Spring scenery in the fields

Shen Zhong looked towards the wasteland to the west: "That's Rongshan's wife, right? My eyesight is not good, I can't see clearly."

The people standing in the field turned their heads to look, and one of the women answered, "It's Rongshan's daughter-in-law. She has been married to our Shenjia Village for more than a month, and she is rarely seen coming down the mountain."

"I went to the mountain to collect firewood this morning and saw Rongshan carrying a large basin of clothes upstream to wash. This Rongshan is too spoiled to his wife. Laundry and cooking should be left to women."

The person who spoke was Shen Ping.

The woman next to him retorted: "Rongshan loves his wife very much. He finally married her, how can he not spoil her?"

I thought: Is it the same as you? You deserve to be unable to find a wife.

"This girl is too thin and small. I'm afraid it will be difficult for her to give birth. It's been so long and I haven't heard any movement in her belly."

"Okay, okay, let's get to work." Shen Zhong stopped several people from talking because Shen Rongshan and Shen Yuanshan were coming to the fields.

He walked slowly towards their land.

"Rongshan, I didn't see you at home the past few days. Did you go into the mountains?"

The two men had their backs to him, and when they heard the voice they stood up and looked back.

Shen Yuanshan called out, "Village Head." Then he continued to do his work with his head down.

"Yes."

He did not keep it a secret from his family and went out with a bow and arrow. The villagers had already guessed it.

Shen Zhong became interested: "What prey did you catch?"

Shen Rongshan thought: No matter what prey he caught, he couldn't exchange it with the villagers or others.

"A wild boar."

In the past, my family lived well, but we had no land and could not grow vegetables. We often traded game with villagers for vegetables.

"Yes, I heard that wild boar meat tastes different from domestic pork. It is chewy and more expensive than domestic pork."

He had never tasted it, but he had heard that the wealthy people in the town loved it very much.

Many people go into the mountains to make a lot of money, but few are lucky, and those who are unlucky never come back.

Shen Yuanshan had his back to them and curled his lips when he heard his words.

The village head hinted that they should send some wild boar meat to their family when they hunted it in the future.

Their own family is having a hard time, yet he still has to send things to their family. I have never seen him send anything to their family.

Shen Rongshan scattered rice seeds: "It's hard to sell them now, it's better to raise them at home. If my family wasn't really short of money and food, I wouldn't risk going into the mountains."

"If you don't have food at home, come to my house and get some. We are from the same village, so we should help each other."

Shen Zhong sighed helplessly.

"Everyone is having a hard time. I have a large family and I worry about food. What will I do if I don't have food at home?"

"But things will be better in the future. We don't have to hand in grain anymore, and every family will have enough to eat."

Shen Rongshan nodded and listened to him babble on about some irrelevant things.

Western wasteland.

Ji Wenhe saw that the village head had been standing by their field and had not left. He did not know what he was saying, but he never stopped talking.

"Wenshan, does the village head have a grandson?"

Shen Wenshan glanced to the east and said, "Yes, two grandsons and three granddaughters."

"The eldest son has a daughter and a son, and the second son has two daughters and a son."

"Five children, the head of the village and his wife, plus two sons and their wives, eleven people in total. Can his three large tiled houses accommodate them all?"

Ji Wenhe had never been to their house and didn't know what the structure was like inside.

"Everyone in the village has a brick bed in their house. Several people can sleep on the bed with a curtain in the middle."

It was the same in their home when they were young.

"Sister-in-law, look quickly." Shen Yuanshan called her and motioned her to look in the direction of the vegetable field at the entrance of the village.

"Those people are from the village chief's family. The one walking in front is Aunt Qin, the wife of the village chief."

"One, two, three..." Ji Wenhe counted and saw ten people holding farm tools marching towards the vegetable field. Their vegetable field was in the middle, and several plots in between belonged to them.

"My grandchildren are all pretty big now, aren't they about the same age as you guys?"

“Well, my eldest son’s daughter is fifteen and his son is thirteen.

The second son’s eldest daughter is fourteen, the second daughter is thirteen, and the youngest son is eleven.”

"Did you find the matchmaker for the eldest son's family?"

Shen Wenshan shook his head: "I don't know, I haven't asked."

They didn't like to ask about the villagers' affairs, but sometimes they would pass by the crowd and hear what they were talking about.

"It should be that they didn't see each other. The head of the village has high standards. When his granddaughter gets married, he will naturally choose a good family that is worthy of her."

"That's true." Ji Wenhe sat on a tree branch to rest, looking at Aunt Qin who was leading the group and directing them to work.

"What's Aunt Qin's name? What kind of person is she?"

Seeing that he was still digging, he waved and said, "Wenshan, come and sit down and have a rest."

Shen Wenshan wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve: "Qin Hehua, she is good at both the house and the outside world. She is afraid of the head of the village. She is stingy. I heard from the villagers that she treats her two daughters-in-law badly."

"The aunties in the village said that when Aunt Qin's mother-in-law was alive, she was often bullied by her mother-in-law. Only after her mother-in-law passed away did she stand up straight."

"Now that I'm a mother-in-law, I naturally have to act like one. I treat my two daughters-in-law with indifference."

"Tsk." Ji Wenhe shook his head. "They wanted to marry their daughter-in-law, but they didn't treat her well after marrying her. They made their daughter-in-law suffer the same hardships that they themselves couldn't."

A good daughter-in-law cannot meet a good mother-in-law, and a good mother-in-law cannot meet a good daughter-in-law.

"The conditions of the two daughters-in-law's families may not be as good as the village head's."

"Almost." Shen Wenshan walked to the side and sat down. "But I heard that they are well-off in the village. It's just that compared with the headman's family, they are a little bit behind."

Of course, these are all what they heard from the villagers, and they don’t know the specifics.

Ji Wenhe nodded in understanding. Her family was richer than theirs, so how could Aunt Qin dare to tell them what to do?

However, even if the family is rich, if the family does not love the daughter, she will still not be treated well when she goes to her husband's family.

Being a woman in this era is so difficult, so difficult.

"Sister-in-law." Shen Suya came running over, jumping.

"Xiaoya, didn't you go to the fields with your family?"

"No, my parents and eldest brother have gone. My mother asked me to stay home and make silk lace. We will go to the market on the next market day. I came to tell my sister-in-law that you don't have to bring the things you asked me to bring."

Ji Wenhe smiled and looked at the person sitting next to her and holding her arm: "I'm dirty, don't dirty your clothes."

Shen Suya leaned her head on her shoulder: "It's not dirty, I don't dislike my sister-in-law."

Besides, she still has to take a bath at night.

Looking at her smiling face, he said lovingly, "Go to the market and buy it yourself. Don't be afraid of being scolded by your mother."

"Hehe, my eldest brother wanted to take me to the market. He said he would buy me some meat buns. Mom heard it but didn't say anything."

"That's good. I was afraid that if I bought it for you and Aunt Lan knew about it, she would scold you."