The earing, tillering, and filling of rice in the field seem to happen in an instant. Unconsciously, the ears of rice are hanging low, and it is late autumn.
The harvest will take place in about ten days, and the village chief has notified it in advance so that every household in the village can prepare in advance.
Nowadays, young adults don't go out easily. Even the four or five-year-old children who usually run around are kept at home. Whether they feed chickens or pigs, it's better not to cause trouble.
Fortunately, the weather has been good recently, and the old farmers have said that there will be no rain for ten days and a half. But even though they say this, they still feel uneasy because the food has not been received in their warehouses.
In the half month before the rice harvest, it is necessary to drain the water in the fields to ensure that the rice ears grow full and increase the yield as much as possible. Therefore, in the past few days, every household in the village has assessed the situation in their fields and is ready to drain and dry the fields at any time.
field.
So does the banker.
Although Qin Manzhi has not been out in the fields for a long time, her work in the fields has not been wasted. She has often gone to the fields in the past two months, and even Zhuang Keqing follows her to the fields from time to time. After all, her fish are still there.
no?
"I think the drainage will be done in the next few days."
At dinner time, Qin Manzhi hugged Aman, fed her rice soup, and talked about things in the fields with her daughter and son-in-law.
Zhuang Keqing accepted the lotus leaf pancake stuffed with minced meat and pickled vegetables from Shen Ling and said: "Then we have to prepare to collect the fish earlier. We can't delay. If we don't collect the water in time, it will be a pity that the fish will die in the field."
"
Shen Ling sat aside and silently broke the pancakes and ate them. He didn't know much about the things in the fields, so he didn't interrupt. He only ate his own. Then he stood up to take over Qin Manzhi's work and held Aman in his hands.
Let my mother-in-law have a peaceful meal.
Aman is already half a year old. The little one is white and tender, with black eyes like grapes, a straight and upturned nose, and a tender red mouth. Compared with other babies in the village, he is many times cuter. Have you seen it?
It's not rare for people.
At this time, Aman screamed and tried to climb onto the beautiful uncle's shoulders. He grabbed it with his little hands and drooled a small piece of the clothes on Shen Ling's chest.
"This little guy is very seductive. He recognizes Brother Ling. He also knows that my uncle is good-looking." Qin Manzhi took a sip of the thick white stewed bone soup with red dates added, and looked at her son crawling around on her son-in-law's body with a smile.
, "Ker, you don't know, a while ago, when the Wu family next door wanted to hug Aman, he ignored her."
Zhuang Keqing glanced at Shen Ling, who had a calm face but was struggling with the baby, and covered his mouth in joy.
How come she doesn't know? Aman has always been a beauty control at a young age. If you're not good-looking, he won't be able to catch his eye. Let alone hug him, he won't give you a straight face.
Qin Manzhi finished eating in two or three bites. She took down Aman, who was clinging to Shen Ling like an octopus. She ignored the little guy's babbling protests and only let Shen Ling eat more. She took the child to the courtyard first.
Walk.
Only Shen Ling and Zhuang Keqing were left in front of the square table in the main room.
The days were getting shorter in autumn, and her family had something to do today, so her meal was a little late. Although there was still a slight light outside, Zhuang Keqing still took out an oil lamp to light it.
"Aling, you seem to be thinner and darker recently."
Zhuang Keqing propped up his chin with his hand and looked at the boy opposite him under the warm and dim light of the oil lamp.
He was originally thin when he was in the Shen family. Now that he has been raised for several months, he has no shortage of meat and eggs, but he has not grown any more. Instead, the contours of his face have become deeper, and his skin has also shown a light wheat color.
He has worked hard these days.
The tofu business at home is booming, and sellers come to the door every now and then. Not mentioning the business of going to town to sell goods, just getting up early in the morning to make tofu is no longer an easy task.
In the past, Qin Manzhi had no choice but to carry Aman on his back to work, but since Shen Ling came, he would either help take care of the children or help make tofu, and he had to find time to practice calligraphy and copy books, but Just like that, I never said a word about being tired.
Shen Ling sat upright holding the bowl. After listening to Zhuang Keqing's words, the movements of his hands froze slightly and his eyelashes lowered.
Zhuang Keqing didn't notice his reaction. He just changed his posture with his hands on his chin, bent his eyes, and said with a smile: "But I look more energetic than before."
The young man's tense shoulders relaxed and he let out a soft "hmm".
But it's not a problem to stay so busy, Zhuang Keqing thought.
Now the three of us in the family are busy from early morning until dusk every day, just barely enough to go to the salesman to get the goods. If we have to go to town during the holidays, we will be really busy and hit the back of the head.
No, we still have to think of some ways, whether it's recruiting people or something else, we have to reduce the workload a little first and leave more time for Aling to study.
Two days later, someone in the village had started to drain the fields. Zhuang Keqing took the time to take a look. Then he went to his own field to take a look and saw the lively black-backed fish scurrying between the plants. A little bit of a bottom line.
Looking at it like this, it would be no problem to harvest 180 kilograms from two acres of land.
She told Qin Manzhi when she came home from the viewing that day. She was so happy that she went to Aunt Li's house next door to borrow a rattan basket, saying it was for the day of collecting fish.
Compared with his mother-in-law's high spirits, Shen Ling still works, takes care of her children, and studies every day, and doesn't notice any difference.
"Aling, aren't you curious about the harvest of the paddy fields?" Zhuang Keqingla asked Shen Ling the day before the water was released, "What if it fails?"
At that time, the young man was hugging Aman and coaxing him.
The little guy curled up and down in his arms, trying to find a comfortable position to fall asleep. But after listening to Zhuang Keqing's words, he calmly reached out to catch Aman's grasping hand and put it away.
"I believe you." he said.
His clear eyes looked over like this, quietly, with complete affirmation and trust in his eyes.
The distance between them was not far, and Zhuang Keqing could even see herself reflected in the other person's pupils. She suddenly felt a little heat on her cheeks and tilted her head slightly in embarrassment.
"Ah, Ba."
Aman waved his little fleshy hand again, this time asking Zhuang Keqing to hold it.
"I'll come, you take a rest." Zhuang Keqing hugged the little guy and rushed Shen Ling to sit in the room for a while. He had been busy all morning.
"I'll go with you about the matters in the fields this afternoon." Shen Ling didn't leave. He still stood aside, holding a small wooden pig in his hand to tease Aman.
Zhuang Keqing thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.
Draining water to collect fish sounds simple, but in fact it is not an easy job. Before draining the water, the fish ditch in the field must be cleared, and then the fish must be dug out. If she was the only one to do it, it would be too much to complete in one afternoon.
My mother is already very busy on weekdays. Although she and Shen Ling can sometimes take Aman with her, the little guy still can't live without his mother. When he's hungry, thirsty, or even pees, he only recognizes Qin Manzhi. Just these trivial matters consume his energy. It's very good. Fortunately, Aman knows how to care for others. He can sleep through the night in three or four months. People who don't have trouble have to wake up frequently at night.
But even if it is like this, it is not good to let my mother do things in the fields anymore, it is too hard.
I rushed to work in the afternoon, and Zhuang Keqing made some random things at noon.
The radishes plucked from the ground were stewed in bone soup early in the morning. Three of the eggs I found in the morning were fried together with the newly picked loofah. The multi-grain rice was stewed dry. It was a simple meal for a few people.
In the afternoon, Qin Manzhi coaxed Aman to sleep. Zhuang Keqing and Shen Ling rolled up their trousers, carried farm tools, fishing nets, and earthen jars filled with water, and went out without resting for a while.
They set out from home and along the way they saw men from several families working in the fields, which looked like they were about to drain water.
After walking for a short time, the two of them arrived at their own land. The rice ears were curved and green, and seemed heavier than other places.
Zhuang Keqing walked up and picked an ear, put it in his hand, looked at it closely, and pinched it. It was very good, there were no shriveled and empty shells, and there were full rice grains after peeling it off.
It seems that this method of raising fish in rice fields is 80% successful.
He handed the rice ears in his hand to Shen Ling and asked him to look at it, and then Zhuang Keqing took off his shoes and went to the ground.
There were almost no weeds in the field. She walked along the raised ridges and after confirming the location of the fish ditch, she waved to Shen Ling.
"Aling, starting from here, we have to clear away the mud here."
After hearing this, Shen Ling took off her shoes like her, took farm tools and walked over, starting from where Zhuang Keqing said.
The fish in the water were startled, flicked their tails, stirred up some water, and swam away with a splash.
The two worked all afternoon, with only a few drinks of water. It wasn't until the sun set that they cleaned the fish ditch in the two acres of paddy field and opened the drainage gate.
