The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 306 - 295: Many People vs Few People

Chapter 306: Chapter 295: Many People vs Few People

Manbao looked at her father with a bewildered face and shook her head asking, "Dad, where am I going to get married off to?"

"Of course, to the town," he replied, "but now that our Manbao is so great, maybe she could even marry into the county city?"

That wasn’t far, Manbao thought and shook her head in refusal.

She had promised Keke to take it to far, far away places to collect lots and lots of plants when she grew up. How could she collect them if she married?

So she told Old Zhou, "Dad, I won’t marry yet. I’ll marry after I’ve finished my work."

Old Zhou just laughed heartily. He was all too familiar with such replies, patted her head without a care, and laughed, "There’s never an end to the work in this world. When it’s time to marry, you’ll have to marry."

Manbao ran off without arguing with Old Zhou, sure that when she grew up, her father would change his mind.

Like with Daya, her eldest sister.

When Daya first came back home, Old Zhou even wanted to marry her off the very next month. But now another year had passed, on top of another, and Daya was still unmarried, wasn’t she?

Seeing his little daughter run off and the others still squatting in front of him, Old Zhou waved them away in distaste, "Go, go, go, get back to work. If you haven’t finished cutting this patch before lunchtime, you won’t be allowed to return home."

There were many in the Zhou family, of course, they didn’t need to cut the wheat until lunchtime. In fact, it took less than an hour, around late morning, for them to finish cutting the wheat in that patch.

Manbao and the other children lagged behind to pick up the wheat ears.

Old Zhou wiped the sweat from his face; the sun was already fierce.

He turned to Zhou Silang and said, "Send your wife back home. Don’t let her stay out here in the sun. Your Third Sister-in-law should have gone back too, have them prepare lunch at home."

Zhou Silang hastily agreed and sent Ms.Fang back.

They didn’t mind the wheat that was spread out to dry in the field; instead, they went back to the ground and began moving the wheat into bamboo baskets. This was the wheat they had bundled from the field that morning, and now it was just the right time to carry it back home.

As for the wheat that had been cut that day, it had been left to dry for half a day. After dinner, when the sun had set a bit, they would come back to bundle it and carry it home.

Actually, if it were like the past years, Old Zhou would prefer to leave the wheat in the field to dry for a day or two. Although some of the wheat would be stolen by birds and mice overnight, it would give them time to harvest other fields and save space at home, right?

But not anymore. They had heard that some villages had their freshly-cut wheat stolen right from the fields. Their Qili Village was remote and nestled in the mountains; strangers coming and going were easy to spot, so for the time being, there had been no thefts.

But what if someone snuck into the village in the dark?

Who would see them then?

Moreover, as the fields were outside the village and people lived in their houses, who could keep an eye on the fields?

As for theft by people from their own village, Old Zhou naturally didn’t believe it could happen, and even if there were such scoundrels, a rabbit wouldn’t eat the grass around its own burrow.

In any case, no matter where the thieves came from, he now didn’t dare to leave the wheat out overnight.

The harvest this year was already poor; if it were stolen, the family would really be left with nothing but the northwest wind to enjoy.

Old Zhou picked up a load and left. Zhou Silang, avoiding Ms.Qian’s gaze, began to slack off, his movements of putting wheat into the bamboo basket growing slower and slower.

Zhou Wulang and Zhou Silang were also about to carry wheat, but they used smaller baskets that wouldn’t strain their shoulders or back too much—after all, they still needed to grow, right?

After filling up their own, they turned around to see that Zhou Silang had only filled his basket halfway and was leaning against the wheat pile, yawning, looking sleepy and about to doze off.

The brothers exchanged glances and immediately ran up to help. Together they tossed a bundle of wheat into the basket, piling it high in an instant.

Zhou Silang woke up and, seeing the wheat in the basket, complained, "That’s enough, that’s enough, are you trying to kill me with exhaustion?"

"Big brother, we’re helping you," they said.

"Exactly, exactly, filling the basket with wheat is hard work," they added.

Zhou Silang was frustrated; he had been intending to fill it slowly.

Seeing him about to remove some wheat, Zhou Wulang immediately shouted, "Mom, big brother is slacking off!"

Fury almost made steam come out of Zhou Silang’s nose. He looked around for someone to back him up and realized that Manbao and Datou had already disappeared, no telling where they had run off to.

Naturally, Manbao went looking for Zhou Hu.

However, she didn’t even know her way around her own family’s fields, let alone where Zhou Hu’s fields were, so Datou led the way for her.

Daya and the others always loved playing with their little aunt, so a whole group of them followed along.

Zhou Hu, with Dafu, was cutting wheat in the field; just the two of them in that large field looked particularly pitiful.

Manbao ran in to greet them, "Zhou Hu, how is Sister-in-law Hu doing?"

Zhou Hu looked up and saw a bunch of kids from Zhou’s family running over, his feelings slightly mixed, "Much better now, she’s still taking medicine, but she should be able to get out of bed after the confinement period is over."

Ms.Chen was even weaker than Ms.Qian now, unable to take care of herself, but at least her condition had stabilized and there was no more bleeding.

Zhou Hu was grateful to the Zhou family because he felt that his wife’s spirit had improved a lot, mostly thanks to Ms.Qian’s words.

"And what about Sanshou?" asked Manbao.

A broader smile broke across Zhou Hu’s face as he said, "Sanshou’s doing even better, drinking five bowls of goat milk a day, and eating some porridge as well."

The only issue was the frequent wetting.

Zhou Hu paused, then continued, "I’ve already sent someone to look for a goat. As soon as I find one that’s giving milk, I’ll return the goat to Young Master Bai."

Manbao waved her hand, "Shanbao doesn’t mind that. He even told me yesterday that he wants to come and see Sanshou."

Zhou Hu responded happily, "That’s great. Dafu is at home, and the door isn’t locked. You can just go in."

"Isn’t Ms.Chen at home?" Manbao asked, referring to Zhou Hu’s mother-in-law.

Zhou Hu shook his head, "The harvest has started, so she went back to her own home."

Manbao looked sympathetically at Zhou Hu, no wonder he had become so thin, haggard, and ragged in just a few days.

Manbao wanted to pat his shoulder but couldn’t reach, so she gave up and directly asked about how to catch birds instead.

After a moment’s thought, Zhou Hu said, "You want to catch birds? They’re not easy to catch. I use a fishing net, and sometimes a bow and arrow, but they’re also hard to hit."

Zhou Hu didn’t conceal anything. His family was previously the second wealthiest in the village and he knew how to hunt, having learned from his father.

While he would share hunting tips with anyone in the village who asked, even after he shared them, not everyone could necessarily learn.

But since it was Manbao asking, he gave more detailed advice and then continued cutting the wheat with his sickle.

He was too busy; otherwise, he wouldn’t mind spending some time to catch a string of birds for Manbao.

But at the moment, he was the only one able to work in his family; although Dafu, still young, could help a bit, the help was limited. He had started cutting this field yesterday and estimated that he wouldn’t finish until that evening. After finishing, they still had to bundle the wheat and carry it home.

Clearly, he had also heard the rumors about the stolen wheat.