Chapter 1002: Every meal is hard-earned
Every spring, Daohua would go to Daoxiang Village to inspect the spring plowing progress, and she would always bring rice with her. When Daozi arrived at the village, she would soon become friends with the tenants' children, playing with cats and dogs, and running around everywhere.
Therefore, rice is no stranger to the fields.
While Xiao Morong and the others were still getting annoyed about getting their shoes dirty and bumping their feet by stepping on the ground, Daozi was already happily picking up ears of grain with his small bag.
The field where the children were picking ears of corn had just been harvested yesterday.
After being exposed to the sun, the rice grains tend to fall off easily. Even if the tenants harvest carefully, there will always be some ears of rice left in the ditches.
Not only were some people picking up rice, but the children of the tenants were also picking up rice.
Whoever picked up the ears of corn left on the ground would own them, and there was no need to teach them how to pick them up. Every time this happened, all the children from the tenant farmers would go out to pick them up.
Seeing the children picking up ears of corn everywhere in the fields, Xiao Morong and the others seemed to be assimilated and slowly joined in picking up ears of corn.
"We are picking up ears of corn because we are being punished. Are they doing the same?" Xiao Mobao picked up the ears of corn slowly. He bent down once and took a break before bending down the second time. He was so slow that even the youngest Xiao Moxu walked ahead of him.
When the rice heard this, it turned around and said, "I know that. They pick up these ears of grain to take back and eat."
Xiao Moqing looked puzzled: "There's so much food planted in the fields, isn't it enough for them to eat?"
The rice stopped and said, "Because these lands are not theirs, these crops have nothing to do with them. They can only get a small portion."
As he said this, he looked at Xiao Morong and the others seriously.
"Fourth brother, Sixth brother, you must work hard. My father said that to many people, we are like fat meat, which will attract hungry wolves."
"If we don't have enough ability, we won't be able to protect our property. The hungry wolves will eat us skin and flesh." As he said this, he pointed to the other children in the field.
"Then, I'll just have to help others farm and pick up the fallen ears of grain like them."
Chu Lang on the ridge: "."
How did Xiao Yeyang teach Daozi? Is it okay to talk about this to such a young child?
However, it was difficult for Daozi to remember it, and he taught a lesson to the emperor's grandchildren in such a vivid way.
Xiao Moleng and Xiao Mokuan were older and more sensible. When they heard Daozi's words, they seemed to be thinking about something, while Xiao Moqing, Xiao Mobao and Xiao Moxu did not agree.
At the beginning, the little ones were quite interested, and with the encouragement of the children of the tenant farmers, they picked up some ears of corn and put them all into the bag in Dongli's hand, which was almost half a bag.
However, after picking up the trash for half an hour, Xiao Mobao lost interest and sat down on the ground, refusing to move.
After a while, Xiao Moxu quit too.
Daozi and Xiao Moqing ran to catch sparrows with the tenant's children.
As a result, only the oldest two, Xiao Morong and Xiao Mokuan, were left in the fields, still resigned to their fate and continuing to pick up ears of grain.
As older brothers, they cannot run around and play like their younger brothers, because Grandpa Chu and the Dongli guards are watching them on the ridge of the field.
In the open field, a group of sparrows flew around, looking for grains left on the ground.
Wherever a sparrow lands, there will be children rushing over.
"Bang!"
When the rice saw a sparrow flying onto the haystack, it jumped up without thinking.
The haystack was not big, and the rice plants pressed down on it, causing it to collapse. Fortunately, he caught the sparrow.
"Fourth brother, look, I caught a sparrow!"
Daozi clutched the sparrow tightly in both hands and ran towards Xiao Morong excitedly. When he got close, he said excitedly, "We can eat roasted sparrows later."
Seeing that there were a lot of straw stuck on the rice, Xiao Morong cleaned up the rice and then praised it with a smile: "The rice is really amazing."
Daozi was very proud and ran towards Chu Lang with the sparrow he caught: "Grandpa Chu, look, these sparrows I caught. They say roasted sparrows are delicious."
Chu Lang took the sparrow from Daozi's hand with a smile: "Grandpa has someone roast this sparrow. Go back to picking up the ears of grain."
The smile on Daozi's face fell, and he pulled at his clothes with both hands, feeling a little embarrassed.
He didn't want to pick rice ears anymore. He wanted to play, catch sparrows, and climb trees. His seventh brother had already gone to climb trees and pick fruit with the children of the tenant farmers, and he wanted to go too.
Chu Lang saw through the little guy's thoughts at a glance and said with a smile: "Do you remember what you promised your mother before leaving?"
Daozi was silent for a moment, then muttered, "Seventh Brother has gone out to play."
Chu Lang: "He is the eldest prince's son, and your mother is not easy to control, but you are your mother's son. Since you promised your mother to pick up the food that wasted yesterday, you must do your word."
"You don't want to disappoint your mother when you go back this afternoon, do you?"
Daozi pouted and looked at Chu Lang eagerly: "Grandpa Chu, but I'm tired."
Chu Lang didn't indulge him, and continued with a smile: "Your mother said that if you don't pick up all the trash today, the amusement park will be closed for a while after you go back."
The rice plant lowered its head, turned around silently, and returned to the field weakly to continue picking up ears of grain.
Seeing that they could not get mercy for the rice, Xiao Morong and Xiao Mokuan were completely disappointed and could only continue to pick up ears of rice. However, Xiao Moqing, seeing that no one called him, continued to climb trees and catch birds with other children.
For Xiao Morong and others who had never worked before, picking up two bags of ears of grain was not an easy task. In the afternoon, Chu Lang saw that the children were tired, so he asked them to pick up ears of grain from the fields that had just been harvested today.
When he came in the morning, he greeted the village head and asked them not to harvest the crops too cleanly today.
The children must be made to complete the task of collecting two bags of ears of corn, and their enthusiasm must not be discouraged.
Xiao Yeyang knew that his son and several nephews were going to the farm for labor reform today, so he took several officials out of the city to inspect the autumn harvest in various places.
Towards evening, Xiao Yeyang and his group arrived at the farm. They came here to see their son's achievements and to pick up the child.
People from the An and Du families also came. When they saw the emperor's grandchildren, who were covered in dirt and bending over to pick up ears of corn in the fields, they felt very distressed.
They knew that several imperial grandchildren came to the farm today to punish them for knocking over the mooncakes yesterday. They thought that Princess Xiao was just pretending, but they didn't expect that she would actually let the imperial grandchildren work in the fields!
However, they couldn't say anything. They agreed to let the emperor's grandson come to the farm, and Xiao Moxi was also picking ears of grain in the field. King Weiyuan didn't feel sorry for his son, so what could they say?
"father!"
When Daozi saw Xiao Yeyang coming, a bright smile immediately appeared on his face. Then he opened his arms and ran towards Xiao Yeyang.
However, when he stepped onto the ridge of the field, he tripped and fell to the ground, and the ears of grain in the small bag hanging around his neck immediately spilled all over the ground.
Just when everyone thought that King Weiyuan was going to step forward to comfort Daozi, they found that Xiao Yeyang just calmly said: "If you fall, stand up by yourself." He acted as if it was no big deal.
Not only did Xiao Yeyang not move, but Chu Lang and others beside him did not move forward either.
Daozi sat on the ground, chuckled, not embarrassed, clapped his hands, and then stood up as if nothing had happened.
Xiao Yeyang pointed at the ears of rice on the ground with his chin. The rice immediately said "Oh", then squatted down and picked up the ears of rice bit by bit.
"Dad, there are too many ears of corn. Please help me."
At this time, Xiao Yeyang walked over, squatted down and accompanied his son to pick up ears of grain. As they picked up, he asked, "Do you know how hard it is to get grain?"
Daozi frowned, sighed, and nodded, "Dad, food is so hard to come by. Grandpa Chu said the ears of grain I picked up today are only enough to make ten mooncakes. I won't mess around in the kitchen anymore."
Xiao Yeyang rubbed his son's head and said, "Every meal should be appreciated as it is not easy to come by. It is shameful to waste food."
Daozi nodded seriously: "Dad, I understand."
Officials such as An and Du were all stunned, as if they finally understood the intention of King Weiyuan and his wife to let the children come to Zhuangzi.
(End of this chapter)
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