Chapter 75: Unknowingly, the End of Summer Approaches

Chapter 75: Unknowingly, the End of Summer Approaches

Unbeknownst to them, summer's end was drawing near, and the golden cicadas were becoming scarce as the scorpion sold its wares three more times.

As one summer passed, the large vegetable plot flourished even more, with flowers blooming and plants growing taller. Among them, the spring greens and mugwort grew the fastest, already ready for consumption.

Pei Yan had recently been staying at home during the day instead of working outside, tending to the land with Gu Lanshi. They watered the fields when needed, fertilized them appropriately, and didn't slack off on weeding, nurturing the vegetables well until they looked fresh and vibrant.

The mugwort and spring greens each occupied four plots of land. Taking the spring greens as an example, one plot had six rows, with about twelve plants in each row. In total, just this batch would yield over two hundred plants.

Ever since they started picking tender spring greens to eat, Gu Lanshi couldn't help but feel delighted every time he saw the lush greenery of the four plots. The two of them couldn't possibly finish eating so much, so they dug them up, washed them clean, and dried them into preserved vegetables, sending quite a bit back home.

An orange-red sun, like the yolk of an egg or a duck egg, broke through the clouds on the eastern horizon, quickly dyeing the clouds red.

It was cool in the morning, and Gu Lanshi was already busy in the vegetable field. Beside the stone path, half a cartload of spring greens was piled up. He bent down to pull out the spring greens one by one, shaking off the dirt from their roots before placing them on the ridge.

Pei Yan pulled out a pile himself, carrying it to the cart, then came back to carry away his pile.

They were too busy to talk, working together to pull out all the remaining spring greens from the other three plots and pile them onto the cart.

"There's no room left. That's enough. We'll make another trip; there's no rush." Pei Yan said, placing the two vegetables in his hand on top, his smile never leaving his face.

"Alright," Gu Lanshi patted the dirt off his hands. Seeing Pei Yan pulling the cart towards the courtyard, he followed behind. When the cart jolted, two spring greens fell off, and he hurriedly went to pick them up.

They didn't plan on selling these spring greens. Taking advantage of the good weather these few days, they intended to dry them all into preserved vegetables.

Using the cart to transport them back to the yard was much faster than using bamboo baskets to carry them back one by one.

After two trips, they brought all the spring greens inside. Pei Yan went to the river to fetch water while Gu Lanshi washed the vegetables in the courtyard.

While they were busy, they suddenly heard Dahai barking outside, walking out as he barked. Looking up, Gu Lanshi saw a familiar figure at the wattle gate.

"A-Nai," Gu Lanshi called out with a smile, getting up to stop Dahai from barking.

Fang Honghua walked in, shouting from a distance, "Brother Lan, I'm just going to take a look outside. You keep doing what you're doing."

The little old lady had come early, just in time. Gu Lanshi took a large basket and placed four spring greens across it horizontally.

After a busy summer, they had finally reached the season of harvest, and Fang Honghua felt happy as she walked around looking.

A couple of days ago, her Brother Lan and his husband had sent her some vegetables. Goodness, they used a cart to deliver over thirty spring greens and four baskets full of fresh, tender mugwort. It was quite eye-catching.

Of course, those vegetables weren't just for her. Gu Lanshi had thoughtfully provided for everyone. Each of the three uncles received some, and the cousins who had branched out from the uncles' households weren't forgotten either. Other relatives also received at least two spring greens and a large handful of mugwort. Whenever they encountered familiar aunts and uncles in the village, they would offer them some mugwort.

Although these two types of vegetables were common, who wouldn't be happy to receive a free meal? As the saying goes, "When you eat someone else's food, your words are short; when you take something from someone else, your hand is soft." Indeed, many people in the village had been praising Gu Lanshi these past few days.

In their mouths, even Pei Yan had become more amiable. No longer referred to as the "living Yama" or "the devil's bane," he was now known as "Little Yan."

It was as if they were familiar with Pei Yan simply because they had eaten a little of his vegetables.

Fang Honghua didn't have to work in the fields and spent her days sewing and chatting with a few other elderly ladies. Those few people had also benefited from Gu Lanshi and often praised him in front of her. These past few days, she had been feeling particularly refreshed and found everyone more pleasant to look at.

Upon entering, she ignored Dahai, who had come over to sniff her, and asked directly, "Brother Lan, why did you pull them all out? Are you going to sell them?"

Gu Lanshi offered her a chair to sit down and poured her a bowl of tea, smiling as he said, "We've discussed it. This year, we won't sell them. We'll dry them into preserved vegetables and save them for winter."

He sat down again to wash the vegetables and continued, "Initially, we didn't want to pull them all out at once, but the season is getting late. We should have planted radishes and Chinese cabbage a few days ago. It's better to pull them out early to make room for these two crops."

Fang Honghua nodded. Yes, it was time to plant autumn radishes and autumn Chinese cabbage, which would mature perfectly after growing throughout the fall.

Gu Lanshi picked up another spring green, removing the old leaves and tossing them into a small pile beside him. He smiled and said, "This is our first year cultivating the vegetable plot. We didn't catch the best planting season for the vegetables, so it's a bit late. But next year, everything will be in order."

Fang Honghua agreed wholeheartedly and said, "That makes sense. With such a large plot, you'll have to put in more effort in the future."

"Indeed, these leafy greens are delicate. But it's not just me; there's also Pei Yan. We can definitely grow them well," Gu Lanshi wasn't worried at all. Growing vegetables wasn't a difficult task for the two of them. As long as the weather cooperated and they worked hard, everything would be fine.

Fang Honghua couldn't sit still. Seeing such a large pile of vegetables that needed washing, she placed her teacup on the windowsill of the kitchen and helped wash them.

Gu Lanshi politely declined a couple of times, but seeing her insistence, he didn't refuse any further. Having an extra pair of hands made things faster. Why bother with formalities with his own A-Nai?

Seeing Pei Yan return with water, Fang Honghua's smile grew even wider. Although she could be fierce and domineering, her smile was very kind.

"A-Nai," Pei Yan greeted her first before going to pour the water. Seeing that the water for washing vegetables was dirty, without needing Gu Lanshi's instructions, he carried it out and poured it into the freshly harvested vegetable plot.

They were going to plant Chinese cabbage and radishes in the next couple of days, and moist soil would help the seeds germinate.

Pouring the remaining water from the bucket into the wooden basin, he left again with the pole on his shoulders, working efficiently, which pleased Fang Honghua even more.

Once the basins filled with clean vegetables were full, Gu Lanshi got up and carried a bamboo mat from the west room, laying it flat on the threshing ground. Carrying a full basin of vegetables over, he fetched a small wooden cutting board and a vegetable knife from the stove, slicing and spreading them out as he went.

The young and the old were busy in the courtyard, and by the time the bamboo mat was covered with vegetables, about ten bamboo trays were also layered with them. However, there was still half of the vegetables left without a place to dry.

Gu Lanshi went home to ask his mother for the bamboo mats used to dry preserved vegetables. His family had two in total, and he brought both back, laying them out on the threshing ground.

The vegetables on these last two mats were spread thicker, but they would dry after a couple more days under the sun.

Seeing that they were done, Fang Honghua picked up the basket of vegetables prepared for her and was about to leave.

Gu Lanshi hurriedly tried to persuade her, "A-Nai, stay here. Let's chat for a bit. You can go back after we've eaten."

"No need," Fang Honghua waved her hand. There was still some time before the meal. She was just an old woman who could only help wash some vegetables. Seeing how busy her Brother Lan was, she didn't want to disturb them any further.

"Okay, then, A-Nai, pick some more mugwort to take back and give some to my Eldest Aunt," Gu Lanshi hurriedly walked into the vegetable field, pulling out a lot of mugwort and stuffing the bamboo basket full until it was heavy.

After exiting the wattle gate, Fang Honghua turned around and waved her hand, "Go back. It's just a few steps away. It's not far."

She switched hands while carrying the full bamboo basket. Brother Lan was too sincere. This basket of vegetables was really heavy.

However, once she entered the village and saw people on the road, her load didn't feel as heavy anymore, her face full of smiles.

The villagers, seeing her approach from behind with so many vegetables, knew they were from Pei Yan.

"Oh, Auntie, heading to the mountain?" Fang Honghua greeted everyone she met, intentionally lifting the bamboo basket in front of her, saying, "These are vegetables from Brother Lan. Take some back to stir-fry."

Liu E had a good relationship with the Gu family and politely declined, but Fang Honghua stuffed a handful of mugwort into her basket, leaving her no choice but to accept it with a smile, saying, "As I always say, Brother Lan has good fortune. His life now is better than that of many others. He's filial, and he even remembers us common folk. Last time, he gave me vegetables, and now we're indebted to you again."

"Tsk, what debt? Among neighbors, what's a bit of vegetable?" Fang Honghua loved hearing people praise her Brother Lan's good fortune, her joy evident in the extra wrinkles on her smiling face.

After Liu E left, Fang Honghua encountered several more people on the road. She showed off to those she was close with, offering them a handful of vegetables each.

Seeing Old Lady Zhao and Grandma Li, she snorted, carrying her basket as if she hadn't seen them, certainly not giving way.

After she passed, Grandma Li glanced back at the basket in her hand, her heart filled with envy. She spat on the ground, thinking how much food had been wasted on this old witch.

Old Man Zhao hated two people most in the village: Fang Honghua and Pei Yan. He had a grudge against Fang Honghua, and Pei Yan had beaten up his two sons and daughter-in-law, leaving him uneasy but fearful of the living Yama, unable to even dare to curse openly.

After these two families became relatives through marriage, he secretly rejoiced. Fang Honghua's grandson had married a pauper, which would bring shame to Fang Honghua's face, finally giving him something to mock her about. But he never expected that Pei Yan and Gu Lanshi's lives would improve so much that they even had so many vegetables, making his heart ache.

In recent days, whenever he had nothing to do, he wanted to find someone to speak ill of Pei Yan and Gu Lanshi, but many people, having received even the slightest benefit, turned their eyes white at him, disliking his gossip behind their backs.

No matter how much he loved stirring up trouble, he knew he couldn't provoke public anger, feeling extremely frustrated.

"Always showing off, just for a little bit of vegetables, is it worth it?" Grandma Li spoke sourly. If her eyes weren't glued to that basket of vegetables, others might have thought she didn't care.

"That's right, an old whore who's never seen the world, tsk!" Old Man Zhao muttered under his breath.

The two often gathered to gossip, sometimes speaking without thinking, quick-tongued and with bad hearts, offending many people who didn't like to associate with them. As a result, they were left with only each other to talk to.

Given Fang Honghua's understanding of these two, she knew they would surely curse her behind her back after she turned around. However, she no longer cared. Thinking about how those two old folks' eyes must be red with envy but unable to taste even a single vegetable, her heart felt incredibly content. It was already good that she didn't laugh in their faces.

*

Gu Lanshi was unaware that a basket of vegetables had allowed his grandmother to show off all the way. After Pei Yan filled the water tank, the two rested in the main room.

Eating dried jujubes, he said, "We don't have enough mats. In the next ten days or half a month, there won't be time. We need to harvest vegetables and sow seeds. Harvesting autumn rice will also be a task. When winter comes and things are idle, I'll weave a few more mats. That should be enough for next year."

He paused, then happily added, "There's no rush with the mugwort. Let's finish drying the spring vegetables in the next two days before pulling them out."

"Mm." Pei Yan listened by his side, pouring himself a bowl of tea to drink. After some thought, he said, "There's nothing else today. Let's go to town and see if there's a suitable donkey to buy."

The scorpions had been sold five times in total. Excluding the odd copper coins, the main amount was three taels and six mace, more than enough to buy a good donkey without touching their previous savings.

Hearing this, Gu Lanshi became a little excited, also wanting to go to town.

It was perfect to have a husband accompanying him on the road, and Pei Yan readily agreed.