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Chapter 242: 242: The Start of Wheat Harvesting

If Yang Ye really discovered the treasure buried in her home, he presumably wouldn’t harm her.

As for Tong Sanlang…

With his skills, leaving safely would be no problem.

So, from this perspective, she didn’t need to be in such a hurry to buy a courtyard in town.

The earlier urgency was due to Tong Sanlang’s claim that various forces had traced their way here, but for now, it was clear that only Yang Ye had come.

Yang Ye might not be the best-tempered person, but he was certainly approachable.

Hmm…

Yeah.

So, perhaps buying the courtyard could wait for now.

With that in mind, Qiao Xiaomai set off to stroll around town.

She explored Bailu Town for the better part of an hour, checking out all the street-facing shops and courtyards.

Of course, she purposefully avoided the vinegar shop owed by the Tong Family. Afterwards, she headed to the Vegetable Market to buy some meat and a couple of fish. By then it was already noon, so she grabbed a few steamed buns to munch on her way back to Anping Village.

When she returned home, it was already past mealtime.

Expecting Qiao Changshun and Qiao Dami to have eaten already, she was surprised to see that they were still sitting at the entrance of the house, waiting for her to have dinner.

Looking at their familiar and trusting faces, one old and one young, she licked her lips, feeling a warm rush in her heart.

Alright, although Qiao Changshun might be naive and foolish, he cared for her as his daughter.

And, Qiao Dami trusted her wholeheartedly.

Having such a family wasn’t too bad.

Her passing irritation completely evaporated.

She spent the next two days in peace. As the weather gradually heated up, some families began to harvest their wheat.

In her fields, Qiao Xiaomai also grew wheat, some of which was now ripe and ready for harvest.

Harvesting wheat was a big deal for a farming family.

Early in the morning, Qiao Changshun went to find Tong Tiehu, asking him to spread the word in the village for laborers to help with the harvest.

Some families’ wheat was still unripe, so they had spare time to help at his farm.

Tong Tiehu agreed readily. At lunch, he rang the bell at the village’s threshing floor to announce the job.

Seven wen a day, meals not included.

This was the rate that the Tong family had paid in the past. In the village, the pay rate was much lower than in the town.

It couldn’t be helped, those who hired laborers in town were either business owners or scholars’ families, who could afford to pay more.

In the village, everyone farmed for a living and were less willing to part with their money.

After the announcement, people started to trickle in.

It was only then that everyone realized just how much land the Qiao family owned.

But while they were surprised, nobody said anything. After all, Qiao Xiaomai had earned her land through her cooking skills, which was something to be admired rather than envied.

Harvesting wheat is a laborious task. Without the modern machinery of future generations, everything relied on human labor.

People bent over with their sickles, cutting the wheat stalk by stalk.

Others used long spades. They attached a small spade head to a long wooden pole, allowing them to stand while shoveling the wheat, which was less strenuous than bending down with a sickle.

On the first day, more than twenty people came, and they managed to cut all of the ripe wheat.

The next day, they cleared the land to make a threshing floor.

Once the threshing floor was set up, they brought over all the wheat. They tied a flat, large stone to a donkey and had it trundle over the wheat, which was a faster method of threshing grains than by hand.

Qiao Xiaomai stood at the edge of the threshing floor, watching everyone busily milling about. She couldn’t help but be moved.

This was her first time witnessing the hardships of a farmer’s life. Farming was truly not an easy job..