The road to wealth of a peasant widow

The school also gave students a one-month "busy farming season holiday" so that they could go back and help their families harvest the crops.

Chen Cui had already sharpened several sickles at home and cleaned up the threshing floor. She was just waiting for the wheat ears to droop so she could harvest them manually.

Before the wheat harvest, the Chen family sent Chen Dahai and his son Chen Yinzhu to help Chen Cui, which greatly accelerated her family's wheat harvest progress.

Although there were two more strong laborers, the wheat harvest process still seemed very painful to Chen Cui.

The sun in May was already very hot. Chen Cui was harvesting wheat in the field under the scorching sun, with sweat dripping from her forehead. She also had to endure the tickling of the wheat awns, which made her skin red. This was a feeling she had never experienced before.

Now she finally understood the profound meaning of the poem "Ploughing the Fields" and knew the hardships of farming.

I brought a bucket of mung bean soup from home in the morning and placed it at the edge of the field, covering it with a pot to prevent dust from getting in.

If anyone is thirsty, just take a ladle and take a few sips, which will quench your thirst and get rid of the heat at the same time.

Suisui and her two puppies sat under a big tree at the edge of the field and played. There was a tarpaulin on the ground and some of her toys.

Chen Cui tied a hemp rope around her waist and tied the other end of the rope to a tree to prevent her from running out of the oilcloth.

When everyone goes to the fields to drink mung bean soup, they will go to tease Sui Sui and give her some mung bean soup as well.

Seeing the little girl's face flushed with heat even while she was sitting under the tree, Chen Cui felt distressed but there was nothing she could do.

During the wheat harvest season, everyone in the family had tasks assigned to them and they were almost never idle. If she could help it, she would not take the children to the fields.

The harvested wheat was simply bundled with straw and then loaded onto trucks and transported to the threshing floor.

The threshing floor is a spacious and flat open space. The dirt and stones on the ground are cleared away and swept clean. Then, a stone roller pulled by a mule is used to compact the ground over and over again, making it flat and smooth so that it can be used to dry the wheat.

The wheat transported from the field cannot be spread directly on the ground. Half of the wheat straw underneath must be chopped off with a scythe first, leaving only the wheat ears and a small piece of straw, and then spread out to dry.

Contrary to the previous expectation of rain, what farmers most looked forward to at this time was sunny weather so that they could dry and thresh the wheat as soon as possible.

It took a total of five days to harvest three acres of wheat and two acres of millet and transport them to the field.

Fortunately, we bought a mule this year, and we can use the mule to pull the stone roller to wheel the wheat. Last year, the five acres of land were all worked by manpower, and the main force behind it was, of course, Liu Eryong.

In fact, it was not impossible for him to ask Lao Zhai to borrow the cow at that time, but the family had just separated and Liu Eryong was holding a grudge in his heart. He would rather work himself to death than ask Lao Zhai for help.

This is when the benefits of having livestock at home come into play. Whether it is a cow or a mule, they can all be put to good use.

Families without livestock can only rely on human labor. Pulling carts and stone rollers requires strong laborers, while those with less physical strength can only do auxiliary work.

There are not many large flat areas suitable for threshing in the village, only two or three.

Chen Cui's family separated late, and the good places had already been occupied by others. They could only set up their business in a slightly remote place, which was not very convenient to get in and out.

From the moment the wheat is transported to the field, someone needs to be there to watch over it to prevent anyone from stealing it.

Chang'an and Changfu brought their home scythes and cut wheat stalks in the threshing floor while also being responsible for guarding the field.

After the wheat and millet ears are chopped off, threshing officially begins.

A stone roller is a must-have for every household. It is unused most of the year and is only used when harvesting crops. When it is needed, everyone needs it, so it is not easy to ask others to borrow it.

When it came to the threshing ground, Chen Cui felt that she had done enough and the rest of the work could be done by mules. It was time to let Chen Dahai and Yinzhu, father and son, go back. After all, the Chen family had more land and needed more manpower to do the work.

Chen Dahai asked Yinzhu to go back, and he stayed behind.

"Although the grain harvested from these few acres of land is not much, it will take more than ten days to thresh it. During these days, someone has to sleep here every night to watch over it. No one in your family is suitable. I'd better stay for a few more days. When all the grain is brought home, I will go back."

Chen Cui thought about it and realized that what he said was the truth, so she really couldn't let him go for the time being.

After all, those who were watching the scene were all young and strong, guarding against anyone stealing food. Changping was, after all, just a boy, not yet fully grown up, and had no deterrent power, and was not capable of taking on such an important task.

So Chen Cui pulled a wooden bed from her home to the field on a mule cart, brought a few bamboo poles, and used oilcloth to build a simple tent above the bed to prevent dew when she slept at night.

Chen Dahai laughed: "Why are you so particular? I'm not that precious."

It turned out that when he was watching the field at home, he would just find a piece of open space, spread some straw, cover himself with a blanket, and sleep there.

Cuicui brought a bed, oilcloth, and even a bundle of wormwood for fumigating mosquitoes. She is really fussy.

However, Chen Dahai was still grateful for his sister's intentions. After all, who would want to lie on the ground when there is a dry and comfortable bed to sleep on!

After Chen Dahai lived in his sister's house for a few days, he found that the food was really good. Every day they had either meat or eggs, and they never ate only vegetarian food.

Although the Chen family would also add some meat during the busy farming season to give them more energy to work, they did not eat like Cuicui's family did. Most of the dishes in a pot were meat, and the vegetarian dishes became just a side dish.

More than a pound of meat, quite a big piece. One meal at noon and one at night. It was all cooked and eaten on the same day. This speed surprised Chen Dahai.

Chen Cui also argued: "It's hot now, the meat won't last long, if we don't eat it quickly it will go bad."

If you are afraid of it going bad, you can just not buy so much!

During the meal, the nephews' eyes lit up when they saw the meat and they ate it ravenously. Even the little girl Sui Sui held the bowl in her hands and her face was covered with food, but she kept shoveling food into her mouth.

Chen Dahai quietly asked Changfu: "Does your mother often buy meat for you to eat?"

Changfu shook his head: "Not often."

After all, buying meat once every seven or eight days is not very frequent.

Chen Dahai breathed a sigh of relief. No wonder the children ate like that. It seemed that they bought so much meat just to treat him after the wheat harvest. His sister's family must be very frugal in normal times.

The Chen family is now better off. They can eat meat basically once a month, and they no longer exchange eggs for money. Instead, they keep them for themselves. They have enough nutrition, and the children are much healthier.

So, when eating, Chen Dahai deliberately slowed down the speed at which he picked up the dishes. He thought that he should eat less meat and vegetables so that his sister and nephews could eat more.

I have to say, this is really a beautiful misunderstanding!

Even if they eat meat every day, these kids eat it like this, and their eating manners are very ugly.

Chen Cui corrected them many times, asking them to eat slowly and chew thoroughly, but it was of little use.

The children would pay some attention when she spoke, but their true colors would be revealed if they were not careful. In the end, she could only give up and let them go.