Chapter 39 Trouble

  After that incident, Lianhua stopped associating with the village girls. Who would come looking for her at this time? The voice sounds somewhat familiar.

  Lian Man'er stood up and looked out through the window screen.

  Yingzi was walking upstairs and turned her face to see Lianmeng'er.

  "Man Er, is Lian Hua Er at home? I'm looking for her. Man Er, you come too." Ying Zi hastily said to Lian Man Er as she rushed upstairs.

  Lian Man'er let out an "oh" and sat back down on the kang.

  "Yingzi, how did you come?" asked Lianzhier.

  "Who knows, I think she looks a bit strange, seems to be very angry. And in a hurry, that doesn't look like looking for someone to play with, but rather... " Lian Man'er thought for a moment, "but rather like looking for someone to fight with."

  Outside, Yingzi did not enter the upper house but stood at the entrance of the upper house.

  "Lian Hua'er, Lian Hua'er, come out for me." Yingzi shouted at the door of the upper house.

  "Are you really here to fight with Lian Hua?" Lian Man'er raised an eyebrow.

  "Let me go take a look." Xia Qi loved excitement and slipped down from the edge of the bed, wanting to go out.

  "Wait for me, Xiao Qi." Lian Man hurriedly put down her needle and thread, got off the kang, and put on her shoes.

  "You've only learned a few stitches, and you still want to learn embroidery, but your butt can't even sit still." Zhang said to Lian Man'er. She didn't care about Yingzi's search for Lian Hua'er. In her eyes, Lian Hua'er and Yingzi were just like Lian Zhi'er and Lian Man'er - just a couple of kids. Kids arguing with each other was nothing important, and adults shouldn't, or needn't, intervene.

  Lian Man'er smiled and pulled Xiao Qi out of the west wing.

  "Lian Hua, I know you're at home. If you don't come out, don't blame me for being rude. You dare to play tricks on me, and you didn't even investigate who I, Yingzi, am? The good deeds you've done, I'll make sure the whole village knows." Yingzi scolded, pointing towards the west wing of the house.

  Gu went to the town. Lian Shouren was not at home either, only Lian Duoer was there. She heard Yingzi scolding in the house and didn't respond. Immediately ran to the backyard to find Lian Hua'er.

  "Hua Er Jie must still be talking with Lao Gu in the backyard." said Xiao Qi to Lian Man Er.

  "This isn't Yingzi, what are you doing hurting my family again? What do you want with Lianhua?" Zhou stepped out of the house, "You little girl, can't speak properly and dare to scold people at my doorstep?"

  "Big Nai," Yingzi called out to Zhou Shi, "your family's Lian Hua is not doing things properly. If she doesn't come out, I'll tell your husband about it. And Man'er, you come over here too. This concerns you as well."

  Yingzi invited Lian Mianer.

  Lian Man'er didn't move and didn't respond.

  "Ah, Yingzi, how did you come!" Lian Hua rushed over from behind, first nervously scanning the faces of Zhou Shi and Lian Man'er, then smiled at Yingzi, "Yingzi, let's go inside to talk."

  "Aren't you hiding from me?" Yingzi said.

  "I was just in the backyard, and Lianhua told me you had arrived, so I hurried back. Look at your temper! We're close friends, you can say whatever you want to me, but others might misunderstand. Come on, let's go inside and talk." Lianhua then came over and took Yingzi's hand.

  Yingzi shook off Lianhua'er.

  "I've come for something. You should know what it is. Let's just talk about it here."

  Lian Hua's face turned pale for a moment.

  "Yingzi, leave me some leeway, we can discuss things." Lianhua whispered in Yingzi's ear.

  "Nai, it's all right, Yingzi and I will play with that." Lian Hua'er said to Zhou Shi.

  Zhou hummed and turned back into the house.

  Lian Hua'er pulled Yingzi along and went to the west room, closing the door tightly behind them.

  Huh? Lian Man is acting strange too. Normally, when listening to Lian Hua speak, she looks down on Yingzi and the other village girls, but today she's being so polite to Yingzi, just like...

  "Hua Er Jie wouldn't have anything on Ying Zi, would she?"

  "It wasn't just the smashing of that jade, Yingzi was also present. However, our family has already made arrangements with their family, saying that if it's going to be said, let them compensate together." Little Qi said.

  Many rural people are timid and afraid of trouble, and there is also a sense of kinship among villagers, often preferring to have fewer things rather than more.

  Then does Lianhua still have other handles in Yingzi's hands?

  "Let's go and see what's going on?" Lian Wan'er thought of Yingzi deliberately mentioning her earlier, so she pulled Xiao Qi along, crouching down to come under the west room window.

  Before they could hear what was being said in the house, Lian Duo'er had already walked out with a pout on her face.

  "What are you two doing?" Lian Duo'er pointed at Lian Man'er and Xiao Qi.

  "What did I say?" Xia Qi immediately straightened up, "Can't my sister and I just take a walk here?"

  Lian Duo'er was ordered by Lian Hua'er to go out and watch the wind, her heart full of anger.

  "I see you two want to eavesdrop?"

  "Lian Duo'er, now it's broad daylight, we're still sneaking around in our own home. It seems you're the ones with guilty consciences." Lian Man'er said.

  "Man Er, come in, I have something to tell you." At this time, Yingzi's voice came from inside the house.

  "Man Er, you just go and do what you need to do, this has nothing to do with you." Lian Hua Er said loudly, followed by a lowered voice, "Ying Zi, didn't we say that there's something good to discuss?"

  Why did Yingzi always drag her in, was there something about her that she herself didn't know? As soon as Man'er thought of this, she walked towards the upper room.

  "Where are you going?" Lian Duo'er blocked the doorway.

  "Duo'er, where did you learn your manners? Blocking the door and not letting people pass?" Lian Man'er scolded Lian Duo'er.

  "My sister won't let you go," said Lian Duo'er.

  Xiao Qi came over from the side, reached out and tugged on Lian Duo's braid. Lian Duo immediately got annoyed and turned around to hit Xiao Qi. Xiao Qi turned around and ran away.

  Lian Man'er walked into the main room unimpeded and pushed open the door of the west wing, but it didn't budge.

  "Yingzi, Hua'erjie." Lian Man'r knocked on the door.

  Inside, there was another rustling sound, and then the door opened. Yingzi stood in the doorway smiling at Lian Man'er, while Lian Hua'er stood behind her with a pale face, clearly unable to stop Yingzi from opening the door.

  "Man Er, I'll show you something." Ying Zi stretched out her hand.

  "Huh? Isn't this your gold bangle? How did it break?" asked Lian Man'er in surprise.

  "I took this bangle to the silversmith in town today, wanting to melt it down and make something else. The master silversmith looked at it and said that it wasn't gold, just a layer of gold on the surface with copper inside." Yingzi said in one breath. "I didn't believe him, so I had him cut open a small hole, and indeed the inside was copper."

  Lian Mian'er looked at Yingzi who was panting with rage, then looked at Lian Hua'er whose face had turned pale.

  "Does this have something to do with me or is it related to Hua Er Jie?" asked Lian Man Er.

  Yingzi pouted and said, "Maner, come here, let me tell you."

  "Yingzi." Lian Hua'er's voice was sharp, and she pulled Yingzi to the side, saying in a low tone, "You've really stirred up trouble, and you won't come out of it unscathed either... Alright, I understand what you mean, I know how formidable you are."

  Yingzi let out two cold laughs.

  "Man Er, you can go now, it's alright." Ying Zi waved her hand at Lian Man Er.

  "Go away, Man Er, I said it has nothing to do with you." Lian Hua Er walked over and pushed Lian Man Er out.

  Lian Man'er felt uneasy in her heart, thought for a moment, and still came out of the house. She had only taken two steps when she heard a "click" sound, and the door was locked from the inside again. Lian Man'er quietly retreated back, pressed against the gap under the door, and listened carefully with her ear tilted to one side.

  Lian Hua and Yingzi seemed to have walked to the other end of the house, and lowered their voices to a very small extent. Lian Man'er couldn't hear what they were saying, only heard Lian Hua say in a suppressed tone: "Don't go too far." Then after a while, the sound of opening boxes came from inside the house.

  "Hua Er, you're deceiving me again this time, I won't let you off." Ying Zi and Lian Hua Er's voices came from the direction of the door.

  Lian Man'er hastily came out of the upper house.

  In the courtyard, Xiao Qi was smiling and playing a game of tag with Lian Duo'er. Lian Duo'er was panting heavily, while Xiao Qi mischievously made a face at her.

  "Xiao Qi." Lian Wan'er shouted.

  Xiao Qi responded with a sound and immediately ran in front of Lian Man Er.

  Lian Hua'er accompanied Yingzi out of the house and happened to meet Lian Xiuer returning with a basket of eggplants from the backyard.

  "Yingzi, what are you doing here?" Lian Xiuer's face fell.

  "I'll go take a look at Lianhua." Yingzi smiled and walked all the way.

  "Hua Er, how did you and Ying Zi make up again?" Lian Xiu Er asked Lian Hua Er with some discontent.

  "It's nothing." Lian Hua'er suppressed the anger in her eyes and smiled at Lian Xiu'er, "Elder sister, come to my room to rest for a while."

  …………

  Lian Lao Ye Zi brought his sons back from the fields, saying that someone had already started harvesting. Lian Lao Ye Zi gave orders to start harvesting tomorrow.

  The annual autumn harvest has begun.

  That morning, before dawn, the several daughters-in-law of Lian's family got up to start cooking. Because of the autumn harvest, breakfast was a mix of noodles and millet rice, with four pieces of tofu stewed as well.

  After breakfast, the sky had just brightened up, and Lian Lao Ye led the whole family to go down to work. Lian Shou Ren had an excuse for being injured, so neither Lian Hua Er nor Lian Duo Er went down. Lian Niu Er in the second house was bandaging her foot because of this. Lian Lao Tai and Lian Xiu Er stayed at home to take care of the household chores and cook meals, but they didn't go down either. All the others, regardless of gender or age, had to go down to work.

  Lianjia now has thirty mu of land, today they first harvested the highland barley and millet grown in the north-facing field.

  Lian Lao Ye Zi, Lian Shou Yi, Lian Shou Li, Lian Shou Xin, Lian Jia Da Lang and Er Lang stood in a row on the ridge, each holding a sickle, occupying one ridge. As soon as Lian Lao Ye Zi swung his knife down, they all crouched down and started cutting the sorghum. The sorghum was cut from about half a foot above the ground, at an angle upwards.

  The cut high sorghum stalks, together with the heavy sorghum panicles on top, were piled up in heaps.

  It was the women's turn to cut down the sorghum ears from the top of the sorghum stalks. They also held sickles in their hands, sat beside the piles of sorghum stalks, and cut off the sorghum ears, piling them up neatly. Sanlang, Silang, and Wulang were still not strong enough to do these tasks, but they followed Zhangshi, Heishi, and Zhaoshi to do these chores. After all the piles were done, they selected some sturdy sorghum stalks of moderate thickness, twisted a few twists as ropes, and tied up the sorghum stalks and ears separately.

  Lianzhi, Lianman, and Lianye, Liu Lang and Xiao Qi were even younger, the two of them, or even three people together, would re-collect a bundle of high sorghum heads and stalks, making it convenient to load onto a cart and transport home.

  The sun rose high in the sky, and Lian's back was soon drenched with sweat.

  Think about it, from spring sowing to autumn harvesting, all of which are soaked in the sweat of farmers.

  "The sun beats down upon the rice at noon, and sweat drips to the ground beneath." Lian Man'er recalled that poem which was easy to understand and close to people's hearts.

  "It's hard to know what's in a meal, every grain is bitter." Wu Lang and Xiao Qi continued.

  "Huh, you know too?" Lian Man'er asked in surprise. Except for the eldest son of the Lian family, none of the other children had ever been to school.

  "This was taught by Grandpa, all the children in our family can recite this poem." Wulang wiped his sweat, "Man'er, you won't have forgotten this too, will you?"

  Very rustic, very rural.

  Three more deliveries, seeking subscription, pink.