bought it."
"Can't you be a little more frugal?"
"Isn't life just about food and clothing?"
"That's nonsense. What will you do when you need money and don't have any?"
"Hehe, it's alright, I'll earn more. This is for you and my third uncle, we can't just keep it and not wear it."
Zhang Hongmei felt happy listening to Li Cuihua's nagging. Only someone who is all alone and has no relatives would enjoy someone else's nagging.
"Third Aunt, you should get some rest too, you have to get up early tomorrow."
"Zhong, are you going to harvest wheat tomorrow too?"
"Yes, more people means more strength. Aunt Wang, who came with me, will help out in the cafeteria tomorrow, while Wang Ying and I will go harvest wheat."
Can you?
Yes, it will, but it might be a little slow.
"If you don't know how, go to the threshing floor."
"I'll try it first, and we'll see if it works."
After Zhang Hongmei returned home and washed up, she went back to her room.
From now on, I'll have to go into the space every night to catch up on the lessons I've missed, and I can't lose sight of the bigger picture.
It was already 1 a.m. when Zhang Hongmei came out of the space. The timing was wrong, so she went back into the space.
When I came out again, it was 3:30. I found some old clothes and changed into them, and then found another set of clothes to give to Wang Ying later.
Wang Xinyi had already gotten up. She didn't cook for the two of them, but just gave each of them a cup of milk powder, so they wouldn't feel uncomfortable from acid reflux when they were hunched over working.
The two of them took sickles and went to the edge of the wheat field. Actually, Zhang Hongmei couldn't find the edge of the field, but she couldn't stop running into a lot of people along the way.
"Auntie, what brings you here to harvest wheat? Aren't you going to cook?"
“I told your third uncle last night that your Aunt Wang went to cook, so he asked me to come and harvest the wheat.”
Zhang Hongmei looked at Li Cuihua with sympathy. This man was a leader, but he didn't enjoy any special privileges; instead, he had to do all the work.
It wasn't fully light yet, and Li Cuihua didn't see Zhang Hongmei's expression. If she had, she would have slapped her across the face.
Upon arriving at the edge of the field, Wang Hongxi assigned tasks: three rows per person, and everyone pushed forward to cut. Zhang Hongmei was flanked by Li Cuihua to her left and Wang Ying to her right. At first, Zhang Hongmei was able to keep up, but after ten minutes, she gradually fell behind.
He straightened up and saw that he was already two or three meters behind, so he rubbed his back, then bent down again and continued.
In Liujiatun, each row of wheat field is over 200 meters long. Everyone else is almost at the end, and Zhang Hongmei is already more than 10 meters behind.
Zhang Hongmei thought to herself that she really did have the body of a young lady. She gritted her teeth and thought, "No, I have to persevere no matter what."
Everyone else had reached the end, but Wang Ying didn't rest; she continued from the other end to pick up Zhang Hongmei.
The two finally met. Zhang Hongmei's cheeks were flushed, and her hair was soaked with sweat. She straightened up, panting heavily. But she dared not wipe her sweat; it was too hot to handle.
"Hongmei, are you alright?"
"No problem, I can still do it."
Shi Tou ran over and asked, "Sister Hongmei, are you alright?"
“Okay, I can manage. I can’t do one row per hour, but I can do it for an extra ten minutes or half an hour or something.”
Wang Hongxi gave everyone a ten-minute break, and when the time was up, he blew the whistle again. Everyone then started cutting back from the other end.
Zhang Hongmei persisted this time because she hadn't brought a water bottle. She had just drunk a bowl of water at the edge of the field, and now she felt thirsty again.
But no one else turned around to drink water, and I felt embarrassed.
Even though Zhang Hongmei gritted her teeth and persevered, she still fell far behind others. Shi Tou and Wang Ying tied knots to help Zhang Hongmei finish cutting the three rows.
Everyone couldn't bear to watch any longer, so Li Cuihua handed Zhang Hongmei a bowl of water and said, "I'll cut four rows, and you can cut two rows. That way, it'll be faster."
Zhang Hongmei was too weak to speak, but she didn't dare sit on the ground. Her grandfather had told her in her previous life that if she was too tired, she shouldn't sit or lie down immediately, or she wouldn't be able to get up in a while.
Ten minutes later, the whistle blew again. This time there was one less row. Zhang Hongmei was a little better than the previous two times and was just able to keep up with everyone's pace.
Li Cuihua didn't fall behind in any of the four rows; that's the difference.
Finally, we reached the end of the line. It was almost 7:30, and the food delivery had arrived. This time, Wang Hongxi gave everyone half an hour to rest and eat.
Zhang Hongmei felt a burning sensation in her stomach and couldn't eat anything. Wang Xinyi wiped Zhang Hongmei's sweat with concern, saying, "If you can't do this, go do something else."
Zhang Hongmei shook her head. "It's okay, I can manage."
"I brought you some porridge, would you like some?"
"I can't eat anymore. I think I'll throw up after eating for a while."
"That won't work either, you'll feel uncomfortable later."
“It’s okay, I can manage for one more day. Aunt Wang, if you have time, please bring my water bottle from your house. I’ll carry it myself. I feel uncomfortable having to drink water every time I go.”
"Hongmei, I've finished eating. I'll go get it; it won't delay the work." After saying that, Wang Ying took the key from Wang Xinyi and ran home.
Shi Tou looked at Zhang Hongmei with concern and said, "Sister Hongmei, if you can't hold on, go and bundle the wheat."
"I'm not going. That kind of work is too tiring. I'd rather harvest wheat. Don't worry, I can manage." He hadn't worked for almost three years and needed some time to adjust.
After everyone finished eating, they all smiled and urged Zhang Hongmei to rest.
"No, we have to hurry. We can't leave any regrets in this bumper harvest year."
Wang Ying returned shortly after, handed the water bottle to Zhang Hongmei, and took one for herself. Although carrying it on her back would be a bit of a hassle, it was better than being thirsty.
The whistle blew, and everyone got back to work with great enthusiasm. The harvested wheat was spread out on the ground, and it was estimated that people would have to be found to bundle it up in the afternoon, and someone would have to be arranged to carry it to the threshing ground.
Soon the canteen staff had packed up their equipment and started bundling the wheat.
Farmers see work as everything, and don't need to be told what to do.
Those who bundle the wheat are all skilled workers, so by the time Zhang Hongmei and her team had finished cutting the top, the others had already bundled half of it.
Everyone had basic skills, so even after working for several hours, their speed didn't slow down. Zhang Hongmei thought to herself that she must go abroad to look at seeders and harvesters.
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