Looking at Su Tao's soft response, "Hmm", he looked very much like a lazy cat he used to raise, but unfortunately later... He Chuan's eyes dimmed, he withdrew his thoughts, turned around and left.
While Su Tao was waiting for He Chuan, he recalled the voice that had just rang in his head, but there was no follow-up after that. Not long after, he heard the rustling of rice ears behind him. Su Tao turned around and saw that it was indeed He Chuan who had returned.
"This place is far from where we live and there is no medicine. Give this first and you can apply medicine after we get back." He Chuan stretched out his hand, grabbed Su Tao's left hand, and applied the thing on Su Tao's wound.
Su Tao then took a closer look and saw that it was a large spider web. Su Tao shuddered with disgust and began to frantically flail her hands, trying to get rid of the spider web. He Chuan held her waving hands tightly to prevent her from breaking free.
He shouted loudly, "Don't move, spider webs can effectively stop bleeding." In the countryside, most people rely on this kind of folk remedy. Medicines are scarce for them. Except for the town's health center or wealthy families like the team leader, who else would have such expensive medicines?
Su Tao calmed down after his explanation, and the wound covered with the spider web soon stopped bleeding. He Chuan pulled an embroidered handkerchief from his pocket and bandaged Su Tao.
The handkerchief was made of pure silk, embroidered with a delicate plum blossom. Su Tao was somewhat surprised that He Chuan had such a handkerchief. It was clearly not something He Chuan, dressed in worn, washed-out clothes, would bring out. Furthermore, it looked like something a girl's had. Was it given to him by a girl he liked? Or was it something he intended to give to the girl he loved? Su Tao's mind raced.
"The tip of the sickle should be tilted downwards, otherwise it will cut your hand." He Chuan gave instructions, looking at the uneven rice that Su Tao had harvested earlier. He grabbed the rice with his left hand and swung the sickle downwards, cutting it with a "swish".
"You'd better wear a glove next time." He Chuan looked at Su Tao's other hand that was holding her breast, which had turned red. Many blisters had formed on the tender palm like tofu, which looked particularly shocking.
Seeing Su Tao like this, he couldn't harvest the rice anymore. He Chuan pondered for a moment and said, "Don't harvest the rice. I'll do it. You can take the harvested rice and thresh it."
Su Tao stared blankly at He Chuan's sturdy face. What kind of person was this? She was in such a state, and he still asked her to thresh the rice with her hands. She remembered watching a documentary before. In the past, people used to grab the rice and beat it hard to thresh it. Those with less strength couldn't even shake it.
"What are you thinking about? Don't you want to thresh the rice with your hands? Aren't there rice threshers?" Seeing Su Tao about to cry because of the misunderstanding, He Chuan explained helplessly.
Su Tao's tears stopped, ah, fortunately she didn't let her hand slip away. Suddenly, there was an opportunity, Su Tao looked in the direction of He Chuan's finger, and saw the rectangular open barrel-like tool he had been dragging.
Su Tao approached to examine the machine. It consisted of a rectangular open wooden barrel, pedals, and gears. After a brief inspection, he roughly understood its operation. The thresher was evenly distributed with barbed wire hooks, which were used to thresh the rice. Pressing the pedals firmly drove the rollers, which rotated at high speed, placing the rice on the rollers for threshing.
He Chuan demonstrated the operation to Su Tao first, fearing she wouldn't understand and might hurt herself. The process was simple: he placed the rice into the thresher and then pressed the pedal to thresh it.
Su Tao tried it, and it turned out to be easier than cutting rice. Although it was hard to push the pedals, it was much better than cutting rice.
Seeing Su Tao master the task, He Chuan returned to the field to continue harvesting the rice. Looking at the vast expanse of rice, he realized he'd wasted so much time earlier. He had to speed up, or he might not be able to finish today. He Chuan's hand tightened around the sickle, veins bulging as he swung rapidly at the rice. "Swish, swish, swish," the rice fell neatly one by one.
A few hours passed, and He Chuan finally finished harvesting all the rice. He transported the rice to the thresher. Looking at Su Tao's little face which was rosy from the sun, a barely perceptible smile appeared at the corner of his lips, as faint as a trace of water, appearing restrained and reserved.
"Take a break!" Su Tao heard the man say, and quickly jumped off the thresher. She was exhausted. When her left foot tired, she switched to the other, alternating between the two. After an entire afternoon of threshing, she'd only just finished threshing half the rice.
Su Tao already felt his legs go weak and numb, feeling like they were not his own.
"Why haven't you come over yet?" He Chuan asked in confusion when he saw Su Tao standing still after coming down.
"I can't walk, my feet are numb!" Su Tao replied pitifully, with his head drooped, like a wronged kitten.
He Chuan looked at Su Tao's spoiled look and sighed helplessly. After checking that there was no one around, he strode over and gave Su Tao a princess hug, carrying him under the shade of a tree before putting him down.
Su Tao looked at He Chuan, a man with a cold exterior but a warm heart, who was drinking water, with a triumphant smile on his face.
Su Tao took his cloth bag, which contained not only water but also a few large meat buns he had made at noon. Su Tao picked up a large meat bun and threw one into He Chuan's arms.
He Chuan looked at the steamed buns in his arms. Although they were cold, they still exuded a rich, meaty aroma. He hadn't eaten meat in ages, and filling his stomach every day was a blessing. The occasional prey he caught in the mountains was either sold for money or saved for his sister.
He swallowed and handed the bun back, "I don't want it, you take it back."
"Just take it if I give it to you. You've already touched it. I won't eat it even if you return it. Just throw it away if you don't want it!" Su Tao pretended to be angry. He knew that he would not accept it so easily, and he had already thought of a response.
He Chuan couldn't bear to throw it away, so he just quietly ate it. The buns were incredibly delicious, with thin skin and generous portions, filling up with fillings. Unlike the buns he'd had elsewhere before, which were more like steamed buns than anything else, without much filling. Furthermore, they weren't made with top-notch Fuqiangfu flour, but rather this kind of Jianshe flour, which made the texture much worse.
"Delicious, right? I made it myself." Su Tao boasted proudly, hoping to use her cooking skills to make up for the disadvantage she had just experienced while working. She still had an advantage, and then she slowly ate the buns with small bites and a satisfied look on her face.
He Chuan looked at the cherry-red lips biting on Xue Yi's buns, which were indescribably tempting. He couldn't help but think of the day he saved someone. He still remembered the soft touch of those lips, and his eyes couldn't help but deepen.
He Chuanxian had almost finished his buns, and seeing that Su Tao was still eating slowly, he walked to the thresher and threshed the remaining rice of Su Tao.
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