After the Mid-Autumn Festival, Li Min and her mother became busy. What were they busy with? Making sweet potato vermicelli. Her family also needed to seriously engage in side businesses; that was where their income came from.
Dà Mài brought her sister to help. Ōuyáng Méihuā also came to help; she was good at stoking fires.
Lǐ Róngguó was busy alone with his three-plus mu of land in the south, which was quite easy. The household was managed by the mother-in-law and sister-in-law, while Tián Jìng and the other two went to the mountains to work. Sūdān Novels.
The rice in the mountains had ripened. Lǐ Zhèngguó still wouldn't let Tián Jìng bend over to harvest. Tián Jìng simply decided to force the growth of some of the cotton. She could stand and pick cotton, right? Yes, she could, but picking it still made her arms tired. She dried the cotton on Qīngsōng Yán, enclosed by a straw mat. Tián Jìng then lazily went about her business, finding farm work too tiring. She hadn't even done that much work yet. From harvesting wheat in July to mid-September, the villagers had barely had a moment's rest. If cotton could be picked with her powers, she really wouldn't have wanted to endure this hardship.
Seeing the men sweating profusely in the hot spring field, Tián Jìng felt heartache. She wanted to help, but Lǐ Zhèngguó forbade it. "If you use your powers to pull them all out, I'll still have to cut the roots. Otherwise, how would Mother and Mǐn'mǐn explain it when they come up?"
"Then I'll cut them at a length above the root, like yours."
"And then? Will I bend over and pick them up one by one?"
"No need, just use your powers to roll them into a pile."
"Tiántián," Lǐ Zhèngguó said, holding her back helplessly, "the straw needs to be tied into neat bundles. Don't you need straw to make straw mats?"
"Then pull them out by the roots. You cut, and you tie." Seeing Tiántián's determination to help, Lǐ Zhèngguó could only agree. The rice from four mu of land was quickly and cleanly placed on Qīngsōng Yán.
Looking at the weather, Lǐ Zhèngguó decided not to harvest that night and let the rice stalks stand piled on the large rock.
The next day, Mother Lǐ and Lǐ Mǐn were ordered by their son (the eldest brother) to put aside their side business and go into the mountains with them. Into the mountains? That sounded good. Mother Lǐ and Lǐ Mǐn quickly finished their work, tidied up their clothes inside, and went out with their baskets on their backs. They left the house to Chén Suǒzhù, and the family of four set off.
Seeing the seedlings by the paddy ridge, Mother Lǐ felt sorry for her son, "Why didn't you wait for us to come and pull them?"
"I took advantage of the damp ground, making them easier to pull. Your task is to pick cotton." The cotton that had completely split its bolls was something Tiántián had forced to mature when she went down the mountain yesterday.
Seeing the cotton fields blooming in a sea of white, Mother Lǐ forgot her concern for her son. "Mǐn'mǐn, hurry and pick. There's so much, it will take two days!"
Lǐ Mǐn was also happy, "Big Brother, Big Sister-in-law, will I have my new cotton quilt this winter?" Before her son and daughter-in-law could reply, Mother Lǐ answered her daughter, "Yes, of course. Looking at the yield of cotton from these two mu, there should be at least five to six hundred jin of seed cotton. After removing the cotton seeds, that's over two hundred jin of ginned cotton."
"Not only will there be yours, but also your nephew's, and the one in the cave in the upper mountain. Hurry up and get to work. There's so much to do, I wish I had ten hands."
Lǐ Mǐn looked at her elder brother, "Should we ask Suǒzhù-ge to come?"
Lǐ Zhèngguó glared at his sister, "Try saying that out loud and see what happens!" Lǐ Mǐn quickly lowered her head to work. Wasn't she the one who said they were too busy?
Mother Lǐ also criticized her daughter, "Suǒzhù is your husband, but he's always an outsider to us. And his grandfather, he tells his grandfather everything. An old fox like him might guess something."
Lǐ Mǐn quickly looked up to explain, "Mother, I just feel like we can't handle it all. I don't have any other intentions."
"Mother knows. If you had other intentions, would you still be able to be here so peacefully? Your eldest brother and sister-in-law won't treat you unfairly. What you deserve will be kept for you. You can keep what you receive for your child, and that would be enough for the Chén family."
"I understand," Lǐ Mǐn said, happily picking cotton.
Lǐ Zhèngguó also picked up a basket and went into the field to pick. Tián Jìng picked slowly on the outskirts. With her mother-in-law and sister-in-law present, she still helped with tasks that didn't require bending.
After picking for two and a half consecutive days, the cotton was finished. Mother Lǐ rubbed her arms, looking at the cotton drying in front of the cave entrance, smiling from ear to ear. This cotton was enough for her family to use for several years. Not to mention the more than one mu of cotton interplanted in the village, its cotton bolls were already splitting and about to burst open. She estimated that there would be about two hundred jin of seed cotton. Haha, with grain and cotton, there was nothing to fear.
For the entire afternoon, she continuously broke off cotton bolls and turned over the piles of cotton. The wind on the large rock was strong, and with the bright sun, frequent turning dried it quickly.
"Zhèngguó, the weather has been excellent these past few days. Be sure to turn and dry it frequently. If it's not dried properly once, it will get moldy and turn black."
"On this large rock, three to four days should be enough. If you're busy, you can ask Tiántián to bring me in, and she can pick me up again in the evening. I can also weave some straw mats then."
With the cotton, Mother Lǐ put aside her side business. Lǐ Zhèngguó agreed, "Mother can stay and watch here. I'll make a cotton seed separator and also urge Suǒzhù to plow the fields."
"Okay, okay, I'll do it. I'll do it," Mother Lǐ said, relieved. If she didn't do this herself, she wouldn't be at ease.
Having just taken a bath, Lǐ Mǐn, who had been brought up by her sister-in-law, asked, "What about me?"
"You'll work with Suǒzhù," Mother Lǐ said, reprimanding her daughter impatiently, "I think you've gone too wild in the mountains these past two days."
"Heh heh, it's so nice here, the temperature is suitable, and Little Black is also well-behaved and remembers me."
"You're actually thinking about how convenient it is to eat meat here, aren't you?" The meat in the kitchen cave on the right had significantly decreased these past two days. Mother Lǐ felt heartbroken just looking at it.
"Mother~ It's rare to eat meat heartily without any restraint, so I ate a few more bites."
"Don't you miss Suǒzhù anymore?"
"Didn't Big Brother ask me to take two pieces of meat down? He wasn't shortchanged."
...
Unable to go to the mountains, Lǐ Mǐn honestly went to plow the fields with her husband. Fortunately, the village had donkeys; otherwise, she and Suǒzhù would have had to do all the digging by hand. Lǐ Zhèngguó was busy making the cotton seed separator.
Tián Jìng took her mother-in-law up the mountain every day, brought her water, and instructed Little Black to pay attention to her mother-in-law's needs before going down the mountain with peace of mind.
For four consecutive days, the sun-dried, fluffy cotton was kept in straw mats in the cave on the left. During these four days, Mother Lǐ also threshed the rice grains, slowly knocking them off by hand. After drying, they were also stored in straw mats in the cave on the left. Her face, full of wrinkles, beamed with joy.
Tián Jìng felt sorry for her mother-in-law's hard work. "Mother, I'll go hunt two pheasants later and stew them for you to replenish your strength." Mother Lǐ wanted to refuse, but looking at her daughter-in-law's belly, she agreed, "Okay, we'll both replenish."
Wild pheasants, of course, were deducted from work points. Some people were envious; they also wanted to eat meat. After a summer harvest, they were all exhausted and had no oil or water in their stomachs. But Lǐ Zhèngguó no longer spoke of hunting, and the Lǐ family never lacked meat. If they wanted to eat, they would go up the mountain to hunt pheasants and rabbits. Moreover, the team owed his family a large number of work points.
Lǐ Zhèngguó was very busy and had no time to worry about other people's appetites. He finished making the cotton seed separator, took one into the mountains to install it, and his mother went into the mountains to get busy again. Tián Jìng followed her into the mountains to stew chicken soup. She had only brought down two wild chickens, and the villagers' eyes turned green with envy. She simply stewed them all at once, and the family ate together. Then, she followed her mother-in-law into the mountains to make soup for her.
Mother Lǐ, with one foot controlling and one hand operating a machine that was normal for her but very ancient and time-consuming for Tián Jìng.