When he ca back from work in the evening, Zheng Changhe said happily to Yang, "We cleared four or five mu today, and did a clean job. The soil’s all been turned, and we’ve picked out all the stones and roots. Our own villagers really put their hearts into the work. At this rate, we’ll be finished in just a few days."
Qingmu was also all smiles. ’That freshly turned brown earth... it makes feel so secure and at ho,’ he reflected.
Yang and Juhua were delighted as they listened to Zheng Changhe describe how deep the soil had been turned, how it wasn’t poor at all, how many furrows they had dug, and how they had even built a makeshift fence with the stones they’d collected and the thorny brambles they’d cut down...
As they spoke, Juhua brought dinner to the table.
While eating, Zheng Changhe suddenly rembered sothing. He said to Yang, "Now that we have land, we must plant more huangdou. Did you trade for so huangdou seeds? Qingmu bought way too few; I’m afraid it won’t be enough."
Yang replied, "I asked a few families. So have already sold theirs and didn’t keep many seeds for themselves, while others didn’t plant much to begin with. Who has spare land just for planting these? People just plant a bit at the edges of their fields and along the furrows. I just gathered what I could from here and there."
Zheng Changhe said, "Try asking a few more families!"
Listening to her parents, Juhua also felt the spring planting season drawing near. ’It seems people aren’t afraid of the hard work of farming; instead, there’s more a sense of excitent and anticipation. A year’s plan is made in the spring, and a farr’s hope for the entire year rests on the arrangents made in these next few months.’
She had wanted to find an opportunity to ask her brother his thoughts on Yu Qin, but the conversation had strayed. ’I’ll just wait and ask him when there’s a better ti,’ she decided.
anwhile, after being warned by Qingmu in the fields, Zhang Huai felt uneasy. When he got ho that evening, he said to his mother, "You should just take Yu Qin ho tomorrow. I’m going to be busy for many days and won’t have any free ti. Even when I’m done, it’ll be ti to go back to the academy."
He looked at him in surprise. "Then just wait two days. Your aunt should be arriving, and they can go back together then."
Zhang Huai opened his mouth as if to say sothing but closed it again. Finally, he just mumbled, "Well, just don’t bring her over to Qingmu’s house anymore."
He was even more surprised. Suddenly, she thought of Juhua. ’Could it be? Does the Zheng Family think I’m picking out Yu Qin as a wife for Zhang Huai? Oh dear! That would be a huge misunderstanding! I have to clear this up with Yang tomorrow.’
The next day, a surprising twenty-odd people showed up to help the Zheng Family clear their land. Even the half-grown boys ca along. It was less like a work party and more like a market fair, with the wasteland filled with a noisy, bustling crowd.
When Yang heard from Qingmu about the scene, she hurriedly conferred with Juhua. They needed to make more dishes and cook two pots of rice. Huai Zi’s mother, He, also ca over to help. Along with Liu Xiaoi, the four of them were spinning nonstop in the kitchen.
When cooking beca an operation of this scale, it was pure agony!
Juhua and Liu Xiaoi had little ti to even whisper to each other, simply brandishing spatulas and knives as they darted around. Occasionally, they would nearly collide head-on, at which point they would just exchange wry smiles.
In short, the chaos was a given, forgetfulness was inevitable, and they even forgot to add salt to one of the dishes.
Seeing Juhua and Liu Xiaoi running around like headless chickens, Yang laughed. "You two, don’t panic. It’s not like we’re hosting a banquet. No one is going to complain if things aren’t perfect."
Hearing this, He suddenly laughed and chid in, "When you have this many people to feed, you have to be well-organized. If it gets chaotic, accidents happen. I rember one ti, at so family’s wedding feast, Yuan’s wife was supposed to be washing chives. She had just dunked them in the water but hadn’t actually washed them yet when soone called her away to do sothing else. Well, the person chopping vegetables saw the chives were dripping wet and just assud they were clean. Without a second look, she chopped them all up and handed them over to be stir-fried. A lot of people got a mouthful of grit from those chives that day."
The three listeners burst out laughing.
Yang asked in disbelief, "How could a mistake that big happen? She must have gotten an earful for it! Who was chopping the vegetables? Couldn’t she tell if they were washed or not?"
He laughed. "Who do you think? It was Old Chang’s wife. You know how she is—famously fast. Her mother-in-law claims that when she gets going, she can wash all the village’s quilts in half a day. But she’s never been the ticulous type."
Liu Xiaoi and Juhua couldn’t stop laughing. ’That mother-in-law is so dramatic! Wash the entire village’s quilts in a single morning? That’s a heck of a way to put soone down.’ The good laugh helped ease so of their fatigue.
No matter how busy and tiring it was, no matter how chaotic the altis beca, everything thankfully ca to an end.
And so the frantic work continued. Aside from a day of rest on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, they were busy again on the sixteenth. Finally, all the wasteland was cleared. Juhua no longer had to cook for dozens of people every day, and she breathed a huge sigh of relief.
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