Chapter Fee

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  "Can we finish today?" Lian Man'er put down her work and asked Xiao Qi.

  Xiao Qi nodded, "I just heard that the village head over there has made an announcement, it's all right now, Er Ya has already gone."

  "Then I'll go too." Lian Man'er said hastily, "Xiao Qi, you go to the threshing ground and tell sister and brother to come with us."

  "Ah." Xia Qi responded with a single word and then ran out.

  Shouqiu is a unique activity in rural areas after autumn harvest. Simply put, after the owner of the field has harvested the crops, others are allowed to enter the field and pick up the remaining crops that have been left behind, such as wheat ears, corn ears, etc., mainly wheat ears.

  Picking autumn also has its rules, and you can only enter the field to pick autumn after the owner has finished harvesting. For example, if someone is cutting wheat in front of you, you follow closely behind to pick up the leftovers. Even the most honest farmer will unceremoniously chase you out of the field. That's not picking autumn, that's called daylight robbery.

  It's a common practice that autumn is exclusive to children. Among the four seasons, except for Chinese New Year, autumn is the happiest season for kids, although it's also their busiest and most exhausting one.

  After a while, Lianzhi and Wu Lang followed Xiao Qi. Lian Man said something to Zhang Shi, took out the willow basket that had been prepared early, and each of them carried one in their hands as they headed towards the ground.

  They are going to a place far away to pick up the wheat ears. It's located south of South Mountain, and it's separated from their usual spot for digging wild vegetables by a small mountain ridge. There is a large area of fields there, said to belong to a wealthy family surnamed Shen. The Shens live in the city, and they don't have many places like this. This year, a large area of wheat was planted in these fields, and today it's just been harvested. The people from the farm have put out the word that those who want to pick up the wheat ears can come in now.

  When Lian Menger and they arrived, there were already many children in the field. They all carried baskets, bent over to search for something in the field. Lian Menger took a look, this piece of land was at least three or four mu, the wheat in the field had been harvested, leaving only about two inches long wheat stubble. There were also bundles of straw that hadn't been taken away at the edge of the field, and some scattered straw in the field.

  The nutrition of millet porridge is very good, this year Lian Jia didn't plant wheat. Lian Miao plans to pick as many wheat ears as possible, so they can have millet porridge for breakfast in the future.

  Once they arrived at the field, several children quickly found a piece of land and lined up in a row with a certain distance between them. They began to slowly search from one end of the field to the other. Lian Juan held a basket in one hand and a branch in the other, her eyes scanning the ground rapidly as she used the branch to brush aside scattered straw and weeds to look for wheat ears. Soon, a golden plump wheat ear was hidden among a few scattered straws and wild vegetables. Lian Juan quickly bent down to pick it up and put it into the basket.

  The feeling of this unexpected gain is really good. Lian Man'er found a wheat ear, and her mood immediately soared. After all, it was someone else's harvest, some wheat ears were left with only half or less than half, and many grains on top had fallen off, but Lian Man'er picked them up like treasures. She understood the principle of accumulating small amounts to become rich.

  Time flies when you're having fun, and the sun is already high in the sky. The autumn sunlight shines down on people's skin, and after a while, it starts to feel painful. Fortunately, Lianpang wore a straw hat and wrapped himself tightly from head to toe, so even though he was sweating, he didn't get sunburned. They had walked from one end of the field to the other, and Lianpang's basket was already half full of wheat ears. In front of them, across a river bend, lay a village, with a large manor house at its head, which belonged to the owner of this land.

  It's not because there are many people in the village who rent land from this estate, and the owner of the estate is surnamed Shen, that this village is called Xiaoshentun. In addition to Xiaoshentun, further south, there is another village called Dashentun.

  Looking back, they were already far away from the Thirty Mile Stockade. The Thirty Mile Stockade had become a small black dot in Lian Mian'er's eyes.

  "Let's take a break." Lian Menger called over several children to her side.

  At this moment, two people were walking slowly with a horse from the other side of the river bend.

  Lian Man'er took a glance, didn't think much of it, and sat down with Lian Zhi'er, Wu Lang, and Xiao Qi on the ground. She took out a cloth package from her basket, opened it, and inside were four rolled-up pancakes. These were pancakes that had been baked in the morning, and Lian Man'er had brushed a layer of meat sauce on them, adding scallions, dried tofu threads, and pickled beans, intending to have an extra meal.

  Several children divided up the rolled-up pancakes and began eating them in big mouthfuls.

  Lian Wan'er had just taken a bite when she saw those two people leading their horses towards her, with someone sitting on the horse.

  "Huh." The horse walked to Lian Mian'er's side and suddenly stopped. On the horse was a fat boy. He didn't even wait for the little servant following him to help him down, and jumped off the horse by himself.

  "Hey, young master! You'd better get down from the horse and call out to me when you were a kid. If anything happens, I'll be responsible!" The two little servants exclaimed in unison.

  "Mind your own business." Xiao Pangzi pushed away the young servant, ran a few steps to Lian Man'er and said, "Big Foot, what are you doing in my family's field?"

  Lian Man'er looked up and saw that it was actually the annoying little fatty she had met at Shi Taiyi's house.

  There's a saying that goes, "At seven or eight years old, one is as annoying as a dog." Looking at the little boy, he should be around this age. At this age, it's rare to see children as well-behaved as Little Seven.

  Lian Man'er didn't want to bother with this little brat, so she turned her head and pretended to look somewhere else.

  The little boy jumped with both feet and jumped in front of Lianmeng again.

  Lian Man'er turned her head to the other side again, and the little boy jumped up again and stood in front of Lian Man'er, still smiling as if Lian Man'er was playing a new game with him.

  Lian Man'er felt a bit weak and suddenly thought of something, wanting to ask this kid about it.

  "I've come to pick up the wheat." Lian Man'er replied in a gentle tone, "By the way, how is Dr. Shi?"

  Xiao Pangzi saw that Lian Man'er was willing to talk to him, so he went over and wanted to sit down next to her. A young servant immediately spread a brocade cushion on the ground.

  "Big foot, let you sit here." Little fatty lets Lian Mian'er sit on the brocade cushion.

  This little fatty didn't sit down on the brocade cushion with a plop, but instead let her do so, which made Lian Meng'er's impression of the little fatty somewhat better.

  "You sit down, I have this." Lian Man'er didn't directly sit on the ground either, but picked up some straw and even added a handkerchief underneath.

  "You sit on this cushion and I'll sit on yours," said the little fatty stubbornly. "Otherwise, I won't tell you about my uncle."

  Originally, Shi Taiyi was this little fatty's uncle-grandfather.

  Lian Wan'er had something to ask him and thought that she shouldn't be on familiar terms with a child, so they switched seats.

  Little fatty sat down and looked at Lian Mian'er.

  "Either you finish eating first, and then I'll tell you."

  It wasn't until then that Lian Man'er remembered that she still had a pancake roll in her hand that she hadn't eaten.

  "Our village food, you may not be used to eating it." Lian Man'er said, glancing around, Xiao Pangzi was riding a handsome sorrel horse, and the two young servants following him were also half-grown children, their clothes were very bright and clean. Xiao Pangzi didn't need to be said, he was wearing silk brocade, with a golden necklace around his neck, a purse tied at his waist, and powder-bottomed boots on his feet. "The people who follow you can't let you eat casually outside."

  "They are all my people, and they all listen to me." said Xiao Pangzi, "I'm used to eating well, I'm just afraid you won't be willing to give it to me."

  This little fatty is indeed difficult to entangle. Lian Man thought for a moment, the food she made was very clean and tasted good, so it should be fine to give some to the little fatty to eat.

  "Well, if you don't mind, I'll give you half of it." Lian Man'er handed the rolled-up pancake to Xiao Pangzi.

  The little fatty tore off half a roll and took a bite.

  "It's delicious, no wonder you didn't want to give me any."

  Lian Man Er decided not to bother with this little brat.

  "What's your name again?" asked Lian Man Er.

  "My name is Shen Qian, Big Foot Head, what's your name?"

  "My name is Lian Man Er, this is my sister, Lian Zhi Er, and my brother..." Lian Man Er then introduced Lian Zhi Er, Wu Lang, and Xiao Qi to Shen Qian.

  Shen Qian nodded to everyone, then turned to Lian Man'er and said, "You just asked me about my uncle. My uncle has returned to the capital. Is someone in your family ill again? I can help you invite my uncle."

  Your family's got another illness, and Lian Man secretly rolled her eyes.

  "Really? Then at that time, we wanted to go and thank him." Lian Man'er asked again.

  "Maybe, you come to the city then." Shen Qian ate half of the roll and looked at Lian Man'er's hand holding the other half. Lian Man'er was distracted and hadn't even eaten the roll in her hand.

  "This, I've eaten already, it's not good to give you again." Lian Man'er said politely.

  "It doesn't matter." Little fatty Shen Qian smiled and showed a row of white teeth, stretching out his hand towards the scroll in Lian Man'er's hands.

  "I'm worried." Lian Man'er wanted to say, but Shen Qian's small chubby hand had already grabbed the scroll in her hand.

  "Alright, have it." Lian Man'er handed the scroll over to Shen Qian.

  The pancake was made of millet flour, and Shen Qian ate it very fragrantly. This is indeed a non-picky eater, no wonder he grew up so fat, thought Lian'er in her heart.

  "Uncle said he likes the countryside in autumn, he returned to the city because of something, and will be back in town in two days." Shen Qian finished eating his roll and asked, "Man Er, what are you doing here?"

  "Pick up the grains, add some food for your family, you definitely don't understand." said Lian Man Er.

  Shen Qian suddenly jumped up and pulled a young servant aside, saying something to him. The young servant then ran quickly towards the Zhuangzi's residence.

  Lian Man'er also stood up and waved at Shen Qian, "You play, I'm going to pick up the wheat ears."

  "You've been picking for half a day, and that's all you got? It's not enough to eat. Man'er, come play with me." Shen Qian pulled Lian Man'er along, not letting her go back to the fields.

  "Go have fun riding your horse, I still have things to attend to." Lian Man'er said as she turned around and walked into the field.

  Shen Qian grabbed the basket held by Lian Man'er and said, "Man'er, look." Shen Qian pointed behind Lian Man'er.

  Lian Man'er turned her head and saw the little fellow leading two peasants walking quickly towards them, with heavy sacks on their backs.

  "Man Er, you don't need to pick up the wheat ears, these two bags of wheat are enough for your family to eat, aren't they? If it's not enough, I'll let them send more." Little fatty Shen Qian swung his two fat arms and said in a very rich and arrogant tone.

  Lian Man'er's face immediately turned black, she knew that even if it was because of Shi Taiyi, she shouldn't have bothered with this annoying guy.

  "Master Shen, we are just ordinary people who make a living by our own labor. We have no relation with you, so how can we dare to accept such a heavy gift?" Lian Man'er said with a stern face.

  "We're not going to jump words." Shen Qian said. He didn't understand why Lian Man suddenly got angry, after working hard and only managing to pick up less than a basket of wheat ears, he gave her two bags of wheat, shouldn't she be happy?

  "We can't afford to offend someone of your status." Lian Man'er shook off Shen Qian and walked straight into the field.

  "What did I do? You tell me." Shen Qian's expression seemed hurt.

  Lian Man'er lost Shen Qian, and Lian Zhi'er walked back and forth with several others.

  "Man Er, do you know this young master from the Shen family?" asked Lian Zhier of Lian Man.

  Going to Dr. Shi's house, Lian Mian'er had told Lian Zhier about it before, but didn't mention the encounter with Shen Qian. Now she was picking up wheat ears while recounting that day's experience again.

  Lian Man'er was picking up the wheat ears, when she suddenly felt that the basket in her hand seemed to be stuck. She turned around and saw Shen Qian standing behind her, with a chubby face full of sweat. The two little servants were standing not far nor near behind Shen Qian, their faces full of helplessness.

  Shen Qian's smiling eyes narrowed into a slit, revealing a row of white teeth.

  "Man Er, here you are." Shen Qian's hand lifted the hem of his robe, on which was piled a heap of wheat ears, as well as some leaves and weeds. "I helped pick them for you."

  Lian Man'er's eyes widened slightly. She didn't accept the wheat he offered, so why did he pick up an ear of wheat for her?

  Lian Man Er didn't say anything for the time being.

  Those two little guys' clothes are also dirty.

  "Didn't you pick it up alone? There are no fewer words without a net," said Lian Man Er.

  "Heh heh, those two are useless, most of it was picked up by me." Shen Qian said.

  "It's hard to pick up, so just leave it." said Lian Man Er.

  "No, these are all for you to pick up, Man Er, they're all yours." Shen Qian hastily said.

  Shen Qian was like this, and even Man Er couldn't refuse him.

  "Thanks a lot," said Lian Man Er.

  "Man Er, it's over." Shen Qian said.

  "Young master, the village head has brought people to look for you." The two servants walked up and said.

  Lian Man'er turned her head and indeed saw a group of people hurrying over from the river bend.

  "Man Er, I'll go first." Shen Qian hastily handed the wheat to Lian Man Er and took his two young servants to run to the edge of the field. Before he could even get on his horse, that group of people had already arrived in front of him.

  Lian Man'er watched as Shen Qian was surrounded by a group of people heading towards the villa, and this Shen Xiao Pang didn't seem so annoying after all. As Lian Man'er thought this, she subconsciously touched her sleeve, oh no, where's her handkerchief?

  She's right, Shen Xiaopang is still annoying after all.

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