Yoshida Mii

Chapter 186 Autumn Harvest
In the era without agricultural machinery, the autumn harvest required the mobilization and great efforts of the farmer's family.At this critical time, even the stingiest farmers would not treat their family members badly in terms of food. If they are not full, they will not have the strength to work.Tofu and bean sprouts, which I usually don't want to eat, are also eaten as ordinary dishes, which is enough.

Lin Fu has to go out twice every afternoon these days, and he can sell nearly one hundred catties of tofu and one catty of bean sprouts in total, and it is often dark when he comes back.

Earning more money than usual, but also really hard work.

Aunt Qiuxia wanted to help make tofu, Lin Fu wanted to sell tofu, and the two strong laborers of the Lin family were busy going around. Very soon, I patted my chest to tell them not to worry, he and Lin Shiquanzi can take care of the field work.

Lin Fu couldn't laugh or cry, his father was old, his son was still young, and Dashi was still studying so he couldn't get tired, so he made a deal with Aunt Qiuxia and simply spent money to hire two laborers to help them harvest the autumn.

At this time, it costs a lot to hire part-time workers, but compared with the money from hiring part-time workers, selling tofu still accounts for a large part of the income. These days, Lin Fu and his wife have seen more money, and their business minds have also become more active. It is not as repulsive as before.

During the day, Mrs. Li took Da Hui back to her home in Tagouji to make tofu, and agreed with Qiu Xia that, just like when the wheat was harvested, their family would cook meals for the two families and let Qiu Xia carry them to the fields.

The Lin family has fifteen acres of land, three acres of sorghum, five acres of beans, and the rest of the land planted with sweet potatoes and corn.

Autumn harvest is a little easier than wheat harvesting, the weather is not so hot, grasshoppers and crickets are flying in the harvested fields, sticks and straws are piled up on the ground to be taken home, corn sticks are dried and peeled , Corn cobs and straw are good materials for burning pots.

Li Hongqin took Zhang Xiuyu and Zhang Qian back to Zhangjiacun, and Dongbao followed Li back to Tagouji, followed Quanzi and Cuihua from Aunt Mantang's house to catch grasshoppers in the field.

The children have their own names for the insects on their own fields. The most common one is a gray grasshopper, which is about as long as a child's palm. There are hard thorns on the hind legs, which are very powerful when they are kicked. Although this kind of grasshopper is called Laofeitou, there is another kind of cricket that is smaller than ordinary crickets, with a square head, called official hat.

After catching the grasshopper cricket, thread a string from the neck of the insect with a thin grass stalk, take it back and throw it into the chicken coop, the chicken is very happy to eat.

Quanzi thought it was too troublesome to run back and forth, so he brought the two largest chickens in the house, tied their feet with straw ropes, and let them catch worms in the field by themselves.

Don't look at chickens that can't run fast or fly. They are very stupid, but they catch bugs almost every time. First, they tilt their heads to see exactly, then quickly lift their feet to step on them, lower their heads, peck them into their mouths and swallow them in one gulp. The action is clean and crisp.

Dongbao’s chickens are in the town, so it’s obviously not suitable to put them in the field, but Dongbao has already prepared, and found a clay pot with cracks on the wall, and took off the lid of the pot when it caught bugs A small opening, stuff the bug in and quickly close the lid.

After finishing making tofu in the afternoon, Dong Bao went back to town with a jar full of worms, poured the worms into the chicken coop, and Master Kong led all the beauties of the "Hou Gong" to battle, and none of the worms could escape being caught by the chicken. Eat the fate.

Dongbao’s chickens started laying eggs when the heat faded at the end of July. The chickens eat well and lay a lot of eggs. Dongbao can get five or six eggs from the chicken coop every day. The eggs are bigger than theirs. The purchased ones are much larger. The chickens have eaten so many grasshoppers in the past few days, all of which are high-protein nutritious feed, and have laid a lot of double-yolk eggs.

After the corn and sorghum were harvested, the soybeans and mung beans could not wait in the field anymore. The bean seedlings had to be pulled out before the pods burst, and spread out in the field for two days in the sun. Most of the pods burst, and the remaining ones It is necessary to beat the bean seedlings vigorously with a stick and beat them over and over again. After beating, use an iron fork to fork away the bean seedlings on the top, sweep the bean grains that have fallen to the ground together, use a dustpan to remove the ash, and then pick up the broken ones. Beans can only be bagged after they are thoroughly dried in the basin.

Dong Bao followed Lin Shi from the field to Lin's house. The burden on Lin Shi's shoulders was filled with coarsely sifted soybeans, and the heavy weight of the pole was deformed.

These days Lin Shi has been busy in the field from morning to night every day, his face is sun-tanned, his trousers are rolled up, and his black cloth shoes are covered with mud. He is a student of Wenfeng Academy.

When passing by the door of Song's house, Dong Bao and Lin Shi happened to meet Song Zhaodi standing at the door and drying corn sticks.Song Zhaodi saw the two talking and laughing from a distance, they were very intimate and harmonious, so she got angry in her heart, stood up and leaned against the door with folded hands, squinted at the two, and asked sharply: "Lin Shi, what are you doing?" Didn't you go to the academy in the town to study? Why are you back working?"

Dong Bao frowned, she really hated Song Zhaodi's appearance, she squinted at people, and kept rolling her eyes, her face was sour and mean, she looked like a "girly version" of Huang.

"Why can't you work while studying? It's up to you to decide whether other people do the work or not? It's none of your business?" Dong Bao replied bluntly.

Song Zhaodi was so blocked that she had nothing to say, she snorted, looked at Lin Shi's face flushed, and shouted angrily: "It's useless for you to study that book! You'll just spend your whole life digging through the dirt! Ah, bah, You still want to be a scholar, but you don't look in the mirror to see if you have that fate!"

"You...you just deserve a beating!" Dong Bao's voice trembled, he squatted down and grabbed a stone on the ground and threw it at Song Zhaodi.

Dong Bao didn't think about what to do to Song Zhaodi, but just wanted to frighten her. The stone in his hand might not hit her head. Song Zhaodi shrank her neck in fright, and the stone flew from her shoulder and fell to the ground.

Song Zhaodi was startled for a moment, seeing that Dongbao missed the hit, she froze again, "You're so stupid!"

At this meeting, Song Sanshu came out from the yard, wearing a blue cloth gown and a square scarf. After seeing Dong Bao, his expression was unnatural for a moment, and then he pretended to be stern and shouted: "Zhaodi, what are you doing? Why not?" Hurry up and work!" Then he fled back to the house, as if he was afraid to take another look at Dong Bao.

Lin Shi hurriedly grabbed Dong Bao who was going to smash Song Zhaodi, shook his head at Dong Bao, pulled Dong Bao forward, and didn't want to get entangled with Song Zhaodi any more.He was also very angry in his heart. He went to school just to earn some fame and come back so that he could marry Dong Bao. If someone pointed his nose at him and told him he couldn't pass the exam, no one felt happy.Just thinking about it, his anger subsided, and he felt that it was really not worth being angry with someone like Song Zhaodi.

After arriving at Lin's house, Lin Shi put down the burden on his shoulders, and Dong Bao helped him carry the basket and pour the beans into the big basket on the ground.

"What medicine did she take by mistake today?" Dong Bao complained angrily.

Lin Shi smiled and shook his head, "I don't know, I haven't seen her since I went to the academy." In fact, Lin Shi can probably guess the reason why Song Zhaodi found fault today. His mother rejected Second Aunt Song's marriage proposal. Suggestion, firmly and clearly express that they look down on Song Zhaodi, and Song Zhaodi is just holding a grudge, look, they don't even call him "Brother Dashi", they used to call each other "Brother Dashi" affectionately.

"I just owe scolding, I owe beating!" Dong Bao muttered, Song Zhaodi scolded her, she didn't care, but when she heard Song Zhaodi scolding Lin Shi, she couldn't calm down.

Lin Shi smiled slightly, and took Dong Bao's hand to persuade him, "Why argue with her? I didn't pass the exam, could it be her who has the final say? Besides..." Lin Shi lowered his voice, He leaned into Dong Bao's ear and asked, "If I fail the exam, will you not marry me?"

At this moment, everyone in the Lin family was busy outside, so Lin Shi dared to ask Dong Bao so boldly, and his wheat-colored cheeks were flushed like a cloud of fire.

Dong Bao is in a hurry, what is going on here, Lin Shikao's mid-term fame is the icing on the cake, without the fame and fame, the two of them will still live a peaceful and peaceful life in the future, she is afraid that Lin Shi, who is still a young man, will make a fool of himself, and immediately promises seriously , "Don't worry, I will marry you if you fail the exam."

Just after saying this, the door curtain of the Lin family hall was suddenly lifted from the inside, Quan Zi jumped out of the room with Xiao Xu, looked at Dong Bao and Lin Shi in the yard and burst into laughter.

"I heard it all!" Xiao Xu yelled with a smile, scraping his face with his fingers, "Sister Dongbao, you said you want to marry Brother Dashi! Be ashamed! Don't be shy!"

The child was so excited as if he had discovered a great secret, and the whole world would know it the next moment.

Dong Bao's face turned hot, for she was an older young woman, no matter how thick-skinned she was, she couldn't stand being teased like this by a brat!Embarrassed, Dong Bao lowered his head and didn't dare to look at Lin Shi's expression. He quickly walked over and grabbed Xiao Xu's ear, and pulled him out of Lin's house with a blushing face. He went to the town without looking back. gone.

"You brat, when did you come here?" Dong Bao asked.

Xiao Xu touched the ear that was reddened by Dong Bao, silently protested Dong Bao's child abuse, and said honestly: "I'm bored at home, so Brother Liang Zi sent me here."

After walking briskly for a while, Dong Bao's expression had returned to calm, and he dragged Xiao Xu along the road slowly, recalling that he met Uncle Song at the Song family just now.In the busy autumn harvest season when one person wished to split it into two for use, Uncle Song still did not change his "scholar's true colors", clean long gown, clean face and hands, and clean shoes and socks.

She thought that Uncle Song could improve a little after this failure in the examination room. It seemed that as long as old man Song and Mrs. Huang persisted in doting on their youngest son, Song Bai's setbacks would be useless.

(End of this chapter)