Xiaoguo felt a little guilty when she heard her brother’s words. She didn’t want her brother to be kept so busy. He was already tired from working at the restaurant. It would be nice if he could take this opportunity to rest.

Xiaoguo saw that Qin Anming had already started cutting the wheat. If she were to stop him, he definitely would not listen.

Forget it. She had better get to work. If she worked harder and did more of the cutting, her brother would have less to do. He could then go home and get some rest.

Xiaoguo waved her scythe with all her might. Qin Anming was not lagging behind either. He had the same thoughts as Xiaoguo, it was just a matter of who thought of it first.

If he cut more wheat, Xiaoguo would have less work to do.

The two of them worked continuously. Fortunately, the plot was not too big. Xiaoguo and Qin Anming finished harvesting the wheat in less than two hours.

Without taking a break, they went on to pack the wheat ears into sacks and loaded them onto the cart. They had to make two trips to finish moving everything back to the house.

When they got home, they didn’t stop working. They emptied the wheat ears from the sacks and kept them in the courtyard. Then, they drove to the plot where the corn was planted.

Xiaoguo and Qin Anming took positions at opposite ends of the plot, and began to break the corn ears, each of them taking two rows at a time. The corn ears were harvested and gathered in a pile as they worked through each section of the plot—the same way they had harvested the wheat.

Soon, the two of them had disappeared into the cornfield. The corn stalks were as tall as a person. Qin Anming’s head couldn’t even be seen above the corn stalks, let alone Xiaoguo.

Xiaoguo carefully avoided the leaves, which were just at her face level.

For the sake of her pretty face, it was better to be careful.

After breaking off the corn, the corn stalks were broken off in order to distinguish them.

Xiaoguo harvested the corn and broke off the stalks simultaneously until she reached the end of the plot. She looked towards the other end of the field and saw that the first two rows of corn that Qin Anming was working on had all their stalks broken. He was already working on the next two rows.

Not to be outdone, Xiaoguo eagerly started working on a new row of corn stalks.

Xiaoguo continued to prattle on and on, her ears were filled with the sound of rustling leaves. It was some time before they bumped into each other in the middle.

After the two of them were done, they had to fill the sacks with corn. When they finally filled up all the sacks, there were still a few piles left. The two of them stuffed them onto the donkey cart.

“Let’s come back later to take the cornstalks.”

Qin Anming looked at the corn stalks on the ground. These would be great for feeding the cows and donkeys.

“Let’s talk about it later. There’s no hurry.”

In any case, the cornstalks could just be left out in the fields. The next time when the cows were brought out for grazing, they could be brought here to the cornfields.

The two of them drove in the direction of home. Along the way, they bumped into a few families who were harvesting crops too.

When the two of them returned home, Zhuang Zhuang was already waiting for them at the front door.

Once he saw them, he quickly moved aside so that they could drive the cart in.

It was getting late. They unloaded the corn from the cart the minute they reached home.

Xiaoguo went to cook while Qin Anming brought Zhuang Zhuang to empty the corn from the sacks.

Xiaoguo returned to the kitchen and took a large piece of pork belly from the other space. The vegetables in the courtyard had matured. They hadn’t borne fruit before, but after the recent rain, some of the vegetables had grown overnight as if their growth had been catalyzed.

Xiaoguo went to the vegetable field and picked some chili peppers. She would stir-fry some meat with chili for Qin Anming later. She remembered that Qin Anming liked spicy food.

Then, she picked some cucumbers so that she can stir-fry some cucumber eggs for Zhuang Zhuang. This was his favorite dish.

She also picked a big eggplant which she would fry with some shredded meat and chili.

When she returned to the house, she was intending to make steamed rice. However, after a busy morning, everyone was feeling quite thirsty. Xiaoguo decided to make porridge and hot buns for lunch.

Back in the kitchen, she began to prepare the vegetables she had picked. After washing and peeling them, she proceeded to cut and dice them.

While the porridge was cooking, Xiaoguo heated up a pot and added some oil. When the oil was hot, she added the egg mixture which consisted of 5 eggs, and stir fried it. The cooked eggs were removed, and the cucumbers were fried with the remaining oil in the pot. Once the cucumbers were cooked, she added the eggs and a pinch of salt. After stir-frying a few times, the dish was served.

Xiaoguo brought the plates into the house. Zhuang Zhuang and Qin Anming were still emptying corn from the sacks. Xiaoguo put down the plates and returned to the kitchen. Zhuang Zhuang’s eyes were immediately filled with joy when he smelled the fragrance coming from the kitchen.

“Uncle, do you believe that Mother is making stir-fried cucumbers and eggs!”

Qin Anming could also smell the fragrance of cucumber and eggs. He nodded at Zhuang Zhuang. “I believe you!”

After a while, a pungent fragrance wafted over. It was Qin Anming’s turn to laugh.

“Zhuang Zhuang, believe it or not, your mother is frying chili and meat!”

Qin Anming imitated Zhuang Zhuang’s tone and said to him.

Zhuang Zhuang’s nose twitched at the spicy smell. “I believe you!”

The two of them were in the courtyard, laughing and joking. Xiaoguo sneezed a few times and brought the spicy stir-fry meat into the house.

“What are you two talking about?”

As soon as she arrived at the courtyard, she saw the two of them laughing. Xiaoguo was curious about what they were talking about.

“We were guessing the name of the dishes!”

They answered in unison. Xiaoguo smiled and went back into the house. One is a small child and the other is a grown child.

Next, it was time to stir-fry the eggplant. The shredded meat was first stir-fried in the pot. Then, she added the chili and eggplant and stir-fried them together. When the eggplant had turned soft, she added salt for taste and plated the dish.

After cooking, the porridge was served on the dining table. Qin Anming and Zhuang Zhuang entered the house after washing their hands.

Xiaoguo served them individual portions of the porridge and side dishes. Everyone picked up a big white steamed bun and started eating.

The three of them ate their fill. None of the food was wasted at all.

There was some vegetable soup left in the bowl. Zhuang Zhuang dipped a steamed bun into the soup and fed it to the puppies hanging around his feet.

The two puppies had been sniffing around Xiaoguo’s feet from the moment she was cooking.

While eating, they kept calling out to beg for food.

When Zhuang Zhuang was done feeding them the steamed buns, the two puppies’ stomachs were bulging like small balls.

Zhuang Zhuang brought the dishes to the kitchen for washing. Xiaoguo went outside to dry some corn kernels while the weather was still fine. When Qin Anming leaves tomorrow, she will make popcorn for him.

With this thought in mind, Xiaoguo went to the courtyard and peeled out the kernels from three pieces of corn. Qin Anming also came out and started to peel the corn. Xiaoguo quickly stopped him.

“Brother! Stop peeling it. I’m just drying some kernels for you. When you leave tomorrow, I will make something delicious for you to take away.”

Qin Anming looked curious. He had heard from Xiaoguo that this was not ordinary corn—it could be made into a snack. He had long been curious about how a little corn kernel can be turned into something called popcorn after it was heated up.

It wasn’t easy to remove the kernels from the corn, Xiaoguo had to use so much strength that her thumbs turned red. In the end, it was Qin Anming, who helped to remove the kernels since he had stronger hands.

The corn kernels were then spread out on the rafters and left to dry in the sun.

During noon time, Xiaoguo lay down in bed and prepared to take her nap. After washing the dishes, Zhuang Zhuang followed Qin Anming and ran to his side to nap with him.

Xiaoguo lay in bed and rolled around several times, unable to fall asleep.

She got out of bed and worked on her half-completed sewing.

Recently, Xiaoguo had been making clothes with Mrs. Yang. She had also learnt how to make the styles from this era.

There was one time when she went to the county market with Mrs. Yang, and ended up buying a lot of fabric. When they returned, they got together to make new clothes. During this period of time, they had managed to make a lot of clothes.

In the afternoon within the courtyard, Qin Anming led the donkey with a millstone tied to its back, crushing the wheat ears as it walked along.

Under the weight of the millstone, the wheat kernels came out of their shells one by one. Xiaoguo held a winnower and tossed the grains, sifting the shells out in the process. The remaining wheat kernels were then spread out on the ground to sun.