CH 4.1

Apr 28 2022

Threshing

Chang family’s house is in the east of the village, the paddy field is in the west of the village, and a small stream separates the paddy field from the village.

Chang Le walked in front with a threshing machine on his back, very manly!

It is said to be a threshing machine, but it is actually an open empty box made of several large wooden boards. Yu Qingze was a little curious about how they would thresh at that time.

Grandpa Chang thinks you’re quite a decent lad for reading on ho lo lo novels.

Grandpa Chang followed behind with a basket, which contained a jar of water and a sack. The basket was specially made oversized, which was prepared for Chang Le at first glance.

Yu Qingze couldn’t walk fast due to his foot injury. He walked slowly behind with a wooden crutch, and the young boy Chang Hao accompanied him. Yu Qingze took the opportunity to observe the situation in the village. With Chang Hao present, he learned a lot more.

For example, the name Niutou Village is because the back mountain looks like a bull’s head. Yu Qingze glanced sideways, it was indeed a bit similar. (T/N: 牛头, Niútóu, means bull’s head.)

There are two surnames in the village, Yu and Chang. There are more than 30 households with the surname Yu, and most of them live near the stream. Over the years, the Yu family has long been familiar with swallowing the Chang family name by marrying their sons with gers with the surname Chang.

Most of the houses here are still thatched huts. There are only two mud-brick houses and a large blue-brick house, which is considered a wealthy household in the village.

Yu Qingze was a little curious, so he asked.

Chang Hao explained to him: “The big blue-brick house belongs to Yu Wei’s house, and his father is Master Xiucai.” When the young man spoke of Master Xiucai, his face was respectful and yearning. (T/N: xiucai = scholar)

Yu Qingze’s mind moved and asked, “Xiaohao, do you want to go to school?”

Chang Hao didn’t hide it, and replied: “there is a primary school in the village. Master Xiucai is a gentleman. People in the nearby village who want to study come here to learn. But I have to pay 200 coppers a month. Can’t afford it.”

Hearing this, Yu Qingze was silent for a while, then said, “If you want to read, I can teach you.”

Chang Hao immediately turned his head to stare at him, and said in surprise, “You can read? you can teach me?!”

Yu Qingze nodded firmly: “Yes.”

“Okay, I want to learn!” Cheng Hao smiled brightly, like a flower bloomed on his face.

After a while, he asked again: “Big Brother Yu, can my brother learn to read with you? My brother is very smart and has a good memory!”

There are basically no gers in the village who can go to school, and all those who go to school are men. For fear that Yu Qingze would not agree, Chang Hao praised his brother again.

“Absolutely.” Yu Qingze laughed, these two brothers have a really good relationship, they think of each other for anything, very envious.

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The two of them decided to start their lessons after they were done with harvesting in the next few days. Chang Hao was in a good mood, and he answered Yu Qingze’s other questions cheerfully.

“The tile-roofed house belongs to the village chief. He does carpentry, and his son can also do carpentry. Some of the furniture needed by the nearby villages is basically made by his family. Our big wooden barrels are also made by him, my brother went to the mountains to chop up the best wood and brought them with him to village chief. The other tile house belongs to the hunter’s house, and his family specializes in delivering game meat to the restaurants in the town…”

Yu Qingze caught a key point and asked: “Only the village chief and his son work carpentry? How about the rest of their family?”

Chang Hao replied: “The village chief is very good, and the eldest son of the village chief’s family is also very good. For our pair of big wooden barrels, my brother sent a very large piece of wood, and the village chief even gave us an extra wooden bucket to wash the vegetables.”

Hearing this, Yu Qingze thought of something and secretly made a plan.

The two of them passed through the village, and their eyes were suddenly brightened by the golden fields.

The yellow-colored rice grains seem to have covered the ground with a golden carpet. The breeze blows, and the rice stalks rise and fall in waves, rustling and singing the hymn of the harvest happily.

The yield is great this season, and the villagers are happily rushing to harvest the rice. Although the weather was hot, and people were sweating as soon as they went out as if they had just been soaked in hot water, the joy of the harvest completely destroyed the fatigue. Thinking of the harvested millet, there is endless energy.

By the time the two of them got to the field, Chang Le and Grandpa Chang had already cut the grass some distance away.

Chang Hao picked up the cutting knife and went to cut the grass. Yu Qingze couldn’t squat down and cut grass like them because of his foot injury, but he could stand beside the threshing equipment and do threshing.

But the problem was that he didn’t know how to operate this thing. He turned his head and looked at the other villagers not far away, but it seemed that everyone was mowing, and no one was threshing, and their threshing machines were also in front of him.

Only when Chang Le took a large bundle of rice and put it next to him, Yu Qingze could ask for the instructions. He saw Chang Le pick up a hand of paddy, and he raised his hands above his head and smashed it against the inner wall of the threshing machine.

~Crash~

“…” Yu Qingze heard the sound of millet falling off to the bottom of the box.

Afterwards, Chang Le shook his hands again, shaking off the loose grains in the rice stalks, and when they stopped falling, he lifted them up and smashed them hard!

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This way, after smashing it four or five times, it is basically clean, and the remaining part can be removed by hand.

Yu Qingze: “…” No wonder it’s called threshing, it couldn’t be more appropriate!

It is really a rough handling method and very tiresome. This made him even more determined in his heart to make sure that they would not be so tired from harvesting in the future.

Finally, Yu Qingze learned how to thresh.

Chang Le was afraid that he would have inconvenience in his legs and feet, so he moved all the rice to the threshing machine for him very considerately, and then went on to cut the crops.

This field is quite big. In the morning, Chang Le and Grandpa Chang have already cut half of it.

Chang Le cuts grass very fast, and his movements are very neat and skillful.

He squatted in front of the rice, with his feet slightly wider than his shoulders, cutting the knife with his right hand, holding the wort with his left hand, his body moved from right to left with the movements of his hands, and in a few seconds, he cut from right to left, and his left hand correspondingly shakes the rice stalks, and then arranges one hand neatly on the left, and then turns back to continue cutting.

After waiting for two hours, the whole field was cut, and Yu Qingze didn’t even see him rest.

Grandpa Chang and Chang Hao would stand up and move around when their feet were numb, and take a break. Chang Le never stood up at all. After cutting one side, he turned around and cut the other side directly.