Harvest Month

It was the annual harvest month again.

Xiaoguo suddenly thought of last year. When she first came to the village, it was the first year after the famine ended.

Now that a year had passed, other villages were slowly recovering their vitality. At the very least, people were no longer starving like before.

In the year that Shao Zhan ascended the throne, he had been working hard to solve the problem of famine. He had taken back a lot of money from corrupt officials and used that to relieve the people’s hunger temporarily. He had also worked hard to resolve environmental and water issues. After the silent efforts of this country, all adversities had gradually been overcome.

“Xiaoguo, are you going to do any harvesting today? Let Brother Yang and Yang Jia help you with it.”

Mrs. Yang’s family was harvesting grains today. Basically, the entire village was going to do the same thing. Xiaoguo was the only one who was not in a hurry.

“There’s no hurry. My brother told me to wait until he returned.”

Xiaoguo had wanted to do it herself. It was not a tedious chore. She could finish clearing the plot in one day on her own. However, Qin Anming insisted that she wait until he returned.

“Let’s do it today. Your plot and ours. Your Brother Yang will be back soon.”

Xiaoguo shook her head. “No, I’ll wait. You have such a big plot. Brother Yang and Yang Jia have enough on their hands.”

“Alright, just say the word if you need any help.”

“Got it.”

Qin Anming returned the next morning. When he came home the last time, he had gone to the fields to take a look. His estimate was just about right.

“After we’re done harvesting the crops, we’ll bring back all the corn stalks in the fields.”

Xiaoguo drove the donkey cart and looked at Qin Anming, who was driving the carriage beside her.

“Okay, are we bringing them back to feed the cows? Where should we keep them?”

There were quite a lot of corn stalks. Where could they store them?

“It should be fine if we leave them outside the house. Nobody is going to take them, right?”

Xiaoguo’s question made Qin Anming laugh. After having a good laugh, he said, “Who would steal your corn stalks? There are plenty of them in the fields. If anyone wants them, they can just get it from there.”

There were many people in the village who planted corn. Who would steal something that was unwanted and available in abundance?

Xiaoguo blushed. “There’s still a one in a million chance.”

Qin Anming laughed at Xiaoguo along the whole trip. Even when they were working in the fields, he still laughed at her from time to time.

In the end, Xiaoguo couldn’t take it anymore. She threw a piece of wet mud at him and it hit him in the mouth.

A large lump of mud landed right on his mouth. As his mouth opened and closed, chunks of the mud fell off, leaving only a dark stain behind.

Now it was her turn to laugh. “What a coincidence. Haha…”

Qin Anming was feeling a little helpless at first, but seeing her laugh so hard, he could roughly guess that he must be looking very comical right now.

Trying to imagine what he looked like, he started laughing with her.

A split second before they got out of breath, they stopped laughing and got down to business.

Within the morning, they had finished harvesting from two plots of land and brought everything home. Even the corn stalks and wheat stalks were chopped and loaded into the two cars.

“Alright, let’s go.”

Xiaoguo placed the sickle in the cart and looked around. After making sure that she didn’t leave out anything, she raised her hand to indicate that they should go home.

Although their foreheads were covered in sweat, they could not hide the joy on their faces. The land and the heavens were smiling on them this year. There was sufficient rain, so the fruits that grew were plump and round.

It wasn’t just the two of them. Even the other villagers looked like they had gotten a bountiful harvest this year.

This was great. It was a year of abundance for everyone.

—-

In the capital.

“Where are you going?”

Li Shouji had just dismounted with the letter when he saw Jiang Danhe walking out anxiously with a bag on his back. He quickly stopped him and asked for the reason.

“It’s nothing. I’m going home.”

Jiang Danhe couldn’t wait for the guard to bring the horse over. As he spoke, he attempted to get on Li Shouji’s horse. “Let me borrow your horse.”

“Hey, wait a minute. Did something happen at home?”

Li Shouji grabbed him tightly with both hands and forced him to stop.

“It’s nothing serious, but I have something to attend to.”

Jiang Danhe knew that if he didn’t tell the truth, Li Shouji would pester him till nightfall. Hence, he could only say helplessly, “It’s the autumn harvest. I’ll go back and check things out.”

When Li Shouji heard this, he relaxed his grip before asking curiously, “Then are you still going to read this letter here?”

“I’ll read it when I get back.”

Jiang Danhe said without thinking. He was already in a hurry. Why would he be reading any letters?

“…It’s a letter from my Sister-in-law.”

As soon as Li Shouji finished speaking, Jiang Danhe’s arm quickly snatched the envelope away, leaving only an afterimage behind in the man’s hand.

Li Shouji thought that he was seeing things and he rubbed his eyes hard. When he realized what had happened, the envelope in his hand was gone, and so was the man. All that was left was a horse looking at him.

“Where’s the general?”

“Reporting to the Deputy General, the General has gone back.”

The guard rubbed his eyes in disbelief and said in surprise. The general’s speed was really astonishing. If not for his sharp eyes, he would not have noticed it.

Li Shouji stared silently at the door and took a few deep breaths. He still couldn’t suppress the anger in his heart, so he got on the horse angrily.

Seeing this, the guard at the door quickly asked, “Deputy General, where are you going?”

The guard was afraid that the general would not be able to find him later, so he asked in advance where he was going.

“The barracks.”

The guard had come from the barracks earlier and naturally knew why Li Shouji was going there. He sighed quietly to himself.

Looking at how angry he looked, he would definitely be venting his anger on the recruits. He really felt sorry for them.

Now that he thought about it, it was a blessing to be able to leave the military camp and stand guard here. At the very least, he didn’t have to worry constantly about becoming the commander’s punching bag.

After thinking it through, the guard happily changed shifts with another person and went to eat.

Before he got near the kitchen, he could smell the fragrance coming from there. He swallowed hard and quickened his pace. At this moment, he was even more certain that this was a good job!

On the other side, Jiang Danhe returned to the bedroom with the letter and threw the bag on the bed. Then, he sat by the bed and gently stroked the envelope.

Looking at the words written on the envelope, he was filled with love and anger at the same time.

This heartless little thing had only written to him after so long, causing him to lose sleep every night.

Not wanting to ruin the letter, he carefully tore open the envelope and took out the paper inside.

The thickness of the letter soothed the dissatisfaction in his heart. The joy was immediately visible on his face, and the corners of his mouth curled up uncontrollably.

“If you dare to make up the word count, I’ll definitely go home immediately and make you bear me a child.”

Jiang Danhe whispered softly.

However, the outcome definitely disappointed him. This time, Xiaoguo did not make up the word count. Instead, every word she wrote came from the bottom of her heart. Even the usually thick-skinned Jiang Danhe could not help but feel emotional while reading the letter.

Not only did she say a lot of sweet and heartwarming words in her letter, she also shared with him her daily life which made him feel extremely nostalgic.

Moreover, the thoughtful content of the letter seemed to make him feel that Xiaoguo was whispering in his ear. This feeling was extremely intimate.

Oh no, he felt even more homesick now.

This was the only thought Jiang Danhe had after reading the letter. He felt even more anxious to get home.

—-

“Achoo…”

Xiaoguo rubbed her nose in discomfort and continued driving the donkey cart.

Ever since she finished harvesting the grains that day, she had been sneezing non-stop. Perhaps she had caught a cold.

It was impossible for her to catch a cold. With her superpower, she definitely wouldn’t fall sick.

“Achoo…”

With that thought in mind, she sneezed again.

One sneeze means someone is thinking about you, Two sneezes means someone is cursing you.

Every time Xiaoguo sneezed, she only sneezed once. If she was not sick, then someone must be talking about her.

She laughed at the thought.

There was no need to guess. It must be Zhuang Zhuang!

Knowing that it was time for her to pick him up, she wondered when he had started talking about her.

“This little brat…”

Knowing that she was going to pick him up today, he must have been waiting anxiously for her arrival.

With this thought in mind, Xiaoguo smiled and sped up. In fact, she missed Zhuang Zhuang a lot too.