The beautiful person was completely blocked by the person he disliked, not even a strand of hair was visible. Zhou Xiaofu was in a terrible mood. He crossed his arms and spoke rudely, “Zhou Song, my mom asked me to tell you that after you’re done harvesting your field, remember to come home and help. We’ve still got several acres of land left to harvest.”

“I still have my own fields to finish. No time.” Zhou Song didn’t want to deal with him at all.

“Don’t lie to me! The few acres of land you’re working on can be finished by tomorrow morning!” Zhou Xiaofu snorted. “Even if you won’t help us, you still need to help Granny Zhou! Don’t think that just because we’re living separately, you can neglect your filial duties!”

The way this guy talked was just so annoying that even Wu Lanshu, who was an outsider, felt displeased. But since it was a family matter, she had no right to intervene, so she stayed silent.

“Whether I fulfill my filial duties or not is none of your business. You don’t need to stand here pointing fingers.” Normally, Zhou Song would let him prattle on without paying any attention. Eventually, Zhou Xiaofu would get angry and leave after being ignored, saving Zhou Song the trouble of arguing.

But today, Zhou Xiaofu’s previous leering gaze toward Shen Qingzhu was too disgusting. Zhou Song just wanted to get rid of him quickly to avoid further sullying Shen Qingzhu’s sight.

Zhou Xiaofu, not used to being directly shut down like this, was furious. He pointed at Zhou Song angrily, “Fine! I’ll get my mom to talk to you herself. Let’s see if you’re still this rude to your aunt!”

His chin was trembling with anger, but before leaving, he couldn’t resist trying to sneak another look at the beauty. Naturally, Zhou Song blocked him entirely, so Zhou Xiaofu didn’t get even a glimpse. Stomping his foot in frustration, he finally left.

That annoying guy, it’s not like Shen Qingzhu was his wife, so why was Zhou Song guarding him so closely?

Zhou Song coldly watched him until he was far away before withdrawing his gaze, ensuring he wouldn’t behave rudely in front of Kun Ze.

“Is that person your relative?” After seeing the troublemaker leave, Shen Qingzhu finally looked up and asked the man standing in front of him.

Zhou Song turned around, briefly glancing at Shen Qingzhu’s expression. Seeing no sign of anger, he relaxed a bit. “He’s my cousin, but we rarely interact.”

Shen Qingzhu nodded in understanding. He had often seen Zhou Song alone and assumed he had no family in the village. Now, seeing the situation, it seemed that Zhou Song didn’t get along well with his relatives.

Shen Qingzhu didn’t intend to pry into others’ personal matters, so he didn’t ask further. “Since there’s no more trouble, I’ll be heading back.”

Zhou Song responded with a nod and walked him to the edge of the field, watching him and Wu Lanshu stand together.

“Zhou Song, you should get back to work. I see you’ve got quite a lot of grain left to harvest,” Wu Lanshu said, supporting Shen Qingzhu by her side. She waved at the man, “Qingzhu and I are heading home.”

“Alright, you two be careful on the road.” Zhou Song finished speaking with Wu Lanshu, then hesitated before turning to Shen Qingzhu. “I’m sorry, he might have offended you earlier.”

Shen Qingzhu smiled upon hearing this. “If it’s his behavior that was offensive, it has nothing to do with you. There’s no need for you to apologize.”

Hearing this, Zhou Song felt relieved and a little touched.

Although Zhou Xiaofu’s behavior wasn’t his responsibility, Zhou Song still feared that Shen Qingzhu might hold it against him, thinking that birds of a feather flock together and dislike him too.

Once the two had left, Zhou Song stood there for a while before returning to the field to continue harvesting the wheat.

As he held the sickle, he couldn’t help but feel that it was imbued with a faint scent of orchids—whether it was just his imagination due to overthinking, he wasn’t sure.

He rubbed his fingers gently along the wooden handle, recalling how Shen Qingzhu had held it earlier.

Clenching his hand, Zhou Song shook his head, realizing how inappropriate his thoughts were. He quickly bent down and focused on his work.

Not long after, just as Zhou Xiaofu had warned, Hu Lan, Zhou Song’s aunt, actually showed up.

At the time, Zhou Song was busy in the wheat field. Hearing her call out to him, he paused momentarily but didn’t pay her much attention.

Hu Lan assumed that he hadn’t heard her due to the distance, so she went straight into the field to find him. “Nephew, you’re really serious about your work. I’ve been calling you for ages, and you didn’t even respond.”

Now that she was right in front of him, Zhou Song couldn’t pretend not to hear anymore. He glanced at her and continued working, “What do you need?”

“It’s about what your cousin mentioned earlier.” Hu Lan watched his expression. “I don’t know how that boy spoke to you, but I’m afraid you might have misunderstood, so I came to explain.”

Zhou Song remained silent.

Hu Lan continued talking to herself, “Maybe he didn’t say it nicely, but his intentions were good. Your granny is getting old, and the elderly really care about the harvest. As long as the grain is not fully collected, they won’t be at ease. We have over ten acres of land and can’t manage it all, so we were hoping that once you’re done here, you could come help out. That way, the old lady will be able to rest easy, don’t you think?”

Zhou Song straightened up and replied, “I already told him earlier, I don’t have time.”

“Nephew, you can’t just brush me off like that. I know how efficient you are. You’ll finish all this land by tomorrow,” Hu Lan said with a smile, showing no signs of being upset by his curt response.

She was always like this—no matter what she said, it was in a polite, negotiating tone, as if she had a good temper. It made it hard to find fault with her.

As an elder, she had personally come to ask for help, and she had also mentioned Granny Zhou. Plus, it was something within Zhou Song’s capabilities. If he refused again, it would be seen as inappropriate.

This kind of scene played out every year. Zhou Song usually didn’t bother arguing with them, as it was too much of a hassle. After all, it was just a matter of some physical labor.

But this time, because of Zhou Xiaofu’s earlier behavior, Zhou Song was in a bad mood and didn’t want to accommodate them.

“After harvesting the wheat, I still need to dry it. That’ll take a few more days, so I won’t have time.” Zhou Song bent down and continued harvesting. “If the fields are really that urgent, why don’t you get Zhou Xiaofu to do more work?”

Everyone in the village knew that Zhou Xiaofu was lazy—he ate a lot, complained about the heat and the sun during harvest season, and didn’t want to work. Yet Hu Lan spoiled him, and Zhou Dashan didn’t say much either, since Zhou Xiaofu was their only son and naturally needed pampering.

But they couldn’t bear to let their son work, so they came to order Zhou Song around instead. Anyone would think that was unreasonable.

Hu Lan was left speechless by his response. She was clearly unhappy, as she hated it when others criticized her son.

But she couldn’t let it show now. Gathering her emotions, she said, “Nephew, your cousin isn’t well, you know. He felt dizzy again when I left, so…”

“Aunt,” Zhou Song interrupted her, cutting another stalk of wheat and tossing it aside. He looked at her calmly, “Instead of standing here arguing with me, why don’t you go back and harvest a few more bundles yourself?”

This time, Hu Lan was completely at a loss for words. Seeing that Zhou Song was determined and continued working without paying her any mind, she had no choice but to leave, frustrated.

She couldn’t help but wonder—what was wrong with this boy today? Why wasn’t he budging at all?

Zhou Song didn’t care what she thought. With that troublesome person out of the way, he worked even faster. By the time evening came, most of the field was harvested. By tomorrow morning, he’d be able to finish up and then go help out at the Lin family’s fields.

After loading the harvested wheat onto the cart and making several trips back home, the courtyard was already packed full, with the bundles stacked so high they rose above the courtyard walls.

Families who finished harvesting early had already started working at the drying field. Zhou Song had checked earlier, and his turn would come the day after tomorrow.

The day’s hard work was finally over. Zhou Song let out a sigh of relief and rolled down his sleeves, pausing when he touched his forearm.

Recalling the moment when Shen Qingzhu’s hand had lightly rested there, he could almost feel the sensation again.

Lowering his eyes, he smiled faintly.

—

After several days of busy work, the fields were finally cleared. The remaining wheat stalks would be burned, leaving ashes to nourish the soil.

As the number of people in the fields dwindled, more gathered at the drying field, where the sounds of chatter filled the air. Many children came to play, rolling around in the piles of wheat straw, getting covered in husks.

“Zhou Song, do you remember when we used to play like that as kids?” Lin Erzhu looked at the scene, feeling nostalgic.

Zhou Song glanced at him. “That was you.”

Lin Erzhu was instantly at a loss for words, unable to refute.

Zhou Song had always been steady, even as a child. When they went to the drying field, he would help his parents with the work and never ran around playing.

Back then, Zhou Song was still small and thin. The first time Lin Erzhu saw him, he thought Zhou Song was younger and tried to act like an older brother, saying he would take him to play.

When he found out Zhou Song was actually older, Lin Erzhu cried for days, lamenting the loss of his “younger brother,” making the adults laugh.

Zhou Song had handed him a cloth to wipe his tears and told him he looked ugly when he cried, which only made him cry harder.

Remembering his childhood embarrassment, Lin Erzhu rubbed his nose and decided to change the topic to avoid further teasing.

“There’s some space over there, let’s head over.”

While they were chatting, Aunt Qian had already found a spot, patting her son to push the cart over. They still had a few more trips of wheat to bring in.

The drying field was full of people threshing, the air thick with flying wheat husks. Just walking through the field would cover you in them.

The villagers were used to this, moving through the clouds of husks without a second thought.

Aunt Qian stayed behind to watch over their pile of wheat while Zhou Song and Lin Erzhu went back to bring the next load.

The space wasn’t very large, so they’d have to dry their wheat in several batches.

After several trips, Lin Erzhu was sweating profusely, sitting on the empty cart to catch his breath. He wiped his face and took a few sips of water.

Glancing at Zhou Song, who, despite the heat, remained steady and calm, Lin Erzhu admitted he couldn’t keep up. He set down his ceramic bowl and stood up.

“Let’s get back to work. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can rest.”

Without needing any prompting, Zhou Song was already back to threshing the wheat.

Threshing was physically demanding. Sometimes, it could be even more exhausting than harvesting several acres of land. Most families took turns to do the work.

Zhou Song did it all by himself. In recent years, Lin Erzhu had also stopped letting his mother help, preferring to take more breaks and work a bit slower himself.

His mother had worked hard to raise him, and it had taken a toll on her health. She often suffered from sore arms and legs. During the harvest, he couldn’t stop her from working, but now she was willing to listen to him.

After threshing a batch of wheat, Zhou Song’s hair was covered in husks. He casually shook his head and tossed the empty wheat stalks aside.

Before long, a small pile had already formed.

Aunt Qian, after finishing with her own family’s stalks, would also help with Zhou Song’s, making sure the pile didn’t get too big and obstruct their work.

“Once this harvest season is over, I’m going to sleep for days,” Lin Erzhu said, leaning on his flail, trying to rest his sore arms.

Aunt Qian chuckled. “I don’t care if you sleep for ten days or half a month.”

After the harvest, the villagers usually took some time to rest. Those looking to earn extra money would then head into town to find short-term work.

In the past two years, Lin Erzhu had gone too, but this year he had no plans to go. His family was doing well enough, and with his wife expecting a baby, he preferred to stay home so he wouldn’t miss the birth of his child.

He shook out his arms, preparing to get back to work, when his gaze drifted, and he exclaimed in surprise, “Hey, isn’t that Shen Xiaolang? What’s he doing over there?”

Zhou Song quickly looked up and followed his gaze.