The reunion festival is over, everyone who was supposed to leave has left, and the village has returned to its former tranquility.
Everyone is still doing heavy, repetitive work. The sweet potatoes are growing so-so, but the sorghum isn't doing so well; the yield is expected to be significantly lower than last year.
In the end, we decided to water it again. Now is the time when the crops are filling out, and watering will definitely be beneficial.
Zhang Hongmei went to the pond again. She knew the way well; she was already very familiar with this task.
It took almost a month to finish watering, and the autumn harvest is just around the corner. Zhang Hongmei didn't see any effect from this round of watering, but the village elders said that the watering was timely, and they estimated that even if the yield was reduced, it wouldn't be too much of a difference.
They immediately began harvesting sweet potatoes from the mountain. This was because they discovered outsiders had entered the village and the mountains. It wasn't selfishness, but even selflessness is within one's capabilities.
This year there is more land than last year, but the yield is not as high as last year.
The sweet potatoes weren't very big, and Zhang Hongmei guessed that this wasn't just a problem of drought, but also had to do with poor soil and a severe lack of fertilizer. It could also be due to continuous cropping in the same location.
We should sort the sweet potatoes by grade and carry them down the mountain, which will make it easier to store them in the warehouse.
Liu Maocai was still working in the warehouse, handling pumps and keeping accounts.
Three days later, all the sweet potatoes were put into the warehouse, and the top-grade sweet potatoes and small sweet potatoes (that is, 10,000 sweet potatoes) were put into the cellar. The women who were injured by the hoe were sliced and dried.
Before dinner, Liu Maocai reported the yield to everyone. Last year, it was 12,800 jin, with 9,000 jin of top-grade fruit. This year, it was 12,800 jin, but only 7,000 jin of top-grade fruit. Moreover, the yield was almost one-third more than last year.
Although everyone was a little sad about the low yield, there was still a yield, and they were mentally prepared for the expected yield of sweet potatoes in the field.
The next day, everyone went about their business as usual. The men carried the sweet potato vines down the mountain. They had to save them, as the cattle and sheep depended on them for winter fodder.
Two days later, after carrying all the sweet potato vines, they started harvesting various melons. Zhang Hongmei would plant a few pumpkin seeds in different places when she went up the mountain to herd sheep. Although the pumpkins were still green and could only be stored in the cellar after being picked, they were still picked. In the evening, everyone had a meal of sorghum porridge and stir-fried tender pumpkins with chili peppers.
The radishes and cabbages are still small; we'll have to wait until around the time of the first frost to harvest them.
In just one week, the sweet potato vines and slices dried out, and after that, we started harvesting the sweet potatoes from the field.
The soil in the sweet potato field was turned using an old ox to pull the plow. This year, Zhang Hongmei trained the ox to go up the mountain too, but she didn't use the ox for the sweet potatoes there because the soil was relatively moister than in the field, making it easier to dig with a hoe. But it wasn't possible in the field; it was too dry.
It took a whole month to harvest the sweet potatoes from 800 mu of land. Only 30,000 jin of top-quality sweet potatoes were finally stored, and the remaining 50,000 jin were also chopped and dried. This is a long-term job, and now the threshing ground is staffed almost at all times.
Zhang Hongmei was so tired from cutting sweet potato chips on the ground that she couldn't lift her arms and her buttocks ached every day. She had a cheat device, but the others just had to tough it out.
Er Ya also felt extremely distressed and became even more determined to study hard.
The slices of dried sweet potatoes were laid out to dry on the threshing floor, each with its own function, and even if a few were lazy, it wouldn't be too much of a problem.
Just as everyone was working hard, the township head arrived with the village heads from the surrounding villages. Because the children had come to inform them in advance, Liu Maocai and Wang Hongxi put down their work and rushed over.
"Wang Hongxi, you despicable person! I ask you questions all day long, and you always pretend to be gloomy. Can you still pretend now?"
"Yes. You're being really unfair. If you're going to eat meat, just give me some soup. Why hide it from me?"
"Exactly. You've all eaten your fill, while we're starving. Is this a suitable place for us neighbors to live?"
The three troublemakers were stirring up trouble, each trying to instigate conflict.
Wang Hongxi chuckled to himself, while Liu Maocai remained silent, creating an awkward atmosphere.
The township head coughed and said, "Wang Hongxi, we've come here today to see what your harvest has been like."
"Is the township head supposed to stay here? Or shall we go to the brigade headquarters for a while?"
The entire threshing ground fell silent; everyone stopped what they were doing and watched them quietly.
The township head also felt embarrassed, saying, "Everyone's busy, so we're just taking a look."
The old lady also sat on the ground and started slicing sweet potatoes, and everyone else followed suit.
Liu Maocai stood to the side without saying a word, but whenever his uninvited group took a step forward, he would take a step forward too; if they went east, he would go east as well. This made the situation even more awkward.
"Liu Maocai, you're a guest, aren't you? Are you looking for a thief?"
"We haven't seen any thieves yet, but we might see some robbers."
"You, you, I'm here to visit and learn from your experience."
"That's good. We've been tending to these crops day and night all summer, and we don't want anyone to come and eat our produce."
After Liu Maocai finished speaking, the others who had come with him felt ashamed. They had a good personal relationship with Liu Maocai, but now things had turned out like this.
"Mayor, Maocai, Hongxi, I have something to attend to, so I'll be leaving now."
"Let's go together, I'm heading back too. I'd rather use this time to dig up some wild vegetables. See you later!"
Seven people left one after another, and now only the township head, the three troublemakers, and Zhang Hongqi remain.
"Township Chief, it's almost lunchtime. Come on, let's go check out our canteen." Wang Hongxi, having just received a hint from his wife, warmly invited the five of them to visit the canteen.
"That's great! We haven't had a proper meal in ages. Let's go, let's have a meal with Wang Hongxi today."
"It's not about eating me. I don't have anything. This belongs to the whole community."
Wang Hongxi's single sentence ended the conversation once again.
The township head really wanted to turn back, but he thought that only Liujiatun in the whole township could harvest grain. He didn't want to rob it; it was the result of the hard work of the laborers. But could some be shared with others? No one should starve to death.
When they arrived at the canteen, it was quiet except for the clattering of pots and pans. People returning from the fields carried their own bowls and stood in line, quietly watching the group of five.
"Come on, everyone, sit here. The food will be served soon, I'll go get it."
"No need, we'll just line up and get our own food. It's just that we need to be provided with jobs."
"It's alright, it'll be here soon. I've sent my son back to get it. Since the customers want to queue, let them be at the front. Otherwise, it'll make us people from Liujiatun seem ignorant."
Today's lunch was a salad of sweet potato leaves, a paste made of chopped sweet potato vines mixed with wild vegetables and sweet potato flour, and a flatbread made from leftover sweet potato flour scraps.
Despite the drought, there was relief grain available, but Liujiatun did not collect it. At the time, everyone guessed that Liujiatun didn't value the old grain.
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