Now is the autumn harvest time, and everyone is busy. The Zhou family was tired from the journey, so they slept a little longer. When they woke up, the sun had already come out.
They got up quickly, and Qian assigned them tasks. Those who should go to the kitchen to cook, those who should go to various houses to invite people, and the rest were all taken to the fields by Old Zhoutou.
Lang said on Tuesday: "We hired long-term workers and short-term workers on the land at home. The short-term workers were not available for a while, and the long-term workers lived in a shack at the end of the village..."
The rice in the fields is growing well, and many of them are yellow and orange and ready for harvest.
After looking around, Lao Zhou said: "It has to be harvested, otherwise the sun will scorch it and the seeds will fall off if they are too ripe."
Zhou Lang agreed, and the Zhou brothers and their nephews went to the fields to harvest with their trouser legs rolled up.
When Zhou Man found the Zhou family and wanted to know about the situation on the mountain with Zhou Erlang, he found out that they had all gone to the fields to harvest rice, so he ran back home and said, "My second brother and the others have gone to the fields. Bai Shan, do we want to go and have a look?"
?”
Bai Shan thought for a while, nodded and said, "That's fine."
So after breakfast, they went to the fields with their sickles, and Yin Ou joined in the fun. He took a basket and picked rice ears in the fields with his two children.
Their working time was not long. By the time it was right, the sun was already very bright, so Lao Zhou put away the sickle and called his sons and grandsons to go home.
Along the way there were people returning home from the fields. Some of them grabbed Wu Lang, some grabbed Lao Zhoutou, and Zhou Lizhong’s former friends. They hadn’t seen each other for many years, so everyone was a little unfamiliar, but they talked about where they are now.
With the harvest inside, they quickly regained their familiarity.
No one was looking for the remaining Zhou Man. They went home silently and washed their faces and hands before looking for Zhou Lang. "Second brother, we want to go for a walk in the mountains. Are there many people growing medicinal herbs in the village now?"
"
Zhou Zuorang said: "Every household has planted some. Now they are busy harvesting rice. There is no one on the mountain. If you want to go up, you can go up. By the way, many people have planted fruit trees. If you go up the mountain to play, you can eat what you see.
Pick some, write them down, and I'll tell them later."
It is common for neighbors to pick fruits in the village. They are divided into two types: those who pick fruits openly and with greetings, and those who pick them secretly.
The latter will most likely be scolded. Although the scolder doesn't know who he is scolding, he just needs to pinch his waist and scold him at the entrance of the village so that the real thief can hear him.
Zhou Man naturally wouldn't let himself be scolded, so he responded immediately, "Second brother, you have to say hello to me in advance."
"Don't worry, I'm going to ask the villagers to come over for dinner later. I'll talk to them when I go."
Bai Shan asked: "Lunch or dinner?"
"Dinner, it's too late for lunch."
Bai Shan said, "I will ask the servants at home to come over and help in a moment. If there is a shortage of ingredients, you can get them from home."
Zhou Erlang waved his hand and said: "We have everything at home, even if we don't have it, we have it in the village."
The Zhou family does not raise pigs, but they do raise chickens. If you kill a few chickens, you can go to their small farm to buy some. They also have enough eggs, and there are also ducks.
There are also people raising pigs in the village. Zhou Zuorang said: "Your third brother has already gone to find someone to buy pigs. He will kill them soon. I think they will be taken care of at noon. You will all come over soon to eat the pig meat."
"No one is raising sheep, but the fourth child went to his uncle's house. When my mother asked him to come back, he would go to Dali Village to ask for two sheep from his in-laws. It would be convenient to kill them and deliver them to him."
This is meat, not to mention vegetables. The Zhou family doesn’t have enough, so just ask for some from anyone in the village.
Or just pick some vegetables from each family.
So there is no need to worry about the ingredients, nor the manpower. There is not much else in the Zhou family, even if there are many people, the children can use it. As long as it is mixed properly, things can be done in less than an hour.
Xiao Qian was managing behind Qian. The whole Zhou family was in good order, and there was no need for anything that was full.
So Zhou Man and Bai Shan took Yin You and the children up the mountain happily.
Because the path between the fields was difficult to walk, they drove the ox cart.
Mingda was sitting on the bullock cart, looking at the rice ears hanging down on both sides. Her feet were hanging little by the side of the cart, letting the grass brush over her shoes. She couldn't help but laugh, "The bullock cart is really unique."
Wild fun."
Zhou Man sat next to her, with a child surrounded by five adults behind him. He smiled and said, "If you like, we can also drive the ox cart when we go to Dali Village."
Their small village is a bit far away from the village. After ten years of development, the houses here have been renovated and expanded a lot, making it look like a small village.
A lot of land has been planted on the mountain. They are not just planting some fruit trees halfway up the mountain, they have also opened several plots of land to grow medicinal materials such as Ligustrum lucidum.
Because of the lack of manpower, they would also buy medicinal seeds and sow them directly in the mountains and forests. They would simply hoe the ground once, apply fertilizer once, and then let them grow, and then pick them when the new year comes. The medicine grown in this way consumes a lot of money.
The time is much longer, but the price is also slightly higher, which is just right for small Zhuangzi with insufficient manpower.
The road in front of Xiaozhuangzi was smoothed out. As soon as the oxcart stopped, the three children reached out enthusiastically to get off the car. As soon as they stepped on the ground, they excitedly rushed towards the ducks on the edge of the field - catching ducks!
The long-term worker in Zhuangzi was harvesting rice in the fields. When he saw his masters coming, he immediately ran over with a sickle, "Master, Master Tang, Miss Man, are you all back?"
The servant who followed said: "What are you calling me? Now I have to call you Master and Madam."
Zhou Man dismissed most of the people, leaving only two articulate ones who asked: "What kind of fruits are grown on the mountains?"
"They were planted by my wife and husband in the past, and the fruits are sweeter than before. Now there are pears, winter dates, and persimmons..."
They went up the mountain to see it, lifted their children up to the trees to pick fruits, and had a wild outing.
The group of people picked half a cart of fruits and began to distribute them to the children who gathered around them as soon as they entered the village.
Mingda and Yinyou, who had never experienced it before, were both surprised.
It's not that they have never gone on wild walks. Not to mention the distance, they have planted fruit trees in Zhuangzi on the outskirts of Beijing. Occasionally they will take their children to pick fruits for fun, but everyone they meet along the way is very respectful, no one dares
Surround the car.
This was the first time I saw a group of teenagers and a bunch of children running around the car screaming without disturbing the cows like this in Qili Village.
When Ming Da's palace guards and Yin You's guards saw that the servants of the Bai family did not stop him, but instead stepped aside, they silently fell two steps behind and were squeezed away by the children.
Zhou Man grabbed a handful of winter dates and stuffed it into a child's hand, and attacked them more. Bai Shan was afraid that they would jump under the wheels again, so he asked someone to stop the oxcart and took shelter under a tree on the roadside.
Just share the fruit on the spot, "Don't you have any at home?"
"My family grows jujubes, but my mother won't let us eat them. She wants to sell them in the county town."
"I don't have dates at home, I only grow persimmons, and the persimmons are not delicious."
"I like to eat pears the most."
Mingda gave the child a pear. When the others saw it, they immediately reached out to Mingda, "I want it too, I want it too..."
Zhou Man got a lot of fruit and went out, so he didn't leave in a hurry and asked: "You don't have any work at home?"