Rural Woman's True Colors 037: The Extreme Quality of Liu Erjia's Family

  Although the land is small and there are many people, everyone gets up early, but by the time the wheat is cut, it's already past noon. A few people sit on the ground, eating big buns with salted vegetables, drinking a few mouthfuls of water, taking a short rest, and then starting to plant corn.

  Lu Danni and Liu Shu were working while watching Yang Tao's strong desire to learn, so they slowly told him.

  At this time, it's best to plant corn before wheat is harvested. By the time the wheat is harvested, the corn seedlings will have already emerged green and shiny. However, when harvesting wheat, be careful not to trample the young shoots. Because grandma's land is far from home, they usually wait until after the wheat harvest to plant, but fortunately, the wheat stubble is still there, so it won't be too dry. If it rains a little after planting corn, this year's harvest will be guaranteed.

  Yang Tao was now so tired that she just wanted to lie down and take a nap, but it seemed that today's lunch break was not going to happen. On the one hand, she was secretly admiring how rural life also had many things to learn from, on the other hand, she felt a sense of melancholy, it seemed that the ancients were indeed not deceiving me, who knew that the food in the plate, every grain was hard-earned, and it really wasn't something used to deceive later generations of children.

  Fortunately, the villagers' expectations for girls are not that high, so even if she doesn't do anything, except for Lu Dahei who would make faces and stick out his tongue behind the adults' backs, no one else would say anything.

  That day, when they returned home, the uncles put the wheat in the courtyard next to Liu Aunt's house, preparing to wait until everyone's wheat was cut and then thresh the wheat together, which means removing the grains from the ears of wheat. Grandma took Yang Tao and Pei Yifan back home.

  At dinner time, grandma used those slightly green wheat ears to tie them up neatly, a few of which were placed in the pot for porridge and steamed, leaving a few small handfuls for Yang Tao and Pei Yifan to burn and eat. Yang Tao saw that grandma first burned the wheat husks, then slowly put the wheat ears on the fire to roast, and the pot was still emitting steam, and those in the fire were roasted to maturity.

  Yang Tao smelled the fragrance and didn't fear the heat, hastily picking it up to eat. Immediately, she wiped a small black mouthful. Pei Yifan, although eating slightly more elegantly, also had both hands turn black. The two people laughed at each other while making an effort to eat the roasted wheat, Yang Tao still feeling that this was her first time eating such a primitive thing, thinking it smelled so good and had a great texture.

  In the following days, Yang Tao originally wanted to follow Lu Danni and several other families to harvest wheat, but Lu Danni and the others insisted that Yang Tao not go again.

  "Tom, in two more days, you'll be as dark as your big brother. " Mrs. Lu said with a smile. "Just stay at home and help us keep an eye on those naughty little things, don't let them run wild everywhere, we'll also save a lot of worry."

  "Right, Peach, you see, I don't even let your sister come. These little girls can just embroider flowers at home and help with the chores, if it weren't for the tiger's mouth snatching food, in these few days, we aunties wouldn't go either." said Liu Auntie.

  Yang Tao thought to herself, actually going to the fields was mainly for fun, she couldn't really help much and might even cause some trouble, not being able to do much work, if she got exhausted, everyone would still have to take care of her.

  It's actually not easy taking care of the kids either. If it weren't for her having a way with them, those mischievous brats like Er Ya and Xiao Yu Shui Xiang would have driven her crazy long ago.

  When the wheat was harvested, the adults were all busy. As long as there were no elderly people at home to take care of the children, they basically followed Er Ya Tou and came to listen to Yang Tao tell stories, so there were more and more children.

  Grandma is still busy with the wheat every day, although her legs and feet are not very agile, but during the day when there are mostly no people at home, she can still take care of some things in the yard with the wives who cannot go to the fields to work. At night, it's the men's turn to take over.

  On this day, Grandma went to the yard as usual after dinner. Pei Yifan washed the dishes and said she was going to find Grandma. Yang Tao embroidered a pillowcase slowly while waiting for Da Yatou and Er Yatou, but unexpectedly no one else came except for Xiaoyu and Shuixiang.

  "Big sister Peach, big sister Peach." Xiaoyu and Shuixiang apparently ran over like the wind, stopping suddenly at the gate without entering the courtyard. "It's not good, big sister Peach, Liu Erniang is quarreling with grandma, and Erniang told me to call you quickly to take a look, saying it's because of your family's wheat." Xiaoyu and Shuixiang were young in age but quick-witted in speech.

  Liu Erniang? Yang Tao stood up, and although she had never seen Liu Erniang before, her reputation was well-known to everyone. But why would Liu Erniang quarrel with Grandma? She quickly put the pillow back in the house, closed the door, and followed Shuixiang and Xiaoyu hastily towards the courtyard.

  That wheat threshing ground, Yang Tao went there once on the day of wheat harvest, it's a large empty land next to Liu Aunt's house. It is said that the family surrounded by bluestone walls across the threshing ground is Liu Er Aunt's home, which looks more prosperous than Liu Aunt's home.

  "You're a scoundrel, watching me get bullied like this and not saying a word to help me, instead you're speaking up for outsiders. I'm done for." Before they even arrived at their destination, Yang Tao heard a sharp, piercing sound, followed by a long, drawn-out wail that reached his ears.

  Yang Tao squeezed to the front and saw a young woman with disheveled hair, half-lying and half-sitting in the middle of the courtyard, crying and wailing. Next to her stood a young man who looked very similar to Liu Shu, trying to persuade her with an embarrassed face. However, the woman not only refused to listen but became even more boisterous, hitting and scolding the man.

  Grandma stood aside, holding Pei Yifan's hand with one hand and secretly wiping away tears with the other. Liu Auntie, Lu Dainiang, and several daughters-in-law were whispering something to Grandma beside her.

  "Grandma!" Yang Tao ran to Grandma's side. "What's wrong?"

  "Second Aunt, no one wants to bully you, hurry up and get up. Everyone is watching, and this is making a joke of us." Liu Aunt saw that everyone was staring at the whispering between Liu Er's family, and no one came forward to persuade them. She had intended to ignore it, but ultimately felt that they were her own family members, and she couldn't bear the loss of face, so she quickly walked up and said.

  "Whoever wants to laugh can go ahead and laugh! I'm just not convinced, why did they have to hit my house first? In previous years, didn't they always give her family a head start? I think it's because there are only old folks and young kids in her household, we've never competed with them before! How come this year the scene is not well controlled, and they want to hit my house first? Isn't that just bullying me for being honest?

  Liu Erjia's saw Liu Aunt coming to persuade him, but instead became even more agitated. "And you too, don't need to pretend to be a good person here, whoever laughs at me, I think you're the one who wants to laugh at me the most!"

  Yang Tao heard her say something unpleasant, opened his mouth and was about to go forward, but was pulled by Road Daigne.

  "Peach, don't bother, Aunt Liu will tell her herself!"

  "Your aunt, you're speaking out of turn! I'm your sister-in-law, why would I want to see you ridiculed? It's just that this year we said we'd harvest your family's first, not for the reason you mentioned, but because your family's wheat was ready a day earlier than Old Lady Pei's. If we didn't harvest it, it would have been ruined. So everyone decided to prioritize yours, if you're not willing, then whose should we do first?" As expected, Liu aunt held back her anger and didn't let out a word against Liu Erjia's family.

  "What you said sounds better than singing, so why don't you just go out and sing a song, show your face and earn some money. Who among the neighbors doesn't know that I've been oppressed by you since I followed Old Liu's family? Now everyone is watching! You're being bullied by others, but instead of helping me, you're turning against me and helping outsiders. Oh heavens! Why is my life so bitter...!" The Liu family's wife really wasn't one to hold back tears, and after hearing what was said, she burst into a fit of sobbing."

  Yang Tao was stunned, and every time she read a novel, there would be some extreme settings that weren't just made up by the authors. This appearance of Liu Er's family was even more extreme than those she had seen in books before!