312: Chapter 301: His Path (Additional Chapter for the Book Friend “Siqing Lanyu” for his gift) 312: Chapter 301: His Path (Additional Chapter for the Book Friend “Siqing Lanyu” for his gift) The Zhou family harvested their wheat with remarkable speed; within just five days, all of the Zhou family’s wheat had been collected.
Fortunately, this year the Zhou family had two courtyards, where they neatly piled the harvested wheat to dry in the open air.
With the intense sunlight, two days of drying was sufficient, plus there was always the additional half-day of sun in the fields.
While Zhou Dalang and the others continued harvesting in the fields, Ms.
He and Ms.
Fang stayed at ho to thresh the wheat with flails.
With a swing of the stick, the flail spun half a circle in the air before smacking down onto the wheat ears, shaking loose the grains onto the ground.
Ms.
Qian led the remaining children, who—with sticks neither too thick nor too thin in hand—sat on low stools to painstakingly go over the wheat once more.
Once Zhou Dalang and his group returned from the fields, there was no need for the young, the ill, or the pregnant to help out.
They simply rolled up their sleeves and picked up handfuls of wheat that had already been threshed twice, rubbing it together.
Wheat rubbing was a taxing task, not only exhausting but also painful for the hands.
This chore had always been done by n in the Zhou family.
Ms.
Fang, being new to the household, was still getting used to this, for in her mory, such tasks were usually perford by won.
For instance, in her own family, aside from harvesting and carrying the wheat, her father and older brother also had to slaughter sheep.
Therefore, tasks like cutting wheat, fetching water for cooking, and threshing fell to her, her mother, and her sister-in-law.
Of course, her father and brother would help when they were free, but she recalled that those occasions were few and far between.
She couldn’t quite grasp why the Zhou family would leave these tasks for the n to do in the dark after returning from the fields.
Ms.
He, on the other hand, had been married into the Zhou family for many years and saw it as normal.
Seeing the concern on Ms.
Fang’s face as she watched Zhou Silang, Ms.
He comforted her, “Don’t worry, n’s skin is thick and their flesh resilient.
Zhou Si doesn’t even get hurt in fights, so there’s no need to worry about him.”
Junior Ms.
Qian had also just co back from the fields.
Everyone had already eaten their evening al but had not yet cleaned up.
She went straight into the kitchen to heat water.
After it was warm, she called out for Daya, “Tell your little aunt and your siblings to co bathe.
Get to bed quickly once you’re done; we’ll be harvesting beans tomorrow, we won’t need you kids.”
Daya lit up with excitent.
Junior Ms.
Qian continued, “Get up early tomorrow and wash your clothes.
Afterwards, go to Little Bay and pick so vegetable leaves for the chickens.
If there are bugs, rember to catch them.”
Daya acknowledged and happily went to fetch the water for bathing.
The children bathed first, followed by the won, and finally the n.
This practice was another unique custom of the household.
Ms.
Fang never felt there was anything peculiar about it, but now this rule seed particularly significant during the busy farming periods.
Everyone was exhausted and returned late, so the earlier one bathed, the sooner one could get to bed.
Naturally, Ms.
Fang didn’t think this rule was set by her father-in-law, so it must have been decided by the mother-in-law.
When the n weren’t around, Ms.
Fang couldn’t help but whisper to her sisters-in-law and aunts-in-law, “Our mother-in-law is really sothing, she’s made the rules of the house so clear.”
Ms.
Feng and Ms.
He nodded in strong agreent.
Junior Ms.
Qian, however, couldn’t help but laugh.
Just as she was about to say sothing, she saw Zhou Xi nearby and held back.
Zhou Xi simply remarked, “This rule wasn’t set by mother.”
Ms.
Fang, puzzled, blinked, “Then who set it?”
Zhou Xi thought for a mont and smiled, “No one specifically needed to create a rule; it just beca a rule as we got used to it.”
Manbao, slling fresh from a bath, burst in from outside, exclaiming, “Sister-in-law, Dad isn’t letting catch birds anymore.”
Junior Ms.
Qian tapped her on the forehead, put away the clean dishes, and said, “That’s right, you shouldn’t.
How much wheat have you wasted these past few days?”
“Not that much,” Manbao protested, “I always reuse it.”
“Even reuse is one handful at a ti.
Dad was too busy with the wheat harvest to bother with you, but now that the wheat is in, if you take more to feed the birds, wouldn’t that break his heart?”
“But you all ate the birds too, you said they were tasty,” Manbao argued.
“Tasty they may be, but that’s not the way to eat them,” Junior Ms.
Qian replied.
“at is good, but flour is better and lasts longer, don’t you agree?
Besides, aren’t you attending school now?
You have to study and do howork every day.
When would you have ti to catch birds?”
“As for ti, I can always make so.”
“If only you thought the sa way about your studies.”
With utmost seriousness, Manbao declared, “That’s exactly how I think when I’m studying.”
Nevertheless, Junior Ms.
Qian remained firm and was unwilling to persuade her husband on Manbao’s behalf, so Manbao sighed in dismay.
Despite her young age, she was savvy enough to pick the softest target, thus she dared to bargain with Old Zhou and pester Junior Ms.
Qian to intercede, but she wouldn’t dare approach her mother.
After heaving a sigh, Manbao drooped her head the next day and sought out Bai Shanbao and Bai Erlang, saying, “We can’t catch birds anymore?”
Bai Erlang, who had been playing with them for the past three days, cried out in shock, “Why not?”
The volu of his voice made the entire classroom turn to look at him.
Bai Erlang imdiately lowered his voice and asked, “Why not?”
“Because my Dad won’t give wheat anymore,” Manbao explained, “Without wheat, we can’t make bait to lure the birds.”
Bai Shanbao pointed to Bai Er and said, “His family has so.”
Bai Er was just about to proudly say “My family has so,” but seeing Bai Shanbao speak first, he felt challenged and retorted, “Doesn’t your family have any too?”
“Not my family,” Bai Shanbao said, “We only have rice, and the wheat is grown far, far away.”
His family’s lands weren’t around here; Old Master Bai had divided a few acres nearby for their use, where they grew rice and other things like vegetables and fruits.
After all, their family didn’t lack food; even if the overseers outside didn’t bring it in, they could still buy it from Old Master Bai, which was very convenient.
That’s when Bai Er finally rembered that Bai Shanbao’s estates weren’t located here, and even the rice only amounted to just over an acre, grown more as a hobby than anything else.
Hence, Bai Er raised his head with renewed pride and said, “Don’t worry, it’s just wheat; my family has plenty of it.”
His family owned a lot of land in Qili Village, in Dali Village, near White Horse Pass, and close to the county town—wheat was the least of their concerns.
Co afternoon when school was dismissed, Bai Er ran off like a shot, and in less than no ti at all, he returned with a servant in tow.
The servant carried a bundle of wheat on his shoulder as Manbao and Bai Shanbao watched, dumbfounded.
Manbao even rubbed her eyes to be sure she wasn’t seeing things before looking down at her howork, then turning to Bai Shanbao, “Let’s finish our howork before playing.”
To save ti, they didn’t go to the Bai house or back to the Zhou household to do their assignnts, but rather they sat in the classroom and wrote.
Bai Shanbao likewise averted his gaze, swallowing the word “idiot,” nodded, and continued to work on his howork.
Daji, standing guard outside the classroom, bowed his head with a quiver of his shoulders.
It took a while before he straightened up, looking serious despite slightly moist eyes.
Bai Er had already burst into the classroom, saying, “The wheat is here; let’s get going.”
Bai Shanbao ntioned, “What about the net and sticks?
Weren’t they left in your family’s gatehouse yesterday?”
“Oh, right,” Bai Er exclaid, rembering.
He instructed the servant to set down the wheat and dashed off again, “Wait for , I’ll be right back to get them.”
Bai Shanbao and Manbao exchanged a glance and continued to write their assignnts leisurely.
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