The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 312 - 301: His Path (Additional - for the Book Friend "Siqing Lanyu" for his gift)

Chapter 312: Chapter 301: His Path (Additional Chapter for the Book Friend "Siqing Lanyu" for his gift)

The Zhou family harvested their wheat with remarkable speed; within just five days, all of the Zhou family’s wheat had been collected.

Fortunately, this year the Zhou family had two courtyards, where they neatly piled the harvested wheat to dry in the open air.

With the intense sunlight, two days of drying was sufficient, plus there was always the additional half-day of sun in the fields.

While Zhou Dalang and the others continued harvesting in the fields, Ms. He and Ms. Fang stayed at home to thresh the wheat with flails. With a swing of the stick, the flail spun half a circle in the air before smacking down onto the wheat ears, shaking loose the grains onto the ground.

Ms. Qian led the remaining children, who—with sticks neither too thick nor too thin in hand—sat on low stools to painstakingly go over the wheat once more.

Once Zhou Dalang and his group returned from the fields, there was no need for the young, the ill, or the pregnant to help out. They simply rolled up their sleeves and picked up handfuls of wheat that had already been threshed twice, rubbing it together.

Wheat rubbing was a taxing task, not only exhausting but also painful for the hands. This chore had always been done by men in the Zhou family.

Ms. Fang, being new to the household, was still getting used to this, for in her memory, such tasks were usually performed by women.

For instance, in her own family, aside from harvesting and carrying the wheat, her father and older brother also had to slaughter sheep. Therefore, tasks like cutting wheat, fetching water for cooking, and threshing fell to her, her mother, and her sister-in-law.

Of course, her father and brother would help when they were free, but she recalled that those occasions were few and far between.

She couldn’t quite grasp why the Zhou family would leave these tasks for the men to do in the dark after returning from the fields.

Ms. He, on the other hand, had been married into the Zhou family for many years and saw it as normal. Seeing the concern on Ms. Fang’s face as she watched Zhou Silang, Ms. He comforted her, "Don’t worry, men’s skin is thick and their flesh resilient. Zhou Si doesn’t even get hurt in fights, so there’s no need to worry about him."

Junior Ms. Qian had also just come back from the fields. Everyone had already eaten their evening meal but had not yet cleaned up.

She went straight into the kitchen to heat water. After it was warm, she called out for Daya, "Tell your little aunt and your siblings to come bathe. Get to bed quickly once you’re done; we’ll be harvesting beans tomorrow, we won’t need you kids."

Daya lit up with excitement.

Junior Ms. Qian continued, "Get up early tomorrow and wash your clothes. Afterwards, go to Little Bay and pick some vegetable leaves for the chickens. If there are bugs, remember to catch them."

Daya acknowledged and happily went to fetch the water for bathing.

The children bathed first, followed by the women, and finally the men.

This practice was another unique custom of the household.

Ms. Fang never felt there was anything peculiar about it, but now this rule seemed particularly significant during the busy farming periods.

Everyone was exhausted and returned late, so the earlier one bathed, the sooner one could get to bed.

Naturally, Ms. Fang didn’t think this rule was set by her father-in-law, so it must have been decided by the mother-in-law.

When the men weren’t around, Ms. Fang couldn’t help but whisper to her sisters-in-law and aunts-in-law, "Our mother-in-law is really something, she’s made the rules of the house so clear."

Ms. Feng and Ms. He nodded in strong agreement.

Junior Ms. Qian, however, couldn’t help but laugh. Just as she was about to say something, she saw Zhou Xi nearby and held back.

Zhou Xi simply remarked, "This rule wasn’t set by mother."

Ms. Fang, puzzled, blinked, "Then who set it?"

Zhou Xi thought for a moment and smiled, "No one specifically needed to create a rule; it just became a rule as we got used to it."

Manbao, smelling fresh from a bath, burst in from outside, exclaiming, "Sister-in-law, Dad isn’t letting me catch birds anymore."

Junior Ms. Qian tapped her on the forehead, put away the clean dishes, and said, "That’s right, you shouldn’t. How much wheat have you wasted these past few days?"

"Not that much," Manbao protested, "I always reuse it."

"Even reuse is one handful at a time. Dad was too busy with the wheat harvest to bother with you, but now that the wheat is in, if you take more to feed the birds, wouldn’t that break his heart?"

"But you all ate the birds too, you said they were tasty," Manbao argued.

"Tasty they may be, but that’s not the way to eat them," Junior Ms. Qian replied. "Meat is good, but flour is better and lasts longer, don’t you agree? Besides, aren’t you attending school now? You have to study and do homework every day. When would you have time to catch birds?"

"As for time, I can always make some."

"If only you thought the same way about your studies."

With utmost seriousness, Manbao declared, "That’s exactly how I think when I’m studying."

Nevertheless, Junior Ms. Qian remained firm and was unwilling to persuade her husband on Manbao’s behalf, so Manbao sighed in dismay.

Despite her young age, she was savvy enough to pick the softest target, thus she dared to bargain with Old Zhou and pester Junior Ms. Qian to intercede, but she wouldn’t dare approach her mother.

After heaving a sigh, Manbao drooped her head the next day and sought out Bai Shanbao and Bai Erlang, saying, "We can’t catch birds anymore?"

Bai Erlang, who had been playing with them for the past three days, cried out in shock, "Why not?"

The volume of his voice made the entire classroom turn to look at him.

Bai Erlang immediately lowered his voice and asked, "Why not?"

"Because my Dad won’t give me wheat anymore," Manbao explained, "Without wheat, we can’t make bait to lure the birds."

Bai Shanbao pointed to Bai Er and said, "His family has some."

Bai Er was just about to proudly say "My family has some," but seeing Bai Shanbao speak first, he felt challenged and retorted, "Doesn’t your family have any too?"

"Not my family," Bai Shanbao said, "We only have rice, and the wheat is grown far, far away."

His family’s lands weren’t around here; Old Master Bai had divided a few acres nearby for their use, where they grew rice and other things like vegetables and fruits.

After all, their family didn’t lack food; even if the overseers outside didn’t bring it in, they could still buy it from Old Master Bai, which was very convenient.

That’s when Bai Er finally remembered that Bai Shanbao’s estates weren’t located here, and even the rice only amounted to just over an acre, grown more as a hobby than anything else.

Hence, Bai Er raised his head with renewed pride and said, "Don’t worry, it’s just wheat; my family has plenty of it."

His family owned a lot of land in Qili Village, in Dali Village, near White Horse Pass, and close to the county town—wheat was the least of their concerns.

Come afternoon when school was dismissed, Bai Er ran off like a shot, and in less than no time at all, he returned with a servant in tow.

The servant carried a bundle of wheat on his shoulder as Manbao and Bai Shanbao watched, dumbfounded.

Manbao even rubbed her eyes to be sure she wasn’t seeing things before looking down at her homework, then turning to Bai Shanbao, "Let’s finish our homework before playing."

To save time, they didn’t go to the Bai house or back to the Zhou household to do their assignments, but rather they sat in the classroom and wrote.

Bai Shanbao likewise averted his gaze, swallowing the word "idiot," nodded, and continued to work on his homework.

Daji, standing guard outside the classroom, bowed his head with a quiver of his shoulders. It took a while before he straightened up, looking serious despite slightly moist eyes.

Bai Er had already burst into the classroom, saying, "The wheat is here; let’s get going."

Bai Shanbao mentioned, "What about the net and sticks? Weren’t they left in your family’s gatehouse yesterday?"

"Oh, right," Bai Er exclaimed, remembering. He instructed the servant to set down the wheat and dashed off again, "Wait for me, I’ll be right back to get them."

Bai Shanbao and Manbao exchanged a glance and continued to write their assignments leisurely.

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