Quick Wear: Men Farming and Women Weaving

The mother-in-law and several daughters-in-law were preparing lunch in the kitchen, clear porridge with stir-fried cabbage shreds, and pickled cabbage lumps cut into shreds and placed on a plate.

She put the porridge into a bowl and brought it to the front room, then watched her daughters-in-law from behind as they brought the dishes in to prevent them from stealing some.

At noon, the weather was getting hotter and hotter, and the men in the family came back. They put their hoes and sickles in the yard, washed their hands and faces, and prepared to eat.

Several girls who had come back from picking wild vegetables outside also followed their mother to help.

The boys swam in the shallow water of the river with other children in the village, catching fish and shrimps. When they returned home wet, Granny Liu saw them and immediately asked them to change clothes, fearing that they would catch a cold and get sick. She doted on Baoer and didn't compare him with Baoer. She was also nicer to her other grandchildren, but she was more disgusted with her granddaughter.

Song Yiyue looked at her younger sister Song Eryue, who was outside digging wild vegetables with the other sisters. She was sweating profusely, her skin was a little black, and her body was torn.

He has no flesh on his body, is very thin and short. He is only eight years old, but acts like a six-year-old.

I'm not much better, I'm only two years older than my sister, and a little better, with fewer patches on my body.

Old man Song, who looked old but in good spirits, sat at the long dining table with his three sons.

Not noticing Song Baoer coming out, he looked at Mrs. Liu and asked her.

When Mrs. Liu found that Bao'er had not returned, she was also worried and was about to order the whole family to go out and look for her. Song Bao'er came back by herself and saw that she was in a daze and shouted at her parents, and then sat beside them waiting for dinner. Mrs. Liu saw that she was in a bad mood and decided to secretly cook a few eggs for her when she returned to her room.

Mrs. Liu served the men thick porridge with lots of shredded cabbage and pickled cabbage. She also served Baoer a big bowl of porridge, with more rice and less soup, and lots of shredded cabbage and only a little pickled cabbage to season it.

Most of the porridge was given to the grandchildren, and the rest was for the women. Mrs. Liu divided it for herself first, and then divided it among the money-losing women and her daughters-in-law.

Song Yiyue looked at the bottom of the bowl. There was only a thin layer of rice porridge, and the rest was water with a few strands of pickled cabbage floating in the water. Seeing Eryue drinking it with relish, licking the bottom of the bowl clean. With his eyes closed, he poured it directly into his mouth, and his stomach didn't feel full at all.

After the meal, the others left to rest, leaving the third daughter-in-law to clean up and wash the dishes.

The three daughters-in-law of the Song family take turns washing dishes and working every day. Today it is the turn of the third daughter-in-law Zhu.

The second daughter-in-law, Liu, finished eating the last bit of pickled cabbage, threw the bowl directly on the table, and said to the third sister-in-law, "Sister-in-law, this eldest girl is already in her teens. It's time for her to go on a blind date. I have a good nephew in my hometown."

"Second sister-in-law, she is still young, less than ten years old, and she hasn't grown up yet." Zhu refused without thinking. What kind of people are in Liu's hometown? How could she not know? She came from the same village as her mother-in-law, and they were cousins. There would be no good family.

The eldest sister-in-law, Mrs. Li, who was standing nearby, pretended not to hear anything and took her daughter and son away.

Liu also got angry, snorted, turned around and left.

Looking at the messy pots and pans on the table, Eryue helped her mother clean up, and Song Yiyue also helped take them to the kitchen to clean them up.

Zhu took January and February back to the bedroom and watched her husband and eldest son rest without disturbing them. She took her sewing kit to her daughters' residence next door, mended the torn clothes at home, and taught her daughters needlework.

Song Yiyue took out some wild fruits from the big bunk bed and shared them with Zhu Eryue.

"Sister, this wild fruit is so delicious. I'm just not full." Er Yue looked at the wild fruit with surprise, put it in his arms, and took out one to eat.

Zhu watched her daughters eat wild fruits with a loving face. She did not even eat the wild fruits in her hand, thinking of giving them to her son when he woke up.

"When you go out to chop wood these days, please be careful and don't go into the mountains." Zhu looked at her eldest daughter's thin body and felt a little worried.

"I know that won't happen. I'm just going to the back hill to collect firewood."

Er Yue wanted to go outside with her elder sister to collect firewood, and didn't want to go with the people from the first and second wives. Thinking of grandma's scary expression, she didn't dare to speak.

After resting for an hour when the sun was not too strong, Old Man Song took his son to the fields to tend to a few acres of land.

Everyone went to work and clean up the yard. Liu Pozi sneaked into the kitchen, opened the wooden chimney in the stove, dug out two eggs, slipped into Baoer's room, gave her the eggs, and asked her to stay away from the boy in the house and the money-losing goods.

Baoer happily ate eggs in bed, and his mood became much better.

Song Yiyue found a place with lush trees to rest, and took out a piece of bread from the space and ate it to feel better.

A basket of firewood was prepared and placed aside. A search was conducted nearby and rabbits and feces were discovered. Three holes were found in this area and two of them were blocked with stones. A fire was lit on the other side to smoke the holes inside and a cloth bag was taken out to cover the hole entrance.

Suddenly, a rabbit's cry was heard from inside, and rabbits jumped out and crawled into the bag, one, two, three.

After there was no movement, the cloth bag was tied tightly. There were three rabbits inside, and a baby rabbit also ran out of the rabbit hole. He took out a small basket and put the rabbits in it, and brought it to the black soil in the space. He took a wooden box from the warehouse and took it outside to use as a rabbit nest. He padded the surface with a lot of hay and put a lot of pig grass and wild vegetables in it.

Two male and female rabbits were picked out from the cloth bag and put into a wooden box. The remaining one was not disposed of until it was cooked in the kitchen, seasoned with only coarse salt, and then torn into strips of meat.

He wrapped it in leaves and put it in his clothes, then came out of the space, dug up some wild vegetables, found a bunch of prickly ash, picked some and went back.

I carried the firewood back, put it in the woodshed, and went to the room to rest.

Mrs. Liu was instructing her eldest daughter-in-law in the kitchen to cook only thin porridge and put a lot of wild vegetables in it.

Song Shan, the son of the first wife, and Song He, the son of the second wife, had a fight because Song Shan stole Song He's roasted sparrows.

In the end, he was beaten by Boss Song. He apologized to the second branch and said that he would beat a new one and return it to Song He.

Old Man Song coughed and everyone fell silent.

"Now the boys have grown up, they are in their teens, they can go out to work in the fields, and they will get married in a few years."

"Starting tomorrow, follow us to the fields to learn how to work. Farmers must learn how to farm."

The three sons had no objection, but the eldest and second wives felt unhappy. After all, they were the only two sons who were already over ten years old, and it was too hard for them to work in the fields.

Song Shan and Song He were very happy when they heard that they were going to work in the fields. After all, working in the fields meant growing up and they no longer had to play childish games with the boys in the village.