Wei Jingshu was surrounded by the enthusiasm of the villagers, but she always smiled lightly, gently and tactfully, answering every question.
The villagers praised Wei Jingshu, but there was work to do in the fields, so it was inconvenient to stay for too long. After talking for a while, they went back.
Before leaving, they did not forget to take a look at Wei Jingshu's land. They wanted to ask them to help if they needed help, but after taking a look, they found that the work there was almost done and they didn't need to worry about it at all, so they didn't say much. After
people left one after another, Wei Jingshu said to Aunt Wang: "Aunt Wang, I want to exchange some loofah with you."
The two fish were not small and could be eaten for several meals. Aunt Wang's husband was also a good fisherman, and the family could often eat fish, but the two fish in Wei Jingshu's hand were better than those caught by her husband in the past year.
From Liu Dazhu's words, Aunt Wang also knew that the fish was caught by the girl herself. She looked at the girl in surprise, but did not take the fish. Instead, she said, "I don't want the fish. You can go to my house with me to get the loofah after work."
Wei Jingshu nodded and said to Aunt Wang, "Okay."
After that, she thanked her and went back to the field to continue harvesting rice.
The Wei family only had one acre of land. Originally, they had five acres, but after the death of Mr. Wei and Wei Dashan, the eldest son of the eldest house, Wei Changlin, who was also Wei Dashan's son, went to Beijing to take the imperial examination. The three younger ones could not do anything, so Zhou sold four acres of land at a low price.
Later, Wei Changlin passed the imperial examination and got a position as an official. The monthly salary was enough for the family to eat, so Zhou was even more reluctant to farm. The only remaining acre of land was left because Wei Dashan had to keep it.
Wei Jingshu was strong and worked fast. It only took her a day and a half to harvest the grain of one acre of land.
She tied up the rice one by one, piled them together, and walked to Aunt Wang's field with a sickle.
She worked swiftly, and harvested the rice one after another and placed them neatly behind her. She
glanced at the little girl, but did not reject her kindness. She just said, "Sister Shu, take a rest if you are tired. Come to my house tonight and I will make you something delicious."
Wei Jingshu suddenly looked up, her eyes full of eager light, but when she thought of her family, the light in her eyes dimmed a little and she just nodded obediently. She
was busy until the sun set. Aunt Wang's man Liu Shoushan came over. Most of the rice in the field had been harvested, leaving only the last small piece. It would take some time to harvest it all tomorrow.
Aunt Wang pushed Liu Shoushan and said, "This is all from Wei's sister Shu. Go help sister Shu carry the grain home. We will carry it together after we finish harvesting tomorrow."
Wei Jingshu only tied the grain of one acre of land into four bundles and placed them flat together. Liu Shoushan walked to one of the piles and said, "Sister Shu, go to my house first with your aunt, and your uncle will take the grain home for you."
As he said that, Liu Shoushan carried a bundle with great effort. Wei
Jingshu tilted her head slightly, but did not say anything. She just tied two of the bundles together with a rope, took a stick as thick as her wrist, stirred it in the rope, and easily lifted it to her shoulder. The
heavy rice pressed on Wei Jingshu's back, and the little girl was completely covered in it. Her footsteps became heavier, and one foot bent a piece of rice root, but her back was not crushed by the rice. The only slight bend was just to make it easier to carry the rice.
When everyone in the field looked up, they were stunned by the scene. They didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and they were a little worried. Someone immediately shouted, "Sister Shu, don't be impatient when working. You have to be careful."
Wei Jingshu was full of energy and answered forcefully: "Thank you, uncle, I know."
She easily passed Liu Shoushan and put the rice in the yard after returning home. At that time, Wei Yu had not set out yet, so she asked Wei Yu to go to the halfway point of the mountain with a knife, and she went back to carry another bundle of rice.
Li Rou quickly poured sweet mountain spring water, and Liu Shoushan drank it in one gulp, panting slightly, and said: "Your sister Shu is a lucky one. Even I envy her strength."
Li Rou nodded gently: "Yes, I am satisfied that Shu can get better."
Liu Dashan noticed the flatness of Li Rou's lower abdomen, but did not say much, just took note, and then pointed to the distance: "I'll go and do my work first, and let your aunt come to see you when I have time."
Here, Wei Jingshu quickly brought another bundle of rice home, and followed to Aunt Wang's house with two fish. Aunt Wang's family had a total of five people, a couple, two sons, and a daughter-in-law. The eldest son took his wife to the county to make a living a few years ago, and the second son also went to the county to study recently, leaving only the couple.
Aunt Wang warmly welcomed Wei Jingshu into the house and waved to Liu Shoushan, saying, "Boss, please prepare all the fish you caught last time and take them back for Shujie to eat. The loofah..."
Aunt Wang paused, then smiled and said, "It's for your sister-in-law, right? I'll make it for you, just take it back."
Aunt Wang's enthusiasm completely exceeded Wei Jingshu's expectations. No matter what she said, Aunt Wang insisted on keeping her for dinner. Even when she saw her about to leave, she hurriedly grabbed her and said, "Shujie, don't you like me?"
"No, Aunt Wang." Wei Jingshu waved her hands in panic. She has always commanded her subordinates directly and had never encountered such a situation. She explained, "Xiaoyu is still waiting for me on the mountain. It will be dangerous if it's too late."
Seeing that she was serious, Aunt Wang sighed regretfully, went to get a full cloth bag of loofah and stuffed it into her hand: "Take it. If you don't have enough, come to me for more."
Wei Jingshu only took two, leaving the two big fish, and ran away.
"This girl." Aunt Wang shook her head helplessly and took the big fish left by Wei Jingshu into the kitchen and handed it to Liu Shoushan.
Liu Shoushan also told Aunt Wang what he saw at the Wei family.
"The three of them are not here." Aunt Wang understood, "No wonder Shujie dared to exchange the fish for loofah. If the three of them were here, the fish would not have reached the hands of the aunts and sisters-in-law."
"Well, you go to help Shujie deal with the food tomorrow and teach Shujie to hide some. Dashan was very kind to us when he was alive. Now that he is gone, we can't just stand by and watch his wife and family." He
said he would not stand by and watch, but he had been standing by and watching for half a year. In the final analysis, it was the Zhou family of three who were really too much.
The two of them fell silent for a moment, and no one spoke. It was Liu Shoushan who moved first. He processed the fish he had planned to cook, as well as the fish sent by Wei Jingshu. Aunt Wang also peeled a few loofahs, soaked them in salt water, and made the soup herself. She then brought a small jar and poured the soup into it, muttering, "Send all of these tomorrow and ask the Dashan family to hide them in the cellar. When they have time, pour them out and heat them up. They will be enough to eat for a few days."
Liu Shoushan nodded in agreement and sighed, "Fortunately Sister Shu is not stupid anymore and she is still strong. Otherwise, I wouldn't dare to give them these things."
The two smiled at each other.