On the second day, Zeng Ruixiang went to the old house to pull the cow down to the field. Shen brought Zi Fu to Bai Tang Villages maternal home to pick up seedlings, and it was still Shen Wanfu who helped send them back. Originally, Shen Wanfu said he would stay and help for a day, but Shen didnt agree, saying that his family only had one mu of paddy fields, and the two people could somehow manage to finish the work together. After hearing this, Shen Wanfu hurriedly returned home. The Shen familys farmland was still relatively more, and currently, Shen Jianshans household only had Shen Wanfu as the main labor force.

  With the seedlings, they were busy transplanting them. Even Zǐ Fú went into the paddy field. Zǐ Lù didnt go and stayed home to help Zǐ Qíng cook. It happened to be a rainy day, and although he wore a raincoat, he was still drenched when he got back home. Every day, Zǐ Qíng asked Zǐ Lù to buy a few bones to make some hot soup to ward off the cold. Fortunately, they finished transplanting after two days.

  Looking at the lush green rice fields in the slanting wind and fine rain, as well as the farmers working hard in the misty rain wearing rain cloaks and conical hats, its indeed a poetic rural landscape painting. However, only those who have truly experienced it can understand the hardships within.

  Ziying is busy every day in the yard, looking at the cucumber about to bloom, and it will be ready to eat by the end of next month. The leaves of the watermelon are getting bigger and bigger, the vines are getting longer and longer, and the potatoes are blooming. Ziyings joy is also growing bigger and bigger.

  The continuous spring rain kept falling until Zeng Ruixiang went out, and the whole family hadnt gone out much in the past few days. Zeng Ruixiang taught Zi Fus homework at home, and Zi Lu and Zi Qing also learned a lot of new characters. Shen Shi, apart from cooking, was always doing needlework on the side, and even found some old socks for Zi Qing to practice mending, saying she wanted to teach Zi Qing needlework. Zi Qing was very serious about learning, as she wasnt a young lady from a wealthy family, these were essential life skills for making a living.

  Zeng Ruixiang put on the new clothes made by Shen Shi and left, saying as he departed that it was a pity they couldnt harvest the wheat. Shen Shi comforted him, promising to go find help from her family.

  April 1st, also the second day after Zeng Ruixiang left, the weather cleared up. Shen went to the field and came back saying that the wheat would be ripe in half a month. Fortunately, there was no heavy rain, otherwise the wheat ears would have fallen and sprouted. However, Shen was worried, as harvesting three acres of wheat alone as a woman wouldnt be an easy task.

  More than ten days passed, Shens family saw the weather was fine and stable, took Zi Lu to cut wheat, the progress of the two people was very slow, like cutting rape, every day after cutting, they carried it back, Zi Qing stayed at home to dry, in the afternoon Zi Fu finished school also went to help, three people were busy for two days, with little effect, Shens family said that not even one mu of land had been cut.

  Who would have thought that on the morning of April 18th, Mr. He brought all the people from last time and finished harvesting the remaining wheat in less than a day? Zi Lu went to the old house to fetch the cow, and Shen Wanfu even plowed the land a bit.

  Shens family finally let out a sigh of relief. At dinner time, Shen specially went to the vegetable garden and picked a few slightly larger cucumbers to stir-fry with eggs for everyone to taste the freshness, and also stir-fried a large plate of rape.

  Shen Jianshan said: "This dish is quite expensive, lets save it for sale. You have a lot of expenses now, we can just make do with one meal."

  Shen said with a smile, "Look at what youre saying, big brother. You work hard all day, and Im not even willing to give up a few cucumbers. What kind of person have I become? The things we planted were meant to be eaten."

  Before leaving, Shens family picked a few cucumbers from each household to take back. Hes family stayed overnight and let Shen Wanfu come pick her up the next day, and then plowed the remaining land.

  It was a difficult wheat harvest, but with the help of Shens family, it was completed very smoothly. What remained was to dry and thresh the wheat, which was similar to processing oilseed rape. Since not many people in this area planted wheat, there were no large-scale wheat harvesting grounds or threshing machines like those in the north. Every household used a drying mat to dry the wheat, then beat it with a wooden mallet, and finally winnowed it with a windmill before storing it away. It sounds simple, but it wasnt easy at all. Zi Qing watched Shen work hard for several days, getting tired and dirty, but seeing the hundreds of kilograms of wheat made her feel that it was all worth it. She hastily went to the carpenters shop and ordered a granary.

  The wheat harvest is over, and Shen thought that even if he wanted to plant peanuts now, it would be too late. In fact, Zi Qing knew that this was the right time to cultivate sweet potato seedlings, but unfortunately, she didnt find any in the city last time, and there hasnt been another chance to go out since then. Shen doesnt know about these things, so he can only give up on this matter. Shen decides to take a few more days off, wait until all the wheat is dried and stored, and then go plant soybeans after the Dragon Boat Festival.

  On the first day of the new year, Shen took Zi Lu to sell vegetables in town. He said that since it was approaching Dragon Boat Festival, the vegetables would definitely be in high demand, so he picked several large baskets of them and arranged for a familiar donkey cart to come to their house to take them on a trip.

  Ziying settled her brothers, fed the chickens, swept the yard, piled up chicken manure, and saw that the watermelon seedlings had opened small yellow flowers. Suddenly, she remembered that potatoes were about ripe around this time, and the flowers had already fallen off clean. She had been busy and forgotten about it for a while. So, she took a small hoe to dig them up and take a look. At this moment, she heard someone calling out at the gate of the yard. Ziying went over to ask who it was, and it turned out that it was Ahpo and Xiaojie who had come. Ziying reluctantly opened the door, not knowing what losses they would suffer today.

  "Ah Po, Xiao Gu, youve arrived."

  "Zi Qing, since youre at home, wheres your mother?" asked Qiu Yu first.

  "My mother took second brother out to do something and I dont know when theyll be back." Zi Qing didnt dare say they went to sell vegetables.

  "Thats it, we wont go in either. Zi Qing, on your way back, tell your mother that for the Dragon Boat Festival gift, just let her send a stone of wheat instead. Your grandfather loves noodles, and when your father comes back, he can pick some up. Remember." Tian Shi finished speaking and turned around to leave with Qiu Yu.

  "Ah Po, slow down, little girl, slow down." After they left, Zi Qing quickly locked the door. She really didnt like dealing with the Tian family, it was simply unreasonable. The Shen family had raised a pig for a year and when they slaughtered it, they only sent over a few bones and a pound of meat, worth about 20 cents in total. But whenever the Tian family asked the Shen family for something, they would demand a stone of wheat, which was worth almost two silver coins. This loss was quite significant. When harvesting wheat, no one from their household came to help, only showing up when the wheat had been stored away, asking for some. It was really despicable. Zi Qing muttered to herself.

  Ziying was both disappointed and relieved at the same time. Fortunately, they didnt come in, or else they would have seen the whole yard full of watermelons blooming, and the cucumbers and beans on the other side were all hanging from the trellis. If asked, Ziying really wouldnt know how to respond, and if she had to pick some to take away, she wouldnt be able to refuse either. This would mean remembering to come over every few days in the summer for watermelons, which would be even more troublesome.

  Just as she thought so, she picked up the hoe to dig potatoes and heard someone shouting outside. Zi Qing was startled, thinking that Tian Shi and others had come back. She walked to the door and found out it was Xiao Xiu Shui who came. It turned out that Xiao Xiu Shui saw that Zi Qing never went to see her, so she came to find Zi Qing.