During this time, Tian Jing even went to the Lin and Zhang families late at night to knock on their doors.
The Lin family remained silent.
The Zhang family was in constant turmoil.
Although the new house needed airing, the Zhang family could no longer tolerate Zhang Fangcao and her husband, and the couple also wanted to move into the new house as soon as possible.
But in their new home, there was either a large pit suddenly appearing here, or a patch of waist-high weeds growing overnight there.
At first, the couple tried their best to conceal it, but the truth would eventually come out, and soon there was much talk in the village.
There were many versions of the rumors, changing almost daily. After finishing their own land, the villagers would deliberately walk past Zhang Fangcao's new house, hoping to witness something new and strange.
As a result, the Zhang family also refused to let Zhang Fangcao and her husband continue to stay, and directly threw the couple's belongings out of the Zhang house.
The couple reluctantly moved into the new house. After two days, nothing happened.
The couple breathed a sigh of relief. In the middle of the night, when they were most relaxed, their bed suddenly collapsed into a deep pit. The couple, scared out of their wits, crawled out of the pit and ran out of the yard shouting for help.
The only people who came to help were those from the east of the Wang family.
No one from the Li family came out.
The two Yang families had not yet moved in.
The Ou family had also not moved.
At the very end was Li Jianguo's family. Only Li Jianguo came out, coldly watching his younger brother and his wife jumping up and down, shouting about ghosts and calling for help.
Fortunately, his mother had left Da Niu and You Cai behind. Otherwise, with his younger brother and his wife like this, it was unknown whether they would remember to bring their own daughter out with them.
Brother Wang was a kind-hearted person. Although he was dissatisfied with Li Aiguo and Zhang Fangcao, he still went into Li Aiguo's main east room with a horse lantern to take a look.
The deep pit was frightening to behold. The entire bed had sunk at least two meters deep.
The two men who entered with Brother Wang exchanged meaningful glances as they looked at the pit where the bed was stuck.
The bed could not be pried out, and the situation beneath it was unclear. Brother Wang and the other two could only go out and tell the couple that they would investigate in the morning.
The couple shivered and returned to the Zhang family, not even daring to take their outer clothes.
The next day, rumors spread throughout the village that the couple had been too vigorous, shaking the soil loose beneath the bed, causing it to collapse.
Overnight, rumors flew all over the village, not of Li Aiguo's prowess, but of another name for Zhang Fangcao.
The single men whistled at Zhang Fangcao when they saw her, making her so ashamed that she wished she could kill someone.
This was all for later.
Zhang Fangcao called her brother and father to come and help dig out the bed.
Beneath the bed, there was nothing but soft soil.
Brother Zhang blamed his brother-in-law for being too lazy, not even compacting the ground.
Li Aiguo retorted, and Brother Zhang immediately pulled his father away.
...
Tian Jing cheerfully carried soil down the mountain.
Li Zhengguo affectionately tapped her nose, "Is it fun?"
"Very fun."
Mother Li shoveled soil onto the sieve, and Li Min sat and sieved it.
Chen Suozhu carried broken stones to dry in front of the Li family's courtyard gate.
Li Zhengguo took Tian Jing's carrying pole at the foot of the mountain and handed her an empty one.
The five of them cooperated for ten days. After all six mu of land were deeply dug and the soil was sieved and replaced, the vegetable seedlings in the wooden boxes grew lushly and were almost ready for transplanting. It was urgent to build plastic greenhouses for growing vegetables.
Mother Li was worried. She wanted to guard these six mu of land, fearing that lazy people might directly dig soil from their land.
The soil on their six mu of land was painstakingly carried out from the deep mountains by Tiantian. The soil quality looked fertile.
How could Tian Jing let her mother-in-law work so hard? Besides, they could guard against the day, but could they guard against the night? And what about the future when seedlings sprouted and crops matured?
So, she went to Qingsongyan and carried more than ten bundles of thorny branches down the mountain.
"Tiantian, what are you carrying?"
"Rose thorns."
"What for?"
"To build fences."
The six mu of land were divided into three types of grain: sweet potatoes, corn, and spring wheat.
Distributed equally, with two mu for each type, then a fence would be built for every two mu.
A bamboo fence, one meter high, paired with rose thorns. Tian Jing, her mother-in-law, and sister-in-law busied themselves for a few days, at the same speed as Li Zhengguo and Chen Suozhu building the plastic greenhouses.
Why was it so slow? Because no one cooperated with her. In front of her mother-in-law and sister-in-law, she could reveal very little. She also had to secretly transport her special ability to root the rose thorns, which slowed her down.
Sister-in-law Niu came with a wooden box to ask Tian Jing for help, "Tiantian, look at my seedlings. They're only a little better than before. I'm worried the vegetables I grow will be the same as before."
"Leave them at my house for a few days, and I'll help you sort them out."
"That's great, thank you so much."
"Why are you being so polite with me? For the twenty-odd days your house was being built, you helped weave bamboo mats, move bricks and stones. I saw the wounds and blisters on your hands, were you lectured by your sister-in-law?"
"How do you know?"
Sister-in-law Niu was surprised. She wasn't surprised that Tian Jing saw the injuries on her hands, but how did Tian Jing know what happened in her family?
Tian Jing smiled, "It's human nature. In the past, when you came to help, we would give you something, even if it was just small wild fruits from the mountains. That was still a gift."
"This time, after half a month of work, you haven't seen a single wild vegetable. It's no wonder your sister-in-law would say something, because she wanted to eat it but didn't get any, hahaha."
"Hahahaha," Sister-in-law Niu also laughed heartily, "Isn't that right? On your house's beam-raising feast, she thought I would bring something back, at least leftover dishes, right?"
"Who knew we would come back empty-handed, which angered her so much that she paced around the yard, holding her stomach and saying the baby in her belly was craving something and kicked her, causing her stomach to hurt. She made my younger brother-in-law boil two eggs for her before she calmed down."
"Did your mother-in-law give you a hard time?"
"I didn't notice. Anyway, your father-in-law was unhappy."
"How many mu of land did your family adopt?" Tian Jing changed the subject.
Speaking of this, Sister-in-law Niu was a little unhappy, "This time, my husband and I were determined to adopt separately. My mother-in-law had no choice but to agree. My husband and I adopted four mu, and my mother-in-law and younger brother adopted two mu."
"My sister-in-law is about to give birth and can't work, so she wasn't counted. My mother-in-law forcibly made us add two mu, saying that Da Niu and Er Niu could work."
Tian Jing advised her, "Sister-in-law Niu, think about it. You are timid now. If it works out, will you have more land next year if you want to add more? You can only go and reclaim wasteland."
"Your mother-in-law also helped you. Tell Brother Niu to insist that these two mu are for your two children."
Sister-in-law Niu lacked confidence, "That's what is said, but it still depends on whether God blesses us with food."
"Why rely on God? Look at me."
Sister-in-law Niu was stunned, "Look at me for what? Didn't I follow suit because your family actively adopted land?"
"I mean, look, I'll give you food. Don't go to the team to get seeds. I'll get good seeds for you."
"Really?"
"Of course. Since I'm doing it, I'll definitely get seeds. Even if the team's seeds are issued by the commune, I don't want them."
"Good, good," Sister-in-law Niu was very excited, "With good seeds, we can see half the harvest."
"For the seeds, it's only for your family and Brother Wang's family. I can't help other families. Moreover, this is the first year, and the land hasn't even been nurtured well yet. I won't be the scapegoat."
"I understand. I won't tell anyone outside, including my mother-in-law."