Chapter 142: Opening the Sickle

Originally scheduled for the tenth day of the lunar month, Lu Quan finally had to wait two more days.

Early in the morning of August 12th, when the east was just turning white, Mrs. Qiu got up and cooked a big pot of corn noodle porridge.

I picked up the pickled pickles, chopped them up, added a few drops of sesame oil, and it was a side dish.

The pancakes were made last night, one piece at a time, they were all solid three-height pancakes, and most of them were filled in the bamboo basket.

In the morning, everyone from the seven families who could come to work came. Each person took a bowl of corn porridge, picked up some pickles, took a piece of pancake, and squatted in the yard to drink the porridge.

The food prepared by the Lu family was very generous. Everyone had a full meal and took their tools to the fields to harvest.

An extra acre of land is worth tens of cents more, and no one would be too dissatisfied with this money.

Before Mrs. Qiu went to the fields, Aunt Ding, riding in a bullock cart, leading her four sons and a daughter-in-law, stopped at the gate of the Lu family's courtyard.

In the Ding family, except for the grandchildren, only Uncle Ding and Sister-in-law Ding are left to look after the meat table, Sister-in-law Ding is in charge of the braised food stall, and Sister-in-law Ding is taking care of a few children at home, and everyone else who can come is here.

"Sister-in-law." Mrs. Qiu looked at a loss, "Why are you here?"

Didn’t you say that Xiao Wu’s three brothers came here?

"My second daughter-in-law and I will cook for your family." Aunt Ding jumped out of the oxcart boldly, "I have brought you all the meat and vegetables. Just go to the fields and leave the house to me."

"How can this be so good?" Mrs. Qiu had never met such an enthusiastic person in her life. She could only call everyone to come in and sit down. "Come in and sit down. If you haven't eaten yet, I will bring you porridge and pancakes."

Aunt Ding hurriedly stopped her: "Don't be too busy. They all came here to eat. You can take them to the fields and leave them to me at home."

As he said that, he pointed to the ox cart behind him: "This ox cart belongs to my father-in-law's family. Their rice harvest will be a few days late. I'll borrow it for a few days. When his family uses it, I will let him use it."

Send it."

"Look at this..." Ms. Qiu really didn't know what to do this time.

"Okay, go about your business, Aunt Ding is not an outsider." Grandma Chen stepped forward and patted Mr. Qiu, then looked at Aunt Ding and her sons with a smile, and kept praising her.

"Look at your sons. They are strong and well-raised. They are all capable children."

"That's right." Aunt Ding was not modest and happily picked up the vegetable basket from the oxcart. "To tell you the truth, these boys in my family can both work and eat. When the time comes, the rice will be more steamed.

You also need to prepare more pancakes.”

"It's delicious!" Grandma Chen said with a smile on her face.

The elderly like children who can eat. In their eyes, only those who can eat can work.

The sons of the Ding family all looked capable of working. The baskets carried by Aunt Ding and the second daughter-in-law were even more heavily filled with vegetables and meat.

It can be seen that the Ding family is sincere in coming to the Lu family to help.

Qiu had no choice but to give Xiao Qing a few words, and then hurriedly led the sons of the Ding family to drive the bullock cart to the fields.

At home, it was originally agreed that Grandma Chen would cook the pot, Xiao Qing would cook, and Yao Yao and Xiao Yu would help wash the vegetables and dishes.

With the help of Aunt Ding and Sister-in-law Ding, Lu Xiaoyu and Chen Yaoyao no longer have to stay at home. Each of them carries a backpack and goes to the fields to collect rice ears.

When Lu Xiaosi and Xiao Wu got up, there were already a few people in the yard.

The adults all went to the fields to harvest rice, and the children were not idle either. They went to the fields to pick up rice ears.

Although they are small, the younger ones are picking rice ears and the older ones are cutting straw ropes, but they are not idle at all.

Aunt Ding saw Xiaosi and Xiaowu rubbing their eyes and going out, and her face suddenly burst into laughter: "Xiaosi, come and eat quickly. The big meat buns that Auntie brought for you and the two brothers from the town are still warm."

Unwrapping the oil paper, you will find four big hot meat buns with a fragrant aroma.

Lu Sheige was okay, Lu Xiaowu was young after all, he couldn't hold it back and his saliva started to drip down.

After the two of them had washed up and one of them squatted in the yard to eat a big meat bun, Grandma Chen brought each of them a bowl of sticky white rice porridge and placed it on the table nearby.

"This porridge, your mother has been simmering it for you in the earthen pot this morning when she was making porridge."

The Lu family loves their children, and they love Lu Xiaosi even more. There is nothing wrong with this in Grandma Chen's eyes.

The four and five children ate meat buns and rice porridge, small green and small carp and small fish, including Lu Quan and his wife, they ate corn noodle porridge and Sanhe noodle pancakes, as if there was nothing wrong with these.

Even Aunt Ding and Sister-in-law Ding didn't seem to think anything was wrong.

What could Lu Xiuge do? She could only eat meat buns and rice porridge with Lu Xiaowu, and then try her best to make her family live a better life.

Xiao Qing was fetching water from the well and washing the morning bowls and chopsticks. Seeing Xiaosi finish his porridge, he quickly took the bowls and chopsticks and said, "Don't run around when you are full. Just stay at home and watch Xiaowu. Mother said,

You want me to watch you and not allow you and Xiao Wu to go to the fields."

This order was given by Mrs. Qiu last night. Everyone in the family can go to the fields to help, except for the four and five children.

Xiaowu couldn't go because Xiaowu was young and couldn't walk safely and needed someone to look after him.

Lu Xiaosi was not allowed to go because Mrs. Qiu was reluctant to let her go to the ground.

Thousands of instructions were given to Lu Xiaoqing to take good care of Xiaosi, even Lu Xiaoli and Lu Xiaoyu who were on the ground were warned.

Lu Xiangge wanted to resist. She felt that she couldn't harvest, so she could go to the fields to pick up rice ears or something.

But neither Qiu nor Lu agreed, so Lu Xiaosi had no choice but to do his best to accompany Lu Xiaowu around the yard.

Lu Xiangge really wanted to use his intelligence and talent to make some kind of farm tool to reduce the work of his parents.

For example, something that can be harvested, or something that can be threshed.

But she is just a mortal and cannot transcend reality and build those huge and scary machines.

She thought about using handwork instead, but unfortunately, she racked her brains and couldn't figure out what farm tools she could make to replace it.

Probably, it’s more reasonable to dream about it!

Autumn harvest is the busiest season. Harvesting rice, drying it on the field, threshing it and drying it, and packing it into warehouses are all inseparable from people.

Every grain of food is a result of hard work and sweat.

The Lu family has a lot of land, but fortunately it is all together, forming a large area.

The family bought another mule and built a carriage, and the Ding family sent four boys with an ox cart to help. By the end of the day, the originally empty threshing floor was filled with rice.

The young men and women were harvesting in the fields. Some women were harvesting with sickles, some were carrying the bundled rice handles to oxcarts and mule carts, and the weaker ones were drying them carefully on the threshing floor.

Freshly harvested rice.

When the rice is crispy in the sun, you can pull the old ox and drag the stone roller to crush it in circles. When all the rice grains on the rice ears fall off, you can use a wooden fork to remove the lost rice grains.

The straw was picked apart and piled aside.

There are no rice grains on the straw, so it can be dried anywhere, on the field ridges, on weeds, and beside the roadside slopes.

When the rice grains enter the warehouse, the straw is also piled into haystacks, which are used to burn fires and feed cattle.
Chapter completed!