Chapter 429 - 373: Hornets Would Be a Real Sight
Chapter 429: Chapter 373: Hornets Would Be a Real Sight
Xinghua was clearly aware of Mo Chengfu’s tricks. She glanced at the little girl whose hand Second Aunt Mo was holding, paused for a moment, then took Xiao Man’s hand and hurried away with her.
They had only gone a few dozen steps when the sounds of the argument behind them abruptly changed. First came Second Aunt Mo’s shrill, ghost-like shrieks, followed by Mo Laoer’s panicked shouts of, "Run! Run!" Then came the terrified wails of the three children, crying for their mom and dad.
The two girls turned to look. In front of the herb garden’s main gate, Mo Laoer and Second Aunt Mo were leading their three children in a frantic dash away. They all had their arms wrapped around their heads, running as fast as their legs could carry them. Meanwhile, Mo Chengfu stood beside the stone pillar of the iron gate with his arms crossed, impassively watching the spectacle...
Xiao Man saw gray-black, cloud-like swarms fly swiftly out of the herb garden in hot pursuit of Mo Laoer and Second Aunt Mo. Curious, she used her Divine Sense to get a closer look and couldn’t help but let out a snort of laughter. "He keeps honeybees in the herb garden? Isn’t Uncle Chengfu worried they’ll sting the children?"
Xinghua said, "They won’t sting the children; it’s just to give them a scare. Uncle Chengfu knows how to concoct all sorts of strange medicinal powders and ointments that can control snakes, bugs, butterflies, and birds. He sometimes uses them to mess with people, but he knows where to draw the line. After all, if someone really got hurt, he’d be the one to treat them. This time, though, I bet Mo Laoer and Second Aunt Mo are in for it. Just listen to how miserably they’re screaming. They’re definitely not getting off easy!"
No matter how miserably they screamed, Xiao Man felt no sympathy. ’Mo Chengfu is still being too merciful to them,’ she thought. ’It would have been a real show if he’d attracted a huge swarm of hornets.’
When she got home, she saw that Fifth Auntie and Eighth Aunt had arrived. They were sitting with Grandma under the pear tree, chatting while portioning out the various local specialties that Xiao Man and her brother had brought back from Beijing, getting them ready to hand out to relatives and neighbors.
The pears on the tree were ready to eat—crisp, sweet, and with a good crunch. But Grandpa thought the flesh was still a bit firm and it wasn’t time to harvest yet, so he told everyone to leave them be. The heavy fruits bent the branches low, a delightful picture of a bountiful harvest.
Grandma told Xiao Man that with the summer harvest of the early rice fast approaching, she should take advantage of the next couple of days. While the adults were at home sharpening sickles, weaving straw ropes, and mending baskets in preparation, she should take the gifts and pay a visit to all their relatives.
Xiao Man nodded in agreement. ’Why would it take two days?’ she thought. ’If I just ride my bike like I used to, I can cover the whole village from end to end in a single morning or evening.’
The day after tomorrow, she also needed to make a trip to the county town to visit Teacher Cheng, Teacher Fan, and Teacher Xiao Yu’s family.
She hadn’t seen the village belle, Lin Liuping, since she’d gotten back. After marrying Squad Leader Xiao Zhao, she had lived alone in Gongdao Village for a while before her in-laws came to pick her up. Once Squad Leader Xiao Zhao was promoted to an officer, he remained with the border patrol forces and frequently had to patrol the front lines. To keep him from being distracted, and though she was terribly reluctant to leave the village where she’d grown up, Lin Cunhua went with her in-laws.
She and Xiao Man had been keeping in touch through letters. Xiao Man had told her before the break that she was coming back to Gongdao Village, and Lin Cunhua had said she would also try to return so they could all get together. They just hadn’t confirmed a date. Fortunately, summer vacation was long, so Xiao Man had time to wait for her to arrive.
Every family was busy with their own affairs. Fifth Auntie and Eighth Aunt headed home before noon. Yu Wumei cooked a meal and carried it directly to the herb garden for everyone there. The only ones left to eat lunch at the house were Grandma, Xinghua, and Xiao Man. Tang Haocheng, Gu Shaoqin, Da Zhi, and Dapeng had gone into the mountains with the other village boys and were probably having too much fun to even come back for lunch.
After lunch, to avoid the scorching sun, people usually rested for a few hours. They wouldn’t go out to the fields to work again until late afternoon when the sun began to set in the west. This was a custom that had only formed in the last couple of years. Things were different now. The land had been allocated to individual households, and with no production team to manage them, each family arranged its own work schedule. As long as the work got done, people could be more flexible and do as they pleased.
Xiao Man and Xinghua didn’t take afternoon naps. Thanks to the Spirit Gathering Array, the courtyard felt as if it had a natural air conditioner. No matter how hot the sun blazed, it never felt stuffy. A cool, refreshing breeze was always blowing. Xinghua took Xiao Man to the newly expanded backyard to see the pigs, ducks, chickens, and geese. Xiao Man couldn’t help but marvel at how hardworking and capable Mo Jiabao and Yu Wumei were. The operation was the size of a medium-sized poultry and livestock farm.
Back in the front yard, they saw Grandma busy in the vegetable garden, so the two of them ran in to help. The trio—grandmother and granddaughters—chatted and laughed, their hands never stopping as they quickly picked a large pile of vegetables and gourds. They carried everything over to the well platform to be washed and air-dried. Later, they would be chopped and pickled. Many of their relatives and friends in Beijing had asked Xiao Man to bring back some Southern-style pickles and preserves, so she could slowly prepare them now and take the finished products with her when she left.
A little after four in the afternoon, Xiao Man and Xinghua went to the herb garden again. They harvested herbs until seven o’clock before heading home. Due to daylight saving time, the sky was still light. All around, people working in the fields were also finishing up for the day, shouldering their hoes and leading their cattle home.
The moment they stepped into the courtyard, they were greeted by the rich aroma of meat and wine. Yu Wumei and Grandma had already set up three tables. As soon as they saw the workers return, they immediately brought out the dishes and called everyone to eat. Tang Qingyun took out a few bottles of liquor; it was customary to treat hired help to drinks in the evening.
Tang Haocheng, Gu Shaoqin, Da Zhi, Dapeng, and their friends had returned a little earlier. They had actually managed to catch some silver fish from the creek, about three or four pounds of them in a small iron bucket. They weren’t very big, however; the largest were only two or three fingers wide. There wouldn’t be much to eat if they were grilled, so the group had wisely brought the live fish back for Grandma to deep-fry with rapeseed oil the next day.
Xiao Man noticed that the silver fish were slender and delicate, their bodies so translucent they were almost crystalline, much like the silver fish in her Treasure Pearl Space. She took four or five of the thumb-sized ones and placed them in the space’s Little Spring Lake to see if they would grow larger there.
After dinner, many villagers dropped by to chat and watch TV. The television set had been moved out to the grain-sunning ground earlier. TVs were still a rarity back then; in the entirety of Gongdao Village, only three or four households owned one. But people’s passion for following shows was immense. The current drama was a Japanese series called *Blood Doubt*.
In her past life, exploited by Liu Fengying, Xiao Man had been buried under endless chores with no chance to watch TV shows. So this time, she grabbed a small stool and joined the crowd. She especially loved the theme song and was watching with relish, her chin propped in her hands, when Guan Ailan and her friends arrived and pulled her away from the television. They dragged her straight out to the road to talk. Xiao Man grumbled inwardly, ’Don’t these three have a single romantic bone in their bodies? I can’t believe they can just ignore such a great show.’
She mentioned to her friends that she was going to the county town in two days to visit Teacher Xiao Yu, but no one was interested in joining. It wasn’t surprising. The busy summer harvest season was just around the corner, and every family was short on helping hands. Besides, they all went to school locally and saw Teacher Xiao Yu frequently. Xiao Man only came back once a year, so it looked like she would have to go by herself.
Early the next morning, Xiao Man washed up, ate breakfast, and, with help from Grandma and Xinghua, tied a large bamboo basket full of gifts onto the rack on the back of her bicycle. Then, she rode out the door to begin her tour of visiting relatives and friends around the village.