20demayo Chapter 2 Accident
Chapter 2 Accident
Meng Chen's family owned a total of six mu of land, while Old Chen had more than twenty mu.
Therefore, even if Meng Chen's family only harvests wheat by himself, he will definitely harvest faster than Old Chen's family.
Previously, Meng Chen's family owned more than 20 mu of land. When it fell into the hands of Meng Chen's father, 15 mu remained. Now that it has fallen into Meng Chen's hands, only 6 mu remain.
What Meng Chen knew was that when he was a child, his mother sold three mu of land because she was sick. Later, Meng Chen went to town to study at a private school for two years and sold another mu. Two years ago, a great flood occurred, and in order to survive, he sold four mu of good land at a low price.
In fact, this is true for ordinary farming families in the face of natural disasters and man-made calamities.
Every family has at least 30 to 50 acres of land in their ancestors' generation, and some even have hundreds of acres. However, very few people can cultivate more and more land and even rise to prominence.
Most of them end up with less and less land to cultivate, and eventually they don't own a single acre of land and can only become tenant farmers.
Upon hearing Qingyu's conditions, Meng Chen knew that it must have been Qingyu who added them. Old Chen was a kind and honest man; whenever someone in the village was in trouble, he would give them a few eggs or a ladle of flour, and he never asked for anything in return.
At this moment, Qingyu looked up, full of expectation that Meng Chen would agree, but seeing that Meng Chen remained silent, she finally felt a little guilty and said, "If you don't want to work for my family, that's fine. You can still eat, but you can't eat as much as you want."
"My family will be able to finish in about three or four days, and then I'll let you do it!" It would be foolish not to eat when there's food to eat, and there's nothing wrong with helping Old Chen with his work. Farmers have no shortage of strength, so Meng Chen immediately agreed.
Qingyu was overjoyed upon hearing this, her dark face beaming with smiles. She happily said, "My grandfather is getting old, so let's both do more work. I'll just have my grandfather lead the donkey to thresh the wheat!"
Meng Chen agreed and followed Qingyu to Old Chen's house. He didn't act coy or pretentious and just ate and drank heartily.
After filling his stomach, Meng Chen grabbed a sickle and went to work in the fields.
The wheat harvesting continued in the morning, and the threshing in the afternoon and evening. However, being fed, Meng Chen dared not rest for a moment, working with all his might, hoping to finish the job as soon as possible.
On the evening of the third day, Meng Chen finally finished his own work.
The harvest of six acres of land was completed in nine days, which is actually not slow, considering that only Meng Chen did the work.
Farmers have few idle months; May is an especially busy time.
In fact, for farmers, it is common to be busy for a month during the wheat harvest season, not to mention that they also have to plow the land, apply manure, and sow seeds. During this period, they also have to weed and irrigate. A few acres of land can keep people tied down and unable to move.
Just as the wheat was brought back to the granary late at night, Qingyu came looking for her again. She said sternly, "You'd better get up early tomorrow!"
This girl is like an inexperienced little supervisor, afraid that others will eat and drink for free and not work.
Sure enough, when dawn broke, Qingyu came knocking on the door early. She didn't mention going to the fields, but only told Meng Chen to go eat.
Since he couldn't eat for free, Meng Chen offered to help Old Chen with chores, and Old Chen readily agreed with a smile.
Qingyu quickly divided the work: she and Mengchen harvested wheat, while Old Chen led the donkey to thresh the wheat.
Once they got to the ground, Qingyu kept glancing at Meng Chen. Only when she saw that Meng Chen was working diligently without slacking off did she feel relieved.
The little girl worked very hard, but she was still a girl after all. She couldn't even harvest half as much wheat as Meng Chengqian, let alone do any strenuous work.
The three of them worked from dawn till dusk, and twelve days passed in the blink of an eye. It was already the end of May, and Old Chen's wheat harvest was finally finished.
Meng Chen and Qing Yu were both working tirelessly, and they were both exhausted.
Especially Qingyu, who was originally a talkative and optimistic person, but these days she has not only gotten darker from the sun, but also spoken much less, looking rather dull.
People often say that farmers are ignorant, but if they work day and night, facing the yellow earth all day long, without a moment to look at the starry sky and blue sky, anyone would think they are ignorant.
But at least the work was done. Seeing the wheat harvested, Qingyu had a happy smile on her face. She specially kneaded dough and made steamed buns with locust flower and egg filling.
Meng Chen ate eight in one go, and Qingyu's smile became somewhat forced.
"It's as stuffy as a steamer today. I reckon it's going to rain heavily in a few days. Tomorrow we'll take the dried wheat to pay the tax." Old Chen, who was over eighty years old, was always right.
Land taxes didn't need to be collected in the county seat; there were official granaries in the towns where clerks collected the grain.
The grain tax accounted for about 20%, which seemed low, but there was also a poll tax and assigned corvée labor.
After all the calculations, about 30-40% of the grain had to be handed over, another 10% was kept for seed, and the remaining wheat was even less after being ground into flour.
If there are many people in the family, then they really have to eat porridge every meal, and it's difficult to even get a new piece of clothing for the New Year.
Like Mencius' father, who was conscripted to repair the river after last autumn's harvest, he should have returned long ago, as he couldn't delay the wheat harvest, but he has been waiting for so long without any news.
But no matter what, as long as they are healthy and free from illness or disaster, six acres of land can still barely support two people, but they won't be able to afford new clothes or eat dry food.
After resting for a night, the next day Old Chen saddled his donkey, attached it to a cart, loaded it with the tax grain from both families, and headed to town.
The weather was sweltering, without a single cloud in sight. Qingyu sat in the cart, thoroughly enjoying himself. He chatted loudly with the villagers he met on the way to deliver their grain.
After traveling more than ten miles, the donkey cart arrived at the tax office, where a large crowd had already gathered. As expected, the clerks were making things difficult. One said the wheat wasn't dried properly, another said there were too many shriveled wheat grains, and the wheat had to be pressed down again and again after being put into the measuring cup.
Paying taxes is a drain on farmers' resources, but the drain can also be a source of frustration.
Meng Chen and Old Chen waited until the afternoon before they finally paid their land tax.
After finishing his business, Old Chen bought some salt in town to fill his wine gourd and also bought a string of candied hawthorns for Qingyu.
Qingyu happily stuffed two pieces into Old Chen's mouth, then pretended to offer one to Meng Chen. Seeing that Meng Chen indeed refused, she ate the rest.
As we drove the donkey cart back to the village entrance, it was nearly evening, and the world was bathed in a reddish glow.
Qingyu spotted a crooked-mouthed man carrying manure into the field and exclaimed, "Uncle Crooked Mouth, carrying manure?"
"You're not carrying manure, you're carrying silver?" the crooked-mouthed man answered casually, holding the carrying pole. But when he saw Meng Chen, he quickly grinned and said, "What are you doing here so leisurely, kid? Someone broke into your house, found the land deeds, and is even carrying grain out!"
"Which one?" Meng Chen was startled upon hearing this.
Qingyu's eyes widened, and she asked curiously, "Uncle Crooked Mouth, is my brother's father back?"
For more than ten days, the girl worked alongside Meng Chen, eating together every day. When Meng Chen had free time, he would even weave a grass cricket for her. Their relationship grew much closer, and their way of addressing each other changed.
"Old Meng's never coming back, he's probably dead out there by now!" The crooked-mouthed man, carrying manure, spoke with an increasingly distorted mouth, saying, "It's Master Yan's third son, he's brought quite a few men! Hurry back and check!"