Chapter 59 Harvesting Rice
The little episode of proposing marriage did not interrupt Qianhuan's family's arrangement of harvesting rice, and Liu continued to go to the village to hire people to harvest rice.
A total of five people were called to help, including Brother Zhang from next door, the eldest son of the Xie family, and Li Dazhuang and others who said they would come to help at the last banquet.
Liu was busy in the kitchen preparing lunch for everyone.
"Mom, there is no meat at home. I will go to town to weigh some meat and bring it back to treat everyone."
"Qianhuan, we don't have much money left at home, so don't weigh the meat. I can just stir-fry some more vegetables."
Liu knew that Qianhuan only had three taels of silver left, and she still had half a tael of silver left from the time she customized the furniture. Together, they made up less than four taels, and she really didn't want to spend money indiscriminately.
"Mom, everyone is so enthusiastic to come and help us, we should try to make the food better, and tomorrow we can go to the city to set up a stall again, you can't come back to earn money right away."
"Okay, then you go."
By the time Qianhuan came back with the meat, Liu had almost prepared the other dishes.
The rice in the fields is golden yellow, a golden color, light yellow, golden yellow, dark yellow covers the fields, far and near, deep and shallow. An autumn wind blows, and the rice waves roll, one after another, rippling with layers of golden waves.
Five big men held the rice in their left hands and gripped sickles in their right hands, bending over and harvesting crop after crop in an orderly manner in the empty rice fields.
Behind them, bundles of rice ears were neatly stacked together, like small golden hills, which made people happy just by looking at them.
Liu boiled a pot of cold water, took five clean cups and said to her daughter, "Qianhua, harvesting rice is very tiring and makes you sweat easily. Please give some water to the uncles."
Qianhuan carried a kettle and a cup and walked towards the fields.
Although it was already the end of October, the weather in the southwest of Dayuan Kingdom was still a bit hot, and the people in the fields had indeed sweated a lot.
Qianhuan walked on the ridge of the field, the fragrance of rice flowers filled her nose, refreshing her heart. She couldn't help but take a deep breath and sighed: The ecological environment in ancient times was really good, I breathe fresh air every day, even the sky looks bluer than in modern times, the water is clearer, and everywhere is as beautiful as a painting.
Now she only has a few taels of silver left in her hands, so she must work harder to make money. Once she has more spare money, she can go out and travel around to see the beautiful ancient and pristine land.
When Qianhuan approached, she stood on the ridge and shouted to the people in the field: "Uncles, my mother has boiled some cold water for you. If you are thirsty, come and get a glass of water. My mother has also prepared clean cups for you."
"Okay, Qianhuan girl, I was thirsty and you brought me the water. Your mother is so thoughtful." Li Dazhuang praised as he walked towards the ridge of the field.
Li Dazhuang walked to the edge of the field and sat down. He put down the sickle in his hand, took off the straw hat on his head, and brushed his sleeves with his hands.
Qianhuan immediately poured him a glass of water and handed it to him. He took the cup and drank it all in one gulp. Not satisfied with it, he asked Qianhuan to pour her another glass.
After he drank enough water and sat for a while, he picked up the sickle, put on his hat and continued to bend down to cut rice.
The other people also felt thirsty, so they came over one after another and drank some water before continuing to work in the fields.
Three acres of land was not much to begin with, and the five grown men had almost harvested it in just one morning.
It was almost noon, and Liu had already prepared a large table of food. Qianhuan went to the ridge of the field and shouted, "Uncles, it's time to eat."
When the five people heard the shouting, they all returned to Liang Laoer's house with sickles.
Qianhuan fetched a basin of water for everyone to wash their hands and wipe their sweat, and everyone sat around the octagonal table and started to eat.
Li Dazhuang saw that there was still meat on the table. He couldn't help but say, "Sister Liu, your family is so kind. Not only did they prepare lunch for us, they even fried such a big bowl of meat. We can only eat a few slices of meat during the Chinese New Year."
Others also said, "Yes, you are very polite."
Mrs. Liu felt a little embarrassed by what everyone said. After all, she had not agreed to her daughter buying meat in the beginning. Seeing that everyone was sincerely thanking her, she felt ashamed of the stingy words she had said.
"Uncles, we are very grateful that you can come and help our family harvest rice. Of course we have to prepare more abundant meals for you so that you will have the strength to work after you are full." Qianhuan looked at everyone and said with a smile.
Everyone enjoyed the meal very much. In the afternoon, everyone worked even harder. Anyone who slacked off would feel sorry for the meat.
Less than an hour after lunch, the team had harvested all the rice.
Everyone spread out all the harvested rice in the yard, first exposed it to the sun, then turned it over again and again. When the sun dried the rice stalks, a few people brought sticks from home and beat the rice back and forth.
By the time dinner was served in the evening, Qianhuan's yard was already filled with threshed grain.
When everyone finished dinner and were about to leave, Qianhuan took out five oil paper bags and stuffed one into each of the five people: "Dear uncles, thank you for your hard work today. My father had his bones re-set and can only rest in bed. Without your help, I don't know when we can harvest the rice. This is the sugar-roasted chestnuts that my mother specially fried for everyone this afternoon. I packed two pounds for each of you. Take it home and satisfy the cravings of the elderly and children at home."
Everyone was very happy when they got two pounds of chestnuts. They also knew that chestnuts were sold for 10 cents per pound in the city, and two pounds of sugar-roasted chestnuts were equivalent to giving them 20 cents.
"Qianhuan, your family is so kind. Uncle would like to thank you for the chestnuts on behalf of my little ones." Li Dazhuang took the oil-paper bag and thanked them.
The other people also took the chestnuts and thanked him and went home.
Everyone felt that it was really worthwhile to help Liang Laoer's family harvest rice today. Not only did they get to eat meat, but they also got two kilograms of sugar-roasted chestnuts.
After the eldest son of the Xie family returned home, he took out the chestnuts and shared them with his family. His wife exclaimed: "No wonder Liang Laoer's sugar-roasted chestnuts can be sold for 10 coins per pound. The taste is really different, sweet, fragrant and soft."
"In the future, if Liang Laoer's family needs help with anything, we all have to be more proactive. They really have nothing to say about us neighbors." Old Lady Xie instructed her son and daughter-in-law.
"Mom, we got it."
After the Zhang family and the men from several other families returned home, they shared the sugar-roasted chestnuts with their family members to taste. Everyone unanimously praised the delicious taste of Liang Laoer's sugar-roasted chestnuts.
Several families praised Liang Laoer's family for being generous and were willing to give them chestnuts that cost 10 cents per pound. They all thought that if Liang Laoer's family needed help in the future, they would try their best to help as long as they could. Who wouldn't want to help such a generous family?