Chapter 55: Watching the Clouds Roll By (3rd update)
The snow had completely melted, the weather was getting warmer, and the river level was rising. Qin Yao did not allow her children to play by the river.
Dalang and Erlang's daily morning run resumed as the snow melted.
The first thing to do before spring plowing is to harvest the wheat planted in late autumn last year to make room for planting rice.
Regarding this matter, Qin Yao and Liu Ji strangely reached a tacit understanding of "I won't tell you if you don't mention it."
February is already halfway through, and farmers are busy in the fields. These days, all members of the Liu family, young and old, men, women, and children, are out at the old house.
Even Jinhua, who was just six years old, had to go out with the adults, carrying a small backpack on her back. While the adults were busy in the fields, she and her cousin Jinbao would cut wild vegetables on the ridges of the fields and bring them home to feed the chickens.
Amid the busy main theme of Liujia Village, Qin Yao's family, who live alone at the bottom of the north slope, seem out of place.
Early in the morning, while others carried hoes and shoulder poles to go to the fields to harvest wheat, their stepmother was the only one running around the village with her four stepsons.
After running, Qin Yao could occasionally be seen carrying the two extra-large buckets she had ordered from Carpenter Liu and going to the village well to fetch water.
Other people had to run two trips to fill a tank of water, but she filled two tanks at home with one trip.
Then, smoke rises, and a strong aroma of food wafts over the hillside covered with wild flowers.
When the villagers go home for breakfast, the sound of children reading can be heard from her house.
At noon, the farmers continued to work in the fields, and her house became unusually quiet. Occasionally, someone passed by the river and leaned forward to eavesdrop, and could hear a slight snoring.
In the afternoon, there was another burst of "hehehe" sounds of martial arts practice in the yard.
The smoke from the hillside rose the earliest. Before the sunset, the smoke had already drifted onto the roof.
When the farmers returned home carrying their farm tools in the moonlight, the small courtyard on the hillside was already silent and the whole family had fallen asleep.
What kind of life is this?
Just eating and drinking, sitting and watching the clouds roll by in the sky. It is a life that even gods dare not imagine!
Finally, Old Man Liu could no longer sit still. After harvesting all the wheat at home, he immediately sent his second daughter-in-law, who had just become pregnant and was sitting idle, to ask about the situation.
"Just ask the third brother if we can survive like this! If we don't harvest the wheat and plant the land, are we going to starve?"
Liu Zhong watched his wife take their daughter out, and looked at the anxious old man Liu, adding fuel to the fire.
"Dad, don't you see whether there is more grass or wheat in those two acres of land? The third brother's family didn't take care of it for the whole winter. I don't think they can harvest more than a few kilograms of grain."
The fields reclaimed from the wasteland were originally inferior and barren land. If they were not carefully managed, there would be no hope of producing anything.
When Old Man Liu heard this, he stood up and said, "I'm going out for a while."
Even though he didn't say where he was going, everyone knew he was going to find the third brother.
Land and food are the foundation of farmers' survival. They can still survive without food, but without land, there is no hope of survival.
Qiu and Jinhua walked slowly, and just as they reached the river, they were caught up by Old Man Liu, who told them to go home and he would go and talk to them in person.
Mrs. Qiu looked at the small courtyard on the other side of the river, smiled helplessly, and took her daughter back.
Qin Yao guessed that Old Man Liu would come sooner or later.
Just as the old man arrived at the gate, Qin Yao, who was basking in the sun on a bamboo chair in the yard, immediately kicked Liu Ji, who was dozing off on the washbasin, to wake him up.
"Your father is here."
"What?" Liu Ji wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth and raised his head in confusion. He no longer looked so charming and suave. "What father? What do you mean by father?"
As soon as Old Man Liu stepped into the gate, he heard these words. He looked at Liu Ji, who looked sleepy and lazy, and shouted with full energy: "Your father is here!"
At this moment, Liu Ji was completely awakened from his sleep. He looked at the old man Liu who came in aggressively in surprise, and asked cautiously while backing away:
"Dad, what's up? Have you eaten yet? Come in and rest for a while?"
"Take a break?" Old man Liu raised his hand and slapped Liu Ji on the back of his head. "I've harvested all the wheat at home, and you're still taking a nap? Are you not going to harvest the wheat in the fields? What's the plan for spring ploughing this year? Do you have any idea?"
Liu Ji hugged his head and rushed to Qin Yao's side, saying in a cowardly manner: "Dad, my wife is the head of the outside world and I am the head of the inside world. I don't understand these things. Why are you hitting me? Ask her!"
Qin Yao stood up uncomfortably and coughed twice. Knowing that she couldn't avoid what was coming, she forced a smile at the corner of her mouth, "Dad."
Don't hit someone who smiles at you, let alone the other person's daughter-in-law.
Old man Liu took a deep breath and tried to put on a kind look, but his twitching eyebrows made him look very angry.
"Please sit inside." Qin Yao raised her hand and pointed to the main room.
While Liu Lao Han was in the house and his back was turned away, he kicked Liu Ji who was standing beside him, "Go, bring Dad a bowl of hot water, you have no sense at all!"
Liu Ji rolled his eyes to the sky and waved his fist at Qin Yao's back in defiance. With a glance from the corner of his eye, he saw four little heads stacked on the windowsill, smiling with their teeth showing.
"What are you looking at! Have you finished practicing your calligraphy?" Liu Ji shouted sternly.
The four little heads immediately shrank back and continued to sit in front of the big desk, using branches as pens and writing in a wooden tray filled with fine sand.
Old man Liu glanced at the children's room curiously, "Still practicing calligraphy?"
Qin Yao sat down on the stool opposite him, nodded and said, "Didn't Liu Ji go to the county town to study for a year and a half? It's not in vain. It's just right to teach the four children at home some characters. Now that the children are young and have good memory, let them learn more."
Old Man Liu was even more surprised, "Can he still be a teacher?"
Liu Ji came in with hot water and placed it next to Old Man Liu, revealing a smug smile: "This is not difficult, just teach them to read and write, they will learn it after practicing."
It was easy to say, but only Qin Yao knew that he was so angry at the four kids that he almost wanted to hang himself.
But after all, we are one family, so there is no need to tell others these details.
Hearing that Liu Ji was still of some use, Old Man Liu's anger subsided a lot, but he did not forget the purpose of his visit. He asked Qin Yao if she had any ideas about spring plowing.
Qin Yao knew at a glance that the old man had something to say, so she went along with him and asked for his advice.
Old man Liu drank half a bowl of hot water, looked up at the stretch of fertile land to the east of the village, and said shrewdly:
"In my opinion, forget about buying land. It's better to take advantage of your favor to Liu Dafu and ask him to rent twenty acres of fertile land to you."
He had calculated that the output of 20 acres of good land, minus the rent and one-fifteenth of the grain tax, would allow him to have more than 4,000 kilograms of grain in his hands if he planted two crops a year.
Counting it all in silver, the income is twenty-five taels. After deducting some expenses on farm tools, twenty taels can be saved.
A family of two adults and four children cannot worry about food and clothing, but they can get by.
Moreover, it is not too tiring for two people to farm twenty acres of land. Qin Yao is so strong that she might even find it easy.
After listening to Old Man Liu's plan, Qin Yao thought to herself, Dad, farming and killing people are two completely different things. You really think too highly of me.
She couldn't even grow two acres of wheat last year, let alone twenty acres?
(End of this chapter)