Tian Cai told her what a weak spleen and stomach is and what a damp-heat constitution is. The two of them talked and listened at the same time, but their steps were not affected at all.
After returning home, he poured the chestnuts on the bamboo mat in the backyard. Tian Cai came out again with an empty basket on his back. After thinking about it, he went back and got two more sacks.
When I stood at the gate, I thanked myself again for choosing the location of the house. It was a little far from the village, so no one would see me passing by.
After waiting for a while, Luo Xiuyan came over with an empty basket on her back, and the two of them hurried up the mountain together.
The remaining chestnuts filled two more bamboo baskets and two larger sacks with some left over.
It was much more difficult to transport the chestnuts back. The two men carried the bamboo baskets over a hill, put the baskets on the hill, and then returned to carry the sacks. Then they tied the mouth of the sacks tightly and rolled them down the hill. This saved some energy. It took a lot of effort and they finally managed to transport the chestnuts back panting.
There were many people in the village in the evening, and Luo Xiuyan was afraid of being seen, so she left all the chestnuts at Tian Cai's house and carried most of the basket back home.
The villagers kept asking me where I picked up this half basket of chestnuts. After all, all the chestnuts on the nearby hills had been picked clean.
Tian Cai also transported all the chestnuts to the backyard. She did not touch the ones that belonged to Luo Xiuyan. She spread her own chestnuts on a bamboo mat to dry while humming a song.
Unlike the leisurely life on Tian Cai's side, Ding Ersao dragged Jin Cheng's wife and followed Luo Xiuyan home. She pretended not to understand the girl's unwelcome expression and squeezed in through the crack of the door to chat with Aunt Du.
"Sister-in-law, your daughter Xiuyan is really capable," said Ding Ersao as she looked around the yard to see what mountain products her family had brought back today. "These chestnuts have disappeared from the mountains a few days ago. I wonder where Xiuyan picked up so many of them?"
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