"What? Everyone in the village says to wait a little longer, it'll rain soon." Sister Yulan hesitated.
Irrigating the fields is indeed not an easy task, as the paddy fields in the village are all clustered together. To irrigate them, water must be drawn from the river.
This isn't something her family can do alone; the whole village has to work together to dig the canal.
He Tiantian pointed to the sky outside, where the sun was blazing. "Sister-in-law, we've been waiting for so long and it still hasn't rained. If we don't irrigate the fields soon, do you think the crops will last until then?"
"Well... okay, Wanzi's mother, I'll discuss it with Yonghe when he comes back tonight." Sister-in-law Yulan felt a bit of danger when she thought about the crops in the fields.
She goes to her own fields every two or three days to check on them and pull weeds.
“My family’s fields are independent, so I need to ask the village head to find someone to dig a canal for irrigation.” With that, He Tiantian started to walk out.
Sister-in-law Yulan quickly stopped her, "Hey... Maruko's mother, you're still in your postpartum period and can't be exposed to the wind. Let me go to the head of the pavilion for you."
He Tiantian had been staying at home for more than half a month and had originally planned to use this as an excuse to go out for a drive. But in the end, she couldn't resist Sister Yulan's insistence.
They said she couldn't be exposed to wind or get cold during her postpartum period, which resulted in her having to wear socks at home on hot days, making her feet sweat profusely.
The four children in the family had all gone outside to collect firewood. In the quiet afternoon, He Tiantian suddenly heard a few goat calls coming from the bamboo forest behind the house.
This goat usually bleats, but today its bleating is definitely different from usual.
He Tiantian glanced at Xiao Mingzhu sleeping soundly on the bed, and seeing that she was sleeping soundly, she got up to check on her in the afternoon.
Before leaving, He Tiantian closed all the doors to the house and checked them carefully one last time, just to be sure.
Every morning, Zhao Denglong would lead his goats to graze in the bamboo grove behind the house, and because of the shade provided by the bamboo grove, it wouldn't get hot there.
When He Tiantian arrived at the back of the house, she saw the goat lying on the ground bleating from afar.
When she got closer, He Tiantian was terrified. The old goat was about to give birth!
When the old goat saw He Tiantian, its bleating became even more pitiful.
He Tiantian quickly stepped forward and stroked the goat's head to comfort it, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, hang in there!"
The old goat had already given birth to half a lamb, with half of the lamb's body already emerging. But no matter how hard the old goat tried, she couldn't give birth to another lamb.
He Tiantian thought that when she gave birth, she could pull the baby out as soon as the head came out, but she had to control the force.
Seeing the goat in such pain, she hurriedly wiped her hands on her clothes. Then, she carefully pulled the goat out of the way.
He Tiantian didn't dare to use too much force at first, because she was afraid of breaking the lamb's body.
The old goat seemed to sense that someone was helping it and was also straining. With both sides pulling together, finally, with a whoosh, a small white lamb was completely out.
The old goat's belly suddenly flattened out.
The newborn lamb hadn't opened its eyes yet, and its head was still wobbling. The mother goat licked the lamb's entire body little by little, cleaning away all the blood and exoskeleton.
Just then, Sister-in-law Yulan returned, along with Pavilion Chief Zhao.
When Sister-in-law Yulan couldn't find He Tiantian at home, she went to look for her behind the house.
"Oh dear, what's wrong with Maruko's mom?"
He Tiantian straightened up, her hands covered in blood, and even her face was splattered with it.
She breathed a sigh of relief. "The goat gave birth to a baby lamb. Look, it's quite cute."
Sister-in-law Yulan and Director Zhao quickly ran over. They were both very happy to see the newborn lamb.
"Goodness, this little lamb is really strong," Zhao Tingzhang said with a smile, stroking his beard.
Sister Yulan stepped forward to examine the goat's belly and said with a smile, "When we first bought this goat, it was as thin as a rock. It was because the children in the family fed it well every day. It got pregnant with a lamb, and all the nutrition went to it, which is why it grew so strong."
The three men led the sheep into the yard and cut some grass for the mother goat to replenish her energy.
Zhao Tingzhang then asked, "Wanzi's mother, I heard from Yulan's mother that your family is hiring someone to water the fields?"
He Tiantian nodded. "It seems we won't be able to wait for rain. The south is flooded, while we in the north are suffering from drought. This year doesn't look like a good year."
Zhao Tingzhang's expression changed. Farmers fear nothing more than severe floods or droughts. If either is neglected, the crops in the fields will yield nothing.
"Ah... Maruko's mother, your ten acres of dry land are easy to irrigate. But the paddy fields in the village are far from the river, so I'm afraid they'll be harder to irrigate," Zhao Tingzhang said, somewhat troubled.
“Chief, you have to water it even if it’s difficult, otherwise the villagers’ crops will all die of drought, and what will they eat in the fall? There won’t even be any wild vegetables,” He Tiantian advised.
After discussing it, the two decided that Zhao, the village head, would first go back and recruit twenty people from the village, paying each of them twenty coins.
He Tiantian's family has ten acres of land, and the irrigation canal can be dug in just one day.
The entire village's paddy fields needed to be dug together. If even one family disagreed, the other villagers who did the work would feel it was unfair.
The news of He Tiantian recruiting workers spread throughout the village the next day, but almost all the men in Changfeng Village went to work at the neighboring mine, because the monthly salary of one hundred coins was too tempting.
But when they saw the recruitment notice for the pavilion chief, they thought that twenty coins a day was a great way to make money, so they all wanted to do it.
But it's impossible to be in two places at once. Some families are willing to do it at night, while others have their fourteen or fifteen-year-old children do it.
Zhao Xiangbei, along with Zhao Daniu and Zhao Tiezhu, also participated in this channel-digging project. None of the three knew who was paying for the recruitment, but seeing so many people signing up, they quickly grabbed their spots.
When Zhao Xiangbei returned to the Zhao family's old house and told them about it, Zhao Xiangnan also hurriedly brought his two sons to register. However, the three of them arrived too late, and all twenty spots were quickly snapped up.
Zhao Xiangnan, Zhao Pang, and Zhao Shou were all very depressed. The three of them returned home looking dejected, complaining that their older brother hadn't helped them register.
Now they're in trouble; they have to go back to the county docks to unload goods. It's exhausting.
Zhao Xiangbei also felt wronged. It wasn't that he didn't want to help, but the village head had said that he had to be there in person.
This incident caused some friction between the two brothers.
Cheng only took one day off at the end of the month before going back to work at the restaurant. She can now save thirty coins a month, so she has some motivation to work.
That day, Fatty Zhao and Skinny Zhao finished carrying goods at the dock and were preparing to go back when they suddenly saw a familiar figure.
"Big brother, isn't that Brother Er Gou?"
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