Chapter 63: A Busy Farming Season
Translator: Fan Translation Studio
Proofread by Claire.KK
Everyone turned to Xiao Baoshan.
The reason for Xiao Baoshan being silent earlier was not that he had been absent-minded but because he had seen Ye Xiaoxian talk to the Xiao’s in a manner that was neither humble nor pushy, so he wished to observe her more closely.
This little woman never failed to surprise him. She was brave and decisive. Sometimes she was calm and sometimes she was witty with a trace of tenderness which completely challenged the stereotype of villages girls he used to think.
Now, as everyone was waiting for his reply, he spoke up. “I think what little Ye said is very true.”
Old Mr. Xiao’s hands began to tremble with fury. “Baoshan, you…you…”
Xiao Tieshu reminded him. “Baoshan, you are a man. How have you become like this? Such a loser.”
It seemed as if Xiao Tongshu was eating sour grapes. “Baoshan only earns one tael of silver per month and he still has to rely on the women in his family to go out and sell cold jelly, so naturally he has to listen to his woman.”
Li Hongmei whispered to Baoshan behind him, “Baoshan, good job!”
“Baoshan turned out to be a henpecked man!” Wong Mudan mumbled.
Chen Ju said, “Good-for-nothing!”
Xiao Baoshan still went on, “This is our second household’s final decision. We only help out with a half mu of the land. If Grandpa, Elder Uncle and Third Uncle agree then we will partic.i.p.ate in the busy farming season, otherwise we will leave it all to you and we’ll use money to pay the taxes.”
Old Mr. Xiao was enraged. “Your second household still live in my house! Though it’s made of earth it’s still a house!”
Xiao Baoshan said, “But we also pay you 500 coins in filial piety every month.”
“Well…” Old Mr. Xiao was not willing to let go of his 500 coins.
At last, after they had negotiated for a while, Old Mr. Xiao agreed to Ye Xiaoxian’s suggestion.
The only thing was that Old Mr. Xiao, along with the first and third households, ended up having more complaints about Ye Xiaoxian.
During the busy farming season students in the private school were also offered a break of seven days in a row.
The break for Xiao Baofeng was just spent helping his family with farm work. He asked his family about their arrangements and then devoted himself to this busy farming season.
Xiao Baofeng was only eight but he had been helping with work in the rice field since he was five and he was now able to do any kind of farm work.
Xiao Baozhu was even more reliable. Girls in the Xiao family were always in an inferior position and she was already thirteen years old. Although she had become obsessed with romantic novels recently, she knew what she should do for now.
Things were quite different for the first and the third households.
Although Xiao Tieshu, Wong Mudan and Xiao Baocheng were able-bodied people in the first household, Xiao Baocheng was brought up like a young master and, furthermore, Xiao Tieshu resembled his old man as both refused to do any domestic work, so the only worker in the first household was Wong Mudan.
For Chen Ju’s household, Xiao Tongshu was just like his brother who would not do any family ch.o.r.es. Besides, her two children Baoyang, who was only seven, and Baoxue, who was five, did not really do any work normally, so she could not depend on them during the busy farming season.
Wong Mudan and Chen Ju were deeply concerned.
The two sisters-in-law thought about the remaining two and a half mu of land. Were they really going to let these two women do all the work?
“Alas, if you ask me, I decide we shouldn’t agree to living apart. Indeed, we don’t have to worry about being taken advantage of by the second household, but we’ve got no one to do the work now,” said Wong Mudan, who had only now recalled the merits of the second household.
Chen Ju said, “What shall we do? They can’t let only two of us do all the work. Even if we want to, with so much land to cover, when are we possibly going to finish working? I think we’d better discuss it with our men and let them give us a hand. What do you say? Though most of the men in our village don’t help out with cooking, they must go to the field during the busy farming season.
Wong Mudan thought about her husband which made her scalp go numb right away. “We have no other option but to give it a try and see if he is willing.”
It was already late morning and the sun had risen far above the horizon, but Xiao Tieshu was still sleeping in the room.
Wong Mudan came and called him several times. However, not only did he refuse to get up, but he also started scolding her. “What the h.e.l.l are you shouting for? Can’t you see I’m sleeping?”
“Tieshu, today…today it’s time to harvest rice in the field!”
“Then why are you standing here like a log! Hurry up and go!” Xiao Tieshu rolled over and tried to get back to sleep.
“I didn’t mean this. Tieshu, I mean…can’t you help to do the work? There are two and half mu of land but we’ve only got Ju and I to do the work,” said Wong Mudan in a frustrated tone.
Xiao Tieshu was already becoming impatient. “Did you not do all the work yourselves in the past?”
“Not really. The second household was there before and they did most of the work, but you heard yourself last night that they only do a half mu of the land, leaving two and a half mu for us which we can’t possibly do all by ourselves.”
Xiao Tieshu seemed to have realized at this point but still he did not get up, simply saying, “Then you go first and I’ll come later.”
“Well…” Wong Mudan did not believe what her husband had said but she dared not say anything more and just whispered, “Well… well then, you take another nap and come and join us later.”
Her husband in the bed did not give a single word in reply.
As for the third household, what Xiao Tongshu replied was similar to Xiao Tieshu, but the only difference was that Xiao Tongshu promised Chen Ju that he would carry the harvested rice that he had asked Chen Ju to harvest first.
Both of the two sisters-in-law looked depressed when they came out from their rooms.
Wong Mudan had no other way out so she shouted to Xiao Baocheng and asked him to give them a hand. Xiao Baocheng had never done such ch.o.r.es so he immediately said, in a wronged tone, “Ma, please. I have never done such things before and I need to read my books now.”
“Stop your act. Now you pretend you’re reading books but I know you’ll go out to play as soon as my back is turned. Look at Xiao Baofeng, he’s two years younger than you but went to the field early in the morning. Now look at you, slacking off and being lazy. You can’t possibly find a wife in the future.”
“Ma…” Xiao Baocheng was still not willing to help so he was acting like a spoiled child.
“Like it or lump it! You’re going!” Wong Mudan ordered.
Wong Mudan also thought that if things got worse she would call her eldest daughter back. Her eldest daughter had been married long time and this year was in her twenties. If her husband’s family did not mind, Wong Mudan might as well call her back to help for a while.
Meanwhile Chen Ju actually let her seven-year-old son, Xiao Baoyang, come over to help, though she did not pin much hope on this.
…
Ye Xiaoxian had already gone to the field with her family.
Although all the water had been drained from the field, when one stepped in it they would tread in a thick layer of mud, so they needed to roll up their trousers and tread barefoot through the field.
While Ye Xiaoxian used to have an arduous life as a chef, she never came into a rice field, and even if she had the memory of the original owner of this body she had, after all, she never experienced such things. She just found this work very difficult and could not even stand still.
She picked up the sickle and tried to cut a handful of the rice crop but half were not cut off.
Li Hongmei saw Ye Xiaoxian being rather clumsy and asked her confusedly, “Little Ye, what happened? You used to be good at cutting rice and capable of dealing with a whole mu of land on your own.
“Uh, I might have done too much cooking yesterday in Lord Liu’s and my hands feel kind of sore,” lied Ye Xiaoxian.
“Right, I see. Why don’t you take a rest and let Baoshan help you.” Li Hongmei tipped him the wink.