My village can't be like this

Chapter 592 Throwing Rice

Nearing noon, the three people in the field had finished harvesting the rice in one field and had also harvested part of the rice in another field.

In total, more than two acres of area were mowed, which was quite a lot.

Generally speaking, three normal people can harvest only five to seven mu of rice in the morning, which is already a lot.

However, there were two outliers among the three people harvesting rice in Zhang An's family. Zhang An himself had his spatial enhancement, so he was simply a freak.

When working, he doesn't feel tired at all. He can keep working with his head down until dark. And because of his strong physical fitness, he works much faster than ordinary people. He has the typical attributes of an ox or a horse.

On the other side, Zhang Yixing is no ordinary person either. Not only has he practiced martial arts for his entire life, but more importantly, he has also achieved something out of his practice.

The most important thing is that he also knows how to maintain his health.

So even though he is sixty years old now, he doesn't look like an old man at all.

Even the young and strong young men in the village can hardly match him when it comes to work. It is no exaggeration to say that he is a tough guy.

Otherwise, a sixty-year-old man could break a wooden stake as big as a bowl with one punch.

Of course, he can't be compared with Zhang An. After all, this Taoist priest is just a normal player. He has achieved his current skills entirely through his own diligent practice. No matter what, he can't compare to Zhang An, who is blessed by God.

Among the three, only Zhang Jianguo is slightly normal, but he is also better than ordinary people.

Because over the years, Zhang An has nourished their bodies with the space spring water, and their physical strength and endurance alone have surpassed those of other people in the village.

So these three people came to the field, like a manual harvester, with a move of their hands and a swing of the sickle, the rice in the field was cut down.

"Dad, Grandpa, eat, eat, eat."

While the three were immersed in harvesting rice, little Siqi had already run to the backyard fence and shouted at them in the field.

The little guy has been talking for a while. Su Ying is a Chinese teacher, so this is a good match for her. She teaches her son every night, so little Siqi's vocabulary has increased day by day, and now he can express himself normally.

"Okay, okay, tell grandma, we'll be there soon."

When Zhang Jianguo heard his grandson's call, he stood up and responded happily.

After hearing what his grandfather said, the little guy ran back home to tell his grandmother.

"Let's go home and have dinner first, and then come back to cut in the afternoon."

After finishing harvesting the remaining half furrow of rice, Zhang Jianguo put the sickle on his waistband and left the field first.

On the way back, I met some villagers who had just harvested rice from the fields and were preparing to go home for dinner.

"Wow, Zhang An, your family is really quick. They have already cut so much."

Zhang An's fields were right next to the road. When the villagers passed by and saw them, they were immediately shocked.

Because they found that in just the morning, more than two acres of rice in Zhang An's field had been harvested, while only a few acres of rice in their field had been harvested.

Last year, they would not be so surprised, because they all knew that when Zhang An’s family harvested the crops in the past, they would hire people, and with more people, the work would naturally be done faster.

But this year everyone knew that Zhang An's family did not ask anyone to help. When they passed by in the morning, there were only Zhang An, his son, and Zhang Yixing working in the fields.

They couldn't believe that three people could cut so much rice in one morning.

"Hehe, do you really think that my eight arms are for nothing? Of course I can cut faster than you guys."

Zhang An chuckled and spoke to everyone.

In the village over the years, because he works very quickly, the villagers jokingly call him having eight hands.

When everyone heard this, their surprise faded a lot. They then realized that Zhang An was a unique and tough guy when it came to his work.

It was just that they hadn't seen Zhang An working for half a year and had forgotten about it.

Now that Zhang An himself mentioned it, they even felt that it was natural.

I still remember that in the past, many families in the village liked to exchange labor with Zhang An's family.

Because when working, Zhang An could do the work of at least three people, and they only needed one person to help Zhang An's family, which was extremely cost-effective. So when Zhang An's family needed to hire people to work, they basically never lacked people.

As long as you open your mouth and say it, everyone will agree very readily.

However, this good thing stopped when Zhang An's family started spending money to hire people.

Because Zhang An's family paid them to do the work, they naturally didn't have to pay them back in the future.

Of course, they could also pay Zhang An to come and invite them, but given this guy's personality, he would definitely refuse with a smile.

We chatted briefly on the way, and everyone looked happy and was mostly talking about this year's harvest.

But despite what they said, they did not slow down their pace. Under normal circumstances, when they encountered such a happy thing, they would definitely stop and chat for a few minutes.

But since everyone had to go to the fields to thresh grain in the afternoon, no one wanted to waste time.

After reaching the intersection, everyone went back to their homes without any delay.

When they got home, Wang Fang was bringing out the dishes from the kitchen. Little Siqi followed her grandmother like a little tail, running around.

"Mom, isn't Su Ying back yet?"

Looking at the time, it was almost twelve o'clock. The students had already left school, but Su Ying had not returned yet.

"Maybe the class is late again today. I've saved some food for her. Let's eat first."

Wang Fang now has some understanding of her daughter-in-law's personality. In the third year of junior high school, Su Ying was stricter with students than before. She had kept students after school many times before. So she no longer thought it was strange that Su Ying did not go home after school.

Because she was busy harvesting rice today, Wang Fang did not wait for Su Ying to come back before eating as usual.

However, she still saved some food so that Su Ying wouldn't have to eat leftovers when she came back.

Su Ying came back from school when the family was halfway through their meal.

"Mother."

When little Siqi saw his mother coming back, he ran up to her with the bowl in his hand.

"Be good and eat your meal well." Su Ying pushed the little guy back to sit on the chair, then she took the bowl and chopsticks and started to serve the rice.

"Why are you back so late today?"

Zhang An felt that even though his wife would usually stay up late, she would never stay up this late.

"It's the mischievous kids in Class 2. I asked them to go back and memorize the text a few days ago. When I called their names today, few of them could recite it. Seeing that they were not self-disciplined, I simply stopped them in the classroom and asked them to recite one by one. So it took a little longer."

Su Ying said as a matter of course that in this day and age, as a teacher, the stricter she was with her students, the more supportive their parents would be. Even if she had to beat them with a bamboo stick, the parents would help prepare the sticks. It was not like in later generations, where if she spoke a little harshly, she would be complained about.

"Mom, the family is so busy, I'll take Qiqi to school this afternoon. I only have one class anyway, so I can just let him sit with Zhang Tie."

Knowing that her family was busy harvesting rice today, Su Ying felt that she could not help much, so she planned to take her son to school.

When there are no classes, he can stay in the office, and when it is time to attend class, he can bring his belongings to the classroom.

"Is this okay?"

Wang Fang felt that her grandson was still young and was afraid that bringing him to the classroom would affect other students.

"It's okay, mom. He doesn't dare to act like a demon in front of me. He's very well behaved."

Su Ying usually plays the role of the bad guy at home and has already established her authority, so the little guy is as well-behaved as a cat in front of her and is very honest.

This will also free up her mother-in-law's hands so she doesn't have to look after the little one.

"That's fine, as long as it doesn't affect your class."

Seeing that her daughter-in-law was so sure, Wang Fang didn't say anything else, so she could go to the fields to harvest rice.

Otherwise, she wouldn't dare take her grandson to the fields, because the chicken blood rice at home was too prickly and the little guy wouldn't be able to bear it even if he didn't touch it.

After having a cup of tea and taking a short rest after dinner, Zhang An took down the fighting tool at home from upstairs.

The entire bucket is a square box that is larger at the top and smaller at the bottom, about two meters in length, but it does not have a top. There are eight bucket ears extending from the four corners, which makes it easier to move the bucket when it is loaded with rice in the fields.

In the past, the fighting tool was one of the important tools that every household had. Later, after many people grew up and separated from their families, they began to share one among several brothers.

This is the case with Zhang An's family. The fighting craft was left by Zhang An's grandfather, but Zhang Jianguo was the eldest son, so the fighting craft was given to him. When Zhang An's second uncle and third uncle's families needed it, they could just come and get it.

The threshing wheels these days are all made of solid wood, which is very solid and can be used to thresh grain with great ease.

But because of this, a bamboo shoot is still quite heavy. Although one person can carry it, they can't carry it too far. It usually takes two people, one in front and one behind, to carry it together.

Because the fight is carried on the shoulders, the person carrying it in front has his head outside the fight, while the person behind has his head inside the fight. He cannot see the road ahead and can only follow the person in front. Therefore, the person in front is responsible for leading the way and indicating the direction.

The weight of Zhang An's sword is just average, not light, but not heavy either. However, it is nothing to him.

Just find a wooden stick more than two meters long and put it inside, and you can easily lift it.

When we arrived at the field, Zhang Jianguo had already arrived early. He had moved the rice away from the field and made room for the threshing floor.

"Hey, you three have already cut so much this morning."

Wang Fang arrived at the field later, holding a gourd containing water. The sun was very strong at the moment, and work could not be done without water.

"Mom, let's continue harvesting later. We'll throw out the millet and try to bring home half of it today and finish it all tomorrow."

We have already harvested more than two acres of rice, and the first priority this afternoon is definitely to thresh the harvested rice.

There are four sides to the threshing, and four people can work together. However, Zhang An felt that based on his and his grandfather's fighting ability, more than two acres of rice would definitely not be enough to thresh the rice for an entire afternoon, so he let his mother continue to cut the rice, while the three of them who had been cutting rice in the morning took turns and started threshing the rice.

Wang Fang didn't say much, and went to another field to harvest rice with a sickle, while Zhang An picked up a handful of rice, walked towards the fighting field and started beating it.

There are some requirements for threshing rice, and you can't just pursue miracles with force.

Each time it is thrown down, it must be shaken up twice in order to prevent the grains that have fallen off and are stuck in the straw from falling to the ground.

After all, every time you thresh the rice, you have to lift the rice ears high.

Seeing that Zhang An had already started, Zhang Kenshi and Zhang Yixing were not willing to be left behind. They each picked up a handful of rice, took their own side, and started fighting in a very rhythmic manner.

For a moment, the only sound in the whole field was the "bang bang bang" sound of hammers being thrown.

Of course, it wasn't just Zhang An's family that was like this in the entire field. It was the same in other families as well. Anyway, it could be heard from a long distance away.

The rice had already matured in autumn, and had been exposed to the sun for several hours, so the grains on the rice ears fell off very easily. Basically, all of them could be knocked into the threshing basket after a few hits.

Because no pesticides have been used, there are a lot of grasshoppers on the rice, and many of them do not run away even after the rice is harvested.

When the grains on the rice ears are knocked off, the grasshoppers will follow the grains into the bucket, jumping around.

It’s a pity that the children in the village are in class today, otherwise they would have come in groups to catch grasshoppers.

Although this thing is a bug, if you remove the head and internal organs, it is very delicious whether it is roasted or fried. It is very crispy and is a food that children especially like.

Of course, Zhang An also likes to eat it, especially fried food, so he had no intention of letting these guys go.

After threshing half a bushel of millet, Zhang Jianguo and Zhang Yihang picked up the millet from the bucket and put it into bags. Zhang An pulled out a piece of grass, caught all the grasshoppers jumping around in the bucket, and then pierced their necks through the grass.

This is the legendary autumn grasshopper. It won’t be able to jump around for much longer and will be fried in oil tonight.

By four o'clock in the afternoon, the two acres of rice that had been harvested in the morning had all been threshed, leaving only the rice that Wang Fang had harvested in the afternoon.

But she was alone, so the process was very slow, so Zhang An asked his father to go over there in advance to help.

Anyway, we only need to mow a little over three acres today, and we can do the rest tomorrow.

In Changqing Village, the dew after autumn is very heavy, so when harvesting rice, it is best not to harvest all the rice and leave it in the fields.

Although there is no need to worry about rain at night that would knock the grains off the rice ears, the dew at night would make the grains damp again, making them difficult to thresh the next day. Therefore, harvesting usually starts in the morning, threshing in the afternoon, and leaving them alone at night.

Of course, some Miao villagers will cut the high-mountain glutinous rice they grow with a rice-picking knife, then carry it back home, hang it on the sorghum to dry, and then beat it.

But this is only a minority. For ordinary rice, people still thresh it in the fields and take it home directly.

(End of this chapter)