CHAPTER 58: CHAPTER 58: HARVESTING WHEAT

Li Xuemei and Gu Ruhai still went out for business as usual the next day.

With Gu Xiaoqing at home to cook, Li Xuemei was at ease. She even left ten yuan specifically for Gu Xiaoqing, reminding her not to be stingy, and to make sure her grandpa and the others ate well.

Harvesting wheat is strenuous work; not eating well is simply not an option.

After sending off Li Xuemei, Gu Ruhai, and Gu Xiaoying, Gu Xiaojie stayed at home today, because Gu Xiaoqing was also at home.

The five members of the Li Family had gotten up early a long time ago. After a simple breakfast of whole wheat buns with corn porridge and a big bowl of shredded radish pickles, they headed to the fields.

Upon stepping out, they ran into other villagers heading to their fields.

When the others saw the five members of the Li Family, they were all curious, and Aunt Gui Hua from next door was the first to speak up.

"Oh my, aren’t these Xuemei’s dad and elder brothers? This is..."

People were curious about how the Li Family was overly doting on their daughter.

The whole family of five strong laborers came to help at Gu Ruhai’s house to harvest wheat.

Astute folks could see that this was indeed a helping hand. During wheat harvest season, many families with lots of siblings help each other out with the harvest.

Usually, it’s just one or two people.

But it’s not common to see a whole family of five from the Li Family going out to the fields.

After all, doesn’t everyone have their own fields to harvest?

This time of year lasts only a few days, and it requires good weather. Everyone wants to harvest their own crops quickly, fearing that rain might come, leaving them with no place to cry about it.

Li Qinghai, holding a sickle and wearing a straw hat, greeted Aunt Gui Hua with a smile. They were old neighbors; every year when Li Qinghai came to visit his daughter’s house, he would always greet the neighbors, all for Li Xuemei and her family.

So Aunt Gui Hua and the Li Family were somewhat familiar with each other.

"Aren’t we just helping Ruhai’s family harvest their wheat? With so many of us, we can finish in two days, saving this family from having the young and old suffering."

No mention of Li Xuemei and Ruhai needing to do business, because business is something the villagers don’t know much about. Even if they did know, they wouldn’t take it seriously, as nobody considers business a legitimate way to make a living.

In the hearts of most farmers, farming is what is supposed to be their proper duty, the rightful way to make a living.

All other ways are considered shady.

And not something that could earn much money.

So no one took Li Xuemei and Gu Ruhai’s little business seriously.

Aunt Gui Hua, upon hearing this, immediately showed a look of envy.

She pursed her lips and said in a lukewarm tone, "Oh my, Uncle Li still takes good care of little sister Xuemei, bringing a whole family of strong laborers. Look, this couple didn’t even come out themselves, they’re really blessed."

Li Weimin didn’t like listening to these rural women with their constant comparisons and sour remarks.

Seeing others living poorly or unsatisfactorily was what made them feel good, what entertained them.

While lamenting others’ hardships, they satisfy their own sense of superiority.

If someone was slightly better off, they immediately turned as sour as pickled cabbage left through winter.

"Aunt Gui Hua, how could my sister possibly be as fortunate as you? Just look at your house, and then look at my sister’s house. Even with strong laborers, we can only help a bit, but how could we help them build a house?"

This was said quickly to make a comparison, and then let’s take a different route, and leave.

Aunt Gui Hua, upon hearing this, finally withdrew her sour expression, smiling radiantly like a flower, and said, "It’s not as exaggerated as you say. I’d rather have strong laborers to help with the harvest."

This time, it was somewhat genuine.

People’s minds are truly hard to guess.

The Li Family reached Gu Ruhai’s fields.

This was around twelve acres of land, and now it was all full of golden wheat ears, a yellow-orange expanse that truly brought joy to one’s heart at a glance.

On the other side of the field, Li Qinghai saw Mr. Gu and Gu Rushan standing in Gu Rushan’s field, looking this way.

Mr. Gu had long stopped farming. His allotted land was rented to another family in the village, and each year they’d give Mr. Gu a portion of the grain.

Even the rent from leasing the land was considered as the old couple’s grain supply.

But because the land Mr. Gu owned was twenty acres, the grain every year was actually more than they could consume. However, Mr. Gu gave all his surplus grain to Gu Rushan, as Gu Rushan’s family still had a college student, didn’t they?

Today, for the wheat harvest, Mr. Gu specially came with Gu Rushan to the field, because Gu Rushan’s field was a full fifteen acres.

Due to partiality back then, during the division of the family’s property, the land was distributed according to Mr. Gu’s wishes, so the five members of Gu Ruhai’s family only got twelve acres, while Gu Rushan’s family of three got fifteen acres.

All because of that one college student, Gu Xiaocheng.

In previous years, during the wheat harvest, Mr. Gu would make a special trip to the fields to help. To call it help was to help Gu Rushan, in simpler terms.

Helping by getting Gu Ruhai’s family to help Gu Rushan with the wheat harvest.

Knowing that Gu Rushan’s fifteen acres of fields could not be harvested in less than a fortnight or a month by just Gu Rushan and his wife.

But wasn’t there natural free labor?

So, every year, Mr. Gu would stand here and talk to Gu Ruhai for a while, and the next day, the three members of Gu Ruhai’s family, and sometimes even including Gu Xiaoqing, would have to rush to Gu Rushan’s fields early in the morning to help with the harvest.

This help offered no compensation, and not even lunch was provided by their hosts.

A couple of days ago, things ended unpleasantly, and Mr. Gu didn’t want to interact with Gu Ruhai anymore.

But circumstances forced his hand. Without Gu Ruhai’s help, wouldn’t Gu Rushan be working himself to exhaustion with those fifteen acres?

So early this morning, Mr. Gu was here waiting for Gu Ruhai.

He still couldn’t believe that the obedient and honest Gu Ruhai would so disregard brotherly affection by going against his wishes.

In Mr. Gu’s mind, it must have been because Li Weimin was present that day, which emboldened Li Xuemei, leading her to instigate Gu Ruhai to go against him, leaving him embarrassed.

Mr. Gu’s plan was to use this time to thoroughly brainwash his eldest son, to reiterate those values of brotherly love and respect for parents, and to teach him the principles of looking after his siblings, aiming to change his eldest son’s distorted mindset.

It would be best to have Gu Ruhai, whom he could control, return to the right path.

If Gu Ruhai continued to be obstinate, Mr. Gu was even considering whether he should have Gu Ruhai and Li Xuemei divorce, as he believed that the root cause of everything must have been inseparable from Li Xuemei.

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