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"Mom, let do the rest." Zhang Shan Ni saw that it was already past four in the afternoon and didn’t want to stay inside any longer, so she straightened her clothes and went to the front yard.
At this ti, Xie Tiesheng had already gone to the fields, only Zhou Xiuhua and Xiao Liu’er were in the house.
"Second Aunt!" These past few days, Xiao Liu had been playing alone at ho. Apart from playing with Mao Mao, he could only stay in his own yard. Usually, Xiao Si, Xiao Wu, and Xiaoqi would accompany him, but now, all of a sudden, his little friends at ho were gone, and Xiao Liu felt wronged.
Luckily, there was still Second Aunt at ho. Every ti he saw Second Aunt, there would be tasty treats! In Xiao Liu’s little mind, Second Aunt equaled delicious goodies!
Now, seeing that Second Aunt, who hadn’t been seen for half a day, appeared, Xiao Liu excitedly threw himself into Zhang Shan Ni’s arms.
"Good boy, Xiao Liu, be careful not to fall! Here, have so candy to sweeten your mouth."
Zhang Shan Ni imdiately took out a small paper-wrapped oil package from her pocket, containing sugar cubes that she and her husband had bought from the supply and marketing cooperatives to give as gifts, with a few remaining that she had casually packed before leaving the house.
Choosing a small chunk the size of a thumb from it, she stuffed it into Xiao Liu’s little mouth.
The sugar cubes had already been divided into small pieces. After all, a cube was as big as half her palm; if not cut, it would just be cramd into the mouth, where one could only wait to drool embarrassingly.
"So sweet, thank you Second Aunt!"
"Good boy, go play over there, don’t get near the stove, okay?"
"Okay!" Xiao Liu knew the adults were busy, and with a piece of candy in his mouth, he felt even less inclined to throw a tantrum. He simply thought that ever since Second Aunt had arrived, he had lots of candy to eat!
"Ni, did you rest well?" Zhou Xiuhua saw that their commotion had subsided and that the Third Son’s Wife seed to have recovered, so she casually asked.
"Yeah." Zhang Shan Ni stiffened for a mont, then continued with what she was doing, "I’ve rested well, Mom, why don’t you take a break too? I’ll handle the rest."
Zhang Shan Ni took the heavy cleaver from Zhou Xiuhua’s hand and continued Zhou Xiuhua’s previous action of chopping pigweed.
"Ni, don’t worry, as soon as San’er applies to the Suirong Guard, you’ll be reunited!" Zhou Xiuhua was paying attention to her expression, and when she stopped, Zhou Xiuhua noticed and said a comforting word.
"It’s okay, Mom, I’m not that fragile. I’ll live my life well," Zhang Shan Ni said as the knife in her hand went ’chop chop chop’, but she quickly changed the subject, "By the way, Mom, I still don’t know where our family’s fields are." [Note, the decollectivization of land in Anhui Province happened in 1978, but here Ranran assud it was at the beginning of the year.]
"Ah, our fields are all collectively located in the River Middle Domain area. Tomorrow, follow to weed, and you’ll know," said Zhou Xiuhua.
"Oh, okay."
"Ah, it’s really better to have the land decollectivized. You get as much as you put in, which is much stronger than the collective system before!" Zhou Xiuhua muttered softly at the end, her voice almost lost in her mouth.
After all, at this ti, the Party’s policies had just been implented. The oppressed farrs and youth of the past decade or so felt both happy and afraid, fearing that the policies might change again soday!
Especially since they had heard from their sons at the end of last year about the restoration of the college entrance examination, she felt a new hope in her heart!
Progressive tis, they ant more opportunities for the grandchildren. Even her sons would have an easier future.
After listening, Zhang Shan Ni wanted to respond, but then she thought that what her mother-in-law had just said was almost mumbled under her tongue, hardly clear to anyone; she might as well pretend she hadn’t heard it.
"Mom, is it almost ti for the harvest in the fields?" As Zhang Shan Ni was pouring the pigweed into the hot pot and stirring, she asked while working.
"It’ll still be more than half a month. The weather has been good this year, so the rice seems to be maturing a few days earlier than past years. It should be ready for harvest in about two decads."
"Oh, right, Mom, how much farmland do we have?" She genuinely didn’t know when it ca to this.
"Quite a lot. With many mouths to feed, we need more. We have a good seventeen mu [Ranran’s fictional setting], which is not a small amount."
Of course, there are many others in the village with even more land.
However, the situation of the Xie Family is sowhat exceptional. Despite having a large population, only a few n in the family are capable of performing heavy farm labor. The daughters-in-law are all sharp and capable. With her health deteriorating over the past two years, her husband adamantly refused to cultivate more land, insisting that seventeen mu was sufficient.
Seventeen mu, that’s not much. Zhang Shan Ni recalled the original owner’s mories. The Zhang Family had just her as the strong labor force, but they also cultivated nine mu! Then Zhang Shan Ni carefully reviewed the original owner’s mories again and realized that nine mu was a significant amount, but it primarily relied on the original owner and her uncle’s male family mbers for help...
Zhang Zhiguo... Thinking of this body’s biological father, Zhang Shan Ni stroked her head:
The original owner knew that her father was weak, but in her heart, he was the kindest person to her in the family. Although she rarely got any good things from the family, on the one instance she did, it was her father who, against the dissent of Lin Zhaodi and her two sisters, secretly gave it to her. So, in the young original owner’s heart, her father was the only family mber who treated her kindly.
The next morning, Zhang Shan Ni indeed got up early, made breakfast, fed the pigs and chicken, and seeing that her in-laws were up, the family of three hurried through their al and went to their own farmland.
During this ti, Mr. Xie would co to tend the fields almost every day, and even Xie Jingwei, who had recently been lodging at his mother-in-law’s, was truly not slacking off. After eight in the morning, he would be at the field. The rice fields required water to be carried in, a task so exhausting that only he could manage.
Mr. Xie could only take on the task of weeding. It may seem simple, but with a wide area to cover—seventeen mu, each mu about six hundred and sixty-seven square ters... In total, Mr. Xie could, at most, tend to two or three mu a day...
Working in the fields is exceptionally hard work. You’re always squatting or bending over, and even strong n can’t endure it for long, let alone Mr. Xie, who is old and whose body certainly can’t hold up like a younger man’s.
Upon hearing that his wife and his third son’s wife wanted to go down to the fields to help with weeding, Mr. Xie wanted to dissuade them, but he sighed instead. The grandsons who had to go to school were attending, and those who weren’t were either at ho or at their grandmother’s. Right now, the only real help he had was from his third son’s wife.
As for his wife, lately Zhou Xiuhua often clutched at her chest, so Xie Tiesheng planned to have his wife return ho to cook once the third son’s wife got the hang of things.
No matter who got tired, she couldn’t be the one.
"Look, little girl, all of this is Old Xie Family’s farmland, it’s growing well, isn’t it!"
As Zhang Shan Ni followed her mother-in-law’s pointing finger and sweeping gaze, she saw the broad expanse of their own land, lush and green. At a closer look, the rice plants were all adorned with spikes, indicating a sure sign of a bountiful harvest to co!
Seeing the rice beginning to turn green and develop grains, the most critical task was to remove the weeds, otherwise the yield would definitely suffer.
"Little girl, the most urgent task at ho right now is weeding. Your eldest brother will carry water, so you start working alongside your mom here, I’ll go to the front."
"Ah, got it, Dad," Zhang Shan Ni nodded.
Knowing she was going to work in the fields, she’d already learned what she needed to pay attention to from the original host’s mories. Since she had gone out to the town or county town three or four tis before, her in-laws were aware of it, so when the mother-in-law saw her take out a pair of sowhat fashionable rubber shoes, the old lady said nothing.
Fashionable ans that at this ti, rubber shoes were not easy to co by and purchase, not that the rubber shoes Zhang Shan Ni brought out were particularly attractive or trendy. In fact, the rubber shoes she brought out, aside from their high cut, were greyish-black and devoid of any trendy appeal.
The Xie Family’s parents only thought it was the third son’s affectionate purchase for his wife.
In recent years, due to the influx of many urban educated young won marrying into rural areas, it was not unusual for new brides to buy a pair of rubber boots to facilitate fieldwork.
It’s just that the rain boots in Zhang Shan Ni’s hands were particularly high-cut, going up just below her knees, making for a full set of protection.
Xie Tiesheng and Zhou Xiuhua also saw nothing strange about it, both simply assuming it was a special item the third son had specially arranged for her.
Just how wide Xie Jingchen’s connections were had always been a source of pride for Xie Tiesheng and his wife!
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