Translator: Fan Translation Studio

  Proofread by Claire.KK

  Xiao Baoshan came near to Ye Xiaoxian and said, “Let me help you.”


  As everyone was busy working Ye Xiaoxian did not wish to enjoy any special treatment or she would look too pretentious, so she said, “I’d better do it myself. I’ll do as much as I can and it’s better than idling around.”


  Xiao Baoshan just let her be.

  The second household had already done half of their work and the other two households just arrived.

  Seeing that everyone of the second household were present and reaping the rice crops, Wong Mudan and Chen Ju looked as if they had eaten sour grapes.

  Once Wong Mudan came into the field she began to speak sarcastically. “Oh, the one who’s only responsible for a half mu of the land is surely doing her job. As far as I can see, you will finish your work by the afternoon, won’t you?”


  Li Hongmei also said, “Do you want to swap? We do the two and a half mu and you do the half mu?”


  Wong Mudan’s eyes shined thinking that Li Hongmei pitied her and tried to help, but Li Hongmei continued, “If so, what you reaped will be used to pay the tax and the entire harvest from the two and a half mu belong to us.”


  “Bah, dream on!” Wong Mudan refused right away.

  Li Hongmei sneered. “You want to do less work but gain more of the crop. You tell me, who’s daydreaming?”
……

  Early that afternoon, Li Hongmei and her family’s half mu was almost done.

  Due to the scorching sunshine all of the second household’s members were taking a rest under the shade of nearby trees and eating porridge.

  This was how it worked during a busy farming season. Folks did not cook breakfast or lunch but only carried a pot of white porridge and ate it with pickles. They would not cook rice unless they went home early in the evening.

  As for the first and third households, the only workers they had were Wong Mudan and Chen Ju. When Xiao Baocheng came over his mind was not on the work at all, and he took a much longer rest.

  Xiao Baoyang was seven and it was his first time doing this so he did not help much.

  The most absurd thing was that Xiao Tongshu and Xiao Tieshu did not show up until afternoon and they just let their women and kids exhaust themselves to death in the rice field……

  In the afternoon, by the time the sun just was going west, the second household had finished harvesting the entire rice crop.

  After they had done this, Xiao Baoshan divided the crop into several heaps and started beating rice into the bucket.

  They did not have a threshing machine at this time so they had to thresh the crop by beating the ears of rice into a bucket until the raw grains fell out.

  Xiao Baoshan was strong so it did not take long for him to thresh half bucket of rice.

  He put this half bucket of grain into a bag and then worked on the rest.

  It was still very hot and Xiao Baoshan kept sweating profusely until he finally removed all his clothes except for a vest which exposed his tight arms and muscled chest, causing Ye Xiaoxian’s little heart to flutter like butterflies.

  Seeing this, Wong Mudan and Chen Ju were gritting their teeth in fury.

  Their men came irritatingly slow while they looked very sulky and actually complained about the work saying that it was unfit for humans.

  Wong Mudan’s fury peaked and she answered back to her husband resentfully, “You don’t have to do this. We can buy rice, but do you think we have the money?”


  Xiao Tieshu was finally rendered speechless.

  Xiao Tongshu also complained about his wife working too slowly, saying that the second household had done a great deal of work and were now already threshing the rice crop.

  Chen Ju also retorted, “Baoshan has been working since dawn and what about you?”


  Xiao Tongshu became quiet too.

  Since Xiao Baoshan was threshing, Ye Xiaoxian and Li Hongmei could not really help much, so they were just about to go back home to prepare dinner when a horse-drawn carriage appeared at the other end of the field.

  A horse-drawn carriage was rare to such villagers and was equivalent to a modern-day, fancy Mercedes-Benz.

  As soon as the horse-drawn carriage showed up, all the farmers stopped working and wanted to find out who was in it.

  The horse-drawn carriage was approaching nearer and nearer and about midway a servant came down to question a nearby farmer who pointed the direction of Ye Xiaoxian, and then the carriage continued on towards her.

  Ye Xiaoxian saw the character “Liu” on the carriage. She wondered if this was Lord Liu’s carriage and whether they had come to find her?

  ‘Do those pastries not suit her ladyship’s taste or do they suit her taste so well that she ate them all up?’


  As she was wondering, the curtain of the carriage was pulled aside and somebody stuck out her head and waved excitedly to Ye Xiaoxian. “Little Ye, little Ye!”


  ‘It is Liu Qianqian!

  Why is she here?’


  Li Hongmei and Xiao Baofeng hurried and asked, “Is this Lord Liu’s young lady?”


  Ye Xiaoxian answered, “That’s right. It’s her.”


  “But why the young lady is so thin? Aren’t they rich?” asked Xiao Baozhu.

  Ye Xiaoxian. “.……”


  All of the farmers were equally curious as to why there was a young lady in a horse-drawn carriage with servants who had come to find the Xiao family’s second household.

  Xiao Tieshu and Xiao Tongshu were making a living in town and both of them had a list in mind. They must remember who they should not provoke in the town and Lord Liu was at the top of their list, so they not only had to remember Lord Liu’s family but their servants and even their horse-drawn carriage.

  Now they were so surprised to see Lord Liu’s carriage actually coming here.

  ‘Since when did the second household get to know such a big shot as Lord Liu?

  Has Xiao Baoshan secretly got on Lord Liu’s good side? No wonder he was so cocky last night.’


  However, when the person inside descended from the horse-drawn carriage they were more surprised to find that Miss Liu wasn’t going to Xiao Baoshan but to Ye Xiaoxian.

  “Miss Qianqian, how come……you are here?” Ye Xiaoxian asked.

  Ye Xiaoxian was now covered with mud with her hair was in a mess, her face sweating and looking like a complete disaster.

  “I’m here to ask you for food,” said Liu Qianqian.

  “Your ladyship, your attitude is of ‘Let them eat cake’. As you can see, we farmers were busy with farm work all day long and you’re here asking me for food. Are you torturing me on purpose?” said Ye Xiaoxian.

  “You have to eat well, especially when you are working hard. Have you not told me this? You have to cook dinner anyway and it won’t cost you much by cooking one more portion and, by the way, I’ve brought all the ingredients for you. There are fish and various meats in the carriage which are all cleaned and pre-cut. They are ready for you to stir-fry.”


  Ye Xiaoxian raised her eyebrows. “Young lady, you’re putting pressure on me. If one day I am not here, do you not have to eat for the rest of your life?”


  “Why should I care that much? As long as you’re still in Qinghe County, I will come and ask you for food.”


  “What about my payment? I won’t cook for you for nothing.”


  “Old rules, five hundred coins per day. The money is here.” Liu Qianqian smiled.

  Li Hongmei listened to them chatting and they seemed to be pretty familiar with one another. Li Hongmei also knew that the girl was a wealthy young lady and noticed that she looked so weak as to be unable to withstand a breeze, so Li Hongmei said hurriedly, “We have a guest here, shall we lead our guest back home? Just leave the farm work to Baoshan.”


  “Baoshan?” Liu Qianqian was suddenly in high spirits. “Isn’t Baoshan little Ye’s husband? Which one is he?”