Chapter 79 The Joy of Harvest [VIP]
The mountain stream seems to have the gurgling of spring water.
When the two separated, there was still a wisp of silver thread hanging between each other's lips and tongues, which Yang Jizong gently wiped away with a handkerchief. Holding the flushed little face, he couldn't help but lower his head and peck the other's lips again.
"Come up, I'll take you home."
Chen Yao's legs became weak from the kiss, and she lay on Yang Jizong's back with her eyes closed, secretly swearing in her heart that she would never seduce Yang Jizong again next time.
Once this guy starts kissing, he won't stop and won't restrain himself at all.
She could guess that her lips were swollen without touching them. She couldn't let her parents see it when she got home. As for Yang Wenying, they slept in the same room, so she could laugh if she wanted to.
When I got home, it was already dark.
The oil lamps in the main house were still burning.
Yang Wenying heard the noise in the side room and came to open the door for the two of them.
"Dad, Mom, we're back." Chen Yao stood in the yard and shouted towards the main house before going into the room.
Huang Xing was helping her husband with the accounting when she heard her daughter's cry. Before she could respond, she was gone. "Why is she so flustered? Zi'an, the food is warmed up in the kitchen. Remember to bring it out and eat with A-Yao. We've already eaten."
"Okay." Yang Jizong took the oil lamp from his sister's hand and went to the kitchen. He washed his hands and took the food out of the pot. Thinking that Chen Yao would definitely not want to come out, he prepared her portion, knocked on the door, and motioned his sister to bring it in.
"Brother, you guys--" Yang Wenying narrowed her eyes slightly, and before she could finish her words, she was choked back by her brother's words.
Yang Jizong lowered his voice and told his sister not to talk nonsense and to pretend she saw nothing even if she saw it.
Yang Wenying was so angry that she closed the door and didn't allow him to look inside again.
"Tell me, what happened? Did you two kiss?" Yang Wenying sat across the table and watched Chen Yao shovel rice into her mouth.
Chen Yao nearly choked, and only after drinking a mouthful of soup could she swallow the food. "Wenying, you're still young, don't ask nonsense questions."
Yang Wenying folded her arms in front of her: "I know it even if you don't tell me. It must be my brother who forced you to do it."
Chen Yao ate the rice in the bowl without saying a word, and Yang Wenying became more and more certain of her guess.
After dawn, the twenty-five households in Xiahe Village started to move after having breakfast.
Mrs. Zheng from the village took her daughter-in-law and called Mrs. Wang, Mrs. Yu and Ma Dajiao to go pick rabbit grass.
There is heavy dew in the morning, so the rabbit grass you bring back cannot be fed immediately. The dew on it must be dried before feeding. Otherwise, the rabbit will have diarrhea after eating the dewy grass, and in more serious cases, it will die.
When they arrived at the foot of Wufeng Mountain, they were shocked to see wooden stakes stuck at the bottom of the trench that was two people high. They patted their chests and exclaimed that the men in the village were really capable.
This time, if wild boars come down the mountain again, there is no need to worry about them harming the crops in the fields. The villagers will just have to take a longer detour to go up the mountain.
But these are nothing compared to preserving the food in the fields.
The villagers who worked in the silkworm room set off for Wanhe Township before dawn and came back after dark, so Shen Qingshan didn't need to worry about them at all.
So, today Shen Qingshan brought his brother-in-law, third brother, and skinning workers to the rabbit house to slaughter rabbits and teach them how to skin and tan.
Miao and Huang Mei solemnly introduced Xu to several women in the embroidery room who were excellent at needlework.
The women immediately bowed to Xu and called out in unison, "Master Xu!"
Xu took out the drawings and patterns that Miao and Huang Mei had given her yesterday and circulated them among everyone. Anyone who didn't know how to embroider could come and ask her.
"We'd rather start slow than pretend to know when we don't, understand?"
"We understand, Master Xu."
The three sisters-in-law were originally worried that there would be no one to supervise the two places and someone would be lazy and slack off.
But unexpectedly, things went smoothly after the work started.
At this point, we have to praise A Yao for being smart. He made the ugly words clear before starting work. Each person only has two chances to make mistakes. Everyone supervises each other and whoever does a poor job will be replaced.
There are many people in the village who are thinking about the monthly salary of 200 wen.
"Let's go home and grind tofu and make bean curd sheets to earn money." The three sisters-in-law returned home affectionately.
This side.
After Chen Yao had breakfast, she carried a basket and a hoe and went to the fields to open up wasteland like other people in the village.
She had to spread the soaked chicken feet millet on the wasteland. Even though her family no longer had to worry about having enough food to eat, she still wanted to grow some millet. Now she had chickens and mules at home.
Once she saves some more money, she will renovate the house inside and out, and she also plans to raise two piglets.
From now on, there will be no more worries about lack of fertilizer in the fields.
"Ayao, why are you here to open up wasteland today? Are you going to plant soybeans?" After the spring thaw, the villagers had already selected wasteland everywhere and prepared to plant beans.
Soybeans, which were previously considered worthless, can now be sold at a good price all year round thanks to A Yao.
There is an extra income in the family this year.
“If she didn’t plant beans, but just left them in the fields, villagers would come and look at her seeds.
They often grow wheat, but this is the first time they have seen millet. Not to mention that it looks like grass seeds.
I just don’t know what it will look like when it grows out in the future.
Yao, after reading books, her mind became more active and her courage grew, and she dared to try anything.
The three-tenths of wasteland that had been reclaimed was sown with all the grain seeds, which were then planted in the wheat fields to drive away the birds.
Since the last time the wild boars came down the mountain, Tanaka Masaru has to get up early every day and take a walk around the wheat fields before going to the rabbit house, counting the time to harvest the wheat with his fingers.
After a heavy rain, new sprouts gradually appeared on the soybeans in the wasteland.
The wheat that was as high as the calves was becoming more and more golden day by day. Now, not only was Tian Zhongzheng running into the wheat field every day, but even Chen Yao was following behind wearing a straw hat, catching insects and chasing birds in the wheat field.
In mid-May, Yang Jizong gave the students a half-month agricultural holiday.
Not only did the tenant farmers have to start using the government oxen to plow the land in preparation for sowing wheat seeds later, but the Shen family also had to start harvesting wheat.
After waiting for the wheat for a whole winter, the harvest season finally arrived.
In the small courtyard, before daybreak, Huang Dongsheng squatted in the yard and refused to go into the city. He was very angry when his mother said, "The family doesn't need a laborer like you."
Shen Qingshan, his brother-in-law, and his third brother sharpened the sickles in their home with a whetstone early on and handed them to everyone. They also specifically reminded the Yang brothers and sisters to be careful when using them so as not to cut their legs and feet.
The mule cart was pulled out of the house. Since the weather got warmer, Shen Qingshan made another cart for the family.
"Baolai, go into the house and bring out the bamboo basket, and then take out the wooden forks, wooden hoes and wooden rakes." Tanaka was urging them outside the door, holding the mule.
As soon as Tian Baolai moved, Yang Jizong immediately followed him into the main house to help get things.
After putting everything away, the three families set out on their mule carts to the fields, arousing the envy of the villagers along the way.
It was not too hot in the wheat field in the morning, and the mule was tied aside to graze.
The elders were leading the way. With a crackling sound, the neat wheat field was cut down, leaving only the bare roots of the wheat stalks, and piles of wheat gradually piled up around them.
"Ayao, please teach us how to harvest wheat." Yang Wenying pulled her brother and followed Shen Yao to ask for advice humbly.
Chen Yao held the sickle in her hand and looked at the brother and sister, motioning them to watch.
He bent over, hunched his body, held the ripe wheat stalks in his left hand, held the sickle in his right hand and went deep into the roots of the stalks, then pulled hard and the wheat was cut.
"Put a handful of harvested wheat gently on the ground, repeat this process several times to form a stack, and then carry the stack onto the cart and put it away."
Yang Wenying and Yang Jizong took a look at it and started working.
Although the progress was a bit slow, Chen Yao still gave a thumbs up to the brother and sister.
As it approached noon, the weather was getting hotter and hotter, and everyone was sweating profusely as they worked.
Only then did Yang Jizong understand the benefit of the handkerchief that A Yao put around his neck.
Yang Wenying supported herself with one hand and drank water from a large bowl in the other. Harvesting wheat was more tiring than plowing the soil before, and her waist and arms were sore and swollen.
But the elders still continued to work tirelessly without stopping for a moment.
Chen Yao also handed Yang Jizong a bowl of cold water and looked at his sunburned face with some concern: "Why don't you go rest under the tree for a while."
"It's okay, I'm not tired." Yang Jizong drank two bowls of water and continued to work.
Chen Yao had no way to deal with the siblings and could only keep an eye on them all the time.
Seeing that the wheat stacks on the cart could only be reached with wooden forks, Tanaka immediately said to his son, "Pull the wheat to the drying yard to dry, and leave the fields to us. Take Baozhu and Ayao back with you to make lunch and bring it to us in the fields."
"I understand, Dad." Tian Baolai put away his sickle and greeted Yang Jizong, indicating that he should go with him to tie up the wheat on the cart with hemp rope to prevent it from falling on the road.
Tian Baozhu and Shen Yao were carrying bamboo baskets, while the Yang brothers and sisters were carrying farm tools. On the way, they listened to Tian Baozhu talk about what they were going to do in the drying yard.
The harvested wheat cannot remain lying in the wheat field, otherwise it will become moldy and sprout. It must be taken to the drying yard to dry. The wheat that has been dried in the sun is easier to thresh.
"Zi'an, let's go home and cook. Come back and rest after you're done." Chen Yao put the basket aside and pulled her cousin and Wenying back home.
Tian Baolai and Yang Jizong unloaded the wheat stacks from the cart and spread them out with wooden forks. After finishing this work, they did not go home, but instead drove the mule cart to the fields to transport wheat.
Cartloads of wheat were pulled into the drying yard. The midday sun was extremely strong, and the wheat spread out in the drying yard was dried thoroughly. After lunch.
The elders simply let the children go to the drying yard to thresh the grain.
The cart was replaced with a stone roller. Yang Wenying led the mule and pulled the stone roller around on the dried wheat, rolling it over and over again to separate the wheat straw from the wheat grains.
Yang Jizong, Tian Baolai, Tian Baozhu and Shen Yao used wooden forks and hoes to turn over the wheat and shake it, not missing a single grain.
In order to prevent the loss of grain, when pitching each fork of wheat, everyone would shake it vigorously to let the wheat grains fall from the gaps between the wheat stalks. Then they would work together to shake off the wheat grains, and finally collect the threshed wheat grains into bamboo baskets and take them home.
The wheat straw was then pulled back. They had to repeat this process for half a month before they could bring all the wheat from the two acres of land home.
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