After fleeing the famine, my older sister and I married the brother next door.

She left with her maid, her skirt quickly disappearing into the crowd of people in the market.

Chen Xiaohe finally let out a long breath and called out in a low voice, "Thirty-five taels! Sister-in-law! Xiaoqing! Thirty-five taels!!"

Chen Dashan also came to his senses, looked at Su Xiaoyin, wanted to say something, but his throat tightened a little.

Su Xiaoyin took out the three ingots of official silver and the five small silver ingots again, held them in her palm, and looked at them for a long time.

The sun was shining brightly, and the silver reflected the sunlight, making it dazzlingly white.

She said softly, "If we send this painting to an embroidery shop, the manager will give us at most twenty-five to twenty-eight taels, definitely no more than thirty taels. By selling it ourselves, we can earn several more taels of silver."

Su Xiaoqing clung tightly to her, her eyes red-rimmed: "Sister, we did it..."

Su Xiaoyin carefully put the silver away, looked up, and her face had a calm and bright expression.

"For larger embroidery designs, let's try selling them ourselves first. If we can't sell them, then we'll go to an embroidery shop." She looked at Chen Dashan. "Although it's slower this way, every tael of silver will be in our own hands."

Chen Dashan nodded: "Stable and reliable."

The sun was already setting, and the crowds at the market were gradually dispersing. Chen Dashan accompanied Su Xiaoyin to Yang's Cloth Shop, where they bought fine plain silk and various embroidery threads—now that they had more money, they dared to buy some of the finer materials they couldn't afford before. Su Xiaoqing and Chen Xiaohe went to the butcher's stall, where, as instructed by Chen's mother, they bought two jin of streaky pork belly with alternating layers of fat and lean meat, and also picked up four thick pork bones. The stall owner recognized them and even sold them a piece of lard.

The oxcart creaked and groaned as it began its journey home.

The carriage was filled with newly bought embroidery materials, greasy meat, bones wrapped in lotus leaves, and empty bundles that had already been exchanged for silver.

Su Xiaoqing leaned on her sister's shoulder and said softly, "Sister, after the autumn harvest, let's embroider a 'Pine and Crane for Longevity' piece. Madam Zhao said she likes auspicious meanings."

"Mmm," Su Xiaoyin replied, her gaze falling on the fields outside the car window, which were gradually turning twilight.

With the autumn harvest approaching, the crops in the fields have already turned yellow, rustling in the wind.

Four months later, it will be the New Year.

She touched the silver in her arms, and a slight smile curved her lips.

Life is truly getting better and better.

---------

On the first day of the autumn harvest, when it was still as dark as ink, there was commotion in the Chen family's courtyard.

Father Chen slipped on his worn-out cloth shoes in the dark, and Chen Dashan and Chen Xiaohe also got up quietly. None of the three lit a lamp; using the faint light filtering through the window paper, they carried the sickle, hemp rope, and carrying pole onto the oxcart one by one. The old ox snorted in the morning mist, its hooves making a crisp clattering sound on the bluestone slabs in the courtyard.

"Dad, will we be able to harvest those few acres of beans at the foot of the mountain today?" Chen Xiaohe asked in a low voice as he tossed a bundle of hemp rope onto the cart.

"Hurry up, we can harvest everything before dark." Father Chen put his straw hat on his head. "The bean pods are plentiful this year; it's a good plot of land."

The oxcart creaked and groaned as it drove out of the courtyard gate, quickly disappearing into the thick morning fog.

Mother Chen lit a lamp in the kitchen. Flames licked the bottom of the pot, casting flickering light on her wrinkled face. She added firewood to the stove; a large pot of thick mixed grain porridge was cooking, while another small pot held flatbread. Steam rising from the edge of the pot lid, mingling with the sweet aroma of the porridge, quickly filled the entire kitchen.

As dawn broke, Chen's mother packed breakfast into a basket: a pot of hot porridge, a stack of flatbreads, a dish of pickled vegetables, and a few salted duck eggs that she had specially boiled the night before—the autumn harvest was hard work, and without salt in their mouths, they couldn't straighten their backs.

Carrying a basket, she walked down the mountain, her steps damp with dew. The morning breeze carried a chill, ruffling the gray strands of hair at her temples. In the distance, she could already see the three figures bent over, their sickles swung and fell, leaving swathes of bean stalks behind them.

"Time to eat—take a break!"

Father Chen straightened up, rubbed his back, and sweat trickled down his forehead, etched into his deep wrinkles. Chen Dashan and Chen Xiaohe put down their sickles, their palms red from being rubbed by bean stalks. The three of them sat down on the edge of the field, took the hot porridge, and drank it down in large gulps, without saying a word.

The porridge was thick, the eggs were salty, and the pancakes were fluffy. This was the best taste of the autumn harvest season.

---

In the Chen family courtyard, Su Xiaoyin and Su Xiaoqing were also extremely busy.

The four children were already awake. Shitou was stretching on the kang (a heated brick bed), Qingqing and Aji were lying side by side, gnawing on their fingers, and Afu was the most well-behaved, staring at the roof beam with his big, black grape-like eyes, neither crying nor making a fuss.

Su Xiaoqing fetched water to wipe the children's faces, while Su Xiaoyin heated up the millet porridge she had prepared the night before, feeding each child one at a time, their teamwork seamless. After the children had eaten their fill, Su Xiaoqing picked up Afu and patted him to burp, while Su Xiaoyin quickly and efficiently put the bowls and chopsticks back into the pot.

"Sister, you go to the threshing floor first, I'll go buy tofu." Su Xiaoqing put Afu into the cart, and the four children lined up side by side. "Mom said that there's a lot of work to do today, so we need to add an extra dish."

Su Xiaoyin took off her apron and looked at the sky: "Okay, I'll hurry over. Dashan and the others have probably already sent the beans over. Once you've bought the tofu, come quickly. The grain drying yard must be busy today."

The threshing ground during the autumn harvest is the liveliest and busiest place in the entire village.

When Su Xiaoyin arrived at the threshing ground, several families were already spreading out their grains to dry. The golden soybeans glistened in the sunlight, covering half the threshing ground. She found a spot near the edge, spread out a bamboo mat, and evenly distributed the soybeans.

As the sun rose higher, the threshing ground shimmered with heat. Su Xiaoyin used a wooden rake to turn the beans back and forth, beads of sweat dripping from her forehead onto the ground, leaving small damp patches. Her back was burning from the sun, and her arms ached, but she dared not stop working for a moment—if the beans were not spread evenly and dried thoroughly, they would easily mold.

"Sister-in-law Chen, your beans are really good this year!" said Wang's wife, who was drying grain nearby, with envy. "Every grain is plump and oily."

Su Xiaoyin smiled but didn't reply. She was thinking about the little ones at home and the older ones in the fields.

When Chen's mother returned from the fields to fetch lunch, Su Xiaoqing had already prepared the food. There was a bowl of freshly steamed rice, a pot of tofu and pork bone stew, a large plate of stir-fried green beans, and some leftover flatbread from breakfast. The pork bones were stewed until tender, and the broth was milky white; Su Xiaoqing had specially bought them at the market yesterday.

"Mother, please eat something before you go." Su Xiaoqing handed over a bowl of soup.

Chen's mother waved her hand, picked up the food box and walked out: "I'm not hungry, they're waiting in the fields." After taking a few steps, she turned back, "Xiaoqing, don't just keep busy, take a break when you have time."

Su Xiaoqing agreed and turned to go back into the kitchen—the lunch wasn't finished yet, and the dinner dishes hadn't been prepared either.

---

The sun is strongest in the threshing ground in the afternoon.

Su Xiaoyin settled the four children under the shade of a tree by the drying ground, placing the stroller side by side and covering it with an old sheet to block the dappled sunlight filtering through the leaves. Shitou was already asleep, glistening drool at the corner of his mouth; Qingqing and Aji were also dozing, their heads close together; only Afu was still awake, quietly watching the leaves swaying overhead.

Su Xiaoyin sat on a small stool next to the cart, holding a wooden rake in her hand, her eyes frequently falling on the children. The beans needed to be turned frequently, so she got up every fifteen minutes. She couldn't go too far, so she could only watch over the golden beans and the four sleeping little ones.

Su Xiaoqing arrived as the sun began to set.

"Xiaoqing, what brings you here? Didn't you bring lunch to your parents?" Su Xiaoyin took the water jug ​​from her hand.

"Mom's back from the fields, so I didn't need to bring her food." Su Xiaoqing rolled up her sleeves, took the wooden rake, and said, "Go back and eat. I'll watch over things here."

Su Xiaoyin was indeed hungry, but she still refused to leave: "I'll wait a little longer, there's still one round of beans that hasn't been thoroughly turned over."

The two sisters stood side by side on the threshing ground, each on one side, gathering the golden beans into rows and spreading them out. The setting sun cast long shadows on the bamboo mats covered with beans, making them look like two trees leaning on each other.