Chapter 434 - 432: Busy Autumn Harvest
Li Xiangyang placed the wrapped joss paper into the large basket and said to Lin Lan, "After the rice is harvested, Douzi will have his entrance exams."
"That’s right! He’s full of confidence, but I think he’s a little young. I’m afraid he won’t be able to keep up."
Old Li put down the wooden mallet and said, "Lin Lan, Douzi can focus. He’s got a sharp mind and a good memory, so don’t you worry!"
"After the Ghost Festival comes the Mid-Autumn Festival," Lin Lan added. "I still need to prepare the ingredients to make mooncakes."
"I heard my brother say the Jin family sent some mountain goods down?"
"Mhm! They came a few days ago and brought a lot of dried mushrooms and vermicelli. They said they’ll bring down beans and pumpkins after the Ghost Festival. They also collected some wild beehives in the mountains to take back, so they’ll be able to harvest honey this time. They even said they’d bring me some next time."
"There are many things in the mountains that could sell for money, but it’s all for nothing if you can’t transport them out." Li Xiangyang smiled at Lin Lan. "No wonder you once said, ’To get rich, you must first build a road.’"
Old Li laughed. "Little Lan is right. If a tractor road could be built at a place like Shishanling, you could get a tractor in there. You could bring them grain and bring their mountain goods out to sell."
Lin Lan recalled her trip to Shishanling, the memory of that narrow path up the mountain still making her shudder. "You’re right. The mountain roads are so hard to walk. Not only are they winding and twisting, but there’s a sheer drop right below. If you fell, they’d never even find your body."
Li Xiangyang also remembered how her legs had gone soft with fear last time. He said with a grin, "You came from the mountains yourself, but you’re not even as good at walking the mountain paths as I am!"
Lin Lan shot him a sideways glance. "You’re Master Li. I’m not."
The three of them finished wrapping and labeling all the joss paper before packing up to rest.
On the day of the Ghost Festival, Old Li took Li Xiangyang and Lin Lan to burn joss paper for their relatives and ancestors. As he burned the paper, he murmured prayers, asking their departed family to bless them and ensure everything went smoothly...
「Early on the morning of the sixteenth day of the seventh lunar month」, Lin Lan and Li Xiangyang rode their bikes through the vehicle factory’s alleyway and passed the Eucalyptus Forest. They saw several ripe pumpkins on the vines at the edge of the woods.
After leaving the Eucalyptus Forest, they saw that the rice paddies on both sides of the main road were a sea of gold.
The autumn wind rustled, and the heavy heads of rice in the paddies swayed rhythmically, carrying waves of the grain’s fragrance toward them.
The two sped up, pedaling their bikes to Lin Lan’s family home. They could already see people busy harvesting in the rice paddies.
The harvesters swung their sickles rapidly. With a series of SWISHES, they felled row after row of rice stalks.
Two children, around ten years old, gathered the sheaves and handed them to the adults standing before a threshing tub. Amidst the THUMP-THUMP of the threshing, grains of rice rained down into the tub.
Lin Lan saw that there were already people in the field behind her grandmother’s house. "We’re late," she said to Li Xiangyang.
Li Xiangyang checked the time. "It’s already 6:30. We’ll come earlier tomorrow."
They pushed their bikes into the courtyard. The yard had been swept clean, and there wasn’t a single piece of clothing on the laundry pole—even the towels had been taken down, all in preparation for drying the harvested rice.
Wangcai wagged his tail enthusiastically, weaving in and out between their legs.
Lin Lan pointed to the meat and large bone in the wicker backpack. "Good boy, I bought you a big bone today." ’He really seems to understand what people say,’ she thought.
Wangcai looked up at her and barked twice. WOOF WOOF.
Li Xiangyang ruffled the fur on his head. "Watch the house, boy. We’re going to harvest the rice."
Hearing the noise, Lin Hong ran out of the house. "Auntie, Uncle! My dad and grandpa already left a while ago. Little Jun and I are staying home to dry the rice. Grandma, my mom, and Second Aunt went to the restaurant and will be back at noon. Great-Aunt and the others have all come to help."
Lin Lan nodded and smiled. "Good girl! There’s fruit and vegetables in the wicker backpack. Take it inside, and put the meat on a wicker tray to air out."
She had bought about ten jin of muskmelons, two large watermelons, and some meat and vegetables.
"Oh! Take the tea with you when you go," Lin Hong said, heading for the kitchen.
Lin Lan and Li Xiangyang followed her into the kitchen and saw a bucket filled to the brim with black tea.
Lin Hong placed a ceramic mug inside. "I was just about to wake Little Jun up to help me carry it over."
"You stay here. Your aunt and uncle will carry it over."
Lin Lan and Li Xiangyang carried the bucket to the large field behind her grandmother’s house. They saw a patch in the middle of the field, about the size of a threshing tub, that had been flattened by the strong winds a few days ago.
Lin Changyou had been worried that if it rained heavily, the flattened rice would sprout.
They saw Wu Shufang and her two daughters-in-law hunched over, grabbing the rice stalks with their left hands and wielding sickles with their right. They swung the blades quickly, and rows of felled stalks lined up neatly in the field.
The protective screen for the threshing tub was set aside on the ridge of the field, unused. At the four corners of the tub stood Lin Guoliang and his brother, and Zhou Shitou and his brother. The four of them rhythmically swung the sheaves of rice, THUD-THUD, THUD-THUD, beating the grain loose.
Lin Changyou and Zhou Dashan were using carrying poles to help hand over the sheaves and were also busy tying up the rice straw.
After the rice straw was turned and dried in the sun for two days, it would take on a golden hue. They would take advantage of the good weather to carry it home and stack it in the woodshed.
Back then, rice straw had many uses. The best-dried straw was saved for bedding, padding bed boards, and feeding cattle; the rest was used as firewood.
The pair set down the tea bucket, and Lin Lan called out to Lin Guoliang and the others, "Dad, Big Brother, the tea is here."
Lin Changyou turned his head and glanced at her. "Just leave it there."
Lin Lan took a sickle from a basket, handed a straw hat to Li Xiangyang, put one on herself, and went down into the field toward the uncut rice.
Li Xiangyang said to Shi Song, "Cousin, take a break. I’ll take over."
Shi Song smiled and shook his head. "Cousin-in-law, it’s fine. I’ve only been here for half an hour."
Lin Changyou waved Li Xiangyang over. "Xiangyang, you come help pass the sheaves. I’ll go tie the straw."
"Alright." Li Xiangyang took over Lin Changyou’s position.
Lin Lan walked over to the uncut rice and said with a smile to Wu Shufang and her two daughters-in-law, "Aunt, Cousins-in-law, thank you for your hard work."
Li Xiaofeng and Xu Hongju smiled and shook their heads. "It’s no trouble." With that, they bent down and briskly got back to work.
Wu Shufang straightened up and laughed. "What’s so hard about this little bit of work? The yield is good this year. The ears of rice are so long!"
Lin Lan said, her face flushing, "I’ve barely come to look twice. My dad and my brother have been taking care of it all."
Wu Shufang chuckled. "What’s there to be embarrassed about with your own father and brother? Besides, they’re much better at farm work than you are."
"Mhm!" Lin Lan bent down and began to cut quickly.
The sickles for harvesting rice were different from those for cutting grass. The blade was shaped like a crescent moon with a serrated edge, so the locals also called it a "saw-toothed sickle." Every year before the harvest, they had to be sent to a blade-sharpener to be honed.
Before long, the sun came out. The "autumn tiger" was especially fierce, and the sun beat down on the harvesters’ exposed skin, making it burn and sting.
Everyone was too busy to even wipe away their sweat, all focused on getting the rice harvested quickly. If they took advantage of the clear skies and strong sun, it would only take two or three days of intense sunning to dry completely.
If they didn’t seize the good weather to dry the grain, a sudden rain could soak it, causing it to spoil and sprout. And you couldn’t use grain like that to pay the public grain tax.