Are you really not kidding?
Usually, when she fetches a glass of water at home, I’m worried she might get tired!
Ning Jianshe was wide-eyed, never expecting that his usually reliable brother-in-law would suddenly get all confused and give him such a questionable idea.
Of course, Ning Jianshe was naturally against it in his heart.
But he’s just a small fry and can’t win against the big boss!
Taking care of the garden, although it’s work, is surely easier than going to the fields for the autumn harvest, right?
Besides, seeing their sister-in-law meticulously tending to the garden, there probably wouldn’t be much for Xiao Yue to do either.
After being pestered to a headache by Lian Yue for the Nth time, Ning Jianshe finally gave in: "Don’t even think about earning work points by going to the fields. It’s better to be safe than sorry. The little one is precious, and if anything happens, we as the parents would be hitting the sky with a rock.
Moreover, the leave is already approved, going back on it would be seen as fickle.
If you’re really bored, just go to our brother’s place and have a chat with Saozi, keep her company.
If you can’t sit still, help her tidy up the garden."
"Tidying the garden, that’s considered work? I could wake up twenty minutes early and guarantee it would be spotless inside and out!" Lian Yue was unconvinced and wanted to argue her case further.
Like, if cleaning the garden isn’t an issue, what’s the harm in going to the fields?
The more days worked in the fields, the more work points earned, and by the end of autumn, that’s a lot of extra money!
We’re about to be a family of four, raising kids, sending them to school, getting them married, each costs money. If we don’t save up now, we might not have enough when we need it.
"Either go to our brother’s place and chat with Saozi, or stay home to babysit, no third choice." Ning Jianshe’s face hardened, firmly refusing to negotiate.
Alright, although Lian Yue is usually the unquestionable head of their little household, when Ning Jianshe digs in, she has to give way appropriately.
Like now, Lian Yue begrudgingly compromised with second best.
Once the bell rang at the village entrance signaling it’s time for work, she quickly tidied up the house.
Without waiting for her son Little Anning to wake up, she wrapped him in a blanket and put him in the wooden child’s cart made by the eldest of the Liu family, pushing it all the way to her brother Lianshan’s house to chat and help Saozi with work.
Knowing that her younger sister-in-law’s husband particularly values children, he’s afraid she’d tire herself even by holding a needle.
Fearful that being in early pregnancy, she might not know to avoid overworking and mess up, he even insisted she shouldn’t work in the fields just in case, even if it meant earning fewer work points.
Being so cautious, how could Shuzhen let a nearly-pampered-panda-like person do work at her house?
After being blocked by her sister-in-law and niece in bed and having worms in the worm bed she hadn’t used replaced with fresh ones for feeding the chicks,
The next day Shuzhen gave up her hobby of going back to bed, starting to clean the house after sending her husband to work. She had to finish everything to the point where her sister-in-law couldn’t find anything to do.
Of course, with Lianshan being the loving husband, there wasn’t much that Shuzhen needed to do at home.
Early every morning, Lianshan would fetch firewood, clear the ashes, and then call Shuzhen to get up to make breakfast. And while she cooked, he would water the veggies in the front and back gardens.
Knowing Shuzhen liked cleanliness, from the day the worm bed was set up, all the work was handled by Lianshan.
Ahead of busy autumn harvests, Lianshan had painstakingly prepared all worms that could be used as chicken feed, boiling them, cutting them into pieces, and drying them to make quite a few batches of dry feed. So when Shuzhen fed the chickens, she only had to throw in a handful each day, easy and convenient.
A pile of finely chopped kindling, tall enough to last Shuzhen for three months without any problem.
Two large tanks, filled to the brim with water, more than enough for laundry, cooking, even bathing, and changing bedding.
Pulling weeds and removing pests in the vegetable garden? Is that work?
Perhaps to others it would be.
But with Shuzhen’s abilities, if she said those weeds wouldn’t sprout, they wouldn’t even if they were halfway through breaking the soil!
As for pest control, just let the seedlings shake themselves from time to time, shaking off any bugs and eggs.
Then simply release the twenty chicks brought by Qiu Fang, and pest control and chicken feeding become one and the same!
After a few days of this ’efficient shortcut’, not only did it save time and effort, but the chicks raised by Shuzhen were noticeably plumper than Qiu Fang’s.
Having tidied up everything that could be done at home, she focused on chatting with Lian Yue.
While Shuzhen felt settled, Lian Yue became increasingly restless.
Growing up struggling alongside her older and younger brothers, hard work was practically engraved in Lian Yue’s bones.
During her pregnancy with Little Ning An, she would vomit whatever she ate, almost puking up bile. Totally drained of energy, rest was a matter of last resort. Even during those times, once past the first trimester and morning sickness eased, she still managed to earn quite a few work points by digging and weeding.
Now, with just the start of a pregnancy and no symptoms, they wanted her to sit idly at home chatting away. How could she handle it?
After a few days, she was so frustrated she got eye crusts from anger.
Seeing that Little Sister-in-law was indeed restless without work, Shuzhen decided to find something for her to do.
Last time when selling mushrooms and splitting the money, Big Brother, Second Brother, their younger brother, and sister-in-law’s families only took thirty-six yuan each. The cloth coupons, industrial vouchers, cotton tickets, and other coupons were taken nominally, just two per family. Shuzhen still had quite a few remaining.
With money and coupons, it was not only convenient but also brought confidence in wanting to do anything.
She specially had her husband take half a day off, personally going to Dai Honghua for an introduction letter.
The couple rode their bicycles to the market to buy quite a bit of fabric, cotton, and yarn.
When Lian Yue complained about wanting to work, Shuzhen tossed a big bag of yarn to her. She suggested it was getting colder, and it was time to wear woolen sweaters and pants.
Luckily, they had surplus industrial coupons, which would be wasted if not used.
So she simply bought yarn, letting Lian Yue knit sweaters for Little Jiezi, Jiajia, Ning An, and Lian Yue herself, who’s carrying a treasure of a baby.
Now that Lian Yue was always griping about having nothing to do, why not come over and learn to knit sweaters from her!
She handed over the sweaters for Jiezi and Jiajia to Lian Yue, along with three larger ones and three smaller ones, not expecting her to be busy till the end of the autumn harvest, but certainly keeping her occupied for over a month.