The autumn breeze was crisp and the white clouds were luscious, which was a rural scenery that Lin Lan liked very much. If it weren’t for the busy autumn harvest, such a day would be considered beautiful and full of artistic conception.
The time span of the autumn harvest was very long, lasting for nearly three whole months. Although they were tired, there was the fulfilling joy of harvest, so everyone was happy.
Since the corn were all harvested, they just needed to wait for the land to be ploughed, harrowed and fertilised after the rain. Only then would they be able to start growing wheat crops.
As for the sweet potato field, the Mid-Autumn Festival was a good time to cut them into slices and dry the sweet potatoes directly. The rest would be taken back when the temperature gets lower and distributed to the Commune members for storing in the winter.
Although the sun was not very blazing in autumn, the wind remained strong. Hence, the sweet potatoes would be dried up under the sun if left for a few days.
Once dry, they could be picked up and stored in the grain supplier. They could be used to feed the animals and the branch members would also be able to utilise them as rations.
Members of the Shanzui Village did not go hungry because of these coarse grains— especially sweet potatoes.
If they weren’t going to account for the sweet potatoes, it would definitely be a waste. After all, an acre of land was capable of harvesting 2 to 3 thousand catties of sweet potatoes. If they were to dry it, the weight of the harvested crops might reach the upper thousands in catties.
By then, a member of the Commune will be given more than 100 catties of dried sweet potatoes and 300 catties of fresh sweet potatoes. After mixing the food with other ingredients and supplies, the people wouldn’t go hungry.
Before harvesting the sweet potatoes, the Secretary Head asked the Production Team Leader to hand over the harvested corn with the men. The remaining foods would then be distributed to the members.
Previously, families who require a larger intake of food could still be sustained by the sorghum and beans. This time, however, if the Production Team weren’t going to distribute the corn, people were going to starve.
Take Lin Lan’s family, for example.
Lin Lan’s family was certainly not lazy. After all, Han Qingsong, Dawang and the other children were all helping out with work and no one was slacking off. Although Lin Lan didn’t do heavy work, she handled dexterous work very well.
But her family was good at eating, for sure.
When other people’s families share the food, the men would eat well in order to have the energy to work, children would eat less and women would eat the worst.
The children of Lin Lan’s family, however, could have whatever the men ate. This also applied to the women in the family as well. With that, everyone was equal and there was no partiality.
Moreover, Lin Lan often spent her time trying to improve the food for her family, creating all sorts of dishes even though it was considered an extravagance. This was also a first in the village. Because of that, the other villagers gossiped and directly gave her the title of a gluttonous wife.
For example, when peanuts were in season, she would bring her children to cook them. When soybeans were ample, she would start working on soybean dishes. Now that the sweet potatoes were distributed, she was going to fry some chips from them. The other women in the village who were both envious and unsatisfied with her stated that they wouldn’t get used to such extravagance even in the future.