The 1970s: Married First, Fell in Love Later-Chapter 63 - 62: Autumn Harvest

When Mrs. He heard this, she stopped wiping her tears and hurried over to support Xue Yue. "Does your stomach hurt? Is it bad?" she asked worriedly. "Come on, let’s get to the hospital."

Xue Yue gave Mrs. He’s hand a squeeze. Mrs. He froze for a moment, then instantly understood.

Mrs. He shrieked, "Her stomach hurts? This is terrible! Is my grandson going to be okay? Oh my god, we have to get to the hospital!" Then, she turned and yelled at Gousheng’s mother, who was still on the ground, "You just wait! If anything happens to my grandson, I’m not finished with you!"

With that, she helped Xue Yue up and they started for home.

It took Gousheng’s mother a long moment to process what had happened. She was the one who’d been hit, and she’d been hoping to extort some money out of it.

’What is going on? How did things turn around so that *I’m* the one being extorted?’

The onlookers started murmuring. Someone even came over to reason with Gousheng’s mother. "Why would you go and bully a pregnant woman? The He Family’s Third Son finally managed to get married and has a child on the way. If something really were to happen, the He family would never let you off the hook."

Gousheng’s mother’s face was ashen, her hair and clothes a total mess. She was completely bewildered. ’I didn’t even touch He the Third’s wife, so how can her stomach be hurting?’

Once Xue Yue and Mrs. He were a good distance away, they both burst out laughing.

"Are you really okay?" Mrs. He asked Xue Yue.

Xue Yue shook her head. "I’m fine. She didn’t hit me. I was just angry."

’If she weren’t worried about her belly, she would have thrown the first punch.’

Mrs. He sighed. "As long as you’re okay. When I heard you were in a fight, I broke out in a cold sweat."

Xue Yue felt a sense of helplessness. ’All I did was take a sip of water. How did that lead to me getting an earful?’

"Oh, right! My canteen is still back in the fields."

Mrs. He glanced at her belly. "It’s getting late. I’ll let the work point recorder know, and you can head home. I’ll bring your canteen back for you when I’m finished."

When Xue Yue got back, she checked the time. It was past eleven. ’Oh well,’ she thought, ’I’ll make lunch first.’

She went to her private plot and picked a handful of green beans and an eggplant. After returning, she stir-fried them. Paired with the leftover dual-grain steamed buns from the morning, her lunch was settled. Then, she went to her room to lie down.

At two in the afternoon, Xue Yue went out again. The people working in the adjacent plot were different from the morning crew, but Xue Yue paid them no mind and resumed pulling the weeds she hadn’t finished.

At the end of August, Gao Cuiyun gave birth at home. It was another son.

Xue Yue didn’t visit, but Mrs. He came over to bring her a few red-dyed eggs.

During this time, Xue Yue went to work every day, earning five or six work points a day. This continued until mid-September, when it was time for the brigade’s rush harvest.

They had a two-day break to prepare food. During the rush harvest, no one would come home for lunch; it would be eaten in the fields. Taking leave was forbidden, barring special circumstances.

He Lang took leave from his job and came back. The harvest was demanding, and he was worried about Xue Yue.

He Lang managed to get a piece of pork from the black market. The two of them stayed home and steamed a full basket of meat buns and made some savory pies. They enjoyed a hearty dinner that night and went to bed early.

Just after six the next morning, the sound of the village gong rang out.

The two of them got up, ate a quick breakfast, and headed for the fields with their packed lunch.

It was a rare sight to see He Ze in the fields. The second branch of the family had earned almost no work points this year. Since the family had split, Gao Cuiyun had barely worked due to her pregnancy. Now she was still in her postpartum confinement, so there was no way she would come. Occasionally, one could see Little Chen leading Xiao Yang to pull weeds, but children could only earn one or two work points a day at most. As for He Ze, just like He Lang, he hadn’t set foot in the fields at all.

Seeing the two He brothers in the fields together was truly a rare event.

The group from the sent-down youth station was there as well, but they were too far from Xue Yue for her to see them clearly.

A clang of the gong signaled the start of work. He Lang and Xue Yue were assigned a plot together. Although He Lang didn’t usually work in the fields, he was surprisingly fast.

He reaped the wheat up ahead while Xue Yue followed behind, bundling it.

He Lang would reap for some distance, then come back to help Xue Yue bundle the stalks.

At over four months pregnant, Xue Yue’s belly wasn’t huge, but squatting for long periods was still uncomfortable, so she couldn’t keep up with He Lang.

The September sun was already scorching hot in the morning. Even with her sun hat, Xue Yue’s face was flushed, and she had to take several breaks.

At noon, everyone found a shady spot to sit and took out the food they had brought from home.

Xue Yue used a bit of their water to wash her hands and He Lang’s, then took out the slightly cool buns and handed one to him.

He Lang passed the canteen to Xue Yue. "Drink some water first."

Xue Yue accepted the canteen and looked at He Lang’s sunburned face. "How’s it going?" she teased. "Still holding up?"

He Lang chuckled. "It’s not like I’ve never done this before. I used to work the fields with my parents. But I eventually realized that relying on the harvest is just enough to keep from starving, and nothing more. That’s why I slowly stopped wanting to do it."

’He’s right. No farmer ever got rich just by farming. But in this era, there were no other options. You had to work the land. At least that way, you wouldn’t starve. She’d heard the village elders say that a natural disaster a few years back had led to many people starving to death.’

The buns had cooled, but they were still delicious—they had meat in them, after all.

The autumn harvest was exhausting, so the villagers allowed themselves to eat better during this period. At least they could replenish their nutrients, no matter how tired they were.

After one bun and some water, Xue Yue was full. He Lang ate three.

"Rest a while longer," He Lang said. "The sun is too vicious right now."

He Lang went back to reaping as soon as he finished eating. Xue Yue wanted to tell him to rest more, but when she saw that everyone around them had also returned to work, she said nothing.

When they got home that night, Xue Yue used the meat they had to make two bowls of noodles with meat sauce, served with a side of chilled cucumber salad.

After eating, they washed up and went straight to bed. They had to be up at six the next morning to head back to the fields.

The next morning, Xue Yue dragged her aching legs to the fields with He Lang.

They worked like this for over ten days until the harvest was finally complete.

Once the grain was dried and stored in the granary, they could finally take a proper rest.

Xue Yue rested soundly for two days before she finally felt human again.

He Lang had worked incredibly hard. As soon as the harvest was over, he went back to his job.

During that time, everyone had been worked to the bone and gotten quite tan.

「Three days after the autumn harvest.」

Yang Xiaoxia arrived with Xue Xingzhou.

The two of them came bearing many gifts.

Xue Xingzhou carried two wild pheasants and a wild rabbit.

"I’ve heard people say it’s not good for pregnant women to eat rabbit," he said. "I bagged several on the mountain, so I brought one for you, but it’s probably best if you don’t eat it yourself."

Xue Yue nodded. ’She’d never heard that before, but it was better to be safe than sorry.’

Yang Xiaoxia was hugging a huge pumpkin, and also carried a bag of mushrooms and a small bundle of chives.

"Yue’er, quick, help me!" Yang Xiaoxia exclaimed. "My mom wanted me to bring you the biggest pumpkin we grew. I carried it all this way, and I’m exhausted! My arms are killing me."

Xue Yue smiled and helped her set the pumpkin down.

"This is perfect," Xue Yue said. "I didn’t plant any pumpkins or chives this year, and you brought both."

Yang Xiaoxia grinned. "My mom guessed you probably didn’t. She also said that if you want to grow pumpkins next year, you should save the seeds from this one. Just plant them in the ground, and they’ll sprout."

Xue Yue nodded. "Okay, I’ll save them for next year. Is your brigade’s harvest all done now?"

Yang Xiaoxia nodded. "We finished the day before yesterday. You have no idea how exhausted I am. This is the first time I’ve ever worked so hard. I usually just slacked off in the fields, but this year my mom absolutely forced me to work with everyone. She said that since I’ll have to do it after I get married anyway, I might as well get used to it now."

Xue Yue asked her, "So? Did your parents agree about your situation?"

Yang Xiaoxia sighed.