Chapter 547: Chapter 281 Difficult Decision_2
Thinking of this, Lian Manman couldn’t help but shift her gaze to the other side, where Old Master Lian was leading a large group of people, also planting peanuts. Lian Manman’s eyes searched the crowd and found Lian Shouren and Lian Jizu, her gaze resting on these two men.
Old Master Lian, Lian Shouren, and Lian Jizu, the three of them worked as a group. Old Master Lian was responsible for digging ridges, Lian Shouren for sowing the seeds, and Lian Jizu for mounding up the soil.
Of these three tasks, digging ridges was the most strenuous and physically demanding. Just like Wu Lang and a few others including Lian Manman, they could sow seeds and mound soil, but they were not yet capable of doing the work of digging ridges.
Lian Jizu was performing a one-legged stance, grimacing as he shook soil out of one of his shoes.
Lian Shouren was carrying a basket in one hand and sowing with the other. He stepped square-footed, kept his back straight, and barely managed to keep up with the pace of Old Master Lian.
Whereas Old Master Lian, who always led his children and grandchildren in work, was now trailing behind Lian Shouyi and others as he adjusted his pace to match that of Lian Shouren and Lian Jizu.
After digging for a while, Old Master Lian stood upright to catch his breath and saw that Lian Jizu hadn’t come back to mound soil. He put down the iron hoe and hurriedly walked back, picking up where Lian Jizu left off with the mounding. He had just mounded one foot’s worth of soil when he paused, his complexion turning green as he stared at the ridge ahead. Then, he looked back and seemed to notice something, turned around, and walked back along the trench for a distance, his face growing even greener.
At this time, Lian Jizu had just shaken out the soil from both of his shoes and was walking back to continue mounding the soil.
"Grandfather, you can go back, I’ve just blistered my foot, it’s nothing serious, I can keep up," said Lian Jizu to Old Master Lian.
In the past, if Old Master Lian had heard that Lian Jizu had a blister, he would have been very concerned. However, this time, Old Master Lian seemed not to hear Lian Jizu’s words.
"Jizu, stop mounding soil for a moment. Turn around and take a look. What kind of work have you been doing? Look how you’ve mounded the soil; it’s all uneven with gaps everywhere."
"Eh?" Lian Jizu seemed startled and hurried over.
"Look at you, child, what kind of work is this?" Old Master Lian complained, glancing back again with a long sigh.
Lian Jizu was not adept at farm work, and if he hadn’t noticed, the crops in this ridge would have been wasted. If the soil was wasted, so would the seeds that had been invested.
"Grandfather, then I’ll redo the work," said Lian Jizu, noticing that Old Master Lian looked displeased and speaking cautiously.
Old Master Lian said nothing but walked to an unmounded part of the soil and continued forward for a stretch. Now, his expression was not only unpleasant, but his eyebrows were deeply furrowed.
The peanut seeds that Lian Shouren had sown were too close in some spots and too far apart in others, with several seeds dropped in some places and lone seeds in others. What he found even less acceptable was that a large stretch of peanut seeds had found their way outside of the ridge.
"Wastrels!" Old Master Lian cursed inwardly.
Had it been anyone else, he would have openly scolded them. But with his children and grandchildren present and other villagers nearby, he had to save face for his eldest son and grandson.
"Eldest, hold off for a moment," Old Master Lian, suppressing his anger, called out to Lian Shouren.
"Okay." Lian Shouren obediently stopped without asking Old Master Lian why.
With a face of iron blue, Old Master Lian stood in the field for a good while. Lian Shouren and Lian Jizu stood by his side, not daring to speak.
Old Master Lian was making a difficult decision.
To redo the work or not?
To redo it would mean losing face for both Lian Shouren and Lian Jizu, as well as himself. But if he didn’t, the yield from this ridge would be completely lost.
He knew that Lian Shouren and Lian Jizu were not skilled at farm work, which is why he had specifically arranged for the two of them to be by his side. Children only a few years old, led by adults, could carry out the work. And yet he, an old hand at farming, couldn’t properly oversee two grown descendants.
At first, under his guidance, although their actions were slow, there were no mistakes, and he had reassured himself, not watching as closely. But as soon as he relaxed a little, their work became unbearable to watch.
Old Master Lian felt as if something was stuck in his throat, unable to swallow or expel it.
The other working grandchildren all turned to look at him, and the nearby villagers seemed to have also stopped to watch him.
Old Master Lian strode back to pick up the iron hoe and returned quickly, head down, and began to break open the ridges that Lian Jizu had just mounded.
The work needed to be redone completely. Land and crops were the lifelines of a tenant-farming family, and he couldn’t bear to lose the yield from this ridge. Moreover, even if they covered it up now, once the peanuts sprouted, this ridge would become a laughingstock to the Lian Family, and to the whole of Thirty Mile Camp, and even Qingyang Town.
He couldn’t bear the disgrace.
"Father!"
"Grandfather!"
Lian Shouren and Lian Jizu were startled by Old Master Lian’s demeanor.
Lian Shouyi, Lian Shouli, and a few others also sensed that something was amiss and put down their tasks to come over.
"Father, why are you re-digging a well-prepared ridge?" asked Lian Shouyi.
That was exactly what shouldn’t have been said.
"Why? To redo the work!" Old Master Lian replied irritably, "What are you all crowding around for? Go back to your work!"
...
The Lian Manman family watched all of this from the side.
Seeing Old Master Lian with a face of iron blue, wordlessly and angrily working, and looking at Lian Shouren and Lian Jizu standing by helplessly, Lian Manman shook her head inwardly.
Why couldn’t Lian Shouren and Lian Jizu carry out work even a child of a few years old could do?
As Lian Manman was thinking this, she looked up and was suddenly taken aback.
A few strong men with a plough arrived at the end of their field.
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Second update, seeking support. (To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote, and give your support, which is my greatest motivation.)
