Ugly girl only wants to farm

Seeing his daughter-in-law's eager eyes, Meng's father really didn't want to disappoint her. With all the recent troubles at home, and considering that Jiu and his wife were so kind, he felt bad refusing and agreed: "Then, Jiu and his wife, I'll just make something up. You and Xia'er can take it to town to sell. Whether it will sell or not, I can't guarantee. Just consider it something to pass the time."

Xu Chaoyan was overjoyed: "Okay, Dad, then my sister-in-law and I will go and pick out bamboo for you. Just tell us which kind you want. My sister-in-law and I aren't very good at picking bamboo, so a lot of it is unusable and it's a waste of time."

Li San Niang then chimed in, "Yan'er, you don't need to be too anxious. These things take time. When I was younger, I helped your father with this. I used to complain about his skills, and I even made a fuss about it a few times. Your father used to weave small baskets and such, but after I complained about them so much, he stopped doing it. Can these crude things your father makes really sell?"

Seeing that everyone was staring at her, Xu Chaoyan couldn't back down first, so she said, "Heaven helps those who help themselves. How would we know if we didn't try?"

Meng Jiuhe watched from below the window as Xu Chaoyan meticulously fooled her family. He twitched his lips slightly. This woman's ability to deceive was truly astounding; he had never realized she was so good at it before.

In the days that followed, Xu Chaoyan and Meng Jiuxia were busy cutting bamboo, carrying bamboo, and learning how to split bamboo. They had to split the bamboo strips for weaving things neatly, especially the bamboo strips for carrying baskets and winnowing baskets, which were split into thin layers, making them particularly resilient.

She watched her father-in-law chop bamboo with great skill, but when it came to her own hands, she ruined several bamboo stalks.

Meng Jiuxia teased her from the side, "Someone like you wouldn't even have enough bamboo for the whole patch of trees on the back of our house. You'd better give up. You're only suited for manual labor."

Meng Jiuxia was indeed a bit smarter than him. After learning from her father for three to five days, she was able to help him chop the usable bamboo strips.

Meng Jiudong was too young to help much, so he collected all the broken bamboo pieces and piled them up in the corner of the yard. After they dried, they could be used as firewood when it got cold.

There is no able-bodied person in their family now, and it takes a lot of strength to carry firewood back from the mountain when it gets cold.

These days, Xu Chaoyan gets up very early to cut bamboo with her sister-in-law and helps her father-in-law with this and that. By the time she goes back to her room to sleep at night, she is often exhausted.

Ever since that time when Meng Jiu didn't let her touch her feet after fetching water, she's been too lazy to care and just left the water there, giving him an attitude of "do you want to wash or not?"

At first, Meng Jiuhe couldn't even put his feet in the tub, but finally he couldn't take it anymore and said, "Weren't you going to help me soak my feet? How can I possibly soak my feet like this?"

Xu Chaoyan rolled her eyes at him when he couldn't see her, then quickly came over and put his feet in the water to soak. After a while, she dried his feet and massaged his legs to prevent muscle atrophy.

She thought to herself that this kid had quite a temper. She was too tired lately to bother arguing with him, and then rolled inside and fell fast asleep.

After more than half a month of hard work, Meng's father finally finished weaving some trinkets and four chairs. These past few days, they have been eating thin porridge made of coarse rice and green vegetables, and their stomachs have been rumbling with hunger all day long.

Xu Chaoyan was eagerly awaiting the completion of Meng's father's weaving, as he wanted to exchange it for silver as soon as possible. He hadn't had a full meal in a long time, and his stomach was rumbling all day long.

The next day was market day, but they didn't have the money to take the oxcart, so they had to get up early and walk to town with their sister-in-law. It would take them about an hour and a half to walk.

When Meng Jiuxia told her that the journey would take so long, Xu Chaoyan felt like banging her head against a wall. It was too far, and she had to carry so much stuff. Sighing, she found some sturdy ropes, strung two chairs together, and carried them on her back. Her sister-in-law also carried some things.

Li San Niang got up early and cooked two chickens for each of them to fill their stomachs, saying that the journey was too far and they should be careful not to go hungry.

Seeing Meng Jiudong's longing eyes, Xu Chaoyan quickly shared one of the dishes: "Mom, you can share this. Our family hasn't had this kind of food in a long time. Let's all have a little bit. My sister-in-law and I will each have a little bit and some vegetable soup."

When the two women arrived in town carrying bamboo chairs and small winnowing baskets, the sun had already risen. They wanted to go to the early market, but the road was still dark, so they hurried towards the town.

Since they needed to get to the early market, otherwise there would be no one there if they were late, Li San Niang made them two simple torches. The torches were just dry branches twisted together, and they wouldn't burn for long.

Xu Chaoyan carried the torch forward, its faint light illuminating only a small part of the path ahead. Meng Jiuxia leaned closer to her, somewhat frightened: "Morning Glory, it's pitch black all around, and the strange bird's cry sounds so scary!"

Xu Chaoyan even teased her, "What's so scary about growing up here? I'm here with you, aren't I?"

Meng Jiuxia pointed to the torch in her hand: "Look how weak the flame of this torch is. How about I light another one to light up the way ahead? Look, it's pitch black everywhere, it's really creepy."

Xu Chaoyan looked at the two torches that remained and shook her head, refusing: "Hang in there, it's good enough that you have some light. There's still a long way to go, and these torches won't last long. What will we do if we run out of them? We'll just have to make our way through in the dark."

Holding a torch to light the way ahead, Xu Chaoyan suddenly remembered when her great-grandmother was still alive. When she was a child, she would visit her great-grandmother's house. Back then, the villagers still grew jute. After the jute was soaked, the remaining stalks would be dried and used as firewood or torches for lighting. That's how she used to light her way to catch the bus in town. This was the only memory she had left.

"Morning glory, morning glory, what are you thinking about? I've been calling you for ages."

Xu Chaoyan only came to her senses at this moment. She had suddenly remembered something from when she was very young and missed her relatives and friends there.

"Oh! It's nothing, I just want these things to turn into money as soon as possible, so we can have a proper meal."