The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 302 - 291 Start of Summer Harvest

Chapter 302: Chapter 291 Start of Summer Harvest

This was the mountain allocated to Zhou Erlang, since it was originally abundant in bamboo, he simply decided to plant even more.

Unlike other households that let their allocated land grow freely, Zhou Erlang was one of the few who tended to his land with care.

Villagers going up the mountain to cut bamboo saw the four siblings carrying bamboo baskets on their backs and lazily waved, "Off to find mushrooms again, huh? It hasn’t rained in days, can you still find any?"

Zhou Silang had Zhou Wulang carrying the basket and Zhou Liulang carrying the hoe, and took this opportunity to pass Manbao off to them, telling them to head home first. He then squatted on a rock and started chatting with them, "Didn’t find any, we were blocked at the bend in the road by the mountains and had to turn back. What’s with the bamboo cutting?"

"Ah, don’t mention it, wheat harvest is coming up and the winnowing trays at home are a bit damaged, so we’re cutting some bamboo to make new ones," a villager chuckled, "The bamboo from other mountains don’t compare to the quality of those in your Second Brother’s place."

Zhou Silang almost burst into laughter, "You wait to cut bamboo until the wheat is nearly ready to harvest, and your sister-in-law doesn’t beat you up for that?"

"Who said she doesn’t? I was beaten, that’s why I’m here," another villager interjected with great amusement, "Just today. It was such a commotion she chased me out."

"Nonsense, it’s just that I don’t like fighting with women, or you just wait and see."

Zhou Silang didn’t mind them cutting the bamboo, since there was plenty and they couldn’t use it all; this wasn’t the first or second time it had happened, but he liked to gossip, which is why he remained squatting on the stone without leaving.

But the bamboo-cutting villagers couldn’t take it anymore and gestured to him, "Zhou Si, come and help us out. These bamboos have grown too high, and I can’t pull them down."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Silang immediately got up from his seat, dusting off his butt, and walked away, "You guys take your time cutting. I haven’t had my dinner yet, I’m heading home."

The villagers couldn’t detain him and could only watch as he ran off in a flash.

One of them couldn’t help sighing, "Zhou Silang is still so lazy."

"Forget it, who in the village can get him to work in the fields? Only his brothers can. Let’s hurry up and cut, it’s almost dark."

"Ah, bamboo is really tough to cut. Maybe we should ask Zhou Er for some of the dried ones."

The other villagers continued to immerse themselves in cutting their bamboo, thinking secretly: If it weren’t for also needing to make winnowing trays, I’d have asked already.

One or two villagers asking for some dried bamboo strips wouldn’t be an issue, but if so many people went to ask, it would definitely not be okay.

Seeing that no one agreed with him, the man could only sigh and continue cutting bamboo, bringing the conversation back, "Right, Zhou Si mentioned earlier they were blocked on their way to the mountains. Who blocked them?"

"Who else? It would either be their father or the Jia brothers."

They avoided discussing the former, as for the latter...

"The Jia brothers are too overbearing, just going up the mountain to find mushrooms, and there’s no need to drive people away, right?"

"Exactly, it’s not like we’re taking their land or cutting down their good trees, how stingy of them."

"It must be because we’re not from their village. Look at us in Qili Village, who would get mad and drive people away over something like this?"

"Mhm, people from Dali Village are stingier."

"And more calculative..."

They spoke ill of Dali Village without any restraint, and Manbao, who had run home ahead of the others, was also complaining about the Jia brothers to her parents, and in the process, praising herself a little.

"I was the first to spot them, and then we didn’t go to the mountains. We turned and went to another place, found a spot to hide, and sure enough, they caught up after a while, so fierce. Luckily, we ran fast."

Old Zhou frowned at this.

Ms.Qian was also displeased, "What’s going on, all Zhou Si and the others did was go up the mountain for some game. Driving them off once is one thing, but laying an ambush too?"

Old Zhou stood up and said, "I’m going to talk to the village chief about this."

Setting up an ambush was really annoying.

Before leaving the house, Old Zhou turned back to instruct, "From now on, you are not allowed to go to the mountains. Hmph, our White Horse Pass Town isn’t short of mountains. Do we really need to go to their mountains?"

Manbao responded with a hint of regret.

Ms.Qian stroked her head and said, "We shouldn’t bother with such scum; it’s too dangerous."

At this point, she looked around for someone in the yard and asked, "Where’s SiLang?"

"Silang is bragging with others in the bamboo mountain."

Bamboo mountain was the name they had given it because it had the most bamboo.

Ms.Qian frowned slightly, "Go call him back. It’s almost dark. After you have dinner, go wash up. Don’t keep wandering outside. You’re almost a father."

Ms.Fang blushed, standing to the side.

Though Ms.Fang’s condition wasn’t confirmed, Ms.Qian had already reduced her workload, not allowing her and Ms.He to do any heavy work at home and had also greatly reduced their working hours. As soon as the sun started blazing, the two of them were called back home to do some light housework.

Junior Ms.Qian and Ms.Feng Zhou Xi were also considerate of this, taking over more work during this period to give them both some rest.

In this moment, even Ms.Feng had to admit that it was fortunate that Zhou Xi had returned to the family; otherwise, with so many things going on at home, it would have been tough on her and Junior Ms.Qian.

When Zhou Silang finally dashed back home, Ms.Qian said, "Go and eat quickly, get to bed early tonight. Your father said we’ll start the harvest tomorrow, picking the wheat from that field in Big Bay first."

Zhou Silang had anticipated this and while grabbing a bowl to eat, he asked, "Is Second Brother going too?"

"Not much of the wheat is yellow yet. Your Second Brother isn’t in a hurry to go. In a couple of days, when the vegetables from Little Bay are all sold, we’ll stop," Ms.Qian replied.

That meant the main work would fall on him and Third Brother.

Zhou Silang shrugged his shoulders and nodded, "Alright then."

After all, his older brother had internal bleeding before.

Zhou Dalang couldn’t do heavy work like hauling wheat, but reaping was unavoidable.

While Zhou Silang was eating, the family brought out the things they would need for the next day and placed them ready to use.

Since they were gearing up for the summer harvest, they couldn’t stick to the usual waking time; they’d need to wake up even earlier.

This way, by the time the sun climbed up and started to turn hot, everyone could return home, take a nap, then go out to reap for another hour or so before coming back for dinner.

After dinner, they would continue reaping the wheat.

During the midday, when the sun was at its most scorching, nearly everyone would be at home sleeping.

The schedule was so relaxed only because this year the wheat and rice harvests were poor. In previous years, apart from a bit more than an hour at noon, people would have to work in the fields.

Two meals a day could become three, or even three and a half.

But even Zhou Silang, known for slacking, didn’t wish for a poor crop yield. He’d rather work harder than witness such a state in the fields.

After dinner, Zhou Silang asked Manbao, "Manbao, didn’t you say the county magistrate wanted to reduce the autumn tax? How come there’s still no news by now?"

"Shanbao didn’t say." Such news she could only hear from Bai Shanbao, and Bai Shanbao could only hear it from his grandmother and Old Master Bai.

Without the adults discussing this topic, what could they children do?

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