The gong sounded, but this time Wen Jiajia was no longer in a hurry to go to the field to cut rice. She went to the cowshed, pulled out Daqiang, put on the cart, and drove the donkey to Hegou Township.

Speaking of this cowshed, it was quite different from what she had imagined. It was an authentic cowshed, except for the cows and donkeys, with no people in it.

So where were the delegated people?

In a farm not too far away.

Therefore, Wen Jiajia couldn’t rub his thighs even if she wanted to, and there were soldiers with guns guarding the countryside, making it difficult to get in.

The donkey cart drove leisurely along the country road, and she became more and more skilled in driving it.

Soon after leaving the village, she saw a bicycle coming toward her after several turns. Wen Jiajia was instantly excited, raised her hand, and waved wildly. “Wei Dai!”

Hearing Jiajia’s enthusiastic voice, Wei Dai was overwhelmed by surprise and pedaled directly towards her. “Jiajia, why did you come by cart yourself? I was planning to pick you up.”

“I was in a hurry!” Wen Jiajia said proudly. “I just learned it yesterday evening. This donkey is called Daqiang, and it listens to me.”

As she spoke, she beckoned Wei Dai to move aside. She wanted to show off her driving skills.

Daqiang was truly strong, with a big mouth and a long, donkey face. Its limbs were straight, its joints strong, its muscles firm, and it was full of energy. Under Wen Jiajia’s guidance, it was very obedient, and she had memorized the commands well. Even the carrots Wen Jiajia had specially brought weren’t needed.

Wei Dai couldn’t help but smile.

After hanging out with her for a long time, he found that Wen Jiajia was a very attractive person.

Wei Dai slowed down and followed behind her.

They passed by bamboo forests, woods, artificially dug reservoirs, and vast fields.

On the way, many people saw the two of them. The speed of the donkey cart and the speed of the bicycle were on the same level, and it looked rather strange.

The sun was rising.

Rising from the eastern mountain, it brought a fiery red hue, but it didn’t feel very hot.

At this time, it was also the most comfortable time of the day. The sky was bright, the wind was cool, and the sunlight on the body was mild.

By the time the sun was making people sweat, Wen Jiajia and Wei Dai had already arrived in Hegou Township.

Hegou Township seemed to have pulled a list of many brigade canteens, with baskets of fish from the riverside fish farm being loaded onto carts, and the traffic was extremely lively.

Wei Dai helped to pull the fish from the Fuyang Brigade to weigh them, and after weighing them, they moved them to Wen Jiajia’s donkey cart.

His enthusiasm couldn’t help but make people think he was too keen.

A friend next to him nudged him with his shoulder and smiled strangely, “I said, you don’t have any relatives, but you sure have a heart. But which commune is this, our commune?”

When he heard that Jiajia didn’t speak, Wei Dai didn’t dare to formally admit it, “Don’t talk nonsense, move your fish.”

Besides, why is there no one who is a relative?

He secretly met one in private.

After the Fuyang Brigade loaded all three baskets of fish into the cart, Wen Jiajia pulled the reins and said “drive.” The donkey obeyed and left in a leisurely manner.

Soon after she left, Wei Dai also made an excuse to leave and then rode his bicycle to catch up. Wen Jiajia was in a hurry for the first time, and he was worried that there would be an accident, so he had to send her to the Fuyang Brigade to feel reassured.

After sending her off, he went home. His parents were old, so he had to help them with the autumn harvest.

The three baskets of fish were not unique to Fuyang Village; they were also distributed to several production teams under the Fuyang Brigade.

Therefore, when Wen Jiajia drove the donkey cart back to the village, she was still not idle. She hurriedly moved the fish to the canteen and then drove the fish to several small production teams.

Coming and going, she was on the move all morning.

Wen Jiajia didn’t know if Daqiang was tired or not, but she was quite tired.

Especially her buttocks, which almost felt like they had turned into four petals.

She always managed to do things in a hurry, running here and there, and it was only half past ten when she finished delivering.

“I’m so tired!” Wen Jiajia’s face was flushed, and she stood at the door of her house panting. Wiping her forehead, dripping with sweat, she went to the vegetable field and picked up a handful of water to wash her face, which washed away a lot of the heat.

However, it was much better than cutting rice.

Wen Jiajia sliced the salted meat and stir-fried it with chili peppers and carrots. She killed the pheasant that had been fluttering for two days and put it in a casserole to simmer slowly.

As for the fish… let’s eat it tomorrow.

There was also fish in the canteen today. Although she cooked the food at home, she also had to bring back the food from the canteen.

It was almost noon, and Wen Chun and Wen Xuan were picked up by her.

The two girls left the nursery with their heads held high and with triumphant steps.

Although their aunt said they were not allowed to tell what they were eating at home, otherwise it would be easy to be snatched away.

But they were still very proud because the other children didn’t get picked up at noon, but they did.

Wen Chun and Wen Xuan liked the unique special treatment.

In the afternoon, Wen Jiajia still had to go to work.

But instead of harvesting the paddy, she shuttled between the fields and the threshing floor, transporting the rice from the threshing buckets to dry.

The barn couldn’t dry so much rice, so they spread out the mats on other open fields in the village.

It wasn’t actually tiring, and you could take a short break while passing through the shade of trees along the way.

“Jiajia, these mats are all made by your eldest brother-in-law. Look at them; they are tight and dense, easy to roll up and easy to loosen.” When she was drying the grain, someone in the village told her.

Wen Jiajia took a closer look. They were indeed good.

The mat for sunning grain is called a sunning mat, which is made of bamboo strips, similar to a bamboo mat but much larger.

Spread it out when you use it, and roll it up when you don’t.

At this moment, many children were lying on it, rolling and playing, and they were pulled by adults and beaten twice on the buttocks before they wanted to leave.

The slightly damp paddy was pushed away by a drying rake and spread out evenly on the drying mat.

As time passed, the moisture on the paddy gradually dissipated into the sunlight and became a little dry to the touch.

But that’s not enough.

The paddy has to be dried for at least three days, which is too little, according to the villagers. If you want to store it for a long time, five days are always required.

However, it is best not to exceed seven days, as the taste of rice is not very good if it is exposed to too much sun.

In the afternoons of the past few days, Wen Jiajia spent her time constantly drying, turning over rice, and loading rice.

Time flew by quickly in the busyness.

After the rice was cut, the villagers were finally able to breathe.

This year, they had to pay public grain, that is, patriotic food. The majority of the paddy was often handed in the day after it was harvested. The dried ones were bagged and sent to the commune, and those that were not dried continued to be dried. After they were dried, they were distributed to the team members according to their work.

It was the most exciting time of the year again – the distribution of food!

Even Wen Jiajia was so excited that she woke up early that morning and cleared out the granary at home.

The granary of the Wen family was in the attic, and it was built in the attic to prevent moisture. But apparently, it also provoked a lot of rats in the attic.

Anyway, Wen Jiajia, who slept in Sister Wen’s room, could hear the sound of rats crawling on the roof every night, which was terrifying.

“Chun’er, are there any other places to store food at home?” Wen Jiajia, who was tidying up upstairs, shouted downstairs. “For example, a cellar or something.”

Wen Chun, who was sitting in the kitchen eating roasted sparrows, hurriedly replied, “Auntie, I don’t know.”

Then, she continued to eat her roasted sparrows.

The sparrows were caught by Wen Jiajia. Recently, in addition to turning and drying the grain, she had been catching sparrows. These pests, known as one of the Four Evils, were notorious for eating crops.

In the past few days, when she had been idle, she had been setting traps to catch them. She gave a few to the children who helped her set the traps and took a few home. Wen Jiajia became famous among the children in the Fuyang Brigade, who thought she was a fun adult. Whenever they saw her on the road, they would greet her affectionately.

Wen Jiajia: ……

She didn’t expect to unlock this new title.

The granary upstairs was dark, with hardly any light. Wen Jiajia searched for a long time but didn’t find a torch.

On second thought, only a fool would put a torch in the granary.

So, she had to dig into the granary, take out all the sacks inside, and take them to the river to wash and dry.

The remaining old grain needed to make room for the new rice. Fortunately, there was only half a bag of old grain left. After husking, it would be about 30 catties, which wouldn’t take long to consume.

After clearing out the clutter, Wen Jiajia put on a homemade mask and began sweeping. But the light was too dim, so she couldn’t clean it carefully. She swept the three walls twice with a broom made of reeds and wiped them roughly with a cloth.

Finally, she swept the ash off the floor, opened the granary door to ventilate, and let the moisture evaporate.

People in the countryside rarely had idle time, and housework was far more laborious than in the cities.

Wen Jiajia spent almost the entire morning tidying up the granary and another half hour washing the sacks.

Finally, she swept the attic, the staircase, and the stairwell.

The sun set, the moon rose, and the day passed.

The following day, Wen Jiajia took her small cart and clean sacks to the brigade headquarters to wait for the food distribution.

Since she inherited the Wen family’s legacy, she would receive a lot of grain this time. Originally, the Wen family was well-off, and during this period, Wen Jiajia could get an average of four points a day, which was considered a small fortune.

When Fang Baoguo shouted “Jiajia,” everyone looked at her, curious about how much she would receive.

How much?

Eight bags of grain were divided, which was completely enough for the Wen family—her, Chun, and Xuan—to eat from this time this year until the same time next year.

In fact, it might be enough for three years if they were frugal. After all, this was only the first wave of grain. There would be sweet potatoes, soybeans, and other crops later.

However, Wen Jiajia wanted to eat white rice all the time, and in her opinion, this rice would last until the end of next year.

She had little strength, so Fang Baoguo arranged for Chen Qiang, who lived next door, to help her push the grain home.

Seeing Chen Qiang, Wen Jiajia thought of his younger brother, Chen Xiong.

Chen Xiong was a lazy man, who sneaked to the mountains to rest while working. He happened to meet Wen Jiajia, who was driving a cart, and Wei Dai, who was riding a bicycle.

It was fine. Wen Jiajia didn’t want to have a bad relationship with Aunt Zhang, who knew a lot about food preparation next door.

The grain returned to the warehouse was marked with the word “unitary,” which means “there is” grain, indicating satisfaction with this year’s bumper harvest and hope for good weather next year.

Wen Jiajia thought about it and placed mouse traps on both sides of the granary door. She was determined to catch the mice that disturbed her sleep.

After the food distribution, it was back to work.

Wen Jiajia didn’t just go to Hegou Township to transport fish; she became a “veteran” and now could also go to Chendun to transport tofu, and at the same time transport the Fuyang Brigade’s duck eggs to other places.

Fang Baoguo even gave her a new task.

What? Go to the county seat to pick up the new educated youth.

“His grandmother’s! In the autumn harvest, they send people down here who don’t know anything, and they still get rations.” Fang Baoguo’s resentment at this moment was enough to feed ten evil sword immortals.

Wen Jiajia’s eyes lit up.

Wasn’t this the perfect opportunity for a date?