The gathering started at one in the afternoon. Chen Lan's table in the house broke up relatively early, partly because everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, and partly because the children had woken up from their naps and were restless, wanting to play outside. Thus, Chen Lan's table in the house dispersed around three-thirty in the afternoon.
Those eating and drinking in the large kitchen didn't disperse until dusk. Unsurprisingly, several of the old men, including Grandpa Zhou, were drunk again today.
Uncle Fu and Uncle De, along with Xiang Dong and Er Hu, were the first to return home. The moment they arrived, they collapsed into sleep. Grandma, Mother, Mother Liu, and Mother Cui returned together after arranging everything.
Since the autumn harvest was to begin the next day, everyone returned, washed up, and went to bed early. It goes without saying that everyone slept soundly.
The next morning, after everyone had an early breakfast in the large kitchen, they waited. This included Teacher Zhou, Xiang Dong, and Er Hu, who were busy with the construction project. Everyone waited by the entrance of the large kitchen for Chen Lan to assign the autumn harvest tasks.
As soon as Chen Lan arrived, she saw everyone in a prepared stance. Without delay, she cleared her throat and loudly announced the autumn harvest assignment: "Teacher Zhou, Brother Xiang Dong, Brother Er Hu, I won't require your construction team to participate in this autumn harvest. There are still over two months before the land freezes. As the days draw closer, you should hurry and focus on building more houses before the snow falls!"
Teacher Zhou asked with some concern, "Xiao Lan, without the help of us men, can you women, elders, and these older children manage?"
Hearing Teacher Zhou's question, Chen Lan smiled and loudly addressed Qian Yingzi, Zhang Danni, and Sister-in-law Chen from E Province, who were standing nearby, "Sisters-in-law, younger sisters, classmates, do you think you can do it?"
The response from Qian Yingzi, Sister-in-law Chen, and the classmates was a loud roar: "We can! We guarantee to complete the task!"
Chen Lan smiled without saying anything. Teacher Zhou chuckled and cupped his hands, saying, "Then we entrust this year's autumn harvest to our valley's women's army and classmates. We also need to hurry with building houses, striving for everyone to move into new homes before the snow falls, so no one has to crowd together on the floor."
After saying this, he cupped his hands towards Qian Yingzi, Sister-in-law Chen, and the other women, and then left with a large group of men from the construction team.
Following this brief interlude, the official assignment of autumn harvest tasks began. Chen Lan loudly stated, "Comrades, classmates, from today onwards, the autumn harvest work in our valley officially begins. Today's autumn harvest task is to collect potatoes.
Ming Wei, you will be responsible for leading the classmates in picking potatoes into sacks. We did this last year, and while it looks simple, it's very hard work. Classmates, you must be mentally prepared!"
Ming Wei and the classmates all responded loudly, "We guarantee to complete the task."
Chen Lan continued to assign tasks loudly, "Lin Mai, you will arrange for a few people to operate the agricultural tractor to dig up the potatoes."
Lin Mai cheerfully replied, "Got it! Sister Xiao Lan, we guarantee to complete the task."
Saying this, she called Chun Cao, Ru Yi, and Xiao Xue and headed to the garage.
Chen Lan continued assigning tasks: "Sister Yingzi, you will arrange for people to drive the tractor to transport the potatoes back to the drying field. However, you will be responsible for loading and unloading the potatoes onto and off the trucks. The remaining personnel, excluding the elder aunties and uncles, are at your disposal. Do you have any questions?"
Qian Yingzi looked at the remaining group of sisters-in-law, young wives, and young ladies, and nodded firmly, "No problem, we guarantee to complete the task."
With that, she waved her hand and led a large group of elder sisters-in-law, young wives, and young ladies to a nearby spot to delegate work.
Finally, only the elder uncles and aunties remained. As Chen Lan was about to speak, Grandma chuckled and said, "Xiao Lan, we've agreed with your Grandpa Zhou. Ming Xuan's comrades will go to the drying field to select potatoes first. We who are able-bodied will first help the classmates pick potatoes. Once the potatoes are mostly picked, we will return to the drying field to help. What do you think?"
Chen Lan had no reason to refuse. Picking potatoes was indeed tiring work. Since Grandma and Grandpa Zhou had already made arrangements, she wouldn't insist on her own way.
Chen Lan nodded without saying anything further.
Over there, Lin Mai and the others had already started working. Operating the multi-functional agricultural tractor to dig up potatoes was fast. In a short while, rows of soil mounds appeared, with round, golden potatoes lying on them, each as big as an adult's fist. The classmates, holding sacks, rushed forward to pick the potatoes into the bags. Grandma and the aunties also went into the field, as did Grandpa Zhou and the others. Chen Lan also joined the potato-picking crew. Sudan Novel Network.
Chen Lan stood up, wiped the sweat from her face with her sleeve, and massaged her sore and aching waist. She looked at the classmates, each with flushed faces, their hair soaked with sweat; Qian Yingzi and the others who were loading potatoes onto the trucks were also not having an easy time. Each sack of potatoes was not light, weighing at least seventy to eighty jin, if not over a hundred jin. They all had red faces, their clothes soaked with sweat.
Chen Lan thought back to last year's potato harvest, when she had vowed to plant fewer acres for consumption. But as soon as planting season arrived, she forgot the pain and planted over ten mu again. Although it wasn't as much as last year, the high yield of potatoes was undeniable!
There was no time to dwell on past mistakes now. She resigned herself to the work.
It took the entire group two days to finish harvesting the potatoes from over ten mu of land. After finishing, they went over the field with a tractor again and harvested another hundred jin of smaller potatoes. Chen Lan asked Qian Yingzi to send these hundred jin directly to the large kitchen, asking Sun Xiaomei to braise them for everyone to eat today.
Just like last year, she had Lin Mai arrange for people to deep plow the potato fields. The plan was to plant spring wheat on this land next year.
Next was the major task of selecting and storing potatoes at the drying field. First, they had to select seed potatoes for the coming year. This task was assigned to Uncle De and the elder uncles, the old farmers. The classmates were responsible for picking out any rotten or worm-eaten potatoes, while Grandma and the aunties were in charge of quality control and bagging.
Chen Lan no longer had to worry about potato storage this year. Firstly, with so many people, they ate quickly, and secondly, many more cellars had been built in the newly constructed houses. In addition, the caves dug last year could also store a considerable amount.
While everyone in the valley was busy with the autumn harvest, Xu Mingxuan, in a certain logistics support unit, was worried about winter supplies for the front lines. The country had done its utmost. Xu Mingxuan looked at the weather outside the cave and estimated that the autumn harvest in the valley should have begun. It was time to send someone back.