The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 431 - 420: Pick and Choose

Chapter 431: Chapter 420: Pick and Choose

Eldest Uncle Qian looked up and told Qian Dalang to prepare something to eat for Zhou Dalang and his brothers, but Zhou Dalang quickly said, "Dad, we’ve just eaten and are not hungry yet."

Zhou ErLang nodded repeatedly and laughed, "Eldest Uncle, how about we go to sleep now? I reckon we’ll have to get up at the fourth watch."

Eldest Uncle Qian thought about it and agreed, hurrying to clear a room for them to sleep in.

The Qian Family’s housing was a lot more cramped than Old Zhou’s, so Eldest Sister-in-law Qian and Second Aunt-in-law Qian took the kids to one room to sleep with them, while the four cousins squeezed in together elsewhere.

Fortunately, it was summertime. They closed the doors and windows, slapped away the mosquitoes, and could sleep directly on the floor.

After sleeping for less than three hours, Eldest Uncle Qian, who hadn’t really closed his eyes, got up in the dark and woke the four of them, then headed by the moonlight to Second Uncle Qian’s house not far away.

Eldest Aunt also woke up Third and his wife. The men carried out the wheat, and the women went to the kitchen to make noodles to fill their stomachs.

Everyone moved quietly, careful not to make any loud noises.

The light came on at Second Uncle Qian’s house nearby, dimmed again after a while, and then it was Third Uncle Qian’s turn.

After being busy for a good half-hour and before the fifth watch, they gathered to eat a bowl of noodles before picking up the wheat stored in the courtyard.

Each person carried a load, with wheat wrapped in two sacks on the outside, tightly bound with hemp rope, enabling them to carry two bags per load.

Zhou ErLang regretted softly, "We left in such a hurry, we should have brought the cart."

Zhou Dalang also felt some regret. "I was a bit flustered at the time; never thought this much."

Sanlang Qian listened and chuckled to himself, unconcernedly comforting, "No worries, no worries, you’ll remember after a few more times."

Zhou ErLang nodded earnestly in agreement.

Zhou Dalang thought to himself, If I have to do this a few more times, it’s going to be the death of me.

He had barely slept the previous night.

They prepared the shoulder poles, waiting for Eldest Uncle Qian to come back so they could set off, then Eldest Uncle Qian did return, but with Third Uncle Qian following him.

He waved to Zhou Er and said, "ErLang, you go with your Third Uncle to Second Uncle’s place; there are two bags of grain there, one belonging to your Second Uncle, and the other to Third Uncle."

Zhou ErLang didn’t ask any questions and directly picked up the shoulder pole to leave.

Third Uncle Qian was delighted, slung his arm over Zhou Er’s shoulder and walked off, whispering, "Let’s go, let’s go, Third Uncle just made pancakes, do you want to eat some?"

Zhou ErLang laughed, "No need, Third Uncle, I’ve just had noodles."

"Alright then, take them with you, eat them on the road later..." Third Uncle Qian tugged Zhou ErLang away into the distance.

Sanlang Qian couldn’t help but pout, "Dad, what is Third Uncle doing?"

Eldest Uncle Qian glanced at him and said, "Why so much needless talk? Let’s go, we’ll wait for them at the entrance to the village."

With that, Eldest Uncle Qian too grabbed a shoulder pole to carry the grain bags.

"But with Second Cousin gone, our family is left with just two bags," Sanlang Qian complained a little, "One dou costs one hundred and fifty wen, and this bag has less than ten dou but surely has eight or nine, right?"

Eldest Uncle Qian gently patted his back with the pole, and rebuked in a low voice, "Your eldest aunt is not just your aunt, she’s also your cousins’ aunt. Your eldest cousin is still here."

"Eldest cousin is my brother-in-law!"

"Mm," said Eldest Uncle Qian indifferently, "That’s why he’s carrying our family’s two bags of grain."

Sanlang Qian fell silent.

Zhou Dalang gave them a simple smile and shrank away, not daring to speak.

Initially, Eldest Aunt Qian wasn’t troubled, but after hearing her youngest son do the calculations, she also began to feel the pinch. She glanced at the two bags of wheat left in the courtyard, then gritted her teeth and told Eldest Sister-in-law Qian, "Go get two more bags, we’ll split them and carry them together."

Eldest Uncle Qian: "...Aren’t you causing a ruckus?"

"What ruckus? Our strength might not be great, but who in the family hasn’t carried or picked up things before? Even the family’s water is carried by us women, so dividing two bags of wheat into four isn’t much."

In the end, Eldest Aunt Qian divided the wheat, then after giving a quick reminder to the two daughter-in-laws, set off carrying her load along with the eldest daughter-in-law.

The village was very quiet, and no family had dogs. As long as they moved quietly, the people who were sound asleep wouldn’t notice others passing by with torches.

Upon reaching the village entrance, they stopped to wait a while, and before long, Second Uncle Qian and Third Uncle Qian emerged, along with Zhou ErLang and their sons.

Out of the three families, Eldest Uncle Qian’s household had the most people and carried the most wheat.

Sanlang Qian couldn’t hide his envy. He always felt that having too many sons was a burden, but now he realized that there are benefits to having many.

Third Uncle Qian glanced at his two sons with some despondency while carrying his bags of grain.

Once everyone had gathered, they shouldered their bags of grain and set off together. Since the journey was long, they extinguished three torches and used only the remaining ones to light the way, deciding to light these three again when they rested halfway.

Because they were carrying bags of grain, it took them an hour to walk a distance that usually took half an hour, even with a break in between.

When they arrived at Qili Village, it was already dawn, and roosters were crowing throughout the village.

Old Zhou and Ms.Qian were becoming somewhat alert with the crowing of the roosters, sleeping with eyes closed but ears perked, listening to the noises outside.

Therefore, as soon as there was any noise outside, they got up, while Junior Ms.Qian was even quicker. She had slept in her clothes, and as soon as there was a sound at the door, she got up to open it.

Outside the door was a sea of family members from her maiden home.

Junior Ms.Qian was startled to see her mother-in-law and couldn’t help exclaiming, "Mom, why did you come too?"

Her mother-in-law smiled at her and bent down to carry her load inside. Junior Ms.Qian quickly went over to help, whispering, "Let me do it, let me."

People from the Zhou Family were mostly awake, except for the children.

Manbao didn’t wake up at all. She hadn’t heard any noise and was sound asleep, lying on her back with her little round belly, her pale chubby hand stretched out by the bed, her little mouth still chewing, dreaming of some delicacy.

When a stream of light at dawn started shining through the window onto her bedside, and the chicken behind her house began crowing again, she yawned, stretched lazily, and got up from bed.

Rubbing her eyes and seeing that it was getting light, she climbed down from the bed and went out to the small courtyard to wash up.

To make it convenient for the people in the small courtyard to wash up, and also to divert traffic to avoid congestion in the main courtyard early in the morning, Old Zhou had bought a large water jar for the small courtyard.

Manbao rinsed her mouth, washed her face, then went back to her room to comb her hair. She quickly tied two simple braids, letting her hair hang down before rushing out.

Of course, she also took her Small book box with her.

As soon as she reached the main courtyard, she saw a group of people sitting around dozing and chatting.

Junior Ms.Qian was busy in the kitchen, and when she heard the noise, she came out, smiling and beckoning to her, "What are you standing there for? Don’t you recognize your uncles? Hurry up and greet your uncles."

Manbao was most familiar with Eldest Uncle Qian and Third Uncle Qian. She greeted them amiably and only saw Eldest Aunt Qian and her mother when she entered the kitchen.