Back to the Countryside

Chapter 63: 秋收 (Autumn Harvest) 

Part I

As the days passed by, the weather gradually started to become cool again. The peasants who were facing the earth with their backs towards the sky, finally welcoming the arrival of the long-awaited autumn harvest.They have worked hard all year, and this is the time they have been waiting for.

The land of Qi Yue's family is not much, but there are still five acres.It would take him some time to harvest alone, so He Ling went down to the field with him, despite his objections. He was so distressed by the blisters that appeared on his hand that were caused by the use of the sickle. Yet he couldn't win against the other party's stubbornness.He could only urge him to rest more while he worked.

        "Xiang Gong, you've never done this before,not skilled in this. I've been farming since I was a child so I can harvest quickly,  it's not tiring at all!" When he once again asked He Ling to go, sit down and drink some water but He Ling did not agree.

How could he sit there by himself and watch his husband work alone? 

    Qi Yue helped him wipe the sweat from his forehead and sighed, "I'm in better health than you, it's fine for me to do this."

        "My body is fine too. You've been helping me to recuperate every day, I'm fine now!" He Ling pulled his hand down, took it into his hand and shook it gently.

        "Then if you feel tired, please don't push yourself! Go and take a rest,okay?"

Qi Yue took his hand back to squeeze it, as he was feeling uneasy so he instructed him again.

        "Hn!" He Ling nodded his head, agreeing bluntly.In fact, he had been feeling weak for the past two days, but it was not a big problem.If he told him, his husband would be worried and would not let him go to the field again so he decided to keep it to himself and just endure it for a moment. 

        "Ling Ge'er!"

        The two of them were talking when they saw Xu Hua standing at the edge of the ground, waving at them. He was holding a sickle. When Xu Hua saw them turn to look at him, he got off the ground and walked over to them.

        "What are you doing here? Not harvesting?" He Ling was a little surprised.

At this time of year,everyone would have liked to have two extra hands to work yet how could he have the time to come looking for them?

        "Hey, that is just our family's one acre of dry land, the harvest will be finished in a couple of days.Besides, my dad helped out this year.Anyway, since I'm free and have my hands free, I will come to help you guys out!" Xu Hua thought that their family had five acres of land, so it would be slow for two people to do it. Father Xu didn't need him to take care of him for now, so he came to see.

He Ling didn't have to be polite when he heard that their land had already been harvested, as their friendship was now, with each passing day deepening so he didn't care about all the nonsense things. 

Having the extra person, especially the person who was a highly skilled farmer, doing the farm work, the result was indeed different. The harvest was finished soon. He Ling breathed a sigh of relief, seeing that the two of them weren't paying attention to him, he secretly rubbed his aching back. He didn't know if it was because he hadn't worked for so long that his back hurts so much after only working for a while. He must have been really spoiled by his husband.

On their side of the family, the land harvest was still easy and pleasant.On the other hand, the He family suffered from the indescribable misery. In previous years, all of the family members were the labourers so the harvesting of the land was very quick. Now, with only the two of them left, the ten acres of land was easier said than done. 

But it was really unbearable to let someone else harvest their land since the food paid for would be enough to feed them for a long time!

"When is this going to end? " Qian straightened up, looking at the golden wheat. She felt her arms ache, for in previous years, this time had always made her so happy that she couldn't keep her mouth shut.

"Is this the time for you to talk nonsense? By now, you could have harvested two more crops of wheat!" He Tian scolded her in a very bad mood, not even raising his head.

No matter how hard it was, the wheat still had to be harvested. They couldn't leave this good grain in the field alone and abandoned it since it was something that could be exchanged for silver.

"So much grain, it will be a difficult task to transport it back! " Qian said, remembering something else, therefore her tone became dissatisfied, "He Ling, that white eye wolf knows how to give his own ox cart to outsiders, but he doesn't know how to lend it to us too!"

As she said that, she cut the wheat crop as if it was He Ling's flesh. At least, she had raised him to be this big (into adult), yet he really didn't know how to be grateful!

He Tian pursed his lips but did not say anything, he was also angry, not only with He Ling, but also with He Zhen, who had not shown his face since the last time he returned and had caused his family to be in such a state. In spite of everything, how could he have a clear conscience to live comfortably in the landlord's house and not think of them at all?

Even if it was wrong to marry him off to an old man, he should not have held such a grudge against his biological parents, as a result he had been given a rich and prosperous life.

        It was also true.

"Hey, I wonder if A Gui at home alone can take care of the two kids?" As Qian cut the wheat, her thoughts began to run back to the home. 

He Gui has lost his leg, so naturally he could not work in the fields. He could only stay at home, look after the two small children. However, since he was not able to move easily, it was inevitable to let people worry.

"All right, just do your job! Do not need to keep concerned about everything groundlessly here!" He Tian was a bit impatient. He was already exhausted yet he had to listen to her chattering non stop in his ears!

Qian pouted her mouth, tried out again and said, "Dang jia ( Head of the family), why don't we use some silver to buy a cow and make an ox cart? Anyway, we still have some money."

Chapter 63: 秋收 (Autumn Harvest) 

Part 2

They hadn't touched the 20 taels of silver that the Ma family had given to them.They can spare ten taels to buy the bull so It didn't mean that they couldn't afford it. It would also give the family more labourer. 

        He Tian was a bit tempted, by having the bull, it would be much more relaxed and faster for them to transport the grain.

        Seeing that he seemed to have some interest, Qian made a push and added: "In the future, when it's the slack season ,can we also use the ox cart to earn money, just like the Zhao family?!"

        In any case, there were many people in the village so that one ox cart was not enough for everyone to come and go to the town. There was no such thing as robbing or not robbing other's business. This idea was still very feasible.

        Thinking of this, He Tian gritted his teeth and said, "I'll go to town tomorrow and have a look!"

        When Zheng Yue Feng came back to see them all working, he rolled up his sleeves and followed them to the ground energetically, saying that he wanted to experience the pleasure of harvesting the crops. 

       The sickle that worked so well in other people's hands, did not obey him, so he either destroyed the wheat or cut his own hand, which made him very depressed.

        "Young master, don't cause trouble here, will you? Go and sit at the edge of the field!" Xu Hua finally at his last straw, took away his blade and drove him out of the field.

        Zheng Yue Feng left with his head hanging down dispiritedly and sat under a tree by the ground.Once again, he sighed at his own uselessness.He only thought that Hua Ge'er was already working hard so he wanted to help him.

        Xu Hua looked at that person's face full of unhappiness and sighed.He knew how the other man felt but he had already cut himself several times. Although the cuts weren't that big, it still hurt a lot ah!

"If you're worried, go over there and take a look!" He Ling also stopped his hand and spoke to him, while taking out a small flat box from his pocket and handing it over

"I scratched my hand two days ago. Xiang Gong gave it to me, but I don't use it anymore. Go and apply it to him!"

        After a moment's hesitation, Xu Hua finally reached out and took it.No matter how much he ignored him on the outside, he was still concerned about him in his heart. 

        He went to the dejected man and sat down by his side. Zheng Yue Feng was surprised by this, Xu Hua took his hand and carefully applied the ointment to each wound."If you can't do it, don't do it! We don't lack one even  if you don't work."

        Zheng Yue Feng saw that although he had a stern face, the movements of his hands were very gentle.The unhappiness in his heart scattered cleanly."It's because I'm too useless, I can't do anything!"

    Xu Hua finished applying the medicine to him. After he heard what he said, he patted him on the head, "You've been pampered and spoiled since you were a child, so naturally you don't know how to do this.I also don't have the skills to manage so many shops either! "

        He touched the spot where he had patted him.Zheng Yue Feng's heart was sweet, his Hua Ge'er had a sharp tongue but a soft heart. He was afraid that he would be sad and came to comfort him.

        Seeing his smiling face, Xu Hua stood up and patted the mud from his clothes. He turned around and walked towards the field, saying: "If you really want to help, you can collect the wheat we cut. You can at least do this job ba!"

        "Ai," Zheng Yue Feng jumped up from the ground excitedly and went after him.

        He Ling was relieved to see the two of them coming back together. Zheng Yue Feng's temper was sometimes like a child's, it came and went quickly but he knew how to behave!

        Suddenly, his head felt dizzy and his body swayed along with it. He shook his head. His first reaction was to look behind him, he saw that Qi Yue was bending over to cut a bunch of wheat, not paying attention to him. He sighed with relief and patted his cheek, feeling a little more awake.

        Humans really can't rest all the time, the more you rest, the more your body won't do. He used to be able to do so much work even though he was not well, but now he supplements his health every day, yet still suffers from many ailments. 

        "What's wrong?" When Qi Yue got up, he saw him standing motionless, his eyes dull, not knowing what he was thinking, so he went to him and touched the side of his sweaty face.

        He Ling was startled, turned his head, looked at him, and immediately shook his head, "It's nothing, I'm just happy to think that their relationship is getting better and better."

        Qi Yue glanced over at the two of them and turned back to him, wrinkling his brow, "I think you don't look good, where are you not feeling well?"

        At his question, He Ling felt a little guilty, he hurriedly lifted the corners of his mouth to smile, "How could that be? If I am not feeling well, I would have told you. It's you who's been exhausted these days, isn't it?"

        As he said this, he raised his hand to use his sleeve to wipe away the sweat that had slipped down from the other party's forehead. He also paid attention and straightened the strands of hair on his face. He felt a little distressed over him. 

        "Your Xiang Gong, I am very well!" Qi Yue took his hand, put it to his lips and kissed it, then moved to his ear and smiled naughtily, "How is Wei Fu's physical strength? Isn't it you who knows best?"

        He Ling was so frightened that he hurriedly covered his mouth.Only when he saw that the two people were lowering their head and working on their own did he let go of his hand and punched him on the chest, feeling embarrassed, " We are outside! how can you say that?!"

        Seeing that his face was tinted with a layer of red, therefore he looked more refreshed, Qi Yue was not so worried anymore. Pressing his hand to his chest, he said, " Fine. From now on, I will only say this to my Fu Lang alone."

        He Ling pulled his hand out and turned his body, lowering his head to cut the wheat and paying no more attention to this man who always messed with him.He was getting more and more bad, only know how to tease him!

        Seeing that his little Fu Lang was really annoyed, Qi Yue had the good sense not to provoke him any further but to wait until this busy period of farming had passed. Then he would give the other party a good look at his health.