Ugly girl only wants to farm

Seeing that Meng Jiuxia still looked suspicious, Xu Chaoyan patiently explained to her, "Now it's the season of spring blossoms and the clothes are getting lighter. Since we don't have much to do on weekdays, let's help him start with the simplest thing: standing. When the wheelchair is finished, we can take him to the market in town to see it, so he won't get sick from staying cooped up at home."

Meng Jiuxia looked at Xu Chaoyan again with a serious expression. Seeing the sincere look on her face, she suppressed her doubts and thought to herself, "Latama is so devoted to my brother, she shouldn't abandon him so heartlessly. Besides, with my brother's face, Xu Chaoyan wouldn't be willing to give him up, would she?" Her heart was finally at ease.

Besides the two vegetable plots outside the courtyard, the Meng family also had several vacant plots of land around the house. These plots had been cultivated before, but because Meng's father had injured his leg, they were all left vacant.

Now that the weather has warmed up considerably, Xu Chaoyan is thinking of making use of these plots of land to grow some things so that she can have a harvest later.

Just then, an aunt in the village who was on good terms with her family gave them some taro and ginger before the New Year. These things seemed useless to people in ancient times, but they were perfect for her. She was getting tired of eating green vegetables and cabbage stalks every day.

Just then, some of the ginger and taro started to sprout, and she planned to plant them all. She could then make many dishes. Villagers usually use ginger as a condiment or to make ginger soup, and it's not very useful for anything else. She was thinking of pickling some vegetables to go with porridge in the morning, to make it more palatable.

Once all the old ginger is harvested, it can be sliced ​​and dried to be used for foot baths for the whole family in winter to dispel the cold. As for the taro, it will be even more useful, as it can be used as a staple food for the whole family and will be quite filling.

She had lived in the countryside for a while before. After the New Year, she could start planting ginger, although it was a bit of a hassle. Now that she was planting it, she could eat the first batch of tender ginger.

Li San Niang and the others went back to their parents' home. There was nothing to do at home right now, so Xu Chaoyan fed all the chickens in the house. Watching them rush over to grab the food, she was very happy, as if she could see money flying towards her.

These past two days she has been planning to try her luck on the ridges of the fields in the village to find some straw, but she doesn’t know if there is any left. Usually, people tie up the straw and wait for it to dry before making a straw stack around the tree.

These dry straws can not only be used as winter feed for cattle, but also as bedding. More particular families will even tie them into straw mats to prevent the straw from flying everywhere, or weave straw mats to make straw mounds, but she doesn't know how.

After hearing her idea, Meng's father quickly waved his hand: "At this time of year, there is no extra straw on the ridges of the fields. Basically, everyone takes it back and hangs it not far from their homes. Besides, this stuff is very precious to the villagers. If you want to find these things, it probably won't be that easy."

Meng Jiuxia looked puzzled: "Why are you looking for this straw if you have nothing else to do? We have enough straw on our beds. We can just take it out and air it when the weather is nice. There's no need to rush to replace it."

Xu Chaoyan then explained to them, "I plan to plant some ginger and taro. Since the weather is not warm enough yet, these things will not grow for a while. I plan to cover them with a layer of straw so that they can grow faster."

Looking at the confident woman in front of him, Meng Jiuhe asked with some suspicion, "How do you know these things? Your family never needed you to do these things before."

Then the Meng family members all looked at her. Xu Chaoyan cleared her throat and said without batting an eye, "What's so strange about this? Although my family's conditions are a little better, I'm not someone who doesn't know the difference between grains. I've heard the aunties next door and the old women in the kitchen chat about it while they're cooking."

She almost gave herself away in front of everyone. This was something that her grandmother had done back in the countryside. Suddenly thinking of her loving grandmother, she felt a tightness in her chest. She wondered if they would be sad if she disappeared.

Meng Jiu noticed the change in her mood; she had just been all smiles, but now she suddenly seemed a little down.

He was still thinking about asking later.

Meng's father put down his work: "I'll go with Xia'er to ask Old Wang later. His family used to have a pretty good relationship with us, unlike the other people in the village who started kicking us when we were down. I bet there are a lot of things hanging behind his house. We can give them a few coins then."

Meng Jiuxia then ran over and rummaged around in the corner of the yard, pulling out a wheelbarrow: "Fix this wheelbarrow, and we'll bring back that straw for you to use later."

Xu Chaoyan looked at the dilapidated rickshaw and suppressed a laugh, her face full of surprise: "How come I've never heard my family mention this before?"

A little embarrassed, Meng's father said with a slight blush on his old face, "This thing was left over when we divided the family property. My second brother took all the good ones. He thought this wheelbarrow was too old and worn out, so he didn't want it. If you want to use it, I'll find the carpenter to fix it up for you. It'll be usable."

Xu Chaoyan's eyes lit up as she looked at the rickshaw: "We used to go to the market by oxcart, but now we have our own. We can push some things to town ourselves and save some money."

Mencius' father nodded in agreement.

After Xu Chaoyan finished speaking, a cryptic smile appeared on her face. She then glanced at Meng Jiuhe. Her emotions came and went quickly, and she had already returned to normal: "When we go to town, my sister-in-law and I can push you around in a stroller."

Without even thinking, Meng Jiuhe rejected her suggestion outright: "I don't want to."

Xu Chaoyan suddenly thought that it would be rather unseemly for a grown man to sit on this rickshaw and be pushed by the two of them. He must be a very proud person and would definitely not be happy about it.

When Meng Jiuhe saw her covering her mouth and laughing, her face was dark and gloomy, like the dark clouds gathering before a storm.

Meng's father chimed in, "Jiuhe and your wife are right. You haven't been out for a long time. Don't stay at home all day. Go out more often."

Meng Jiuhe's expression grew even uglier. He gave Xu Chaoyan a resentful look and ignored her until evening. Xu Chaoyan was exasperated. Was this person too petty? Was this person so hard to coax?

The next day, around 9:00 AM, Li San Niang returned with Meng Jiu Dong, looking furious. They started complaining even before entering the courtyard.

The author of the post about the haystack included a picture that you can see. I remember seeing it when I was a kid, a round thing around a tree. I liked to climb up and play, and I'd get all that haystack on my head.