The first major event that Ye Feng encountered after living in this house was the passing of the wheat.

"Over wheat" is the local dialect of Qingshan County, which actually translates to the meaning of harvesting wheat. Anyone who has lived in the countryside knows that when the time of wheat harvesting arrives every year, it basically means that the farming season has begun.

That's true.

In addition to harvesting wheat, the next step is to harvest rape, grow corn, plant sweet potatoes and so on.

The weather during this period is extremely cloudy and uncertain, often the sky is still clear one moment, and the next moment it will be cloudy, bringing you a rapid and unexpected easterly rain.

Therefore, in addition to labor tools, weather conditions seem to be the biggest factor affecting wheat harvesting. After all, if the weather does not give face, the losses of farmers will be very heavy.

And wheat can be said to be the most common, tasty and valuable grain in every household. Neither corn sorghum nor sweet potatoes are as precious as wheat, which can be ground into white flour.

In the evening of this day, Chen Jixing finished weaving the last bamboo basket, and while Ye was still cooking dinner, he prepared to go out with his hands behind his back. The bamboo baskets he has recently made are all fine and dense, and you can tell at a glance that they are used to hold grain.

Seeing this, Qianyan stepped forward and took Chen Jixing's hand and asked sweetly: "Daddy, where are you going, my mother just said that I am going to eat soon." ”

Ye Feng couldn't help but laugh when he heard it, and knew in his heart that the subtext of this girl was "It's about to start eating, don't run around."

Sometimes she plays crazy with her friends, and she will miss the meal, and every time she needs Ye to let go of her voice and yell at the door before she reluctantly comes back. For this reason, Chen Jixing has said countless times that she "can't catch up with dinner".

Now, she said it the same way.

Hearing this, Chen Jixing was not annoyed, squatted down and touched her head and said, "Daddy is going to take a look in the field to see if the wheat is ripe." If it's ripe, tomorrow it's time to go down to the field and harvest it. ”

"Wheat? Is it white flour that can be used to make dumplings? ”

The last time this family ate dumplings was during the Chinese New Year last year. Although I ate that meal of dumplings for the whole year last year, Qianyan still remembers it and thinks it is the most delicious food in the world.

"Yes, wheat can be ground into flour to make dumplings", Chen Jixing stood up as he spoke, and said to Ye Feng: "Let's go, let's go and have a look together." This wheat is the most precious, and if it is ripe but not cut back in the ground, it will be fried in the ground, it will be a pity. ”

"Okay, let's go check it out." Ye Feng also looked extremely interested. It's just that before the three of them left, he went into the kitchen and explained to Ye.

To be honest, as a graduate of Agricultural University, although Ye Feng is familiar with the wheat planting process, he doesn't know how to take it back from the field. The book is only a brief introduction, before the advent of mechanized harvesting, it was all manual harvesting and threshing.

It's just that how to harvest and how to thresh is not stated in the book. However, it is estimated that even if it is said, the students will not be able to understand it. After all, if you stay in an ivory tower every day, you won't know these things unless you have experienced them yourself.

Now, he can experience it for himself.

It's just that the experience of the next few days will make Ye Feng fully understand what it means to "work hard". I have to say that the process of manual harvesting and threshing wheat is really not easy.

In the afterglow of the setting sun, Chen Jixing and Ye Feng led Qianyan left and right, and walked towards the wheat field rented by their family.

When he arrived at the wheat field, Chen Jixing squatted down to check the ripeness of the wheat grains, but Ye Feng was deeply attracted by the beautiful scenery in front of him.

At this moment, his eyes were full of plump and confident ears of wheat, which held their heads high and moved with the breeze, as if to show their merits. In the setting sun, these ears of wheat, which were originally light yellow, turned into golden yellow, as if the fields were full of gold.

His eyes were full of hope.

Chen Jixing had already picked an ear of wheat, and quickly rubbed it with his rough big hands, blowing while rubbing, and suddenly a lot of shells and ashes flew up. This was repeated repeatedly, and in the end, what remained in the palm of his hand was a grain of plump wheat.

Because they are fresh and rich in moisture, these grains are plump and look very pleasant.

gave Qianyan and Ye Feng a few respectively, and Chen Jixing threw all the remaining wheat into his mouth and chewed it carefully. Perhaps feeling the unique sweetness and freshness of fresh wheat, Chen Jixing squinted his eyes and smiled.

Ye Feng and Qianyan did the same, threw the wheat grains into their mouths and ate them.

"Dad, this is so delicious, I still want to eat it."

Although the taste was okay, Ye Feng didn't think it was delicious.

"Okay, then let's pick a few more and go back, and it will be better to burn them on the fire."

"Okay, okay, Dad, pick ...... quickly"

It turned out that this wheat could also be eaten raw, and it could be taken back to be burned and eaten, Ye Feng said in his heart, these were things he didn't know before.

He had thought that wheat could only be eaten after it had been ground into flour.

Actually, this is Ye Feng's ignorance. Wheat is not only a grain, but also a traditional Chinese medicine.

In the expectation of a thousand words, Chen Jixing picked four more ears of wheat, and then pulled a thousand words back.

"The wheat is ripe, and it will be ready for the day after." Chen Jixing muttered. It's just that I don't know if it's to talk to myself, or to Qianyan and Ye Feng.

When they got home, they closed the yard and latched up, and a few people walked into the stove. Ye was stir-frying, and Chen Jixing sat down at the position of burning the fire.

Seeing this, Ye Shi said: "Okay, you don't need to add more firewood into it, it's almost okay in the pot." ”

Chen Jixing said "I know" and stopped talking, and gently poked the firewood ash accumulated in the stove with a burning stick, and suddenly a lot of ash with sparks leaked down the cracks in the stove.

Before getting the ash to the stone baffle, Chen Jixing flattened the ash again, and then threw a few ears of wheat into it, and then covered the ash again.

Suddenly, the whole room was filled with a strange smell.

"Brother-in-law, this grain of wheat is so unburned?" Ye Feng asked curiously, to say that this was just put in, and it immediately had a fragrance.

Chen Jixing said with a smile, "Haven't you heard, wheat has no blood, you can eat it when you put it in the pot", while using a stick to peel off the ashes and pull out a few ears of wheat.

It was a repeat of the action just now, but more gently, after all, almost all the husks around the wheat grains were roasted by the fire, and Ye was cooking on the stove, so it was not good for him to blow the ashes directly and vigorously.

When you eat these cooked wheat grains in your mouth, it is a different flavor. No wonder it is said that it is vulgar and elegant, and many times the realm is produced in this way. The fact that these grains are so simple and crudely prepared tastes different from when they are fresh, and I don't know how they react in the fire, which is really amazing.

After dinner, Chen Jixing sat in the stove and chatted with Ye who was washing dishes.

"I just went to see the wheat, but it is already ripe, and it will be ready to pass tomorrow and the day after tomorrow."

"Yes, it's just that the weather is incomprehensible, and the place where the wheat straw is stacked at home is not ready. Otherwise, the day after tomorrow, I'll prepare tomorrow. ”

"That's what I think, let's vacate the hall tomorrow."

"Well, I'll take those pieces out of the cloth in a moment. By the way, do you remember where those two slates were? I can't remember. ”

"Slate? Didn't you wrap it in those pieces of cloth when you ran out last year? You'll go check it out later, I think it seems to be. ”

When Ye successfully found those few pieces of cloth, there were indeed two stone slabs underneath. Chen Jixing took out the tallest stool in the house, flattened it, and then put the two stone slabs on it.

Ye Feng saw that this slate was very smooth, and it should have been carefully polished. It's just that I can't tell what kind of stone it's made of.

"Sister, what are you using this slate for?" Seeing that Ye Shi and Chen Jixing put a huge bamboo basket under the stool, it happened to be opposite the position of the stone slab. Then, a few bamboo poles of moderate length were erected around the stool. The two of them ripped the pieces that had been sewn together and gathered them around it, as if they were making a very strange wardrobe.

It's just that this wardrobe has only three sides, but the entrance is unblocked.

Seeing this, Ye Feng vaguely had an idea. Is it that the wheat is to be reaped to be violently struck against this slab so that it may be threshed?

Isn't this threshing device too rudimentary?

Hearing this, Ye Shi said while continuing to build this strange object: "This is used to break grains." What, you haven't seen it before? ”

Sure enough, Ye Feng thought in his heart. It's just that, in such a working environment, how long does it take to thresh this wheat, and how hard should it be?

On the second day, Ye and Chen Jixing both got up early in the morning, cleaned the hall cleanly, and strengthened and adjusted the seemingly simple device yesterday in a certain sense, and then hurriedly went to the ground.

At this time, the sun had not yet risen, and the ears of wheat were somewhat moist and not very prickly. The weather is cool, and it is perfect for work. When the wheat is cut and spread on the ground, it will be dry in a few moments.

When Ye Feng and Qianyan got up, they found that the hall was empty except for this device and the bamboo mat on the ground, and they wanted to put the wheat in this room when they came to harvest it.

Also, it's not suitable to put it anywhere, anyway, there is a bamboo mat in this room, and it is convenient to put it in the future.

In the middle of the afternoon, when the sun was still hanging in the sky, Chen Jixing, who had returned from the ground, said to Ye: "In my opinion, we will go and collect some now." The weather is good today, but the next few days may not be the same. ”

Hearing this, Ye Shi said: "Okay, anyway, go collect it now, and you can drop the grain at night." As he spoke, he picked up something that Ye Feng couldn't name, which was a bit like a sickle, handed one to Chen Jixing, and the two walked out.

Walking to the door, Ye Shi turned his head and ordered Ye Feng and Qianyan to say a few words, and then went out.

It's just that Ye Feng hasn't come back to his senses yet, and he doesn't know what he can help do. After thinking about it, Chen Jixing didn't take the flat pole or the bamboo basket when he just set off, and he forgot about it, so he said to Qianyan: "Let's go, let's send the bamboo basket and the flat pole." By the way, do you still have knives at home? ”

"There are only two knives at home."

"Then let's go to Qianliang's house and borrow one, shall we?"

"What are you borrowing for? Oh, you want to go down to the ground and cut wheat? Mom and Dad won't agree. ”

Qianyan shook his head violently. She wanted to go to the ground to help last year, but Chen Jixing and the others disagreed, and Ye even said that she would only help if she went to the ground, and it would be even more troublesome if she cut her hand.

"It's okay, I'm half an adult, I can cut wheat." Ye Feng said to Qianyan.

He should.

Although he never harvested wheat, he harvested rice, rape, corn and sweet potatoes. It should all be about the same.

In this way, the two took the bamboo basket and the flat pole to Qianliang's house, and put these outside the house, and then entered the courtyard of Qianliang's house.

Zhao was scrubbing the bamboo mats at home, and he was preparing stones with Qianliang. Seeing that Ye Feng and Qianyan were coming, Zhao said, "Come and play with your brother Qianliang?" Our family is going to cross the wheat in the next few days, and he can't accompany you. ”

Qianyan said: "No, no, we are here to borrow your sword." My father and mother have gone down to the ground. ”

Seeing Ye Feng nodding, Zhao said: "Qianliang, you go and take out the cutter", and then said to Ye Feng: "Your family is in a hurry, and they have already gone to the ground." But today's weather is really good, and I feel at ease when I finish it early. Why, you have to go down to the ground too? Will you? ”

Hearing this, Ye Feng said, "It's a little bit better." Even if you don't, you can learn this kind of thing as soon as you want to. ”

In this regard, Zhao just smiled and said no more. Not to mention that Ye Feng looks at the thin skin and tender meat, in this weather, cutting wheat is not something that everyone can bear.

In a blink of an eye, I thought of her Qianliang again.

At the beginning, she was not the same as Ye Feng, with fine skin and tender meat, but now, she looks much darker and rougher than her peers, and she is more mature, not because of the hard life with her.

Sighing, Zhao continued to prepare the equipment for the microphone.

When Ye Feng arrived in the field, he found that with the cut in the morning, Chen Jixing and Ye had already cut a large piece of land. This is that these cut wheat stalks are laid directly on the ground, as if they were deliberately exposed to the sun.

Ye Feng originally thought that they would cut the ears of wheat directly, but they were cut directly from the roots of the wheat stalks, and after cutting, they were neatly put together.

It was only at this moment that Ye Feng understood that it seemed that in the future, he would need to hold this wheat stalk and smash it on the slate to thresh.

However, it takes a lot of time and physical strength just to pick these straws home. Can't you just cut the ears of wheat and go home and let the mill grind and thresh?

It seems that when he is free in the future, Ye Feng will have to ask about it.

Seeing Ye Feng and Qianyan coming, Ye straightened up and took the opportunity to take a breath, and said to the two, "What are you doing here?" Is the door locked? ”

Seeing that Ye Feng and Qianyan took the bamboo basket and the flat pole, Ye Shi said with a smile: "Silly boy, you don't need a bamboo basket to pick wheat stalks home, just take a bundle of strips when the time comes." All right, take the baskets and the poles and go home. ”

As soon as Ye's words were finished, Ye Fengguo saw that there were a lot of strips in the ground, and it seemed that they were used as ropes. And next to the strip, what is it if it is not a flat burden?

It seems that I really don't know anything, but I really feel like I'm helping. Thinking of this, Ye Feng said, "Sister, I went to Qianliang's house to borrow a knife, and I will cut it too." Why don't you just let me try? ”

In this regard, Ye Shi did not refuse, but he wanted to experience it, and said without thinking about it: "Yes, just be careful, don't cut your hands." ”

After saying that, he squatted down and continued to cut the wheat.

Ye Feng walked near Ye's side, squatted down like her, held a wheat stalk with his hand, and cut it with a knife, and the wheat successfully left the ground. Ye Feng, who succeeded for the first time, saw that it didn't seem to be too difficult to cut wheat, so he continued to operate.

Qianyan, who was waiting on the side, saw that he had nothing to do, so he tried his best to hug and pile up the wheat that had been cut. Seeing this, Ye Shi said: "You better go and pick up the ears of wheat, don't hug them, otherwise you should shout that your body is itchy at night." ”

Ye Feng knew that what Ye said was true, this ear of wheat was the most scratchy and prickly, and those with sensitive skin would not dare to touch it. He had only been cutting for a few minutes, and he was sweating profusely, feeling uncomfortable, and always feeling a little itchy.

After cutting for a while, Chen Jixing straightened up and looked. When he saw that he had cut a lot, he pinned the knife to the sweat towel on his waist, stretched out his hands and carried the cut wheat to one place.

When the pile of wheat was almost ready, Chen Jixing gently passed the strips under the wheat pile, then connected the end of the grains, and pressed the wheat pile with his legs, pressed and pressed until he made sure that the strips received the tightest place, and then tied the knot.

And so the heap of wheat was tied.

Chen Jixing tied several bundles according to this method, and then he took the flat shoulder and wore two bundles, and then went home.

I started construction late today, so I avoided going to the ground when the sun was too hot. At this rate, it will be almost in the evening. If you wait for the ears of wheat to be covered with dew, it will not be easy to thresh.

In this way, the family was busy until the evening, and seeing that the sun was about to set, Ye and Ye Feng no longer cut it, but hugged the wheat stalks into piles for Chen Jixing to bundle.

Bundling this wheat straw requires strength and skill, whether it is Ye or Ye Feng, it can't be done, and it can only be done by Chen Jixing.

When Chen Jixing didn't know how many times he had returned, and counted the number of wheat bales in the field, Ye took Ye Feng and Qianyan and walked back with knives.

At this moment, Ye Feng didn't want to speak, he just felt uncomfortable. The thorns of the ears of wheat, coupled with sweat, Ye Feng only felt a little itchy all over his body.

He just wants to take a shower now.

first went to Qianliang's house to return the cutter, and when Ye Feng went home, Ye had already started cooking, but he didn't boil the bath water. Ye Feng didn't understand this, but he didn't ask, after all, Ye had her own reasons for doing this.

After dinner, Ye Feng understood.

After washing the dishes and brushing the pot, Ye Shi boiled a large pot of water, first helped Qianyan take a bath, and then asked Ye Feng to take a bath by himself, Ye Shi said to the two: "We are going to start dropping wheat, you just stay in the room and don't come out." Or, you can go out and walk around. ”

After thinking about it, Ye Feng felt that it was better to stay at home. Although it's a summer night, it's okay to go out and enjoy the coolness. However, he was really a little curious about how Ye and Chen Jixing were going to thresh.

Ye Feng said, "Sister, let's stay in the house first, see how you thresh, and then go out later." ”

Ye had no choice, and after a few words of instruction to the two, he and Chen Jixing wrapped their hair with a handkerchief and began to thresh.

As Ye Feng thought, Chen Jixing and Ye took a handful of wheat stalks, walked up to the stones, and began to smash them violently. Suddenly, the wheat grains flew in all directions. Only then did Ye Feng understand that the cloth was originally to block the wheat grains flying around.

Of course, since there is no way to stop the entrance, there are wheat grains flying out from time to time. And with that, there is a cloud of dust.

In just over ten minutes, Ye Feng couldn't stand it anymore, and ran out of the house with a thousand words. If they don't go out again, their bath will be considered for nothing.

When I got out of the yard and looked up, it was already full of stars. On summer nights, the stars seem to shine brightly. Although the moon was not visible, the light was enough to illuminate the nearby road.

Ye Feng and Qianyan walked on the potholed road in the countryside, and from time to time they could meet some villagers who also came out to enjoy the coolness. It's just that the number of people is obviously less than a few days ago. It seems that maybe it will be the same as Ye and Chen Jixing, threshing in the house.

After walking for a while, Qianyan shouted that she was sleepy, and Ye Feng took her back.

When he arrived outside his house, before entering the yard, Ye Feng felt a choking breath. When the door was opened, the smell became even stronger, causing the two of them to sneeze.

Seeing that the two were back, Ye and Chen Jixing suspended threshing. When the two entered the house, Ye fell asleep for a thousand words, and the two began to work hard again.

The crackling sound made Ye Feng unable to sleep at all. After lying down for a while, Ye Feng simply got up and went out of the house and went to the stove to boil bath water for Chen Jixing and Ye.

With the two of them like this, they will never be able to sleep without taking a bath.

Ye Feng thought while skillfully lighting the fire, that is, this Chen Jixing's family is poor, and there is no separate room for threshing. In fact, even threshing in the firewood room is better, than in the hall.

The two of them had only been doing it for an hour or two, and now the whole room smelled of choking. You don't need to look to know that the air must be full of dust, and inhaling too much is definitely not good for your health.

Take the Qianliang family as an example, the place where their family threshed is obviously not a hall, after all, when he went to borrow a knife to return the knife, he saw that the Zhao family was arranged in the room next to the residence.

But there are so many houses in Chen Jixing's house, as for the demolition of the house, there is no such thing at all, but it is just to place firewood under the eaves in the backyard.

After Ye Feng boiled the water and called twice, Chen Jixing and Ye stopped working. It's just that because I was covered in sweat, I didn't dare to take a shower immediately, so I sat there to rest.

Ye Feng saw that the two of them were covered with ash at the moment. What's even more exaggerated is that even the saliva and snot that comes out are black, thinking that it is caused by the dust in the sky......

It's a pity that there are only two stone slabs at home, and Ye Feng is too short and his strength is not enough, so he really can't help with threshing. Thinking of this, Ye Feng decided to make a little more effort to help cut the wheat tomorrow, and he could help a little.

When they had almost rested, the Ye family and the two took a bath with a wooden bucket filled with water.

Ye Feng returned to the bed, only to feel that the room was still full of dust. But there was no way, so I had to cover my mouth with a handkerchief and sleep on my side.

On the second day, when Ye Feng and Qianyan got up, they found that there was no one at home, and Chen Jixing and Ye had already gone to work in the field. Ye Feng understood in his heart that the reason why they left so early was to avoid the scorching sun.

After eating, the two still went to the field, Ye Feng took the knife in Chen Jixing's hand and followed Ye to cut wheat, and Chen Jixing began to bundle wheat and pick wheat at home.

Compared with yesterday evening, the wheat at this moment was more stinging due to the exposure of the sun, which also made Ye Feng feel more uncomfortable. Aside from the blood marks that were pierced by the ears of wheat, what he couldn't stand the most was the obvious itching all over his body.

It's just that in order to make Ye and Chen Jixing work a little less, he couldn't help but didn't open his mouth and continued to cut the wheat.

After cutting for a while, because he felt that his legs were a little sore, Ye Feng stood up. It's just that I don't know if it's because I've been squatting for a long time or lack of nutrition, or because of lack of water, Ye Feng suddenly felt that the world was spinning, and there were stars in front of him.

He covered his forehead and squinted his eyes for a moment before he recovered. It seems that he is still too thin and has poor physical strength.

Fortunately, the sun was getting bigger and bigger, Ye thought about it, and felt that with Ye Feng's joining, it seemed that he didn't have to fight so hard, so he took the two children home.

After arriving home, Ye Feng and Qianyan were resting, but Ye was not idle, because there were more and more wheat in the hall, in order to save time, Chen Jixing threw them on the ground at will and did not put them away.

Untied the strips, Ye put the wheat in piles one by one, and then began to cook in the stove.

In the middle of the afternoon, the two of them naturally went to the field again. Ye Feng really felt tired, so he rested for a while and then went.

After dinner, Chen Jixing and his wife were still threshing in the hall, making the room full of dust. Ye Feng is getting more and more used to it, and he no longer worries about the dust, but thinks that the Ye family will not be too tired like this.

After all, if you are tired in the fields during the day and continue to do physical work at night, you will not be able to stand the iron beating body if you continue like this. But there is no way, if you don't thresh at night, there will be no place to put the wheat that has been cut during the day.

Why does no one want to be a peasant, especially a peasant in this era? Because it's really too tiring and too hard.

Leaving aside the rest, let's take the wheat harvest. This wheat looks like winter wheat, and it must have been planted last winter. Putting aside ploughing, sowing, fertilizing, hoeing, watering, etc., just harvesting home or threshing any part of the process is enough for people.

During this period, beware of God's "pranks".

This afternoon, for example, the weather looked good, the sky was clear, and the heat wave was rolling in the field. But after about half an hour, suddenly dark clouds were thick, and before I could react, large raindrops began to pour down.

The Ye family found a big tree and wore straw hats to hide from the rain under the tree. Looking at the wheat that had been cut in the field, Ye Feng said worriedly: "Sister, what should I do with these wheat, I can't take it home even if I get wet, right?" Looks like we'll need to bring a cloth out tomorrow to cover it when it rains. ”

He originally wanted to bring a large piece of plastic out, but then he thought about it, where did the plastic come from, so he had to say cloth instead.

Who knows, Chen Jixing said indifferently: "What's this, it's not in the way, this rain won't last long, it will stop in a while." How wet this wheat is, how it will dry you in a while. ”

I don't know if it's because I've experienced a lot or if I'm very discerning, but anyway, the rain did stop after a while. When the Ye family went down to work for a while again, the sun came out and dried the wet wheat that had been cut before.

In fact, the surface is just wet, and the bottom is still dry, and it is not affected at all.

In this way, after working in the field during the day and threshing in the hall at night, after several days of repetition, the Ye family's wheat was finally harvested. Now the threshing has been completed, and it is all dried on the bamboo mat in the backyard.

And the ones that just started drying are basically dry.

Yip started a new job, that is, he took a bamboo plow rake to dry the wheat every once in a while, and used a broom to dust and dust it at night.

Looking at the dust flying all over the sky, Ye Feng understood in his heart that if this wheat is not dried for a day, if he does not pay rent for a day, and if he does not put it into the warehouse for a day, this home will always be covered with dust.

Fortunately, there was a short interval between harvesting rape and planting corn, so Chen Jixing and Ye also had a little time to rest and recover their strength.

When to plant something, what to harvest, when to rest, at best, it is said that it comes according to the laws of planting and solar terms, and it is to respect the laws of nature.

To put it mildly, it is to leave enough time for the farmers to rest.

After all, farm work is already very hard, and it is estimated that no one can stand it.