Inviting the Moon to the Farmhouse

After the meal, Xia Lanyue followed them down to the fields. She had never done farm work before and was incredibly curious. Wang Cui told them that they would be busy in the fields for the next month, and that they needed to harvest the wheat quickly while the weather was good and it was ripe.

Dai You pushed the wheelbarrow onto the cart, saying he would need it later. Then he turned to her and asked, "Would you like to get on?"

“Okay,” Xia Lanyue was just about to give it a try when Dai You’s suggestion struck a chord with her.

She moved the sickle, bamboo tubes, and other items on the cart aside, sat in the empty seat, and Dai You pushed her forward, wobbling along. This cart had many drawbacks, mainly being laborious and difficult to balance, making it especially strenuous for the person pushing it.

After walking a few steps, Xia Lanyue was about to get off. She thought that she still had to work all day, so she should let Dai You save some energy. They could play with the car again when they had time later.

In the field, Tian Kuan, along with his son and wife, had arrived early and were currently tidying up the threshing floor. Even Xiao Axiang was helping to pull weeds. Seeing Xia Lanyue arrive, Axiang ran over, "Aunt Yue!"

Xia Lanyue patted his head, "Axiang is really amazing, he can even do farm work."

Ah Xiang grinned foolishly.

"Come quickly and pull all the grass out of this area," Tian Kuan called him back.

"What are you going to do with this empty lot?" Xia Lanyue asked, puzzled.

“It’s used to store wheat, thresh wheat, and dry wheat,” Tian Guang pointed to the area, then said to Wang Cui, “Let’s get to work. We’ll go harvest the wheat first. It’ll be noon, and Wang Cui and Lin Xiu will be in charge of bundling and transporting it. Hmm… Yue’s playing with A Xiang.”

"Huh?" Xia Lanyue was taken aback when she heard her assignment. Uncle Tian was quite considerate of her. But Xia Lanyue was there to work, so she said, "I'll work with Aunt Wang and the others."

Tian Guang smiled, probably thinking that she wasn't the type to exert herself, and that her bravado would only last a few minutes. "Do as you please. Rest when you're tired, don't push yourself."

After the tasks were assigned, everyone got busy with their own work.

Tian Kuan challenged Dai You to a wheat-harvesting competition, with the loser having to buy alcohol, and Dai You agreed.

Tian Guang, Wang Cui, and Lin Xiu first cut wheat together. When it was noon, they arranged for Lin Xiu to bundle the wheat that had been drying for half a day.

There were only a few tools available when harvesting wheat, so Xia Lanyue wasn't asked to help. She was to help with bundling the wheat.

"Xiuer, you teach her how to tie it," Wang Cui instructed Lin Xiu.

After Lin Xiu responded, she used the wheat on the ground to teach her how to select long wheat stalks, twist them together to make a rope, and then tie a bundle of wheat.

Xia Lanyue imitated Lin Xiu's method of bundling wheat, and she did it quite well. She started bundling wheat herself. It wasn't until she felt waves of pain in her arm that she looked down and saw that her arm was covered with crisscrossing red marks, burning with pain.

"Oh dear," Xia Lanyue exclaimed, raising her arm in bewilderment.

Lin Xiu turned around and came over to her. "You've been pricked, haven't you? Let me see."

Xia Lanyue stretched out her arm to show her, looking aggrieved.

"That's right, this is from a awn. Don't be fooled by its inconspicuous appearance and lack of visible wounds; it leaves a mark if you touch it. Be careful and try not to touch it."

Xia Lanyue was a little unhappy. Lin Xiuming clearly knew that Mai Mang was sharp, but he didn't tell her to take precautions earlier.

“It’s also my fault. I forgot you’ve never done farm work before. I should have reminded you earlier,” Lin Xiu added.

Now that's settled, she's managed to make everything sound plausible, leaving Xia Lanyue speechless and helpless.

Wang Cui was standing far away from Xia Lanyue. Seeing the two of them standing there, she came over to ask what was going on. After she found out, she said, "You don't need to do this anymore. Just take these bundles to the open space and make sure you don't touch the wheat awns."

Xia Lanyue nodded; she was capable of doing this job.

After Wang Cui walked away, Lin Xiucai turned around, still muttering, "You're so lucky, you were born without having to work, unlike us..."

After that, Xia Lanyue couldn't hear anything anymore.

Xia Lanyue was speechless. If she wasn't working, what was she doing? Xia Lanyue ignored her and picked up bundles of wheat, piling them up on the open ground. Some bundles were too big to carry, so she dragged them.

Dai You and Tian Kuan cut quite quickly, clearing a large area in no time. Tian Kuan ignored the younger men and focused on his own pace. Lin Xiu and Wang Cui gradually fell behind, but they didn't stop working.

Gradually, the wheat was placed further and further away from the threshing ground, and the journey Xia Lanyue had to carry it over was also longer and longer. She was out of breath after walking it. This was not entirely due to the strong sun; it was mainly because Dai Xiyue was rather plump and had never done any physical labor before. Suddenly doing some work made her feel weak.

Tian Guang pointed to the wheelbarrow he had brought with him, "Put the wheat on it and push it; it'll save you effort."

Xia Lanyue understood immediately and pushed the cart as Tian Guang instructed. However, she was too weak and couldn't push the cart even when it was empty, let alone when it was loaded with wheat.

"This Dai Xiyue never exerts any strength at all," Xia Lanyue couldn't help but complain.

With no other option, Xia Lanyue continued to carry bundles of wheat to the threshing ground.

When the sun was high in the sky, Xia Lanyue was hot and tired, and her strength was failing her, so she sat down to rest by the roadside. Just as she settled down, Dai You and Tian Kuan came over. Each of them picked up a bamboo tube from the ground. Dai You glanced at Xia Lanyue, uncorked the tube, and handed it to her. She looked at it and realized it contained water. Xia Lanyue didn't care about anything else; she picked it up and gulped down several large mouthfuls, finally relieving her parched throat.

Suddenly, her vision went dark, and something was placed on her head. Upon closer inspection, she realized it was a bamboo hat. Dai You gave her his, saying, "It's inconvenient for me to wear while working, you wear it." Then he took the bamboo tube from Xia Lanyue's hand and drank the rest of the water.

Xia Lanyue felt a warmth in her heart. She seemed to understand why Dai Xiyue had come out with him; he really was a good older brother.

“Ah Yue, Brother Dai is strong, but you guys aren’t good at farm work, you have no experience,” Tian Kuan said, sitting on the ground.

"Who cut the most?" Xia Lanyue asked.

“Of course it’s me,” Tian Kuan said smugly, then turned to Dai You and said, “You have to buy the wine, you can’t renege.”

“Okay, let’s have a good drink after the wheat harvest,” Dai You replied.

Xia Lanyue couldn't help but laugh. If she hadn't seen Dai You drink, she would have really believed it.

Tian Kuan suddenly pointed to the villagers harvesting in the distance, "Look, that land belongs to Second Uncle's family. They've hired people to harvest the wheat." Afraid that Dai You and the others wouldn't understand, he explained, "It's Pan's land. They have a lot of land, and they have to hire people to do farm work every year."

"Is Xia Yao your second uncle's child?" Xia Lanyue asked.

Tian Kuan nodded. "They didn't tell you, did they? My second uncle only has one son, so all the land his family owns belongs to Xia Yao."

Xia Lanyue smiled awkwardly, her gossipy nature resurfacing, "Why does Pan Gao have this surname?"

“Pangao is my stepson. He took his mother’s surname, but the name Pangao was given to him by my second uncle. However, my second uncle has passed away, so we are the only ones who still call him by that name.”

Xia Lanyue understood then.

"How much land does his family own?" Xia Lanyue asked.

"Fifty mu."

Xia Lanyue gasped in astonishment, "How can the difference be so huge?"

“My family used to own a lot of land, but we sold some of it later when we needed money.”

"Ah," Xia Lanyue thought, "his land must bring in quite a bit of income. I didn't expect Xia Yao to not only earn money by teaching, but also have fifty acres of fertile land. He's considered one of the wealthier families here." Thinking of this, Xia Lanyue felt that Xia Yao's rustic flirting wasn't so cloying after all.

“Xia Yao… he injured his foot while climbing, so he can’t get down,” Xia Lanyue said.

"Sigh, he never worked in the fields before. He just watched over the crops when it was time to harvest. He was good at studying, but not at anything else." Tian Kuan's tone was somewhat disdainful.

After resting for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Dai You and Tian Kuan went back to work together. From what he said, these few days were precious and every second could not be wasted.

Xia Lanyue also felt she had rested enough, but she was too lazy to get up. She took advantage of Lin Xiu and the others' absence to slack off for a while.

"Is that Yue?" a familiar voice came from behind.