“What’s wrong?” a voice came from the room.

“Come out and help me shake the tree,” she said.

Wei Dai stood up, brushed off the sawdust on his clothes, and came to the yard. “Can’t you do it tomorrow?” he asked.

Wen Jiajia replied, “If we shake it tonight, we can wash and dry the flowers. After they dry, we can try to make osmanthus honey tomorrow.”

Okay, whatever she says goes.

Wen Jiajia spread an oilcloth under the osmanthus tree. Because it wasn’t big enough to cover the entire tree, she could only cover one side first.

Wei Dai climbed up the tree and shook the branches.

All of a sudden, the osmanthus flowers fell, making a rustling sound. The fragrance intensified, almost making Wen Jiajia sneeze.

Wei Dai climbed higher and shook another branch.

“Use a flashlight to see if it’s clean,” he said. “The flashlight is on the desk in the room.”

Wen Jiajia ran inside to get it.

The batteries in the flashlight must have been newly replaced because it was exceptionally bright.

The light shone on the branches, and while Wen Jiajia couldn’t see clearly, Wei Dai in the tree could.

He shook vigorously again and checked. After ensuring no flowers were left, he asked Wen Jiajia to move the oilcloth to the other side.

They repeated the process on the other side. The noise from shaking the tree was so loud that Xie Yi from the Xie family next door climbed onto the top of the wall.

“Hey, auntie, are you catching cicadas?” Xie Yi asked curiously. After getting to know each other, he followed Chun’er and Xuanxuan in calling her aunt.

Wen Jiajia: “I’m shaking the flowers and preparing to make flower jam tomorrow. If it turns out well, I’ll call you to come and try it.”

Xie Yi said obediently: “Okay.”

Then he disappeared again. Wen Jiajia guessed that Xie Yang had lifted Xie Yi up.

Finally, the osmanthus flowers were all shaken off, and Wei Dai was sweating profusely.

Wen Jiajia gathered the oilcloth and dragged it to the living room, where the lights were bright, making it easier to collect the flowers.

One of the couple was doing carpentry while the other was collecting flowers. They chatted, and a warm feeling flowed between them.

“Do you want to be a father?” Wen Jiajia asked curiously.

Wei Dai chuckled, “What am I thinking? I just think this should be made early. It won’t go bad if it sits around.”

Wen Jiajia suddenly remembered that he mentioned yesterday one of his comrades-in-arms had a baby but was looking for a crib. Maybe that was why he wanted to make one.

She pointed to the extra wood beside her and said, “What are we going to do with the remaining wood?”

Wei Dai looked and said, “Make some small toys, as well as a dining table and a walker.”

“…”

Just keep pretending you’re not in a hurry.

Wei Dai knew what Wen Jiajia was thinking from her expression and felt wronged.

But he couldn’t protest. His wife was sometimes sharper than a needle, especially before her period. If he remembered correctly, it was due in the next two days.

If he protested his innocence, she would use it as an opportunity to rage and claim he didn’t want to have a child with her.

Half an hour passed.

It was getting darker outside, and the moon had hidden behind some dark clouds.

Wen Jiajia washed the osmanthus flowers and hung them on a winnowing basket.

Wei Dai also put down his work, swept the wood chips in the living room into a dustpan, and poured them into the iron basin beside the stove.

“Want to take a shower?” 

After finishing his task, Wei Dai leaned against the door frame and asked Wen Jiajia with a smile.

Wen Jiajia didn’t respond. She wiped the water off her hands and walked past him, carrying the scent of osmanthus on her body. Wei Dai followed her and hugged her tightly.

“Hey, hey, hey, the gate isn’t closed yet.”

Wei Dai looked back and went to close the gate.

While he was doing that, Wen Jiajia took some water and headed to the bathroom for a bath.

As the weather got hotter, she usually took a bath before bed. After a bath, the evening breeze felt cool and refreshing.

The flashlight was mounted on the bathroom wall. Wen Jiajia raised her hand and sniffed. Was that the scent of osmanthus?

But that shouldn’t be possible. What if she got stung by a bee?

Getting stung by a bee was a trauma for her. When she was a child, she was stung while playing at her grandmother’s house in the countryside. Her cheeks swelled up like red buns, and someone rubbed eggplant on them.

It’s true that using eggplant to treat wounds is just a folk remedy, but it was quite effective.

Thinking about the past, Wen Jiajia didn’t slow down her bath.

After washing, she opened the door, and a breeze blew in, feeling refreshing and cool. She squinted her eyes and paused to enjoy it.

Wei Dai had already taken off his shirt, took the wooden bucket from her hand, and went to fetch more water.

This man had an impressive figure. Wen Jiajia would often reach into his clothes every night before bed.

At that moment, seeing him with a wooden bucket filled with water and his arm muscles flexed was quite embarrassing.

Wei Dai asked, “What are you looking at?”

Her cheeks were rosy and her eyes were sparkling.

Wen Jiajia replied, “Just enjoying the breeze.”

Wei Dai gently pushed her and said, “Go inside quickly, you might catch a cold.”

She had been acting up again since stopping her Chinese medicine. This morning, he noticed she had a nasal tone, clearly catching a cold, and yet she was daring to enjoy the breeze.

Wen Jiajia deliberately extended her arm toward Wei Dai’s face and asked, “Smell this. Is there any scent?”

Wei Dai sniffed carefully and said, “It smells good. Come inside quickly.”

Wen Jiajia teased, “Are you just trying to please me?”

Wei Dai sniffed again and said, “There’s no scent.”

Satisfied, Wen Jiajia went inside.

The next day, Wen Chun and Wen Xuan had field labor class again, and the two girls were reluctant to go.

Children from rural areas aren’t typically curious about the fields. Even though they are young, they know how hard fieldwork is.

Wen Chun, in particular, remembered how her aunt returned home during the autumn harvest—lying motionless on the bed, her lips pale. Wen Chun was terrified, almost thinking her aunt was dead, and she cried.

She also remembered her parents discussing the difficulties of the autumn harvest and planning to buy a meat ticket to get half a pound of meat to supplement the family.

Wen Xuan only recalled her aunt looking exhausted during the autumn harvest, along with the prickly rice ears, the elusive birds, and the sun that made people dizzy.

Wen Xuan, frightened, patted her chest and asked, “Aunt, can we take a day off today?”

Wen Jiajia didn’t really want the girls to go either. The sun was so intense; she worried they might suffer from heatstroke if exposed all day.

Just as she was hesitating, Wei Dai said, “Don’t even think about asking for a day off. How can you skip a labor class?”

“Fei Fei never goes!” Wen Xuan protested. “Last time and the time before, she stayed home eating candy.”

Wei Dai responded, “Fei Fei is in poor health. You and your sister are stronger than calves. One of you can handle more than two Fei Feis.”

Wen Xuan quickly thought of a plan and said, “I might suddenly feel unwell, like having a stomachache.”

This time, Wen Jiajia was not pleased and scolded her, “If you don’t want to go, then don’t go. But lying about it? I’ll prepare water for you later. Go pick up rice ears for me.”

Wen Xuan’s eyes filled with tears and she pouted, “I want nectar water.”

Wen Jiajia was speechless. Children are very shrewd. They knew they couldn’t avoid their parents’ orders, so they started negotiating.

Nectar water is flower jam mixed with water. Wen Jiajia agreed, “Okay, I’ll fill a pot for you.”

“I also want butterfly cakes,” Wen Xuan added.

Wen Jiajia said, “Okay, one butterfly cake per person. That should be enough. Working makes you tired and hungry.”

“I want more…”

Wen Jiajia’s expression remained unchanged: “Hmm?”

Wen Xuan’s shoulders slumped in defeat: “Okay, Auntie, that’s all I want. I don’t want anything else.”

If she ordered more, the butterfly cakes and nectar water would be gone.

After breakfast, Wen Jiajia helped prepare water and food. She also took out small hats for them to wear.

The hats were bought at a department store, green and child-sized. Wen Jiajia thought the quality was good, so she spent a little over one yuan on each.

After putting on the hats, she also asked them to change into long sleeves.

Wen Chun hesitated, “It’s so hot.”

Wen Jiajia insisted, “You have to wear them even if it’s hot, otherwise, your arms will get scratched.”

They weren’t harvesting rice, just picking rice ears. Picking rice ears requires moving around the fields, and it is particularly easy to get scratched by rice leaves and ears.

After Wen Jiajia finished getting the two children ready, she patted their backs and said, “All set. Off you go.”

The children reluctantly left, carrying their water bottles and small schoolbags.

Wei Dai said to her, “You spoil the children too much. They need to endure hardships.”

Wen Jiajia replied, “People only live for a few decades. Why make them suffer? There will be plenty of opportunities for that in the future.”

Wei Dai couldn’t help but reflect on Wen Jiajia’s perspective. It seemed quite valid.

“But you still need to learn how to do farm work,” Wei Dai said again.

Wen Jiajia didn’t argue, but in her heart, she thought about how quickly society would develop in the future.

Still doing farm work? Whether there will even be land available for such work is another matter entirely.

Wen Jiajia thought about her grandmother’s family—every September during the rice harvest, they would divide the fields into several plots and rent them out to schools in the city.

Why did the schools rent them? To let students experience rice harvesting.

After the harvest, each student received a small bag of rice. Her grandmother’s family not only received rice without doing any work but also earned extra rental income.

Wen Jiajia was amazed when she learned about this. It turned out that business could be done this way.