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

Mother Chen returned home carrying an empty basket. The yard was quiet, save for the faint sounds of chickens and ducks pecking at food in the corner. The door to the main room was open. Stepping inside, she saw her two daughters-in-law already sitting at the table, sipping warm chicken soup from the pot and eating freshly baked cornbread. The morning light filtered through the clean window paper, softly illuminating their increasingly full faces, carrying the tranquil air unique to pregnant women.

Hearing footsteps, Su Xiaoyin looked up and saw her mother-in-law had returned. Instinctively, she tried to stand up, holding onto the table. Chen's mother quickly stepped forward and gently pressed her shoulder, saying, "Sit down, sit down, don't get up. You two eat." She sat down on a stool nearby, picked up a palm-leaf fan, and gently fanned the two of them, dispelling the lingering summer heat of the autumn morning.

Su Xiaoqing swallowed the flatbread in her mouth and asked with concern, "Mom, have you eaten? There's still soup and flatbread in the pot, would you like some more?"

With a rosy glow from her work, Chen's mother waved her hand and smiled, "We've already eaten. We ate with your father, Dashan, and Xiaohe in the fields. The stewed wild rabbit was delicious. Eat more, and drink all the chicken soup. I skimmed off the oil, so it's not greasy. I'll make you spicy chicken for lunch; I guarantee it'll whet your appetite."

Su Xiaoyin, wanting to help, asked, "Mom, is there anything we can do to lend a hand this morning? It's getting boring sitting around all the time."

Mother Chen glanced at her two daughters-in-law's protruding bellies, her eyes filled with loving kindness and unwavering insistence: "Your bodies are getting heavier every day. The most important thing is to rest well and get plenty of rest. You don't need to do the heavy work in the fields, and I'll take care of the lighter chores around the house. If you're feeling really bored," she thought for a moment, "your father and the others will be taking a cartload of the soybeans they harvested this morning to the threshing ground to dry. If you'd like, after you've eaten, walk slowly with me to the threshing ground. It's open and a bit breezy there, much better than being cooped up inside. But you're not allowed to do anything, just sit and watch, and chat."

"Okay!" Su Xiaoqing immediately agreed, happy to be able to get some fresh air. Su Xiaoyin nodded as well: "Then let's walk slowly, it's alright. Mother, you rest for a while, we'll clean up after we finish eating."

"No rush, eat slowly." Seeing her daughters-in-law's obedient manner, Chen's mother felt relieved, and waved her fan even more gently.

After Su Xiaoyin and Su Xiaoqing finished their breakfast at a leisurely pace and sat for a while to digest, Chen's mother led them, carrying two old futons and a pot of cool tea, slowly towards the village's threshing ground. The autumn sun had already risen, bright but not scorching, and the sky was a vast, clear blue. The leaves on the roadside trees were beginning to turn yellow, and the wild grass on the field ridges was bearing seeds, everywhere exuding the unique abundance and busy atmosphere of the harvest season.

The threshing ground, located slightly east of the village center, is a flat, firm, open area repeatedly rolled with a stone roller. At this moment, the ground is bustling with activity. Golden bean stalks, heavy ears of grain, and early-ripening crops harvested in advance by each household are spread out on straw mats of varying sizes or directly dried on the clean ground, resembling warm-colored tapestries unfurled from afar. The air is filled with the unique aroma of drying crops, a blend of sunshine and plant scents, mingled with the lively laughter of farmers, the rustling of wooden paddles turning the grain, and the occasional dull thud of the stone roller.

Chen Dashan and Chen Xiaohe were already at the sidelines. Each brother was pushing a wheelbarrow piled high with podded soybeans, carefully unloading the soybean stalks onto the large straw mat their mother had laid out beforehand. Both were drenched in sweat, their thin shirts soaked through, clinging to their muscular backs. Seeing his mother and wife approach, Chen Dashan straightened up, wiped his sweat with the cloth draped around his neck, and said to his mother, "Mother, Xiaohe and I will handle things here. You keep an eye on Xiaoyin and the others, make sure they don't get too much sun."

Chen Xiaohe waved to Su Xiaoqing with a smile, then buried himself in his work, quickly spreading out and loosening the bean stalks so that each one could fully receive sunlight.

Mother Chen responded and led her two daughters-in-law to a relatively flat and shady spot at the edge of the threshing ground, where they placed the cushions. "You can sit here; it'll be cooler. I'll go spread the beans evenly." With that, she went over to her sons, picked up the prepared wooden rake, and skillfully rake and spread the pile of bean stalks thinly.

Su Xiaoyin and Su Xiaoqing sat under the shade of a tree, watching the bustling scene of the autumn harvest drying ground. Not far away, several other families were also busy at work, mostly with the whole family pitching in. The men were responsible for carrying and turning over heavy items to dry, while the women and children were doing the picking and cleaning. Laughter, shouts, and children's playful noises mingled together, full of vibrant life.

However, even in this harmonious scene, there are inevitably some discordant notes.

Not far from the Chen family's drying mat, a woman wearing a slightly worn blue cotton jacket and with her hair tightly combed, was winnowing mung beans with a wooden stick while glancing sideways in their direction. Her face was thin, and the corners of her mouth habitually turned down. Seeing that Chen's mother had only brought two daughters-in-law, clearly heavily pregnant, who were still sitting, a look in her eyes that was hard to decipher—whether it was jealousy or mockery—was clear. She raised her voice, as if talking to herself, yet clearly addressing those around her: "Oh dear, some people's daughters-in-law are truly blessed! They probably haven't even touched a hoe handle since they were married into the family, have they? Look at them, so delicate and tender, their bellies already so big, and they're still being waited on by their mothers-in-law and brought to the threshing ground to enjoy the cool air! Unlike ours, who, even pregnant, has to go to the field to cut a couple of handfuls of beans!"

Her voice was quite loud, and several households nearby who were busy at work heard it. Some pretended not to hear and kept their heads down while working, while others secretly glanced over.

Chen's mother was bending over, raking beans. Hearing this, she didn't stop her work or look up, but her voice carried steadily, neither loud nor soft: "Third Aunt, what are you saying? Our daughters-in-law don't work in the fields, but they're skillful and kind-hearted; they're lucky stars for the family. Since they married into the family, everyone can see how much better things have become. Everyone has their own destiny and their own blessings. Our husbands and two sons can handle the work in the fields. We don't idle at home either; we do all the work we're supposed to do. Third Aunt, if you envy this leisure, why don't you let your daughter-in-law rest too?"

Aunt Chen was taken aback, feeling a little embarrassed. She snorted, turned her head away, and threw her mung beans even harder, kicking up a lot of dust, but she didn't say anything more.

Su Xiaoyin and Su Xiaoqing could hear clearly from under the shade of the tree. Su Xiaoyin frowned slightly and whispered to Chen's mother, who had come back to get water, "Mother, who is this...?"