When the pears are green

Jiang Qian walked forward and knocked lightly on the gate of Jiang Qingzhou's house.

"Is that you, second sister-in-law? Wait a moment, I'll go open the door." Song Li's clear voice came from inside the courtyard gate.

When Jiang Qian heard a woman's voice, he turned around to look at Zhang Ying, quickly withdrew his hand that was knocking on the door, and returned to Zhang Ying's side.

Zhang Ying saw this and pursed her lips and replied, "It's me, my sister-in-law."

After getting a response, Song Li happily picked up the shovel and walked towards the gate of the yard.

Jiang Qingye, who was carrying a backpack, said to Jiang Qingzhou, who was carrying a three-toothed rake beside him, "Brother, my sister-in-law seems to like my second sister-in-law very much."

"This is a good thing. We can't let Xiaoli just hang around the two of us. She will be happier if she makes a few friends." Jiang Qingzhou said while rubbing Jiang Qingye's head.

The two looked at each other and smiled, then followed Song Li out.

Song Li looked at the two people at the door with a little surprise. She quickly glanced at Jiang Qian, who was fair and thin and standing next to Zhang Ying.

Zhang Ying looked at Song Li's surprised expression and explained with a smile: "Sister-in-law, this is my husband."

Song Li nodded, then greeted Jiang Qian with a smile.

Jiang Qingzhou and Jiang Qingye were also surprised to see Jiang Qian. Except during the busy farming season, they had hardly ever seen Jiang Qian. Jiang Qian could be said to be a neighbor who was both familiar and unfamiliar to them.

"The teacher has something to do today, so the school is closed for a day. Qingzhou, let's go!" Jiang Qian explained to Jiang Qingzhou and the other two.

Jiang Qingzhou smiled, then strode towards the riverbank with Jiang Qian, while Song Li, Zhang Ying and Jiang Qingye followed behind them.

Zhang Ying is lively and cheerful. She pointed to the courtyards on both sides of the road and introduced Song Li to their owners.

Zhang Ying spoke with great interest, and Song Li and Jiang Qingye listened with pleasure.

Along the way, the five of them met many villagers who were going to reclaim wasteland. Everyone was very curious about Jiang Qian's appearance. Song Li couldn't remember how many times Jiang Qian explained why he didn't go to school.

Just like yesterday, Jiang Qingzhou used a three-tooth rake to turn the soil, Song Li used a shovel to dig the soil, and Jiang Qingye was responsible for picking up the grass roots that the two dug out and throwing them into the backpack.

Song Li dug at the grass roots with gritted teeth. These grass roots were really annoying. If they were not cleaned up, this place would be lush green again by next spring.

Song Li pushed hard on the shovel, but still couldn't dig out the grass roots under the shovel.

Jiang Qingzhou saw Song Li's angry look, so he hurried over and said to Song Li, "Xiao Li, let me do it. Don't worry, we can do a little bit every day and we can finish clearing this area. When it freezes, we won't reclaim the land anymore. We will reclaim as much as we can." After saying that, Jiang Qingzhou took the shovel from Song Li's hand and slowly dug out the grass roots.

"Qingzhou, I really want to burn all these grass roots with a fire. However, wildfires cannot be extinguished, and they will grow again with the spring breeze." Song Li spread his hands helplessly.

Jiang Qingzhou took off the gloves Song Li was wearing and found that only the palms of Song Li's hands were red, but there were no blisters. He felt relieved.

"Xiao Li, you are not strong enough. If you can't dig the dirt, just call me. Don't use brute force or you will get blisters." Jiang Qingzhou said as he helped Song Li put on gloves.

Song Li looked around, she smiled and hugged Jiang Qingzhou and said, "I know, don't worry!"

Jiang Qingzhou touched Song Li's hair, then walked back to where the three-toothed rake was and continued to turn the soil.

Song Li paused for a moment and looked around. Today's riverbank was much quieter than yesterday. People were busy working, and no one was in the mood to laugh or joke.

Jiang Qian worked much slower than Zhang Ying. Jiang Qian was seen waving the hoe with a painful look on his face, and sometimes the hoe couldn't even touch the ground.

Zhang Ying looked back at Jiang Qian and whispered, "Idiot, come pick up the grass roots."

"Ying Niang, I can do it. I'm just not skilled enough. Once I become skilled enough, I will definitely be faster than you." Jiang Qian had a stubborn look on his face.

"Silly boy, come here quickly. Are you going to pick up a pen and write tomorrow?" Zhang Ying walked quickly to Jiang Qian and pulled him over.

Zhang Ying and Jiang Qian noticed Song Li's gaze, and Jiang Qian said embarrassedly, "I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, sister-in-law."

"No way, second brother is just not good at turning the soil. When it comes to studying, we are definitely not as good as second brother." Song Li said with a smile.

Zhang Ying looked at Song Li with gratitude. She smiled at Song Li and continued to turn the soil. Jiang Qian was picking up grass roots beside her.

During the break, Jiang Qian sat next to Jiang Qingzhou. He looked at Zhang Ying and Song Li who were talking on the side and asked softly, "Qingzhou, what do you want to plant when the land is reclaimed?"

"Mulberry tree." Jiang Qingzhou thought of what Song Li said yesterday.

Jiang Qian asked in confusion: "Don't you grow crops?"

"This is saline-alkali land, and crops cannot be grown there." Zhang Ying turned around and said to Jiang Qian.

Song Li also came over and said with a smile, "Second brother, I want to raise silkworms, so I want Qingzhou to plant mulberry trees. Although mulberry trees can only raise silkworms and produce mulberries after two or three years, the head of the village also said that the reclaimed land will be tax-free for three years. When the half tax is paid, not only can I raise silkworms for money, but I can also sell mulberries."

Song Li's words touched Zhang Ying, who smiled and said to Jiang Qian, "Brother Qian, let's plant mulberry trees too!"

Jiang Qian looked at Zhang Ying, nodded and said, "Okay, wait until next spring to see if there are any mulberry seedlings for sale in Heihe Town. If not, we need to go to the county town to buy them."

"If not, I'll go to the county town with you to buy some." Jiang Qingzhou said to Jiang Qian.

Jiang Qian patted Jiang Qingzhou on the shoulder and said quickly, "Okay, it's a deal then."

The wind picked up.

Jiang Qingzhou saw some villagers leaving the riverbank one after another. He stood up and said, "Let's go back too. The wind won't stop for a while, so don't come back this afternoon."

Jiang Qian looked at the desolate scenery around him and echoed, "The wind is cold and bleak. Let's go back."

The five of them packed up their things and quickly followed the pace of the departing villagers and left together.

In the afternoon, Song Li sewed cotton clothes while whispering, "If you plant mulberry trees in a house of five mu, people who are fifty years old can wear silk clothes."

"But, didn't my sister-in-law also say that those who are dressed in silk and satin are not silkworm breeders?" Jiang Qingye said from the side.

Jiang Qingzhou patted Jiang Qingye's shoulder with a smile and said to him, "That's why Xiaoli and I want to send you to school."

Jiang Qingye looked at Song Li and Jiang Qingzhou in disbelief.

"Qingye, it's true. When we stop reclaiming wasteland, let's go to the school in town. I quietly asked my second sister-in-law today, and the annual tuition is about 1,500 wen. If your brother and I work hard, we can still afford it." Song Li said to Jiang Qingye with a smile.

"But, fifteen hundred coins are a lot!" Jiang Qingye muttered softly.

Song Li smiled and said, "Next year, buy more chickens, and Qingye will help me cut grass for the chickens, so we can sell more eggs."

Jiang Qingye rubbed his cheeks, and said to Jiang Qingzhou and Song Li with a smile: "Brother, sister-in-law, I'm going to read a book." After that, he ran back to his room.

Song Li continued to sew cotton clothes when she heard a quarrel coming from Jiang Ping's house next door.

"Jiang Qian, if you don't study, I will not live. I have suffered so much for you." It was Jiang Ping's voice.

Jiang Qian continued, "Dad, it's not that I don't want to study. I want to help Ying Niang reclaim the wasteland first, and then go to study."

"You bastard, don't you know that you will have to take the exam to become a scholar next year?"

"We can't just let Yingniang go to cultivate the land alone. She married into our family, not sold to us."

……

Song Li and Jiang Qingzhou stood by the wall and listened for a long time.

Jiang Qian would accompany Zhang Ying to reclaim land every three to five days. Song Li and the others witnessed Jiang Qian's transformation from a fair-skinned scholar to a dark-skinned scholar, and from a weak scholar who could not even tie a chicken to a strong scholar who could reclaim three meters of land in a row.