With two rice threshing machines, the Zheng family is much more economical. However, Aoki still sent one to Zhang Huai and instructed him to quickly pack up the rice in those acres of fields, and take advantage of his father's work to plow and harrow the fields to help the Zheng family.

Zhang Huai was already concerned about him, and he was going to help him when he was done, but now that he has sent a rice threshing machine, it will be faster.

He and his father and mother collected the rice from several acres of their own fields into the warehouse, and according to Aoki's explanation, they carried the rice threshing machine to Zhao San, and he came to help the Zheng family, while his father Zhang Dazhuan ploughed the field and raked the field to prepare for planting seedlings.

Without waiting for Zhao San to help, the Zheng family's rice was also finished, and machine threshing and manual threshing are incomparable.

During this period, Zhou Xiaozi and Li Changming both came to the Zheng family to help. Not only because we are neighbors now, but also because their rice is maturing later, which can be regarded as an au pair. Zhou Xiaozi said to Zheng Changhe that he didn't need the Zheng family to return the work to him, and it would be good to lend him this rice threshing machine for his family use when the time came.

Zheng Changhe readily agreed, saying that everyone is a neighbor, it is appropriate to help, and when everyone has a good life next year, it is not impossible to buy a rice threshing machine.

Next, Zheng Changhe also began to prepare the fields, and the Yang family dried the rice at home, dried it and sent it to the barn; Aoki helped Zhang Huai plant the seedlings as if he was fighting, in order to help his family finish planting the seedlings first, so that they could free up time to help themselves.

Chrysanthemum saw that her father and mother were really tired, so she changed her method to cook soup and vegetables for them to make up. Killed the little rooster several times, thinking that it was summer, and killed an old duck to stew soup.

Now Yang was distressed, and even said that he killed the duck that laid eggs.

Chrysanthemum was very depressed when she heard this, and said to her: "Mother, now our family doesn't rely on selling chickens and duck eggs to make money, feeding these beasts is meant to be killed and eaten." The old duck is not afraid to kill it, and the little duck is about to open its nest and lay eggs. If you're so busy, if you're exhausted, wouldn't you have to spend money on getting sick? 'It is better to eat and drink less, save money and medicine, it is better to eat as soon as possible, and it will also save people from being tired and sick. ”

Yang Shi smiled and said, "Okay, it's useless to talk about it after eating." My mother is not very used to it, and I always feel a pity to kill the chickens and ducks that lay eggs. ”

Chrysanthemum said bitterly: "Aren't we tired and tired just to eat?" Wheat is planted to have white flour to eat, rice is planted to have rice, pigs are raised to have meat to eat, and chickens and ducks are naturally killed to eat. If you don't eat it in the past, you don't have enough money and can only sell it; Now that I have money, I don't eat, what are you doing with that amount of money? ”

Yang glanced at her and said with a smile: "Mother knows, kill it." Once you have eaten it up, you will hatch another litter. ”

Chrysanthemum smiled and said, "Hey! That's it. Mother, I took the time to drive the chickens and ducks to the rice field to eat, and if I didn't go, my father would plow the fields. ”

Yang also knew that it was best to let the chickens and ducks go to the field at this time - eating some live chickens and ducks preferred to lay eggs, so he tied a long rope to the feet of the chickens and ducks with her, and prepared to put them in the field at dawn.

The next day, the genius was bright, and Chrysanthemum and Yang each led a long string of chickens and ducks, dragging them into the empty field where the rice had been cut, and the posture looked really funny.

Sure enough, when these chickens and ducks arrived in the field, they were in good spirits.

The chickens searched everywhere for insects, fallen paddies, and even weeds, and searched carefully, wandering leisurely about the open fields; The ducks are always hobbling around, with their beaks poking around, looking for small fish, loaches and snails in the ditches or shallow waters, and of course the little frogs are chased by them, the big frogs have already jumped away.

Chrysanthemum originally planned to pull the straw and sit on the ridge to act as a leisurely duck herder, looking at the field scenery in the early summer morning, but now she is a good baby who loves to work, and when she came out, she brought a sickle, ready to cut some grass on the ridge and bring it back to feed the pigs, and she did not waste the good time in the morning.

In the early morning of summer, it is fresh and vibrant, and the flowers and plants on the ridges are full of dewdrops, fresh and green, as if there is no worry about the scorching sun at noon.

The sun had not yet risen, and everything had just awakened, but the fields were full of people who were cutting rice, plowing, raking, and planting seedlings, and the people were in good spirits—if they didn't take advantage of the cool time of the morning, they wouldn't be so comfortable when the sun came out.

The village in the distance is verdant with trees, and the farmhouses under the shade of the countryside loom in the sky, and the green smoke curls in the sky, although you can't hear the sound, you can feel the busy life.

She quickly cut a lot of grass and cut three of the four ridges of the boxy rice field. Looking at the piles of grass behind her, she put down her sickle with satisfaction, and then pulled a handful of straw, and sat down on the ridge as she had thought before.

Although the rice had been collected in the barn, the straw had not yet had time to be picked up and brought home, so it tied the ground tightly and stood in the field in a conical shape. From time to time, the chickens pecked at the straw, wondering whether they had found uncleaned rice or insects that inhabited the grass.

Occasionally, the rope on the chicken's feet became entangled in the straw, and the chicken tore the straw down with all its might, and it was startled and hurriedly jumped away.

There were indeed a lot of messy things in this field, and I saw that the chicken's sac was bulging like a blow, so that the chickens did not pick up rice to eat later, but looked for grasshoppers and other insects to eat, and it seemed that they also liked to eat meat; The duck is more like a walk, and when it is full, it refuses to stay in this empty field, and when it finds water in the field next door, it is about to turn over.

In the field next door, Zheng Changhe was shouting at the buffalo ploughing the field.

He was very distressed when he saw that his daughter had not forgotten to bring a sickle to cut the grass when she was herding ducks, and wanted to say a few words to her, but he was afraid that he would delay the work under his hands—the family was waiting to plant seedlings.

When Chrysanthemum saw the duck running into the paddy field, she hurriedly shouted, "Duck ······."

The ducks stopped, tilted their heads and listened, and when they heard that it was really the chrysanthemum calling them, they hurriedly turned their heads and staggered with their big feet, but they ran towards the chrysanthemum with great speed.

When I got to Chrysanthemum, I didn't find any good rewards, so I had to continue to run in the ditch, whether it was a snail or a frog, I didn't miss it.

The sun has come out, and a big red ball, shining brightly, illuminates the fields brilliantly, especially those rice fields that have not yet been harvested, and the golden rice paddies emit a charming color under the sunlight.

Chrysanthemum saw that the chickens and ducks were also full, so she got up to drive them home. Now there was trouble, and a few chickens were disobedient, which caused her to chase in the field for a while, and the chickens flew everywhere.

The ducks were very obedient, and called to them, picked up the rope and led them, and then went to catch the chickens.

Zheng Changhe saw it and said in a loud voice: "Chrysanthemum, it's gone." You go back first, and let your mother catch up with the rest. And the grass will be picked up for home. ”

Chrysanthemum thought about it, she couldn't hold so many chickens and ducks by herself. So, he took the chickens and ducks in his hands and went home, and changed Yang's to pick grass and catch chickens.

After breakfast, when washing clothes by the river, Meizi heard Chrysanthemum say that she went to put chickens and ducks in the morning, and hurriedly said to her: "Chrysanthemum, then I'll go with you in the afternoon to put it away?" My family's rice hasn't been cut yet, and there is no place to put it. ”

Although they live next door, they don't have time to talk when they are busy, and they always meet and talk while they are doing laundry.

Chrysanthemum smiled: "Bracket! What's here, you just go and put it. Let's go early, or we won't be able to come back in time to cook." Rest assured, when the chickens and ducks arrive in the field, they will soon be able to eat enough - there are a lot of miscellaneous things in the field. ”

Meizi smiled happily when she heard this: "That's good." If my duck is fed like this for a few days, I'm afraid I'm going to lay eggs. This year's hatched chicks have already opened their nests and laid eggs, and the ducks should be soon. ”

Chrysanthemum waved her clothes in the river and said to her, "The eggs laid by the chicken are very replenishing. It's good to eat it after steaming. ”

Meizi smiled: "Isn't it, it's about to be harvested, and it's also a bowl of vegetables." ”

When she split up, she didn't ask for a single laying hen, and left it all to her mother-in-law. The dog girl said to her daughter, sometimes you have to be generous, those things are not worth much, maybe people still say that Li Changming is not filial. I simply don't want anything but the fields, so people don't have to say.

Therefore, her little piglet was caught by her mother, the chicken she fed was also hatched by her mother, and the duck was hatched by chrysanthemums.

Chrysanthemum remembered the scene in the field in the morning, and looked forward to going back the next night. She feels like a chicken and duck, she likes to go out and let off steam, which can be regarded as finding some leisurely activities for the tense farm life.

In the afternoon, she and Meizi did all the housework, washed all the dishes in the evening, and everything was ready, and when the sun was weaker, they took the chickens and ducks to the field to put them.

Yang was picking the straw home, and when he saw them coming, he smiled and said, "Come to this field - the grass in this field is about to be finished, and it will be easier for chickens and ducks to run." ”

The Zheng family's ten acres of land are connected together, next to Jinghu, which was bought at one time the year before last, and after a large piece of wasteland was reclaimed, it was divided into small pieces of one acre and one acre.

Chrysanthemum dragged the chickens and ducks into the field—dozens of chickens and ducks, can you do without pulling them—and went to help Yang drag the grass up the ridge so that she could tie it up and pick it home. Umeko also came over to help.

Yang hurriedly stopped: "This grass is itchy on my body—it's very irritable, I'm busy anyway, I'll take a bath when I go back; If you still want to cook at home, don't get it. ”

Chrysanthemum said: "I'm not holding it, but I'm just dragging it to the ridge with my hands, and I can't touch it." Meizi, you're busy, just help watch the chickens and ducks, they are very wild, running around. ”

Meizi had to stop and take care of the chickens and ducks.

Chrysanthemum helped Yang drag the last straw up the ridge before turning back to talk to Meizi.

But I heard Meizi exclaim in surprise: "Ouch! Chrysanthemum, your duck laid eggs, and the chickens also laid chrysanthemums, and they were startled, and ran over to take a look, but isn't it, this chicken and duck follow the ground to urinate, and lay eggs everywhere.

She couldn't help but laugh as she looked at the red-skinned eggs and the green-skinned duck eggs lying in the still shallow water, and finally understood why sometimes there were not enough eggs to be picked up—these guys really lay their eggs outside.