Daily life of farming and supporting a family on the ancient Loess Plateau

When it rains heavily, these migrant workers have no work and no employers, so they have nowhere to sleep and no food to eat.

The grandfather and grandson hid in a dilapidated cave dwelling, waiting for the rain to subside before hurrying on their way. They relied on begging for food and water along the way to reach Ningping County.

When Ji Mancang saw the grandfather and grandson squatting in a street corner, waiting for their employer to call them to harvest wheat, he was reminded of his own father, who had once squatted on the street like this old man harvesting wheat, waiting for his employer to call him to do odd jobs.

Once, he and Grandpa Ji went to a wealthy family's house to plow the land. They plowed all day and were exhausted and hungry. When they returned to the host's house, the family had already eaten lunch.

He was hungry and thirsty at the time. When he saw a bowl of noodle soup (water for cooking noodles) on the stove, his stomach started growling. Old Master Ji felt sorry for him and asked for the noodle soup to drink.

The homeowner replied, "There's water in the tank that we can drink, but I'll save the noodle soup to feed the dog."

He was not even as old as this migrant worker's grandson at that time. That day was his first time doing odd jobs, and he deeply realized what it meant for a human to be worse off than a dog.

He will remember the humiliation and resentment he felt at that time for the rest of his life, and he will also warn his children not to bully the poor and needy.

This situation actually happened again later, but he seemed to have become numb to it and no longer felt the anger he had before.

He knew that the poor were treated worse than cattle. They exerted the labor of animals but received none of them. At least in the homes of the wealthy, their livestock had fodder to eat, while they were considered well-treated if they could even get some water to drink.

Because he had experienced those humiliations and hardships and understood the suffering of finding survivors, he insisted on inviting the old man and the young man back despite his wife's strong opposition.

In those days, villagers rarely hired laborers to harvest wheat. Instead, villagers or relatives would organize themselves to harvest wheat by exchanging work. After all, even feeding themselves was a problem; who would have extra money to hire people to cut wheat?

However, Ji Mancang had to work in the shop and couldn't leave, nor could he help the villagers with their work, so he had to hire people.

In the past few years, his wages were low, and it was always Grandpa Ji and his two brothers, Ji Mantun and Ji Mantun, who worked tirelessly, harvesting their own wheat during the day and then helping him harvest wheat at night. You can imagine how tiring that was.

So now that he's raised his wages, he doesn't want his father and brother to do that kind of work anymore. Besides, giving this old man and young man a job can at least somewhat make up for his past hardships and bitterness.

Of course, his hiring of a deliveryman was also related to his wife's constant nagging.

Everyone said that Man Tun's wife was a troublemaker, but in his opinion, his wife was actually a sticky millet, always making a fuss at home, constantly complaining that the wheat harvested by Grandpa Ji and the others was underweight, and suspecting that they had been embezzled.

He had argued with his wife before, but he was more afraid that these words would reach the ears of Grandpa Ji and his brothers, hurting their feelings.

He was fully aware of the sacrifices his father and brothers had made.

In the past, when I helped him harvest wheat, I would thresh, dry, and pack it up, keeping everything clean. And every time, his father would time it perfectly to grind it into flour, so he could just take it home when he got back.

Even among brothers who haven't separated their households, let alone those who have already divided their property, very few families would go to such lengths. But his wife is incredibly narrow-minded; she can't see the good in her father and brothers, and her constant nagging annoys him.

Fortunately, he raised wages this year and hired a harvester, so he can finally save his father and brothers money.

Seeing that the grandfather and grandson had already harvested more than two acres of wheat and showed no sign of resting, Grandpa Ji called over Ji Yongsong and said, "Yongsong, tell your mother that these two are working too hard. When they cook, cook more and add more oil to the dishes. We can't treat the hardworking people unfairly."

Ji Yongsong nodded: "I know, sir. My father also told me yesterday. I'll tell my mother about it later."

However, Grandpa Ji was still a little worried. He knew his eldest daughter-in-law's temperament all too well. She had no other faults, but she was extremely stingy and always afraid that others would take even the slightest advantage of her.

Fortunately, this eldest grandson is sensible and kind, and his mother listens to him.

When Grandpa Ji returned to his field, Ji Manchuan and Ji Manqing had already piled up a dozen or so bundles of wheat in the field, waiting for Hu Xirong and Jia Ronghua to bring the cart to load them.

Because wheat stalks are very smooth, loading them onto the truck is a skill-intensive task. If not loaded properly, the truck can easily tip over or scatter the wheat. Therefore, Ji Manchuan and his colleague used a method of placing one layer of wheat ears inward and one layer of wheat stalks outward in a crisscross pattern to neatly arrange the bundles of wheat onto the truck.

Once a cart was full of bundles of wheat, Ji Manchuan and Ji Manqing would pull the cart to the threshing ground, unload them, and then load another cart... until all the bundled wheat in the field had been transported.

Because the dirt road was bumpy and uneven, the cart bounced back and forth, and the bundles of wheat on it kept slipping and sliding, looking like they might fall off at any moment. Jia Ronghua, Ji Yongling, and the other women and children had to keep their eyes peeled and watch out, ready to lend a hand to steady the cart at any time.

Just as the last cartload was about to be hauled away, Ji Manqing piled the wheat high up. Before he had taken two steps, the bundles of wheat began to tilt, and Ji Yongling quickly ran over to support them from the side.

As a result, with a bump, the bundles of wheat on the truck still slipped off...

Unfortunately, Ji Yongling and Ji Yongning, who were helping to push the cart, were buried under the bundles of wheat that had overturned.

Just when the two felt they couldn't breathe, the bundles of wheat on them were finally removed.

When the two were finally pulled out, their bodies and heads were covered with ears of wheat and straw, making them look like scarecrows.

That's fine, but the real problem is the stinging pain. It's like a needle against a wheat awn, and that's no joke.

Ji Yongling was itchy all over from the prickles of the wheat awns and wished she could immediately remove all the wheat ears and stalks. But Ji Manqing and Hu Xirong, the two adults, not only didn't come to help remove the wheat ears, but also laughed so hard they couldn't stand up straight as they watched Ji Yongning and Ji Yongling covered in wheat awns.

Ji Manqing laughed so hard his eyes were almost closed, saying, "You two can stand in the field chasing away birds, so you don't have to make scarecrows!"

Ji Yongling was speechless; these two adults really had no sense of caring for their child at all.

Could it be that they grew up like this?

After the wheat was harvested, it was gathered and stood upright in the threshing ground on top of the cave dwelling, waiting for the large stone roller to come and thresh it.

Food was precious and needed to be guarded at night. Ji Manchuan volunteered to stay at the threshing ground to watch over it, and Ji Manqing also wanted to stay.

Looking at the wheat pile in the threshing ground, Grandpa Ji had originally intended to stay and watch over the threshing ground himself, but now that his two sons had volunteered to stay, he said, "Alright, you two can stay and watch over the threshing ground tonight. Be careful not to light any fires, lest the wheat burn."

Ji Manqing said confidently, "Don't worry, Dad. We're not three-year-old kids, how could we not know this?"

At this moment, Ji Laoliu walked over from his own field. Looking at the huge piles of wheat sheaves in Ji Laoye's field, he said enviously, "Second brother, you must be able to harvest ten mu today, right?"