When the pears are green

Chapter 111: Wheat Fields Covered with Yellow

The sky in the east had not yet turned pale when Song Li and his two companions, along with Jiang Ping and Jiang Qian, walked toward the riverbank. They carried wooden buckets to water the seeds that they had planted the day before.

Although the seeds have been planted, the two families have not had a rest. According to Hu Zhimin, the mulberry seedlings need to be watered once a day before they grow leaves.

Yesterday, because the ground was still relatively wet, the two families took a break.

"The south wind has been blowing again these past few days. It will probably be time to harvest the wheat in a few days. How will we find people to water the fields by then?" Jiang Ping said worriedly. In the past, Zhang Ying was the main laborer in his family, but now she is seven or eight months pregnant. How could he dare let her work again?

Jiang Qian quickly comforted Jiang Ping: "Dad, it will be fine if it rains a few more times. Then we won't need to water the corn when we plant it."

After hearing this, Jiang Ping stomped on Jiang Qian's leg. Jiang Qian staggered and almost fell to the ground. Jiang Qingzhou, who was standing beside him, held him up.

Jiang Ping was still not satisfied and cursed loudly: "You bastard, you don't know who you are after studying for a few days. How can we bring the wheat home if it rains again? Even if I stay up all night to water the crops, I can't let it rain."

"Uncle Ping, second brother didn't mean it. When you pass the exam in August and become a scholar, it won't matter whether it rains that day." Jiang Qingzhou hurriedly stepped forward to smooth things over, and Jiang Qingye stepped forward and pulled Jiang Qian aside.

Jiang Ping's anger slowly subsided. He whispered to Jiang Qian to apologize, "Second brother, don't blame me. I was anxious. I wanted it to rain, but I didn't dare to let it rain. Several things happened together. I didn't mean it."

Jiang Qian understood Jiang Ping's feelings. He patted the shoe prints on his pants and told Jiang Ping with a smile: "Dad loves me the most. I know it's not easy for Dad. It's just work, isn't it? We can finish any work together, but we can't let Ying Niang look down on us."

Song Li stopped and looked at Jiang Ping and Jiang Qian, father and son, from afar. Jiang Ping looked at Jiang Qian with tears in his eyes. He couldn't say a word, but just sighed and continued walking forward.

By the time they finished watering, the sun had already risen above the treetops. They sat on the ground, chewing on the dry food in their hands and drinking water from the pottery jars. No one was excited, and they didn't know how long this kind of labor would last.

The south wind has been blowing for several days in a row, and the weather has been sunny. Some villagers have already started sharpening their sickles at home to prepare to harvest wheat in the fields.

That evening, Jiang Qian specifically mentioned that his family would go water the crops early the next day, as they wanted to harvest the wheat directly after watering.

Jiang Qingzhou nodded, and Jiang Qian went home without staying for long.

Jiang Qingzhou returned to Dongjiajian. He asked Song Li to go to Wuzhuang Village to visit relatives before the wheat harvest tomorrow, and help the Song family harvest wheat.

Song Li showed a worried look. Jiang Qingzhou knew what Song Li was worried about. He smiled and said, "Xiao Li, don't worry about Qingye and me. We don't harvest wheat. We just water three acres of land every day. Uncle Ping and the second brother can finish it, and Qingye and I can do it too. I think the bean sprouts are ready. You can take them to your parents."

"Qingzhou, I'll take some, you give some to my uncle and his family, and you can keep some at home. You used to help my uncle and his family harvest wheat, but the situation is special this year, so you should tell them in person to avoid any misunderstanding." Song Li expressed what she was thinking.

Jiang Qingzhou felt that what Song Li said made sense. He told Song Li that in the past Zhang Peng and Zhang Jixiang would go out to work as wheat pickers with people from the same village. A group of people would go north or west to work as helpers for families that were short of labor in exchange for some copper coins or food.

Song Li sighed in her heart that life was not easy. She gently hugged Jiang Qingzhou and said, "I will go with you to water the plants tomorrow. I will leave after we finish watering."

Jiang Qingzhou knew Song Li's temper, so he nodded in agreement, but he wanted Song Li to go to the town and take a ox cart tomorrow, as he was worried about Song Li walking more than ten miles back alone.

Jiang Qingzhou also got up after hearing the sound of Jiang Ping's courtyard door. He went to the chicken coop and caught a hen, asking Song Li to take it with her when she visited relatives.

After Jiang Qingzhou slaughtered the hens, he looked at the sky which was about to turn white, and went to wake up Jiang Qingye and Song Li, and went to water the hens together.

After returning home, Song Li first went to the east room to pack some clothes. Jiang Qingzhou went to the kitchen to put the hen and bean sprouts into the basket, and then asked Jiang Qingye to watch the gate at home, as he wanted to send Song Li to town.

Song Li looked at the slaughtered hen in the basket and asked softly, "Qingzhou, when was it slaughtered?"

Jiang Qingzhou touched his nose and replied with a smile: "This morning, the sound of Uncle Ping's door opening woke me up. I couldn't sleep, so I got up and killed a chicken."

"Thank you Qingzhou." Song Li said, holding Jiang Qingzhou's hand and walking towards the town together.

Jiang Qingzhou waited with Song Li under the willow tree until all the passengers arrived. He waved to Song Li who was sitting on the ox cart. If the ox cart had not moved fast, Song Li would have seen his red eyes.

Song Li sat quietly aside. A woman looked at Song Li and deliberately shouted: "Hey, isn't this the eldest girl from the Changhe family? Not only has she lost weight, but she has also become darker. Tsk tsk, when my Xiaocheng went to your house to ask for marriage, he was beaten out by your father. That fatherless and motherless girl..."

With a "pa" sound, Song Li slapped the woman on the back.

The woman looked at Song Li angrily, and Song Li said calmly: "There was a fly, I was afraid it would bite my aunt, but unfortunately I didn't catch it. Why are there flies on this day? Is there something too smelly?"

"You little girl, you deserve it." The woman couldn't get angry in front of the villagers, so she turned around and said to Song Li viciously.

There was another "pop" sound, and the woman's face turned red. Song Li didn't say anything else. She put her hand in front of the woman, and the other women came forward to look. A straightforward woman said loudly, "There really is a fly."

The woman glared at him, blushed and stopped talking.

Song Li remembered the young man who was once driven out of the house by Song Changhe with a wooden stick. It turned out to be this man's son. What a good mother and son pair, but they both have dirty mouths.

The gate of the Song family's courtyard was locked. Song Li guessed that they should go to harvest wheat, so she hurried to the Song family's fields. She searched several pieces of land and finally found Song Changhe and others.

Song Changhe, Zhang and Song Yue were bending over to cut wheat, while Song Xing was carrying the cut wheat onto the cart.

Song Xing saw Song Li walking towards the field, and he hurriedly shouted: "Dad, Mom, it's my eldest sister."

The three people who were harvesting wheat stopped what they were doing. Zhang wiped the sweat from her forehead, threw the sickle in her hand to the ground, and hurried towards Song Li.

Zhang took Song Li's hand and asked, "Xiao Li, why are you here?"

Song Li smiled and replied, "Mom, I came to visit my relatives. The land at home needs to be watered every day, so Qingzhou didn't come. He asked me to come back to help you harvest the wheat."

Zhang looked at Song Li. She touched Song Li's calloused hands and said with a bit of sadness, "There are a lot more calluses on your hands than when you were at home."

"Mom, stop talking. I can't just lie at home alone and let Qingzhou and Qingye do the work. We're not working for nothing. When the mulberry tree bears fruit, I'll take you to eat mulberries. Didn't you always say that mulberries are delicious? Let's sit under the tree and eat as much as you want." Song Li's words made Zhang laugh. Song Li walked over, put the basket in her hands and the bag on her shoulder next to the cart, and then took the sickle from Song Yue.

Song Changhe and Zhang looked at the skillful Song Li. They were both happy and sad. They couldn't help but speed up their hands.

Song Yue picked up the cloth bag next to the cart, walked to the edge of the field, and picked up the leftover wheat heads into the bag.

When Song Li was resting, she saw a woman covered in pudding holding a boy picking up wheat heads. She asked Zhang who was standing beside her in a somewhat curious way: "Mom, who is that? Normally, no one would let others pick up their own wheat heads, right?"

Zhang took a look, sighed and said to Song Li, "That's the wife of Li Laosan from our village. Li Laosan sold his family's land in the fall to pay the head tax. This spring, Li Laosan died too, leaving behind the mother and daughter. They are from the same village, and everyone knows that they rely on the wheat to survive, so they generally don't chase her away."

Song Li looked at the skinny mother and daughter a few more times, then lowered her head and continued to work. She couldn't help much, but only hoped that Li Laosan's wife could pick up more wheat heads.

Song Yue saw Li Laosan's wife walking towards them with a dry laugh. She followed Zhang's instructions, simply picked up a few and walked quickly forward.

This year's wheat harvest went smoothly without any wind or rain. After two days of hard work, all the wheat from the Song family's five acres of land was pulled into the threshing ground.