Chapter 118: The Beginning of Autumn

After hearing what Yun Jingjing had to say, Han Li felt as if he were being used as a pathfinder, so he spoke up loudly.

"But you are putting my safety at risk just to test the waters!"

"Why are you so anxious? I have already explained the factors regarding the witnesses quite clearly. Even if this matter ends up involving you, at most, it will be a case of a fright without any real danger. Besides, don’t think I haven’t guessed that you have connections here locally."

Han Li: "???"

Yun Jingjing: "Many things point to this; you simply cannot hide it. For example, you have excellent physical stamina yet you slack off in the Third Squad. Recently, Village Chief Zhao took the initiative to lend you his bicycle. Furthermore, I’ve heard that Zhang Dagang asked his daughter, Zhang Chaomei, to thank you properly, and her attitude was somewhat... unusual."

Han Li: "..."

Yun Jingjing: "Regardless of which situation we look at, it fully proves you have local connections. Even if this were to be brought to light, it wouldn't be a big deal!"

Han Li: "..."

At this moment, Yun Yingying came out and pulled Han Li aside. The two went into the inner room, and she leaned into his embrace, whispering, "Please don't be angry. Ever since my sister arrived here, her temper seems to have completely changed. But I asked her repeatedly last night, and she absolutely has no other motives; she just wants us to live comfortably here."

Han Li knew this in his heart—otherwise, he wouldn't have gone to find Zhang Xiangjun to discuss the matter. However, he was truly unfamiliar with these kinds of power plays and felt a subconscious resistance. But now that Yun Yingying had put it that way, Han Li began to understand her logic. Yun Jingjing simply wanted to increase the number of allies on their side, ensuring that among the educated youth, there were enough people leaning toward them, so that even if a small minority caused trouble, it wouldn't affect them.

Over the next two days, the strips of meat Han Li had steamed were finished.

Perhaps due to the intimacy they shared, or perhaps because Han Li was drawn to He Mi’s figure—it was, after all, human nature for a man—after work that day, while the Yun sisters were cooking in his room, Han Li slipped over to He Mi’s place and secretly handed her a portion.

"There's no fixed time for meals during the autumn harvest. This dried meat is convenient to eat on the sly; it can replenish your energy at any time. However, only you and Yun Yingying have this. Please don't mention it to anyone else, and be careful when you eat it."

He Mi smiled after hearing this, and that beautiful smile made Han Li feel momentarily dazed.

"Are you concerned about me? But Yun Jingjing should have some too, right?"

Han Li: "That... it’s unavoidable between sisters, but only the four of us have this. Just be discreet when you eat it. I should head back now."

"Does Hao Hongmin have any?"

"Absolutely not."

He Mi’s smile became even more radiant. Qi Zhaodi had gone out to forage for mountain goods and hadn't returned yet.

She stood on her tiptoes, stole a kiss from Han Li, and then ran back into the room with a hearty laugh.

Han Li touched his cheek where he had been kissed, glanced at the house in front of him, and wandered back, lost in thought.

Once home, he had Yun Yingying fetch a strip of cured meat while he took a bottle of wine from the cupboard.

"I’m going out to take care of something. Don't wait for me to eat once the food is ready."

Yun Yingying: "It’s already getting dark. Where are you going at this hour?"

"I’m going to find you two some easier work for the autumn harvest. If you were to get exhausted, wouldn't that break my heart?"

Taking the opportunity to kiss Yun Yingying, Han Li grabbed his things and turned to leave. Yun Jingjing not only stopped her sister from saying anything else but also displayed a flash of relief in her eyes.

Han Li strolled along, dodging and weaving until he reached Brigade Leader Liang’s house. As soon as he entered the gate, he called out, "Is the Brigade Leader home?"

"I'm here! Who is it? Oh, it’s Educated Youth Han. Come in and sit," Liang Ziqiang’s wife said warmly as she came out to usher him inside.

Han Li left his gifts in the outer room and entered the inner room, where Brigade Leader Liang was sitting on the kang, smoking. Seeing Han Li enter and noticing the signal from his wife, he immediately understood the situation.

"Han Li, you're here. Get up on the kang. It’s almost dinner time; let’s have a drink together."

Han Li, of course, wouldn't actually drink at someone else's house. After some polite formalities, he stated his purpose.

Brigade Leader Liang agreed readily, promising that the Yun sisters would work at the threshing floor during the harvest.

The threshing floor was the easiest spot. They only needed to spread out the bean stalks brought back by the villagers and turn them over every so often so they would dry out quickly, facilitating the next step: "threshing," which involved using livestock to pull stone rollers over the stalks to extract the soybeans.

With this matter settled, Han Li left the Brigade Leader’s house.

Feeling cheerful, Han Li was on his way home to eat with the two sisters when he ran into Zhang Chaomei.

"Educated Youth Han, where are you headed? No, I should call you Brother Han. You were in such a rush to leave our place last time that I didn't get a chance to thank you properly. It’s about dinner time—why don't you come over to our place? My father is waiting to pour you a couple of drinks as a thank you!"

Although Han Li didn't know what she was planning, his intention was to avoid contact with them as much as possible.

"Haha, well, I was just wandering around the village. My partner has likely finished cooking by now. Next time, I’ll certainly pay a visit."

Zhang Chaomei: "Brother Han’s partner is Yun Yingying, right? I've heard the aunts talking about it since I got back. We're all about the same age; when there's time, I'll definitely stop by so we can have a good chat."

"Haha, let's chat when we have time."

"Take care on your way, Brother Han."

"It’s dark out, you take care too."

"Take care"? That was out of the question. Han Li moved his long legs rapidly, and after a few turns, he disappeared from Zhang Chaomei’s sight.

Watching him vanish, Zhang Chaomei rubbed her temples firmly and headed home.

When the Yun sisters heard the news, they were delighted. After a while, Yun Jingjing remarked, "A bottle of wine is enough to get two outsiders work at the threshing floor during the autumn harvest? And you say you have no connections in the local area?"

Han Li: "I’m just well-liked. Can’t it be because I once killed a wild wolf that threatened the villagers, and wild boars that were destroying the crops?"

The three of them bantered while eating. Another two days passed.

After work that day, Village Chief Zhao and Brigade Leader Liang gathered everyone at the threshing floor.

Brigade Leader Liang stood on the platform and shouted, "Fellow villagers, educated youths, uncles, aunties, brothers, sisters-in-law, and the children who have just returned to the village—starting tomorrow, we will all be working hard. Tomorrow marks the beginning of our harvest for the year. Whether we can eat our fill, live well, have some savings, and send our children to school in the coming year all starts tomorrow. Everyone must work together in unity. Let's take advantage of this fair weather to rush the harvest and ensure that every single grain ends up in the warehouse. Can everyone do that?"

"Yes, we guarantee we will finish the task!"

"We absolutely won't let a single grain fall in the fields!"

Following the mobilization that night, the village bell rang even earlier the next morning.

Most of the men were assigned sickles to harvest beans, while some were responsible for transporting the harvest between the field edges and the threshing floor.

The elderly and children followed behind to pick up any pods that had fallen, while others laid out the stalks on the threshing floor.

Han Li and the others arrived at the fields with their sickles. At first, everyone was assigned three large ridges of soybeans. This meant they had to work based on those three ridges; if they didn't finish the quota, they couldn't stop, and they wouldn't earn their work points—worse, they would be penalized.

The villagers would gather a long row of stalks with their left hands and swing their sickles with their right—a long row of beans would fall in one go. But they didn't stop; they kept gathering and cutting until their hands were full, only then placing the large pile on the ridge.

Han Li was clumsy for the first two tries, but he possessed excellent physical coordination and soon grasped the trick, his speed keeping pace right behind the villagers.

The new educated youths tried to mimic the villagers' stance, but the sickles in their hands refused to cooperate. The stalks they cut were either too high or too low, and they couldn't hold the bundles properly; everything wobbled and scattered all over the ground in no time.

By then, they couldn't even ask for advice, as the villagers had already moved far ahead.

Because harvesting soybeans required bending over, one hand had to pull the stalks while the other cut. One had to stand up to stretch every now and then, or they wouldn't be able to straighten their backs later. They also had to be careful not to get pricked by the stalks or cut by their own sickles.

Less than two hours into the harvest, many of the educated youths were already failing to keep up. They complained of sore backs and aching arms, many claiming they couldn't straighten their spines anymore.

But under the stern reprimands of the Brigade Leader, the Squad Leader, and the scorekeeper, they had no choice but to continue.

During this time, it wasn't as if no one tried to slack off. For example, Mai Weiguo complained that his hand had been cut and he couldn't continue working.

But when the Squad Leader walked over with a dark expression and checked the wound, his face grew even grimmer. He grabbed a handful of grass ash from the ground and, ignoring Mai Weiguo's protest, pressed it directly onto the tiny scratch on his hand, saying, "This wound isn't even as big as an ant bite. You’re less of a man than a woman. If this happens again, I’ll have the scorekeeper deduct 5 work points."

Unable to slack off, Mai Weiguo had to grit his teeth and keep working. But he clearly wasn't the only one among the youths trying to get out of work.

Before long, Wu Lili’s crying echoed across the field.

The Squad Leader’s temple throbbed when he heard it. He walked over with a dark face, only to find that Wu Lili hadn't cut her hand; she had torn her shoe, and the scrape on her toe was even smaller than Mai Weiguo's.

Yet she wouldn't stop crying, and those around her couldn't console her.