pastoral fragrance

Chapter 250
The summer silkworms in the family are taken care of by Mrs. Han and Xu Nanshan. The honeysuckle starts to produce the first crop in mid-May. The flowering period of honeysuckle is relatively short, only seven or eight days, so Qiuyue and Qiulin sisters can get Picking in a hurry.Now is also the season when the crops are growing wildly, and the Hu family can't keep up with weeding and topdressing.

This year coincided with the new emperor's ascension to the throne. When the new emperor ascended the grand ceremony for the first time, he killed a bloody path in the court and wiped out all the courtiers who had opposed him in the past.This big change of blood above the court has left many positions vacant.Therefore, this year, the new emperor made a special case to add the imperial examination to fill the vacancy this time.

It will soon be Qiuwei, the second brother Qiusong and the third brother Qiuhe are all helping to prepare for the imperial examinations. Apart from reading books, they eat and sleep every day, so they can't spare their hands at all.So the job of picking honeysuckle still had to be done by the Qiulin sisters themselves.

This year's honeysuckle harvest is obviously better than last year's. The first batch of honeysuckle harvested was more than 200 catties, and after drying it was also about [-] catties.After picking the first crop of honeysuckle, the sisters had no free time at all.Be busy pruning the branches and leaves of the honeysuckle.Those weak branches, diseased branches and yellowed leaves have to be cut off, leaving only a few main trunks, so as to make the main trunk stronger.The branches and leaves that are too dense should also be cut off, otherwise the nutrients will be absorbed by the branches and leaves.

After pruning the branches and leaves of honeysuckle, it is time to fertilize.When fertilizing, plant ash is mixed with manure, and finally the soil is cultivated, so that the pruned branches and leaves and fertilizer are buried in the soil, which is conducive to the growth and development of honeysuckle.

The first crop of honeysuckle made the Qiulin sisters very busy.Only the two of them worked hard, and this year's honeysuckle grew well, not as good as the previous year's planting.The two sisters worked hard for more than ten days before finishing a series of jobs in the honeysuckle field.

The Qiulin sisters were exhausted in the honeysuckle field, and Xu Nanshan and the Han family were not much better than them.Xu Nanshan not only has to go through the summer silkworms, but also cooks pig food to eat the pigs.Now the family feeds two pigs, and the Hu family bought another three pigs to feed, and also let the Hu family feed a sow, so that the piglets will not have to go to others to buy in the future.

Summer silkworms are more difficult to pass than spring silkworms, so keep your spirits up, pay attention to ventilation and watering in hot weather, keep the room cool, and the temperature should not be too high.This requires Mrs. Han to be more diligent, run a few more times to dig well water, and carefully check the silkworms in the silkworm dustpan. If there is something wrong, the silkworms must be thrown out in time, lest a rat droppings spoil a pot of porridge!

Zhang's family's task is even heavier, they are busy with the crops in that field.In addition, the herbal acorn and fruit trees on the slope must be taken care of, and they are even more busy during this time.Even Xiao Hei Xiaoqing ran into the field with a hoe on their shoulders, they were too busy to weed and sprinkle water.

Qiulin didn't expect that after buying a servant, he would be as busy as a spinning top every day.Xu Nanshan of the Han family was secretly glad that he had bought Hu Manzi's family to help with the work, otherwise he would have a three-headed and six-armed man, and he would not be able to cope with this!It's just that the work is a bit strenuous now, it seems that next year when the spring plowing is done, I will have to buy two more servants to work, otherwise I'm afraid I will be too busy.

Time flies, and it is another year of autumn.When the third crop of summer silkworms came out, and the second crop of honeysuckle had already passed, Qiu Wei pressed on step by step amidst the busy schedule.This autumn exam was divided into three sessions, which lasted for six days.In August, the students who have passed the children's examination no longer go to school to study, and all review and prepare for the exam at home.

Qiu Song and Qiu He also passed the Tongsheng Examination in February this year, and now they are preparing for the exam that is said to be very important for scholars-Qiu Wei.In the past few days, fortunately, Qiuyue and Qiulin didn't have to go to pick the honeysuckle in the field, which can be regarded as freeing up time.They always change their ways to make food for Qiusong Qiuhe, just to let them have a good appetite and eat more to improve their memory.

On August [-]th, Qiulin Qiuyue personally sent Qiusong Qiuhe to the town.Originally, I thought about letting Qiusong Qiuhe live in the uncle's workshop, but I also thought that the workshop was full of sawing and planing wood, which was probably quite noisy.It's quieter to live in an inn.

Qiuyue chose a good room for Qiusong and Qiuhe brothers to live in, and told them not to think too much, and just do their best.I also asked them not to stretch the strings too tightly during this time.Another ten taels of silver was given to Qiu Song, and after the confession, Qiuyue and Qiulin walked out of the inn, it was getting late.

There is no longer any delay along the way, and I hurried home.Now that the head of the house is full of people and things, my mother can't afford to take care of Can'er to wash and cook. These tasks have to be done after the two of her sisters go back!
After returning home, the two of them didn't take much rest. After drinking a few large bowls of tea, they started to boil water and cook rice.Han Shi can only spare some time to eat and sleep now, basically stay in the silkworm house with Xu Nanshan all day, Qiuyue cooks the rice, and calls to the old house, the two houses are separated It's so close, Han can hear it clearly.

During the meal, Xu Nanshan and Mrs. Han frequently asked about the Qiusong brothers and heard that Qiuyue lived in the inn and paid another ten taels of silver, so they felt at ease.After lunch, everyone was busy again, Xu Nanshan couldn't do the work of weaving weapons now, so Mrs. Han pushed him to the old house to look after Can'er.

Qiulin walked into the yard, looked at the sunny weather outside the yard, resignedly hugged a pile of dirty clothes, and washed clothes in the sink in the yard with her eldest sister Qiuyue.

With this sink at home, there is no need to go to the river to wash clothes.Only the big clothes, the space in this tank is too narrow to be used, will go to the river.The water is also ready-made well water. A wooden bucket is tied with a rope, and the water shaft on the side is shaken, and a bucket of water is brought up.Nowadays, it is very convenient to wash clothes at home, and you can wash them directly with water.

In the next few days, the family is still very busy.In the midst of this inexhaustible busyness, everyone's hearts became tense day by day, especially on August [-]th, everyone felt restless.It seems that I can't wait to become a bird and fly to the test site of this year's autumn, to see the situation of the test.

All day long, everyone has been a little absent-minded about their work.Those pairs of expectant eyes always looked at the entrance of the village at the same time, but they couldn't see the returnee, and then looked away in disappointment. I always felt that a big stone was pressed in my heart, and I felt a little stuffy.

On August [-]th, Qiusong and the others did not come back. They must have waited in the town for the release of the rankings before coming back.Until a few days later, when it was just noon, the whole family just put down the bowls and chopsticks and went to work on the things at hand.While working, everyone also paid attention to the movement outside, and finally heard the sound of a carriage coming from the path in the village.The few people in the house couldn't hold back any longer, they ran out of the yard to look at the road in the village.

(End of this chapter)