Chapter 1138: Chapter 1138: Autumn Harvest
"Our folks back home are really industrious."
"I came back when I was little, but there wasn’t this much drive. I guess everyone is really getting paid now."
"That’s true, when there’s money to be made, there’s motivation."
In the afternoon, Li Yungui went to the chicken farm to fetch three large roosters, which Second Uncle helped to slaughter. He brought two back to his big brother’s home and kept one for the kids to improve their meals; they’re too exhausted, can’t neglect the kids.
Before finishing work, Qu Xiaoli headed home to prepare dinner, since her brother-in-law’s family of three would soon head to Jin Family Village to pick someone up and then return to town.
Thankfully, Guodong came to drive, it would be too much trouble if they had to ask Xiao Wei and Old Yang.
Because everyone’s busy, they won’t be taking any grain back this time; they’ll wait until they’re free to send it over.
"Second sister-in-law."
"Yun Qiang."
"These are the white flour I brought for big brother’s family."
"Alright, I was just saying I didn’t have time to get any, will you stay for dinner?"
"I won’t." Li Yunqiang hurriedly left. He felt too ashamed to stay.
Li Yunqiao felt too tired, couldn’t resist aging, and knew he’d ache all over for the next week.
Dinner was steamed buns and sorghum millet porridge.
"Second Aunt, your pickled vegetables are so tasty, I’m taking a few pieces back."
"Okay, I’ll pack some for you later, and give you a jar of soybean paste."
"Second Aunt, we have plenty of soybean paste at home, Aunt Lu made some herself this year."
"Alright."
After everyone finished washing up, they sat down to eat.
"Changhe, go call your brother-in-law over to eat."
"I called him when I came back, brother-in-law said he’d come over after finishing dinner."
Li Yunqiao nodded, "Let’s hurry up and eat, Guodong should be arriving soon."
"Dad, what about the bicycle?"
"See if it can be loaded later; if not, we’ll fetch it next week."
But you need it for work, "Dad, maybe I should ride it back myself, it’s too far to walk to work."
"If you can’t, ride mine."
The family just finished eating when they heard a car outside.
Hongling hurried to open the door. "Brother-in-law, we’ve been waiting for you."
"I ate slowly today." Actually, it wasn’t slow, but dinner at home was a bit late.
"Lihong, here’s the white flour your Fourth Uncle brought, take it back and eat it first. We’ll send more when we’re free."
"Second Aunt, we still have at home." Zheng Lihong felt very embarrassed.
"No worries, when I go to the village steel mill to grind flour, it’ll be fine and tasty."
Guodong and Hong Lin managed to fit the bicycle at the very back.
There was no space left in the car, even if Li Xue wanted to accompany Guodong, she couldn’t.
Arriving at Jin Family Village, Zheng Lihong held her son, thinking that this little guy was as chubby as ever.
Lu Family brought a lot of stuff. They continued to fill the car until it was completely packed.
Because it was so late, they exchanged just a few words and left.
They reached home by nine-thirty at night.
"Guodong, stay over and leave early tomorrow." Li Yunqiao worried his son-in-law was too tired.
"Dad, I’ll head back, I’m fine, didn’t inform the family, so I worry they might worry."
Li Yunqiao understood, reminded him several more times before allowing his son-in-law to leave.
The young couple carried their sleeping Zhibin back to the room.
Zheng Lihong forced herself through the fatigue to shower. Hong Lin, on the other hand, didn’t move at all; the whole day had been truly exhausting.
Lu Fengzhen and Wang Wugong tidied up the things they had brought back, and Li Yunqiao took his son back to the room.
When Lu Fengzhen returned from showering, she found her husband and son had fallen asleep.
Her man was really tired. She climbed into bed quietly, moving their son to the side. Li Yunqiao suddenly opened his eyes, relaxed upon seeing his wife, smiled briefly, and closed his eyes. "I’m too tired."
"You sleep, let me massage you, so you won’t be sore when you get up tomorrow."
Li Yunqiao nodded with his eyes closed and soon started breathing evenly.
When Guodong arrived home, Wei Kaiyun came out to take a look, urging him to sleep quickly, and then returned inside.
Autumn harvest was exhausting, but looking at the golden corn on the threshing ground, despite the fatigue, everyone was willing.
Today’s early corn turned out alright. The rain was plentiful, but the ears weren’t very big; Li Yungui knew it was due to lack of fertilizer.
This was unavoidable; Xiao Wei had mentioned chemical fertilizer before, but it wasn’t something they could obtain. Besides, it was unaffordable.
All early corn was harvested, and the threshing ground couldn’t hold anymore, so they had to stockpile it on the side.
"We have to expand the threshing ground this year." Li Cunshan’s face was all smiles.
"We really need to. Half of the sorghum hasn’t been harvested yet, and the storage space is also insufficient.
But this year, if the pesticide factory moves away, we can use that space for storage instead of expanding the threshing ground. Just set up a storage area over there."
Today, everyone went to cut sorghum. One tractor was transporting corn stalks, and the remaining three were busy with fieldwork.
Without stopping, they were tilling and sowing seeds; now more than half of the work was done. Estimated to finish in three or four days.
"We can’t finish dealing with sorghum today, tomorrow we’ll need half a day, and then it’s time to pull the peanuts."
"Yungui, peanuts can wait a few days; I checked the fields yesterday. The soy stalks are still green, there’s no rush."
"Let’s take another look tomorrow; if possible, better harvest the peanuts first, then we can start picking the first batch of cotton bolls."
Upon mentioning this, Li Cunshan’s face crinkled with a grin.
Bright white cotton looked pleasing to the eye.
"Yungui, we’ll store the cotton bolls directly at the team office; the warehouse doesn’t have space."
"Alright, we’ll tidy it up later."
"Bring my old tomcat over; we can’t let good stuff go to waste."
Li Cunshan had long thought it through.
The two just reached the edge of the peanut field when spotting a figure coming from afar, too distant to recognize clearly.
"Yungui, is that Manjiang coming back?"
Li Yungui glanced up and noticed his eldest son was indeed returning.
Li Manjiang had already seen his dad and headed towards them.
"Uncle Cunshan, Dad."
"Good, good, it’s great that Manjiang is back." Li Cunshan patted his nephew’s shoulder.
Li Yungui also looked at his eldest son with satisfaction, both parents had been hoping for their son’s return.
Li Cunshan pulled up a handful of peanuts, inspected them, and popped open a peanut hull.
"Yungui, let’s do it this afternoon."
"Alright, maybe let everyone take half a day off and continue tomorrow?"
"Let’s do it tomorrow; getting it done early gives peace of mind with the grain delivery."
The two finalized their plans and returned home.
"Manjiang, there’s leftover food at home, just make do and eat."
"Dad, I ate in the village, don’t worry about me. Where’s Mom?"
"She’s at the threshing ground scraping sorghum."
"Alright, I’ll check the threshing ground."
As Li Manjiang, the young man, entered the threshing ground, everyone looked his way.
"Xiao Li, is that your Manjiang?"
"Fifth Aunt, it’s Manjiang who’s back." Qu Xiaoli was a bit excited.
