Lin Youshui and Xu Nian’en were successfully persuaded by Lin Qiaoyun and settled down in the Zhao family home.
The next day, work officially began.
During the busy double-harvest season, aside from babies who were still nursing and people who were bedridden and unable to move, everyone else had to work in the fields—even the elderly and children.
As for Lin Qiaoyun, a healthy and energetic young woman, there was no question about it. She had to go too.
If she had to work, then so be it. In this era, labor was considered glorious.
After breakfast, Lin Qiaoyun began fully equipping herself.
She wrapped herself from head to toe, leaving only her eyes exposed.
Although she had never harvested rice before, she had seen it done.
She knew the hardest part was the strain on the waist.
There was nothing she could do about that except endure it, but she could at least make herself more comfortable in other ways.
Wrapping her face would prevent the rice stalks from cutting her skin.
Wearing work gloves would protect her hands.
She made sure to wear sleeve guards so her wrists wouldn’t get scratched.
She also wore proper shoes and socks so the rice stalks wouldn’t cut her legs while she walked through the fields.
In short, she had considered every detail.
She even filled a water bottle with water from the well inside her space.
No matter what, this water had to be better than ordinary water. After all, the lotus in that well had once produced essence liquid. Even though the lotus was gone now,
maybe the well water’s effects were even better without it.
Lin Qiaoyun’s outfit didn’t attract much attention because most of the beauty-conscious girls in the village dressed similarly.
The village chief and party secretary of Guyun Village were different from those in other villages. Both were retired soldiers.
As soon as the two of them stood at the edge of the fields, there were very few people in the village who dared to cause trouble.
The harvesting tasks were assigned according to each person’s abilities.
Everyone was given a specific quota.
No one could even think about slacking off.
The Zhao family was assigned a large section of fields. As long as they finished harvesting it today, they could go home and rest.
Since it was the first day, the secretary gave a brief motivational speech at the field.
His purpose was simple: encourage everyone to work hard.
He didn’t waste time with unnecessary talk. After saying a few words, he told everyone to start working.
Originally, the Zhao family planned to assign Lin Qiaoyun some lighter work.
But seeing that she was already holding a sickle, they let her do as she pleased.
Still, Jinhua and Yinhua positioned themselves on either side of her.
The field assigned to Lin Qiaoyun was quietly divided between the two sisters, reducing her workload considerably.
Although Lin Qiaoyun looked delicate, she worked surprisingly fast.
Unfortunately, while she had explosive strength, she lacked endurance.
After only half an hour, her waist was already aching badly.
Jinhua said, “Sister-in-law, slow down. Don’t rush. You can look around your feet for loaches and fish. If you find any, we can bring them home and make dried fish.”
“Huh? There are fish here? I didn’t even notice.”
Only then did she understand why everyone carried small baskets with them.
“Yep. If you see any, catch them.”
Lin Qiaoyun truly admired them.
Not only were they working, they were also looking for food at the same time.
Her sisters-in-law and younger brothers-in-law all worked very efficiently.
The three younger girls tied up the harvested rice and stacked it into piles for the threshing team.
Father Zhao and Mother Zhao were responsible for threshing the rice.
They used a foot-powered threshing machine.
“Guqi, guqi, guqi…”
Lin Qiaoyun was fascinated by all of it.
She really wanted to try stepping on the machine herself.
But everyone was so busy that she decided not to.
Work ended at noon.
Everyone returned to the village dining hall for lunch.
Each family brought their own bowls and chopsticks.
People lined up one by one to receive their food.
Lin Qiaoyun also got herself a large bowl.
Honestly, it didn’t taste very good.
But because there was meat in it, everyone ate with great enthusiasm.
By then, Lin Qiaoyun was starving.
Whether it tasted good or not didn’t matter.
Filling her stomach came first.
After eating, she followed the Zhao family home to rest.
Work would resume at three in the afternoon.
The weather was simply too hot at midday. Starting earlier could easily lead to heatstroke.
Lin Qiaoyun walked beside Jinhua and Yinhua while holding Xu Nian’en’s hand.
As they were about to reach home, she suddenly noticed an abandoned house less than fifty meters from the Zhao family residence.
She had been passing by for several days but had never paid attention to it before.
“Jinhua, whose house is that?”
“That used to belong to Grandpa Wang. After he died from illness, there was no one left in his family, so the house was abandoned. It belongs to the village now.”
Lin Qiaoyun took a look and immediately came up with an idea.
However, she didn’t mention it yet.
She would wait until these busy days were over.
After returning home, everyone hurried to wash up and rest.
Lin Qiaoyun went straight back to her room, lay down, and immediately fell asleep.
Meanwhile, the three “flowers” and the three “pillars” continued building the courtyard wall.
They finished two sides first and deliberately left one side unfinished so Jinhua could design the room layout.
The sounds of construction echoed throughout the courtyard.
Yet none of it disturbed Lin Qiaoyun’s sweet sleep.
It wasn’t until 2:50 in the afternoon that someone finally woke her up.
After washing up and putting their gear back on, the family headed out to work again.
The Zhao family worked very quickly.
By around 6:30 in the evening, they had completed their assigned tasks.
The family picked up food from the village dining hall and returned home to eat.
Throughout the entire day, Lin Qiaoyun, Lin Youshui, and Xu Nian’en stayed together with the Zhao family.
Wang Chunhua and Liu Dani wanted to cause trouble for them but couldn’t find an opportunity.
On top of that, they worked much slower.
By the time the Zhao family had already gone home to rest, they were still struggling in the fields.
They had no choice but to abandon the idea of causing trouble.
They were simply too exhausted.
Even after returning home, Lin Qiaoyun didn’t rest.
Those responsible for building the courtyard wall stayed behind to continue working.
She, however, took the three youngest sisters-in-law up the mountain.
During the busy farming season, everyone was exhausted.
People needed meat to replenish their strength.
Many others shared the same idea.
As she climbed the mountain, she noticed several hardworking villagers carrying baskets and heading up the trails as well.
Once they reached the mountain, Lin Qiaoyun quickened her pace so they could go deeper into the forest.
The three young girls behind her actually managed to keep up.
As Zhao Honghua liked to say:
“We’re monkeys raised on this mountain.”
Ever since they were little, their eldest brother had trained them.
Whenever any of their brothers came home, they would test them as well.
That was why all three girls worked extremely hard.
After walking for quite some time, Lin Qiaoyun stopped at a spot.
“We’ll meet back here in one hour, understand? Just one hour. Gather whatever you can find, but once the time is up, you must come back. Don’t go too far.”
“Okay!”
All three girls wore watches.
Lin Qiaoyun had given each of them one.
As for where the watches came from, she simply claimed that Zhao Tiezhu had obtained them.
The younger siblings had blind faith in their eldest brother.
Anything she couldn’t explain was blamed on Zhao Tiezhu.
Watching the three girls disappear into the grass, Lin Qiaoyun picked a direction and went searching for the things she wanted.
With five minutes left before the hour was up, she was already standing at the meeting spot.
Her basket was full.
There were wild fruits and wild vegetables inside.
The vegetables would be taken home and dried.
The fruits would also be dried and stored away.
She had even caught two rabbits.
Of course, there were actually ten rabbits, three wild boars, and one wild mountain goat in her space.
For her to obtain this much prey in only one hour, her luck today had been unbelievably good.
Ever since transmigrating, she felt that her luck had been exceptionally good.
For example, just now.
As soon as she stopped and stood there, she spotted a huge python coiled around a nearby tree.
As the hour approached, she could already hear the three girls running back.
“Sister-in-law! Sister-in-law! Look what we found!”
The three little girls rushed over excitedly and immediately showed her the contents of their baskets.
There were three baskets.
One was filled with mushrooms.
One contained black fungus.
The last basket held wild vegetables.
But mixed among the vegetables were more than a dozen wild eggs and a wild chicken.
“Very good! Very good! You deserve a reward.”
Lin Qiaoyun pulled out a handful of milk candies from her pocket and gave each girl two pieces.
“Thank you, Sister-in-law!”
The three girls didn’t eat the candy right away.
They said they would save it for when they got home.
“Then drink some water and rest for a bit. We’ll leave afterward.”
“Okay.”
The three girls shared a single water bottle.
The water inside had been prepared by Lin Qiaoyun.
Watching the three obedient little girls sit together quietly,
Lin Qiaoyun reached into her basket and pulled out a woodcutting machete.