With the blessing of the threshing machine, all the rice in Xu Zhengxiang’s family was threshed the next afternoon.
They piled up the straw and used the whole yard to dry the rice grains.
Li Zheng's wife was startled when she passed by their door.
"Why are you so fast? Two days ago, you were more than half behind us?"
Xu Zhengxiang happily introduced the threshing machine at home to her. After listening to it, Li Zheng's wife immediately asked her son to come over and borrow the machine.
All of a sudden, everyone in the village knew that Xiao Changhe’s family had a gadget that could thresh grains quickly.
Villagers who usually don't move around very much come here deliberately to please Xu Zhengxiang, just to borrow the machine and use it.
From the end of July to the beginning of August, it is the busiest time for the villagers. They must not only dry and harvest the first crop of rice, but also seize the time to insert the second crop of rice into the fields.
There were many people coming to borrow the machine, and Xiao Changhe was not stingy. He simply asked them to go to Li Zheng's house to queue up, and whoever came in line would take the machine home for use.
Mrs. Zhao’s family also cultivates two fields.
After her husband broke his leg last year, she sold all the thin farmland at home to treat her husband's illness, leaving only two acres of fertile farmland.
This year's harvest was good. She originally wanted to join the team at Xiao's house, but Xu Zhengxiang didn't give her a good look at all, telling her that if she came to Xiao's house again, she would not be able to use the threshing machine.
She returned home angrily and heard her blind mother-in-law begin to curse again:
"You are such a loser. You have been occupying the latrine and not doing anything. You have not been able to raise a son for so many years. Not only did you give birth to two losers, but you also caused my son to break his leg. Why wasn't you the one who broke his leg?"
Mrs. Zhao had long been accustomed to such curse words. She lit a fire and cooked while instructing her two daughters to go outside to knock rice ears.
"Don't think that I'm blind, old lady. I don't know about all the dirty things you did. Let me tell you, if you dare to bully us two now, I won't let you go even if I'm a ghost in the future!"
Madam Zhao paused when she heard this, but quickly recovered.
She wiped her hands with the apron around her waist, opened the lid of the pot, took out the steamed wild vegetable dumplings inside, and took out a mustard dumpling from the vat, cut it into small pieces, stirred it, and brought both to the table. superior.
"Mom, let's eat."
As she spoke, she helped her man up again, letting him lean against the wall, put the wild vegetable dumplings and pickles into a bowl and handed them to him.
The man's legs hurt so much that he took two bites of the wild vegetable dumplings, shook his head and put them down.
Madam Zhao had no choice but to help him lie down and tuck in the quilt for her.
"Mom," she said while looking at her man, "I think Dashan's leg is getting worse and worse. I need to find another doctor to take a look at it. Why don't we sell one of our two fields?"
"You're still selling your fields? You've almost sold out all the fields at home." The old lady suddenly raised her voice and threw the uneaten wild vegetable dumplings towards Mrs. Zhao.
Madam Zhao did not hide, but was actually hit in the face by the vegetable dumpling.
The old lady continued to scold: "My Zhao family used to have more than ten acres of farmland, but what you sold only left two acres of fertile land. You still dare to think about it. If the farmland is gone, you have to take the money to pat your butt." Go find your wild man!"
Facing Zhao Dashan's gaze, Madam Zhao felt a ball of fire burning on her face.
"Mom, don't spit on me!"
"I'm so snarky! Old lady, I have a sharp nose! I can smell your filthy smell from ten miles away."
As soon as she heard that the land was going to be sold, the old lady no longer cared about her dignity:
"Ever since my Dashan broke his leg, you have been hooking up with others outside. I will tell you today that if you give up this desire as soon as possible, no one can touch these two acres of land!"
"It's better not to sell the fields. If you sell the fields, what will you eat in the future?" Zhao Dashan was ashamed and annoyed after hearing his mother's words. "My legs can't be cured anyway."
"But I can't watch you suffer like this." Madam Zhao said.
"The fields cannot be sold, and my son's legs have to be treated."
The old lady spoke forcefully, "Those two losers have raised such a big family, and it's time to repay them. Tomorrow you find someone to deal with. It doesn't matter whether the two girls are older or younger. If you sell one of them, you won't have enough money for medical treatment." It can save one person’s food rations.”
"No!" What the old lady said was what Mrs. Zhao was most worried about, and she refused without thinking.
"These two children can work. They usually do all the work at home. They don't eat much. They can live on a bite of wild vegetables. Why should they be sold and suffer?"
"What's the use of keeping it? Sooner or later, you won't be able to go work in other people's homes. Their father has become like this. Do you really want to see their father die?"
"This is my daughter too. If I say you can't sell it, you can't sell it!" For the sake of her child, Madam Zhao finally stood up in front of the old lady.
Big Flower and Little Flower heard the adults' words clearly in the yard.
The two of them looked at each other, and Xiaohua whispered: "Sister, I don't want to be sold."
Dahua raised his hand to help his sister wipe her nose and said, "Don't worry, I have a mother. If they insist on selling us, let them sell me."
Xiaohua shook her head when she heard this: "No, I want to be with my sister."
Dahua said no more, just lowered his head and continued to beat the ears of rice.
In the room, the old lady continued to curse her daughter-in-law: "Who do you think you are? The child belongs to our old Zhao family, and it is not your turn to make the decision."
"Mom, don't forget, this year the mountains have been paralyzed, everything you eat and drink is earned by me, why can't I make the decision?"
"Did you earn it? That's what you raised by raising a man!"
"It's my job to raise Han people! Without me raising Han people, you would all starve to death." Madam Zhao finally tore off this fig leaf.
"Okay, stop arguing!" Zhao Dashan, who was lying on the bed, couldn't bear it anymore and shouted at the two women.
The old lady who was aggressive just now became mute immediately after hearing her son's words.
Madam Zhao walked out of the house with red eyes.
Seeing the two children still working in the sun, she turned her back and wiped her tears, and peeled off the rice grains with her two daughters.
In the middle of the night, Ye Luoxin was sleeping soundly when she heard a sound like a slaughtering pig coming from next door.
"My son, my son, why can't you think about it so hard?"
Not long after, voices started to be heard from the yard next door.
The door to the Xiao family's main room also opened.
Xiao Changhe got dressed and got up to check. After asking, he found out that Zhao Dashan next door was missing.
Some people say that Zhao Dashan did not walk peacefully and died with his eyes open.
In fact, only Mrs. Zhao and the old lady knew that Zhao Dashan took the medicine and left on his own.
The family bought anti-insect medicine in the spring. While everyone was asleep, he crawled to the ground to find the medicine.
The two children knelt in front of their father's body and cried bitterly.
The old lady kept scolding her daughter-in-law for being a loser and that she killed her husband.
Madam Zhao seemed to have lost her soul, her eyes kept looking straight ahead without blinking, and she did not respond to other people's questions.
When Li Zheng arrived, some kind people had already helped cover Zhao Dashan's body with rags.
There was no one in the family who could help, so Li Zheng had to come forward in person, ask someone to order a thin-skinned coffin at the entrance of the village, and discuss the burial with everyone.
"Zhao Dashan didn't have a son, and no one was there to break the basin when he was buried. We have to discuss this matter with his family."
After reaching an agreement, some villagers went to the next village the next day and invited Zhao Dashan's cousin over.
The cousin's name was Zhao Dahe. After entering the house, he did not comfort the blind aunt. Instead, he looked around the front and back of the house with a satisfied look on his face.
When the Zhao Qian clan heard that someone from the Zhao family had arrived, they seemed to have found a backbone. They quickly grabbed Zhao Dahe's hand and cried: "Dahe, your brother is suffering. He was killed by this vicious woman at such a young age. Now, you have to make the decision for your brother and drive this woman out of the Zhao family."
These words just suited Zhao Dahe's wishes, and he pretended to decline:
"Auntie, Dashan has just left. Now I am divorcing my wife. I'm afraid Dashan will blame me."
"What's so strange!" The old lady said in a vicious tone: "If it weren't for her, my son would not have died at all. I wish she had died for my poor son."
She originally wanted to say that Mrs. Zhao forced her son to death, but in that case, it would be revealed that Zhao Dashan committed suicide by drinking medicine.
People who commit suicide are looked down upon, and she wants to leave a good name for her son.
