As they expected, Yuan Zhuangtou had indeed come to the village to find people to collect the grain. Because the Jiang family often recruited people from their village to work, and many people had been hired as long-term workers, and the Jiang family was kind and generous in paying bills, most villagers were willing to come and help.
Over ten acres of herb fields had wooden beams built on them, and they could only use old planks to cover the roof, covered with tarpaulin. The herbs hadn't grown yet, so they had to save as much as they could.
This year, all the farmland in Jiangjiazhuang is planted with crops, and there are still many ripe fruits on the mountain and in the backyard that have not been picked.
Yuan Zhuangtou did not dare to slow down and hurried to the city to discuss with Fan Bai. He closed all the shops and asked all the employees to go to the farm to help harvest grain and fruit.
Fang Lu also hurried to grab two sets of clothes and went home to call her younger brother.
As Wu was packing up, she said, "Why are you in such a hurry? The grain hasn't even been harvested outside the city yet. It's so hot, isn't it a little faster than last year?"
"I don't know, but since they asked us to go and help, let's go. The Jiang family has helped us so many times, and they saved my life. If they ask us to go, let's go."
Fang Xin was already a grown-up boy, much more sensible. He took the sickle from home and said, "Sister, I can work now!"
"good!"
Hu Cheng went home and called his wife and children to help as much as he could.
The same thing happened to Jiang Dashu's family and Yan Gu's family. This year was the third year, and the house in the city had been theirs. They had also been allocated a little land outside the city, but they didn't grow much food, so only two people were left to harvest it, and the rest of them had to go out with them.
It's a rare opportunity to repay the Jiang family.
Several families hurriedly packed up their things and went out, and the neighbors were inevitably curious.
They said that their landlord's farm was harvesting fruits and grains and they were short of manpower, so they went over to help.
No one was blind and said anything unkind, nor did anyone say that the Jiang family was paying to hire people. However, when the villagers of Changle Village heard that the Jiang family needed workers, they all took their farm tools and ran out of the city.
The group of people had no mule or ox carts, and had to walk everywhere. They also carried bags and farm tools. They came in such a large group that the guards at the city gate were so frightened that they almost called all the government officials.
Fan Bailian knew the person well, so he quickly stepped forward to explain. He said the same thing: the farm was short of people to harvest the grain, so they were looking for people to do farm work.
The guard checked and found nothing wrong so he let them out.
The people in the city were also curious and wanted to join in the fun.
"What are all these people doing? It looks scary, like a war."
"I don't know. Are they carrying farm tools? Are they starting to harvest the crops? The sun is so bright in the sky!"
"This is several days earlier than last year, right? Who harvests crops so early?"
"Hey, have you heard? They say they've started harvesting grain outside the city. Aren't they worried about the weather?"
"What? The weather's going to change? It's going to rain?"
Somehow, word spread among the people that a storm was coming, and some began to rush to gather grain. With the first two people taking the lead, gradually, the whole city began to gather grain early.
After all, the storms and disasters of a few years ago are still vivid in our minds, and we are afraid that they will happen again.
Yuan Zhuangtou found more than 30 people in the village to collect grain, and Fan Bai brought back more than 50 people from the city. His eyes widened. Aunt Yuan and Aunt Zhang lit the fires in the big and small kitchens, and every day they cooked several large pots of dry rice and several large baskets of steamed buns to just make enough to eat.
They were all people who had done farm work before, so they worked efficiently and effectively without the supervision of Yuan Zhuangtou.
There were so many people that the women moved into the courtyard and the men slept in the fields. In just three days, they had harvested all the grain from the hundreds of acres of land and then began to harvest the fruit.
The grain is almost dried as it is harvested, and as much as is harvested is dried.
Hu Cheng was in charge of registering and keeping accounts, and he settled all the bills for the villagers using the money collected by the shop in the past few days.
The people who came from the city to help were unwilling to accept money. They only worked for a few days as a way of repaying the favor.
Yuan Zhuangtou gave each person a large dried fish and two peaches. Wages are wages, and thank-you gifts are thank-you gifts; the two have different meanings.
Everyone was naturally happy to receive the thank-you gift, but their joy was suppressed by the dark clouds in the sky. They could not wait to rest for half a day and hurried back to the city.
Fortunately, most of the crops in the farmlands outside the city had been harvested, but the government farmland had more crops, so only a small part had been harvested. They picked up their farm tools and joined the grain harvesting team again...
Jiang Yue and her family of three walked around the small town twice. There were not as many shops as in Yindu City, so they only bought a small wave drum for Sui Sui to play with.
The weather had been cloudy for three days without any rain. Just when Jiang Yue was hesitating whether to set off, there was a loud thunder in the middle of the night.
There was a rumbling thunder and a whistling wind, and Sui Sui, who was sleeping soundly, was startled.
"Mom..." There was lightning and thunder outside the window, and he crawled into Jiang Yue's arms.
Jiang Yue patted his back and said, "Don't be afraid, dear. It's thunder."
The thunder was so loud that Sui Sui clutched her clothes tightly, opened her eyes wide, and couldn't sleep even if she didn't speak.
After a while, there was a thudding sound from the roof. The night rain was coming heavy and dense.
Jiang Nian stood up, looked at the corner, and frowned slightly, "Yueyue, this room is leaking."
The houses in the city are all old houses. At most, they have been repaired, but they will definitely not be able to withstand the strong wind and rain.
But we can't move to the house on the first floor either. The first floor is low and no one can tell whether it will be flooded during a heavy rain.
Jiang Yue took out a large oilcloth from the space, and they covered the top of the bed with it. As long as the sleeping place did not leak rain, it would be fine.
The next morning, several people went downstairs.
As expected, the lobby was flooded, and the waiter and the shopkeeper were worriedly scooping water out with wooden basins.
They had no time to deal with the guests, so Jiang Nian put on his straw raincoat and went to the backyard to check on the mule cart.
Fortunately, the mule shed at this inn was large, so the mules got wet by the rain, but it was okay.
After three days of torrential rain, it finally stopped. Many homes in the city were filled with the sound of tears of joy. Their demands were modest; they simply wanted to survive.
Jiang Yue was trapped in this small town for seven days. After the land was dry, they finally set off again.
They were on the road again, with no obstacles in their way. Jiang Yue breathed a sigh of relief. It had been half a month since they left the house, and it was still unclear whether they had even reached the halfway point.
Sui Sui was held in Jiang Nian's arms, playing with a rattle in her hand, "Dad, when will we arrive?"
Under the scorching sun, Jiang Nian was sweating profusely. He raised his chin and motioned him to look forward. "There's an inn under that big tree not far away. Do you see it?"
Hearing this, Sui Sui looked up happily and suddenly hit his chin.
"hiss--"
"Hey, I was wrong, Dad." Sui Sui stretched out her little hand to help him rub his red chin, revealing a mouthful of small white teeth. Two pointed little canine teeth became obvious, and she began to act cute again.
Jiang Yue also wiped her sweat. If she didn't want to arrive before selling the sheep in autumn, she really didn't want to rush on the road in the hot summer.
"Are we there yet?" The wind and sand had gradually intensified along the way, and Jiang Yue felt as if her head and body were covered in sand. Wearing a mask in the summer heat was even more uncomfortable.
"No, this is just a big trading market. Let's take a break first."
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