Chapter 38: Chapter 38 Disgusting the Zhao Family, Spring Planting Chapter 38: Chapter 38 Disgusting the Zhao Family, Spring Planting Luo Qiao, seeing that her purpose to disgust the Zhao Family had been achieved, said indifferently, “I accept your apology. I hope you will truly reform and become a person of use to society.”
Upon hearing this, those who had never attended school thought Luo Qiao was quite magnanimous to forgive Zhao Xiaomei so easily, but those who had were not of the same mind, especially Zhang Qiaoyan from the Secretary’s home.
She sensed an underlying message in Luo Qiao’s words. What did she mean by truly reform? It was almost as if Zhao Xiaomei had committed such acts multiple times, and what was that about becoming a person of use to society? It may have sounded okay at first, but upon closer listen, wasn’t this a sarcasm directed at Zhao Xiaomei?
Zhao Xiaomei, a simple village girl who had only two years of primary school education and couldn’t fully recognize characters, how could she become a person of use to society? Luo Qiao had successfully drawn Zhang Qiaoyan’s attention and dislike.
However, Luo Qiao was unaware of this.
After Zhao Xiaomei finished her apology and ran off the stage with her face covered, Brigade Leader Gao Jiefang finally said, “Let’s consider this matter settled and never bring it up again.
But let this serve as a warning to everyone. From now on, absolutely no illegal acts will be tolerated. Otherwise, no one can save you, and what awaits you will be legal sanctions. Have you all understood?”
The commune members, not expecting a talk of sentencing, replied, “We understand, Brigade Leader. We will never commit such vile acts.”
As soon as these words were spoken, the faces of the Zhao Family members turned to a palette of colors, the words clearly meant for them.
Gao Jiefang said, “Moving on, spring planting officially starts today. I hope everyone will work hard to ensure the quality and quantity of the planting. Enough talk, let’s get down to assigning tasks.”
Luo Qiao had been following Auntie Gao. Now, the two daughters-in-law of the Gao Family also came over, and Auntie Gao introduced them to Luo Qiao, “This is my eldest daughter-in-law, Song Jiao. Just call her Sister-in-law Gao from now on.
The one beside her is my second daughter-in-law, Feng Qiaohui. You can also call her Second Sister-in-law Gao.”
Luo Qiao obediently greeted, “Sister-in-law Gao, Second Sister-in-law Gao, it’s nice to meet you. I am Luo Qiao. Please give me your guidance in the future.”
Both of them greeted Luo Qiao with smiles, and soon it was their turn. Today’s task allocation was for seed sowing, and everyone grouped into threes and fives, heading to their assigned fields.
Walking along, gazing at the vast blue sky and limitless brown earth, the warm and gentle spring breeze on her face, the Paddyfield Pipit’s call from the distance mountains—all of this was so comforting. The spring planting had officially begun.
“Paddyfield Pipit, Paddyfield Pipit”, sowing happiness!
As they walked, Auntie Gao kept repeating the sowing technique to her. Seeds should be neither too many nor too few; each acre had its proper ratio. Too few seeds risked no germination and no crop.
Too many not only wasted seeds but also meant extra work thinning out excess sprouts later, time-consuming and labor-intensive; thus, three seeds per spot were optimal.
Actually, the original Luo Qiao had done this kind of work at the farm before, but she did not interrupt Auntie Gao’s advice. Instead, she felt warmth in her heart.
The next day at noon, Luo Qiao made a trip to the commune and brought back the chicks she had reserved. Leaving three outside to raise, she placed the rest into her space and let them roam on the mountain. Piglets were harder to find, so there were none for the time being.
Spring planting kept her busy for almost half a month. Luo Qiao switched among multiple types of work—sowing seeds, leading livestock, covering the soil. None of the tasks were too heavy, but they were still exhausting by the end of the day.
During the break times at noon, she had also gone up the mountain a few times. Surprisingly, she managed to catch a pregnant wild rabbit and released it to develop freely on the mountain.
She thought about catching a few more in the deeper forest. In no time, she believed, there would be a large group of little rabbits. Heh heh!