Li Zheng was having lunch at home when he suddenly felt his nose was a little itchy.
He put down his chopsticks and rubbed his nose: "My nose has been itching lately. Is someone talking about me?"
"The autumn harvest will be here soon. Seeing the growth of the crops, everyone must be very happy. When they are happy, they will talk about you." His wife continued with a smile.
Li Zheng immediately beamed: "I'm afraid this year will be the best year since I became Li Zheng!"
With the cool breeze blowing, the autumn harvest has arrived as scheduled.
As expected, Xiaowa Village can be said to have had a bumper harvest this year.
Whether it is sorghum, corn, soybeans and other miscellaneous grains, or radish, cabbage and other winter vegetables, the yield per mu has broken the highest record in history.
The bumper harvest of food attracted waves of birds to eat.
So what if the adults are making scarecrows, the children are chasing birds with bamboo poles, and they are so busy that they hit the back of their heads with their heels? I feel good!
Every household is tired and happily working in the harvest fields, and everyone has a smile on their face.
For the same number of acres, the yield is several stones higher than in previous years.
Some large families have never been separated, with four or even five generations living under the same roof, with as much as thirty acres of grain fields. After careful study and hard work, they suddenly have forty or fifty more kilograms of grain, which makes them extremely happy.
They all said they wanted to thank Li Zheng and Meng Jin’s wife.
Xu Yin heard what Goudan Niang said and was worried that if everyone really came to her house to thank her, the battle would be too big for her to bear.
Besides, her help is not in vain. When everyone eats the new fertilized food, she will receive waves of energy point rewards.
No, the autumn harvest is over, and there is a ding-ding sound every day that energy points have arrived.
"Ajin, the grain has been put into the warehouse. There will be no work in the fields for the time being. Why don't we take a boat to the state capital for a few days?"
Cui Mengjin knew that she wanted to find an aquatic crop called lotus root. It was said that it could be used as both a vegetable and a staple food like taro. He wanted to buy it and plant it in his own lake and pond. How could he disagree with her proposal.
The couple hit it off immediately, one went to find Li Zheng to guide the way, and the other packed up travel supplies at home.
The chickens, ducks, pigs at home and the vegetables in the yard are entrusted to the good villagers to take care of them.
By the time the Li Zheng family was almost overstepped by the villagers from Xiaowa Village who came to thank them, Xu Yin and his wife were already carrying their luggage and arrived at the dock leading to the river outside the county town, preparing to board a boat to the state capital.
The villagers of Xiaowa Village, led by their respective clan heads, thanked Wan Li Zheng and were about to go to Meng Jin's house at the end of the village when they heard Li Zheng say: "Meng Jin and his wife are not at home."
"Not at home? Did you go up the mountain to chop firewood? It doesn't matter, we can wait. We just want to thank Meng Jin's wife in person."
The speaker was the daughter-in-law of a large family in Xiaowa Village. She was holding a basket of eggs in her hand.
There is another basket to give away, this basket is for Meng Jin's wife.
If it weren't for Meng Jin's wife, no one would know that there are so many things to pay attention to when applying fertilizer.
Li Zheng shook his head: "It's not going up the mountain, it's going a long way."
As soon as these words came out, not to mention the people from Xiaowa Village who came to thank them, the villagers in this village besides Goudan and Tiewa were also puzzled:
"Meng Jin took his wife on a long trip? But isn't his wife's natal family located in Plum Blossom Village? Where else can she go other than visiting relatives at her mother-in-law's natal home?"
"They went to the state capital. Meng Jin worked too hard during the busy farm period. Meng Jin's wife was worried that his leg injury would relapse, so she took him for a follow-up consultation during the slack period. But when the old imperial doctor heard that he was traveling in the clouds and was not in the county, they wanted to go to the state. Let’s see the doctor over there.”
"So that's what happened..."
"So the Meng Jin family really cares about Meng Jin."
"That's not true. She is the man of the house. Who cares if she doesn't care?"
Since people were away from home on a long trip, the group of villagers from Xiaowa Village who came to give gifts had no choice but to go home with the unsent gifts.
Ms. Cui, who was following the crowd to watch the excitement, suddenly felt like a duck that had reached her mouth and flew away again.
She was envious of Li Zheng just now. There were so many people coming to thank her with their things. Is she afraid that they were too lenient to accept the gifts?
She never thought that her silly old boy would be treated like this.
As a result, he traveled far away!
It’s a bad time to go out, but if you choose this time, you will be rejecting the gifts that you should have received!
Ms. Cui really didn't want to admit that her eldest son, who couldn't beat a fart with three sticks, was too dull to death, and couldn't speak, was her biological child.
I really don’t want to admit it!
As for what Li Zheng said about going to the state capital for follow-up on his injured leg, Cui didn't take it to heart at all.
After the leg was treated in the county town, I returned to the village and spent more than a hundred days nursing it. Is it still healthy? My daughter-in-law is just worried! Otherwise, I just miss money and think too much!
When she thought of the fifty taels rewarded by the county magistrate being held in her daughter-in-law's hands, Ms. Cui clutched her chest and felt a pain in her chest. This family really shouldn't have been divided in the first place!
Xu Yin is currently on the passenger ship heading south to the state capital.
Most of the boat passengers heading to the state capital were merchants traveling from north to south, and a few were scholars studying in the state capital. Almost all of them were men, and there were no single women. There were also couples like them traveling together in the name of seeking medical treatment. Very rarely.
Fortunately, I was lucky. When boarding the ship, I could choose a window seat, so I didn't have to squeeze in among a lot of men.
There was a short businessman who wanted to rush in front of her to grab a seat by the window, but she lifted it with one hand and carried him to the side. The eyebrows of all the ship passengers jumped when they saw that there was a burly man next to her. As a handsome man, no one dared to take any chances with her.
Xu Yin sat on the side next to the window, with Comrade Xiao Jin protecting her outside. She could rest her chin with peace of mind and look out the window at the natural scenery passing by like frames in an oil painting.
I thought it was thanks to my sister-in-law’s decision to separate the family.
If my sister-in-law were still in Dawa Village, I would have wanted to add a chicken drumstick to her.
After all, if there was no separation of families, there would be no chance for him to come to the state capital as soon as he said he came to the state capital.
It takes a full day to travel by water from the county seat to the state capital, and we don't even dock at noon.
When it was time to eat, the boat passengers unpacked their bags and took out steamed buns and steamed buns with cold water for lunch; some did not bring water containers, so they could only eat them dry. They chewed so hard that they choked and almost rolled their eyes.
Only Xu Yin and his wife ate bamboo tube rice.
This year's newly harvested rice is mixed with some glutinous rice bought from a large labor force in the village, mixed with fresh edamame, diced mushrooms, fungus, dried bamboo shoots, and previously smoked wild boar pork belly to make a steamed bamboo tube rice.
When eating, just remove the straw rope sealing, use the bamboo tube as a bowl, and eat with chopsticks.
Bamboo tube rice is just as delicious when cold. If you are thirsty, take a sip of the chrysanthemum tea poured into the bamboo tube before going out in the morning.
A mouthful of assorted rice and a mouthful of tea made the boat passengers, who could only choke on their dry food, swallow hard.
A merchant sitting next to Cui Mengjin who was engaged in the rice, flour, grain and oil business couldn't help but ask: "Little brother, your harvest looks good this year! There are three stones per acre, right?"
Otherwise, can steamed rice be used as dry food when going out? His sharp eyes saw that there was a piece of bacon in the bamboo tube rice. The color was very attractive and it looked delicious!
(End of chapter)
