During the autumn harvest, Lin Shu not only prepared various meals for her family but also helped Fang Dihua and Old Man Lu repair the cotton clothes.

By August, it was time to wear cotton clothes at night.

In August, it was hot during the day, so people wore short sleeves, but it got chilly in the evening after the sun went down, making it necessary to wear cotton clothes while working at night.

As the saying goes, “In August, you wear clothes in a mess.”

The sunflowers in the family’s garden, which were beautiful in the summer, were now full of seeds, and they looked very pleasing.

Lin Shu had helped pollinate them herself since sunflowers need cross-pollination and she was worried there weren’t enough flowers to attract insects.

Doing the work herself gave her a great sense of accomplishment.

As for the fish pond, a few fish had died, and only a few small ones remained.

There wasn’t much to eat, but the pond was a lovely sight with rocks, reeds, and water plants, looking beautiful in the season.

Although they didn’t have fish to eat, Lin Yue brought a big white fish in the morning, weighing six pounds.

There was a reservoir south of Lin’s village, which had a lot of water all year round, with both wild fish and stocked fish.

During this season, fish were caught and sold to improve the villagers’ diet and to help with the autumn harvest.

At noon, Lin Shu made a meal with the fish: fish head stew with cabbage and potatoes, spicy tofu, and other dishes.

The aroma was so strong that it made everyone around hungry.

Although people had eaten fish before, Lin Shu’s cooking made it especially delicious.

Lu Shaocai was so tempted that he wanted to drink a little wine just from the smell—he even asked Lin Shu for some fish, but she ignored him.

As Lin Shu was finishing up cooking and picking beans, her children, Panpan and Tiantian, ran in excitedly. “Mom, Mom!”

The two kids weren’t usually hasty, but they always seemed eager to come home.

“Mom, we’re back!”

Tiantian was clean, but Panpan had mud and grass stains on his clothes.

Tiantian brought Lin Shu a bunch of wildflowers like daisies and dandelions, and a handful of immature hemp fruits that could be eaten when tender.

Panpan held out his little hands, showing Lin Shu a big green caterpillar that was almost as long as his hand!

Lin Shu was shocked!

This caterpillar was from the soybean field and would turn into a large pupa in the autumn.

Kids often enjoyed playing with them.

Lin Shu had tried eating roasted insects before, but seeing them alive and cooked were two different things.

The bean worms were manageable because they were fatty and tasted delicious. But this one was different.

Lin Shu used a stick to push it onto the ground and said, “Panpan, this isn’t a bean worm. This is an autumn tiger.”

These large bugs were commonly found in sweet potato fields or other farmland.

Without pesticides, they had almost no natural enemies and could grow as long as a finger and as thick as a thumb.

Even chickens were afraid of them and wouldn’t eat them.

This child, so bold!

Panpan’s eyes widened. “It’s not a bean worm?”

Tiantian replied, “No! I said it’s not. Why are you still arguing with me?”

Then she gave Panpan a smack on the backside, exercising her right as an older sister to discipline her younger brother.

It didn’t hurt, and Panpan didn’t cry; he just squatted down to curiously examine the differences between the two bugs.

One was entirely green, while the other was yellow-green with black patterns.

Although they were generally the same size, they were indeed different.

Panpan nodded. “I understand now.”

He picked up the bugs and ran outside to throw them into the chicken coop.

Lin Shu said, “Tiantian, tell him not to pick them up with his hands.”

Sometimes, a boy wouldn’t listen to his mother, but his older sister’s discipline worked.

Tiantian replied, “Okay!” and ran outside to educate her brother.

Lin Shu then used flowers from a small cotton-padded jacket to decorate other flower arrangements.

Wild charm made them beautiful.

She put the bean worms under the pot to roast, then cracked off the ash once they were cooked and fed half to each child.

The crispy and fragrant ones were all fat.

Autumn is a harvest season.

Although there are no cicadas, children can still find plenty of food.

Plants include blackberries, raspberries, sour jujube, melon seeds, wild gourd, and wild hawthorn, while insects include bean worms, large pupae, locusts, and even a type called “blind crawler.”

Blind crawler is a local term; Lin Shu didn’t know its scientific name.

It’s a black beetle that grows in cornfields and is easy to catch at night.

It’s also edible, and since it’s grown on crops, it’s clean.

Many villagers catch them at night, filling half a bucket, and those with conditions fry them in a bit of oil, which makes them crispy.

Lin Shu was relieved that Fang Dihua and Sister Lu hadn’t brought any of these bugs back to eat.

Just then, Lin Aidi arrived with some little cuties.

She brought Lin Shu a large bowl full. “Sister, we caught a whole bucket. I heard from Auntie that you didn’t have time to catch any, so I brought some for you to try.”

Lin Shu: “……”

“We’re not too busy to catch them; we just don’t eat them. My mother-in-law was just being polite,” Lin Shu said.

Looking at the black beetles with wings and spiky legs, Lin Shu felt that the fish in the pot didn’t smell as good anymore.

Tiantian was too scared to eat them, but Panpan, being brave, picked up one and popped it into his mouth.

After chewing, he said, “Crunchy,” with a satisfied nod, mimicking his uncle’s enjoyment, “Yum!”

Lin Aidi urged Lin Shu and Tiantian to try them too.

Lin Shu gave Panpan a look.

Panpan replied, “I’ll go eat with Huzhi and Huahua,” and he took Tiantian with him.

Noticing a bruise on Lin Aidi’s face, Lin Shu asked, “Aidi, did you hurt your face?”

Lin Aidi touched her face and said, “It’s nothing.”

Lin Shu noticed that Lin Aidi often came to chat after getting beaten up but never mentioned what happened.

Lin Aidi talked about the work of Lu Da and Lin Father, and Lin Yue with the tractors. “In the back village, Xu Guangmao also drives a tractor. He works with your sister-in-law, and they drive a tractor together all day.”

Lin Shu said, “My sister-in-law is a tractor driver too. She can’t just work alone because she’s a woman; tractor drivers need to cooperate.”

Lin Aidi agreed, “Yes, they’re very skilled. They get full work points and a salary.”

Lin Shu noted, “It’s hard work. They start harvesting before dawn, and after the fields are cleared, they need to plow, harrow, and sow. It’s all their job.”

In the commune, there were only four tractors for over a dozen teams and dozens of production teams.

With so many fields, whether using tractors, animals, or manual labor, people worked day and night.

While people and animals could rest, tractors never did.

Tractor drivers had to work in shifts, even at night.

Although it was said to be profitable, it was very tough work.

Fortunately, there were many tractor drivers, and my sister-in-law worked day shifts.

To keep the tractor drivers energized for the three months of autumn harvest, they received a monthly allowance of two pounds of oil and two pounds of meat.

As Lin Shu and Lin Aidi chatted, Lin Aidi wondered if today was going to be eventful for Lin Shu.

Just then, Tiantian and Panpan ran back, placing a large bowl on the table. “Mom, my aunt is back driving the big tractor and wants to see you!”

Lin Shu asked, “What does she want?”

The kids urged her to go to the street and see.

Lin Shu went out with them to find out what was going on.

Before long, she saw Sister Lu Da, Wei Ling, and another man returning from outside.

Sister Lu Da was wearing straw sandals, rolling up her trousers, and had a bamboo hat on her head.

Her skin, which had been slightly pale after training, was now tanned from the sun.

The man appeared to be around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old.

He had a parting hairstyle, wore black-rimmed glasses, and was dressed in a four-pocket outfit with a pen in his left chest pocket.

He wore a forward cap and had a camera hanging around his neck.

Lin Shu greeted Wei Ling warmly.

Wei Ling introduced everyone.

The man’s name was Yao Naiwen.

He worked in the publicity department of the tractor factory and also held positions in the city’s literary federation and a magazine as a photo editor.

His main job involved taking photographs, among other things.

Lin Shu wondered how ordinary people could find it so difficult to get jobs, yet this man managed to hold multiple positions. She was impressed and welcomed him enthusiastically.

Wei Ling had previously interviewed Lin Shu and Sister Lu, and now, with the autumn harvest underway, she wanted to add an article and photos of the harvest in the fields.

Yao Naiwen was commissioned by the tractor factory to take promotional photographs on-site.

Since he had photography assignments as well, he saw it as a way to accomplish both his promotional and work tasks simultaneously.

He had already scouted out candidates during Sister Lu’s training sessions and decided to feature Sister Lu as the tractor operator in the promotional images.

Although male tractor operators were still more common and female operators were rare, the national campaign to promote women as equals meant that featuring a female tractor operator was politically correct.

Seeing the photos Wei Ling had previously taken of Sister Lu and Lin Shu with the tractor, Yao Naiwen had a burst of inspiration and strongly requested that Lin Shu join Sister Lu in the tractor factory’s promotional images.

So, he and Wei Ling came to the countryside.

Lin Shu felt a bit uneasy, as she was just enjoying the benefits without participating in agricultural labor.

She hoped not to be a point of contention.

However, Yao Naiwen confidently said, “Comrade Lin Shu, this involves realism and imagination, realism and idealism.”