80s Transmigration: The Young Widow's Hustle to Riches

Lin Lan bent over, swinging her sickle nonstop. The serrated rice leaves brushed against her arms and the backs of her hands, leaving red lines on her fair skin and face that were startling to see.

Lin Guoliang scooped the threshed grain from the tub into carrying baskets. Then he and Li Xiangyang hoisted them onto their shoulders with poles and started back.

The group dragged the threshing tub forward a section. Zhou Dashan said to Lin Lan, "Little Lan, go with Xiangyang to carry the grain back and spread it out to dry."

"I don’t know how to dry grain," Lin Lan said to Wu Shufang with a smile. "Auntie, you should go back and take a look."

The autumn sun was always harsh and scorching. Her aunt and two cousins-in-law had come to help with the harvest, and as the host, it wouldn’t look right for her to slack off instead of working hard.

Wu Shufang smiled. "Lin Hong and Little Jun are there. We’ll head back after we finish reaping this field."

Lin Changyou wiped his sweat with the towel around his neck. "Little Lan is reaping pretty fast. Much better than before."

Lin Lan set down the sheaf of rice she had just cut and glanced at him proudly. "Have you forgotten, Dad? I spent the better part of last year cutting grass for the cows. I’m well-practiced now."

Lin Guodong teased, "It’s a good thing you’ve had practice. I was afraid you were going to cut your fingers!"

"Second Brother, you underestimate me!" Lin Lan said, grinning at him. "I bought over a dozen pounds of muskmelons and two big watermelons. When you carry the grain back later, have Little Hong lower them into the well to cool. They’ll be perfect for eating when we finish work."

He loved yellow muskmelons; he could eat two or three in one go.

Lin Guodong took a sheaf of rice and slammed it forcefully against the wall of the threshing tub. After knocking the grains loose in a few swift motions, he said loudly, "Melons chilled in the well are still the best. The ones from the fridge are too cold; they give me an upset stomach."

Zhou Shisong stood the clean-threshed straw up beside the tub and chuckled. "I think the frozen ones are better. They’re so refreshing they cool you to the core."

Wu Shufang said, "I made a basin of ice jelly this morning, too. It’s hanging in the well. When we’re done, I’ll tell your cousin to go back and get it."

"Alright!"

Everyone chatted as they worked, their hands never pausing for a moment.

Li Xiangyang and Lin Guoliang arrived home with their loads of grain, dumping the contents of the baskets onto the courtyard. "Little Hong, hurry up and spread this out to dry."

The blazing sun had heated the cement-paved courtyard until it was scorching hot.

Lin Hong ran out of the house. "Dad, my brother and Little Qing went to catch fish."

Lin Guoliang put the carrying baskets away. "Just ignore him. When he gets back, I’ll treat him to a good old-fashioned caning."

Seeing Lin Hong struggling, Li Xiangyang said, "Brother Guoliang, Little Hong can’t possibly spread all this grain by herself. You should call someone back from the fields to help."

Lin Guoliang nodded. "Alright. I’ll help her spread it out."

"Little Hong, give the grain rake to your uncle."

Li Xiangyang took the grain rake from Lin Hong, and together with Lin Guoliang, they spread the pile of grain in a few swift motions.

The wooden grain rake was quite similar to a nine-tined rake. There was another kind, called a straw rake, that had a handle made of Moso bamboo and tines made of thick iron wire.

The freshly harvested grain was heavy with moisture and still contained a lot of straw. A bamboo-tined rake couldn’t pull the straw out from the heavy grain; you needed an iron-tined rake to clear out the debris.

Lin Guoliang reminded Lin Hong, "The sun is strong today, so be sure to turn the grain often." With that, he and Li Xiangyang shouldered their carrying poles and baskets and left.

When the two men got back to the paddy, Lin Guoliang said to Lin Lan and the others, "One of you needs to go back and tend to the drying grain. Little Hong isn’t strong enough, and I’m worried she can’t handle it on her own."

Lin Lan said to Wu Shufang, "Auntie, you should go back and do it."

Wu Shufang glanced at the red lines on Lin Lan’s face and smiled. "You go. We don’t enjoy drying the grain."

Xu Hongju added, "Little Lan, you should be the one to go. Little Feng and I are both afraid of your dog, Wangcai."

Lin Lan had no choice but to nod. She laughed, "Thanks for your hard work, Auntie, and my dear cousins-in-law. I’m off to take a break, then."

Everyone laughed.

Li Xiangyang glanced at the marks on her face, then resumed swinging the sheaf of rice in his hands, slamming it forcefully against the wall of the tub again and again.

Lin Lan walked back briskly. In an adjacent paddy, she saw a few children gathered, catching locusts.

Children loved the ones with thick, green legs. They would string their catch on a stalk of barnyard grass and take them home to roast over a fire.

When she got home, she saw Wangcai sprawled at the entrance to the courtyard, panting in the heat with its tongue hanging out.

Entering the courtyard, she saw Lin Hong clumsily wielding the grain rake, putting all her effort into the task. Lin Lan smiled and approached her. "Go rest in the shade. Give the rake to your auntie."

Lin Hong wiped a bead of sweat from her brow. "Auntie, drying grain is such hot work!" Back in Shilian, her family only had the grain from their private plot, which her parents always dried themselves.

Lin Lan nodded with a smile. "It is. Being a farmer is tough, isn’t it? You should study hard, so you can work in an office like your Third Uncle someday."

"Mhm!" Lin Hong glanced at her. "Auntie, your face got scratched by the rice stalks. I’ll pour you some warm water so you can wash it."

"Okay, I’ll go once I’m done here."

Lin Lan took the rake and spread the grain evenly across the courtyard. Then she used the straw rake to clear out the stray stalks mixed in, pushing the grain into a thin, even layer to dry.

Grain has to be spread very thin to dry quickly and thoroughly.

Lin Lan carried the rakes over to the shade of the eaves. Lin Hong quickly brought her a cup of tea. "Auntie, have a drink."

"Good girl." Lin Lan took it. "Where did Little Jun and the others go?"

Lin Hong pointed outside. "They took a basket to go catch fish."

Lin Lan thought of her nephews, tanned dark as loaches, and chuckled. "They’re like little water imps, in the water all day long."

Lin Hong pouted. "When Grandma left, she told them to stay home and help me with the grain, but they took off as soon as they woke up."

Lin Lan washed her face and hands and smiled. "Don’t pout. Come with me to the vegetable patch and we’ll pick a winter melon. I’ll make you a winter melon bowl for lunch."

"A winter melon bowl?" Lin Hong shook her head. "I’ve never had that. Is it any good?"

"It’s delicious! You put meatballs, ham, dried mushrooms, and pieces of the melon inside, then steam it all together. The flavor is out of this world!"

"I’ll go get a knife." Lin Hong ran back to the kitchen to grab a cleaver and followed Lin Lan to the vegetable patch.

The portulacas at the edge of the vegetable patch were in vibrant bloom, and the cockscombs were still flowering as well.

Lin Lan picked some eggplants to make a cold eggplant salad. She also grabbed a handful of heaven-facing chilies, a handful of green chilies, a sprig of cilantro, a bunch of scallions, and a few green onions, placing them all in her basket.

Having your own vegetable garden was so convenient. The vegetables for their dishes were almost always picked right before being cooked.

Beneath the lush green leaves of the Erjingtiao pepper plants was a dazzling sea of red. After the rice harvest was over, it would be time to make chili bean paste.

Lin Hong pointed to a bamboo trellis. "Auntie, I’ll pick some green beans for stir-fry with minced pork, and how about some dry-fried long beans?"

"Okay!"

Lin Lan walked over to the melon trellis and picked two winter melons, each weighing about five pounds. She carried them back to the shade of the eaves, then went inside to soak some dried mushrooms in warm water.

When she came out of the kitchen, it was time to turn the grain in the courtyard again.

First, she used the flat side of the grain rake to push the grain to one side, then pulled it back to spread it out flat again.